ymip

Tickets available on both Ticketnet and Fnac yesterday but selling fast. No problem using a UK address/credit card for those folk enquiring earlier.

Did you see the sitter Beasley missed in the dying seconds of the Gold Cup final - Van Vosen-esque!

ICTDave - I've already got a load of mates chasing me for tickets but I've no guarantee of getting sorted myself and will be trying my hand on the above sites when the tickets are released. I'll also be asking friends in Paris to buy them over the counter if possible. If I end up with a few tickets you never know but I expect the tickets for the France end to sell very quickly due to the importance of the match and the fact that France no longer play at the Parc des Princes is an added novelty factor for the locals. Exiled ICT is spot on regarding the rugby world cup which is a big deal here in France. England are playing South Africa at the Stade de France on the Friday after the game so bedspaces are going to be as rare as rocking horse sh.it and the streets will be awash with hooray henry ruggah types.

You're almost right Chris. There was a young black guy who'd been released by Man City up on trial for a couple of weeks several years back. I forget his name but I think he might have played a couple of reserve games but was never near the first team.

French Football Federation: www.fff.fr Ticketnet page for France/Scotland notification: http://www.ticketnet.fr/shop/fr/manif.asp?...mp;idtier=78768 Also check: www.fnac.com and look under "spectacles"

I would also advise you to look into hotels early doors as there's a real problem with regards lack of bedspaces in the city. What is available tends to be pretty expensive. Another point to bear in mind is the fact that the game is at the Parc des Princes which has a much smaller capacity (44,500) than the Stade de France (80,00) so tickets are going to be at a premium. I'm leaving Paris next week after eight years out here but I'm planning on being back for the game. It's going to be difficult to lay my hands on a ticket for the Scotland end but I'm fairly confident of securing a ticket in the France end. :004:

I may be completely wide of the mark here but I would suggest that he's likely to be a Scottish player looking for a move back to the SPL. Looking at the clubs in League 1 the one Scottish striker that stands out is Tom Brighton at Millwall. I don't think he's really set the heather alight down there since his move from Clyde. You never know.......

The season may well be seven weeks from starting but I'd like to think that just for once we might have tried to assemble our squad prior to commencing pre-season training and the usual raft of meaningless friendlies. Alas, the silence surrounding the season ahead is deafening. Dargo and Dods have departed despite Grasser’s repeated threats to smash the club’s wage structure. Meanwhile Buchanan opts for Partick Thistle, McManus stays at Dunfermline and Mensing heads for Motherwell. Our playing squad is undoubtedly depleted and there is no sign of anyone arriving to fill the gaps let alone move us forward and avoid a potential relegation dog-fight. Moreover, there’s no suggestion of a single decent pre-season friendly which might generate a degree of interest amongst the apathetic sneck public or heaven-forbid generate some positive press coverage in the close season. The same old Highland League and Division 2/3 sides don’t count I’m afraid. There’s been nothing official on the pre-season jaunt to Italy nor any announcement on our new sponsorship deal. Don’t get me started on the Elton John/Intertoto farce. But never mind Charlie and Grasser are p.issing about playing Masterchef at Rocpool so all in the world is fine and dandy. In short the same old amateurish approach that we’ve come to expect. :019:

CB's devout unionists stance is clearly a pre-requisite for a career within the Corporation. Charles, can we expect a Wark-esque savaging of CC if he comes out in favour of independence? :004:

From today's Record: "With the exception of the Old Firm and a couple of other SPL clubs, we're as well-equipped as any in Scotland when it comes to facilities. "Now we've just got to get out of the First Division at the first time of asking." Should you tell him or shall I? :001:

Gretna playing in Carlisle will never happen due to the potential aggro factor. Carlisle fans were involved in a serious attack on Scotland fans en route to Wembley in the eighties and they still have an element attached to the club who would be delighted at the thought of Scottish fans visiting Brunton Park every fortnight. Aint going to happen....

If you recall we were supposed to be playing Fiorentina last season!! I would have thought July 8th to 15th is way too early for any Serie A or B side to be indulging in pre season games. Serie A only finished last weekend and Serie B is still rumbling on. Wouldn't mind a trip over to Toscana if there was a possibility of playing someone half decent. Believe it when I see it....

Johndo's first one wouldn't be Chorley FC perchance? :001: Second one looks liek Shawfield.

Too easy - Swinecastle.

Is that not us at the last game at Brockville.

I think TM4TJ's second pic is PRP Bunff.

