PRAYING FOR A MIRACLE
Dad’s desperate wait after he bags prized seats but finds his passport is out of date
A RANGERS fan who bagged three tickets to the final faces a desperate race against time after discovering his passport has expired.
Robert Chapman, who had been planning to take his four-year-old son Angelo and teenage brother Callum, says he now feels like “the worst dad in the world” after having to break the devastating news.
The 33-year-old couldn’t believe his luck when he received an email on Friday telling him he was successful in the ticket ballot for Wednesday night’s clash against Eintracht Frankfurt.
But after delivering the fantastic news to his younger sibling Callum, 15, the Glasgow dad’s heart sank when he checked the expiry date on his passport.
Robert is now battling to get a last-minute priority appointment with the Passport Office anywhere in the UK in a bid to travel to Spain.
He said: “At the beginning of the week, I thought I had no chance and wasn’t going to go to Seville. I was in Manchester all those years ago for the last European final but I didn’t fancy going over with my young son without match tickets.
“Then I got an email last Friday afternoon saying there was a window to buy. I didn’t think much of it because these websites crash quite easily.
“Then, all of a sudden, I managed to buy three tickets. I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got tickets to the final’. I called my young brother and he was on the roof going mental. It’s exam season for him just now so he’s a bit stressed out because he’s trying to go to university. But he was absolutely buzzing.
“Then I checked my passport and it went out of date on the 26th of March. You just couldn’t make it up. I went from the biggest high to the biggest low. I’m starting a new job at the end of the month so this is the first time in about 12 years
where I’ve got three weeks off. I’ve got all the time in the world.
“I’ve got balloted tickets for what might be the biggest game in my lifetime and all of a sudden, I’ve got an out-of-date passport.
“The passport was only ever brought out if I was going somewhere but we’ve had two years of being unable to go anywhere, so it’s not been needed.”
He added: “To me, Rangers and football is family. My young brother is 15 and I’ve been taking him to Ibrox since he was two. I carried his pram into the stadium and I’ve taken him everywhere.
“My son is also Rangers-daft to the point where there was a video of him celebrating a goal that went viral.
“He turns five on Thursday – the day after the match. I just can’t think of a better birthday present for him. I just feel like the worst dad in the world because my passport is out of date.”
While he accepts he may need a miracle to get to Seville, Robert hopes to find a way of getting his young brother over.
He said: “Even if my son and I can’t go, if I could find a way to get my brother over, that would mean the world.
“My son and I have got a bag packed in case we have to get in a car, drive to somewhere in the UK for a passport appointment, then book into a hotel before finding our way to Seville from there.”