Pies, pints, and passion. Meet the man exploring Europe’s football stadiums one bite at a time.
This football fanatic is travelling all around the world visiting football stadiums, but he’s not just there for the football.
Football mad Daniel McNeice is visiting more than 60 football stadiums to more than 100 matches, just to rate their pies and pints.
As well as travelling across the UK, Daniel has jetted to six European countries, including, Germany, Italy and Portugal, and even visited Vietnam.
In all, he reckons he’s clocked up over 10,000 miles (16093km), spent around £2,000, drunk over 60 pints and eaten around 60 pies.
He said: “The total for grounds that I’ve been to is around 60. I know for games in total, it’s 109 and counting!
“We always try to find something unique about each place to try and eat but, if we can’t get a pie and there’s something that is so special and so different, we’ll go for that instead.
Daniel found his love for football 10 years ago after visiting The Completely-Suzuki Stadium, to see Cheltenham Town play AFC Wimbledon, and has found it difficult to turn down a game ever since.
As he got older, Daniel started visiting more and more grounds across the country and the pie-lover came up with the idea of rating the food of each club he visits.
Daniel started ranking the food out of 10 and he aimed to have a pie in every stadium he visited.
However, sometimes, the quintessential British delicacy was not on the menu, and he would have to expand his taste buds onto an alternative item.
After visiting a handful of grounds with his friends, and after many pies, Daniel decided to push the boat out and travel to some European grounds to see what food they have to offer!
Now, he has visited Germany, Vietnam, Italy, Sweden, Gibraltar, Holland and Portugal in his quest to search for the best grounds.
Along the way, he has been documenting his travels with his mates with a social media account called Pie & Ball which has amassed over 150,000 likes in total on TikTok.
Although this hobby may start to get costly as pints in football stadiums are expected to reach £10 by the end of the decade and the costs of pies are slowly rising to £5, with West Ham serving the most expensive pies in the country.
Daniel even developed a love for pints along the way and the previously alcohol-free footie fan now loves a beer at the game with his friends.
He said: “For someone who has been to so many football games now because obviously, I’ve made up another 108 in that time.I don’t think people would really expect me to have gone to my first one so late.
“I love it so much. I didn’t think I would love it so much beforehand but honestly, it is everything, like going into whatever place I’m going to next is always exciting, whether it’s near or far, it’s a new experience.”
Daniel added: “I don’t actually like going somewhere twice, because I want to see someone new!
“Football is different wherever you go. It’s just the thing that is beautiful about it.
“I think that’s why so many people are so into it, and why I’m so much into it.
“I wouldn’t ever tire of visiting games, because it’s just an atmosphere that you don’t get anywhere else ready.”
Although Daniel’s mission hasn’t missed some raised eyebrows, as his own father questioned his mission and his search for pies at non-league games.
Daniel explained: “My point of view is just like you don’t know, you have to go and enjoy yourself to see what it’s like!
He even admitted that his favourite pie was a bit closer to home and was actually from Stockport Town!
Daniel’s favourite stadium he visited was Benfica’s stadium (Estádio da Luz), officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica in Lisbon, Portugal.
He said: “I’ve wanted to go there for a long time so it was really good. A lovely stadium, great facilities, great atmosphere. I think overall, that’s probably the most fun I’ve had again.
“At Benfica, that’s actually the first time I ever finished the pint because my mate who I went with bought me one before the game and I thought I’ve got to finish this now.
“I never drink beforehand, so I had the first one there and he bought me another one. I was thinking, God, I’ll finish this as well… By the time I was halfway through the second one, I thought this was not too bad!”
Daniel said: “It’s been great that I’ve been able to go to all these places through this, and I’m looking forward to seeing where we go next!”
Daniel’s top 10 footy grounds for a pie and a pint:
1.Estadio da Luz (Benfica, Portugal) – 10/10
2.The Rock Stadium (Cefn Druids) (Wrexman, Wales) – 9.8/10
3.The Vestacare Stadium (Avro FC) (Oldham, UK) – 9.6/10
4.Molineux Stadium (Wolverhampton Wanderers) (Wolverhampton, UK) – 9.2/10
5.Ewen Fields (Hyde United) (Hyde, UK) – 9/10
6.De Kuip (Feyenoord) (Rotterdam, Netherlands) – 8.5/10
7.Stockport Sports Village (Stockport Town) (Stockport, UK) – 8.4/10
8.The Hawthorns (West Bromwich Albion) (West Bromwich, UK) – 7.5/10
9.Tameside Stadium (Curzon Ashton) (Ashton Under-Line, UK) – 7.3/10
10.The Citadel (Farsley Celtics) (West Yorkshire, UK) – 7/10
Daniel strictly judges the grounds for the presentation and taste of the pies and pints – although, he does admit that sometimes, the quality of the game helps!