Forgive me if I digress for a moment........ I don't like County or their fans but if you go back to pre-merger days they were an absolute nonentity until the nineties and could be filed alongside Rothes or Deveronvale on the rivals barometer. During my youth a visit to Dingwall was like a Sunday school outing. Their fans were/are so clueless there was never what I would consider a hostile atmosphere. Visits to Elgin or Peterhead on the other hand were an altogether different proposition with a more volatile undercurrent the minute you got off the train/bus. At the end of the day the level of animosity between two sets of supporters is what ultimately defines a 'real' rivalry. For me a rivalry is historic, cannot be fabricated and is less about league tables and more about the off the field state of play. If we fast forward to our SFL encounters with County it's fair to say we all loved turning them over but I would suggest their fans are to be pitied rather than hated and I've never encounterd an edgy atmosphere at a single ICT/County match. They profess to hating us but it's all pretty tame stuff from where I'm standing. Always enjoved p'issing on Livi's chips but again their support are pre-fabricated nu-fans too soft to venture to Easter Road/Swinecastle in the eighties so again there was never a particularly carniverous atmosphere at out encounters. The Dons thing is a bit of a white elephant as there's no historic reference point and I don't think our disdain for them is reciprocated by the vast majority of dandies. All their negative energy is taken up hating the huns. Get yourself along to a Dandies/Huns match and compare the vitriol with the last ICT/Caley match you attended and you'll se what I'm getting at. In short we have no REAL rivals despite what some of our younger fans may believe. Only my opinion but as my missus will testify I'm seldom wrong :001:

I’ve never been one of those folk who’s into this whole phoney Highland brethren nonsense and have no desire to see County prosper as the area clearly cannot support two SPL sides. However, I’ve mixed emotions about them going down as they’ve obviously proved to be a decent recruitment source for us over the years and the step up from second division to SPL might prove too great for the Rankins and Cowies of the future. Lower to mid-table first division obscurity would be my preference. I would be very disappointed to see our fans in the Gretna end gloating at County’s probable demise. Most undignified and lacking in class imho. It would also suggest they are in some way serious rivals which is obviously no longer the case. The hated Airdrie and their plastic hun, buckfast swilling support are a side I would gladly see relegated before County. Similarly the thought of ICT fans supporting Gretna at the cup final last season still makes me cringe with embarrassment. Nothing would please me more than seeing Mileson’s millionaires stuck in first division limbo for eternity. As previously stated Gretna are everything that’s wrong with the modern game.

For a sixteen year old who's never featured in the County first team. Behave yourself mun.

Could be the greatest Scottish player of his generation or could just as easily be the next Darren MacLean/John Scott/Les Fridge (delete as applicable). Good luck to the lad but the chances of him breaking through at Liverpool are marginal at best. Would be well advised to spend a few seasons at his local SPL side learning his trade. :004:

Agreed. I don't think I've ever been so gutted after a defeat. Even the two semi final defeats pale into insignificance when compared with yesterday. I just hope the players can raise themselves for the run in after this sickener. :019:

They only dropped the prices due to the fact that the game kicked-off at 6pm on a Thursday evening. This one-off gesture was offset by the fact that they received a wedge from German TV to move the game to fit in with their schedules. I think Motherwell agreed to something similar when they played Borussia Dortmund in Europe a good few years back.

I think this is the third season Lille have been playing at Villeneuve d’Asq. There was a massive rumpus over the location of the new stadium which I think was settled last year. They’re currently in the bidding process but it could be a good few years before the whole things is completed. It’s supposedly going to be a 50,000 seater stadium with a roof, rectractable playing surface, etc. Quite a few French clubs are pursuing new stadiums at the moment (Nice, Le Mans, possibly even Marseille) but as the city generally owns the stadiums it takes an eternity to get the whole scheme through the bureaucratic French stystem.

Yes, I’ve indirectly suffered the effects of tear gas. Funnily enough also in France and involving PSG. Happened a few seasons back outside the Parc des Princes after a PSG – Olympique Marseille match. As Yngwie will testify PSG-OM games are extremely volatile as they absolutely detest each other. We were in our regular boozer having a post match pint whilst outside the PSG hooligans were scrapping with the CRS in an attempt to get at the Marseille fans. We were standing inside the bar watching events unfold when the CRS charged them and unleashed several rounds of tear gas. The PSG lot charged into the boozer to escape the CRS and we were treated to a nice waft of tear gas. Not a very pleasant experience. Had another sketchy experience after the PSG-Marseille French Cup final last season. Ended up behind the Marseille escort on my scooter and was forced onto the Autoroute by the CRS as the Marseille Ultras launched missiles at us. 50cc scooters and autoroutes at night are a bad combination made even worse when stuff is flying past your napper. Yngwie, were you in with the Dogues Virage Est ? I was sitting just under them at the Lille – Man United match at the Stade de France last season. Quite a lively bunch as I recall.

Rejoice, rejoice ! Mackie on the verge of signing a two year extension with the dismal dons. Thank christ for that. :021: