A diehard Saints fan says he is undeterred from travelling to Armenia for next week’s Europa League clash, despite massive demonstrations on the streets of capital Yeveran.
Thousands of protesters are rallying against rising electricity prices and this week police turned on crowds as they attempted to march on the city’s presidential headquarters. Officers in riot gear used a water cannon to keep the campaigners at bay.
The protest entered its third day on Thursday. It had become more peaceful but has doubled in size, with an estimated 10,000 people out on the streets.
St Johnstone FC will fly into the Eurasian country next week for the qualifier with the city’s Alashkert FC on Thursday. The club has yet to publicly comment on the demonstrations but it is understood bosses are closely monitoring the situation.
It is thought only a small number of fans will follow their team to the 14,500 Republican Stadium, about 10 minutes from the site of the protests.
Lifelong supporter Alan Stewart, who has been a season ticket holder for 31 years, said he did not hesitate to book his flight.
“I was watching the draw live online and I had a travel site open in another window,” he said. “As soon as Armenia was announced, the price of flights shot up by about £50. Then it went up again by another £25 a few minutes later.”
The 44-year-old, from Perth, called the travel firm and managed to secure a deal from Edinburgh via London and Moscow for the original price of £420.
“I’ve been to all the European qualifiers, so it had to be done,” he said. “I’ve seen the stories about unrest in the capital but it hasn’t really put me off.
“When we went into Turkey we were told it was going to be dangerous but it turned out to be a great trip with no problems at all and we made some lifelong friends. We have a friend from Armenia and she says it’s a lovely place.”
He said: “I can’t see that there will be a lot of fans going across maybe 40 or 50, tops but it should be a great game and we’ve got a good chance against Alashkert, from what I’ve seen of them online.”
Alan, who works for power firm SSE, said the only major obstacle for St Johnstone could be the heat, with temperatures expected to reach a sweltering 35C degrees.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not advised travellers not to enter the capital but has urged people to stay away from “large crowds and demonstrations”.