ICTFC v FC Astra Giurgiu // Travel + Build up

[GaidhealtachdDosser]

I did chuckle at the advert in the V8 Cafe which describes Bucharest as "lively". It's certainly a city of contrasts.

I'm no travel agent but I thought our Club Charters overly expensive, however £350 and £650 to Odense and Athens respectively doesn't seem too bad now when compared to yours.

I would urge those that can go to go -- you'll only ever have one 1st game in European competition. I endured the coach from Motherwell to Katowice in 91 for a Cup Winners Cup tie. It took almost 3 days to get there and we only made the last 15mins of play. Would I do it again ?  You bet.

A word of caution ................ eastern european fans like to "acquire" visiting teams' flags - then set them alight during the game, so keep your flags/banners close at hand or tucked away until you get into the stadium. I followed Motherwell to Steaua and the local cops did look rather stern faced and trigger happy. They take no **** over there.

All the very best. Get yer kilts on and enjoy ----------- it's a very unique experience.

Slainje

Edited July 5, 2015 by GaidhealtachdDosser
spelling !!!!

[Big G]

My wife and I just booked. Buzzing now.

[Guest]

We've sold 3353 tickets so far for the home leg. I counted the dots because I have no life.

Edited July 7, 2015 by Guest

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

But what did it look like when you joined them all up with your pencil ?

[Guest]

But what did it look like when you joined them all up with your pencil ?

It looked like an easy 3-0 win.

[DEANO96]

Is it just me or is 3400 a little bit low for our first European game? I know there's a week left before the game but was expecting at least 5000

[Joe DiMaggio]

I had genuinely thought we would sell the whole stadium out easily. 

[ilpadrino]

Oh no! I've booked flights to Budapest 

Jersey minister on travelling to wrong country for dance event: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02wkp24

 

[Sneckboy]

The draw that paired us with Astra was a convoluted affair, with little transparency - the 'mini groups' for our Q2 draw didn't appear to be disclosed anywhere - although the Q1 'groupings' were publicly revealed prior to that draw. I'd forgotten all about it, but have just stumbled upon the actual groupings.

For the record, we were in an unseeded group of broadly northern European teams, with the exception of Laci (Albania) / Inter Baku (Azerbaijan) !
But these, of course,  were clubs that we would definitely not be playing.

But, of more interest, the six teams we could have been drawn against are shown below. The Polish club won away in their first-leg, while the Hungarians have a 3-0 lead in their tie. FC Copenhagen may have been more attractive than Astra, but we could certainly have been paired with less favourable ties, logistically and from a playing perspective.
There appears to be little geographical 'logic' behind these groupings!

 

Edited July 8, 2015 by Sneckboy

[Daniel Evans]

I am travelling to Romania and staying in Old Town (Sector 3) of Bucharest with 3 mates. We were originally a group of 6 but two dropped out after booking so we have two spaces in the Pura Vida Sky Bar and Hostel from Wednesday the 22nd until we depart on Saturday 25th. If anyone wants these two spaces for £20 each just let me know!

[DalgetyBayJaggy]

Now have 7 coaches booked for Bucharest - Giurgiu transfer! 

[RedCard]

Giurgiu won't know what's hit it! 

[AlexJones]

I would take a 4-1 defeat with Astra fielding an ineligible player.

[davieB]

I'd guess that the ticket sales for the home tie might have something to do with it being £25. Seems a hell of a lot for a Europa qualifying tie. Not sure what the away ticket prices will be but I'll bet they'll not be that steep.

[CaleyJim]

Giurgiu won't know what's hit it!

And that's just from the 2 of us!

Seeing as it's 35 degrees plus at the moment, that will make us very thirsty

i can't wait for this trip. Bring it on.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

I like the photo of the Gellions charter

[Guest]

I'd guess that the ticket sales for the home tie might have something to do with it being £25. Seems a hell of a lot for a Europa qualifying tie. Not sure what the away ticket prices will be but I'll bet they'll not be that steep.

Apparently we're operating on a similar pricing structure to that which St. Johnstone have used the past couple of years for European games. They have got over 7k for most, if not all, of their home matches.

 

Edited July 9, 2015 by Guest

[Sneckboy]

Yeah, they've had impressive turn-outs for their European home games over the past few seasons. They have indeed exceeded 7,000+ in 4 of their 5 games at home - and as they've a broadly similar fan base as ourselves, we should be looking at that as the benchmark. It would be a little disappointing if we had 'only' 6,000 at this historic game!

[Harry Chibber]

Saints out. Dons through

**** just got real!!!

 

Would have been a disaster being the only Scottish team left in the competition so happy to see Dons get through.

[Sneckboy]

Now that the dust has settled on the Q1 round, it's now official that we (or Astra) will be unseeded in the Q3 draw next Friday.
This leaves us with the opportunity to be paired with a real name club.
The likes of Sampdoria, Bordeaux, Southampton, West Ham United, Athletic Bilbao and Borussia Dortmund are amongst the clubs we could meet.

[CaleyD]

Yeah, they've had impressive turn-outs for their European home games over the past few seasons. They have indeed exceeded 7,000+ in 4 of their 5 games at home - and as they've a broadly similar fan base as ourselves, we should be looking at that as the benchmark. It would be a little disappointing if we had 'only' 6,000 at this historic game!

They had 5746 tonight....

https://twitter.com/St_Johnstone_FC/status/619231425917755392

That's on the back of a season average for 14/15 of 4592.

So their Euro attendance tonight was about 25% more than their average.

If the expectation is that we should do similar, then you're looking at about 4666 (3733 + 25%) as being the figure.

If you want to dig into figures to find something we should be hopeful of achieving, then it's the fact that the average attendance for St Johnstone went up last season by 20%...that's off the back of a season in which they won the Scottish Cup & Qualified for Europe (sound familiar ).....if we could manage something similar, then that would be far more meaningful for the club than how many people turn out on Thursday.

I have a bit of audio from an interview with Yogi this week that I'll be sticking online over the next few days that talks about "expectation"....think a lot of people will like it.

[TopSix]

Aberdeen's prices for their home round 1 tie: http://www.afc.co.uk/mobile/news/6364.php

St Johnstone's prices for their home leg tie: http://www.perthstjohnstonefc.co.uk/newsitemsdetail.php?param=3650

Aberdeen's pricing structure is far more sensible. Why don't we offer concessions for people in FTE? 

[Joe DiMaggio]

Being slightly generous with the numbers there CaleyD. Yes that was St. Johnstone's crowd last night but this is their 4th season in a row in Europe. It is our first ever game so much more of an occasion. 

St. Johnstone also got crowds of 7-8.5k in Europe in recent seasons. With lower home average league attendances. 

We should have been looking to fill the stadium without too much effort. 

[The Mantis]

Have to agree with Joe. Historic occasion for the club and a no-brainer to be able to say you were there. Can't understand why it's any less important than Barry's testimonial. 

[12th Man]

It can't cost much to advertise you event on visit Scotland.

May as well take advantage of the time of year.