I watched Hibs stun bonkers Luzern ultras led by a CHEERLEADER who prove joy safe standing brings

Medium sized club. Big time European atmosphere.

That’s the take away from a visit to Luzern’s small but brilliantly designed Swissporarena to watch one of Hibs’ greatest results on the continent in over 40 years. And any Scottish club, no matter their size, looking to boost the match day experience at their own ground could do worse than have a shifty at it themselves.

Almost an entire end of the ground is fixed with rail seating. Or safe standing. Whichever you prefer. The away corner of the stadium at the opposite end too has 390 of the terraced seats in case the visiting parties fancy a bit of a sing off. The result. A deafening din in a stadium that holds only 16,000. That’s smaller than Easter Road, Tynecastle and Pittodrie. Of course it’s not just the design of the stadium that’s key here. The Luzern ultras are renowned across Switzerland for their choreographed noise and colour. Even if it is all-white.

It was certainly all right on the night on Thursday. Even as the media began filing in two hours before kick off the majority of the FCL hardcore were getting their show set up. By the time the home side emerged for their warm-up their end of the ground was packed. And the party had started. Led by an on-field cheerleader or conductor the ultras went through the songbook.

To be frank I’ve no idea what they were saying. But it sure sounded good. The players responded too. Each and every one of them would take a moment from their preparations to go and acknowledge the diehards. Any fears their voicebox would pack in before kick off were quickly wiped out as the decibels grew with each passing minute.

As Mario Frick’s side brought the game back to 2-1 and had Hibs on the ropes for a spell it was almost as if the