(Host of) Problems (with Host)

[Duncan Gardner]

Thanks all for replies. Brentford the potential Southern-thon

[Artificial Hipster]

There are lots of smaller club stadia* that could have been approached. Although pitches do get relayed in the summer. Are the Man City Academy and Leigh Sports complex grass pitches? Hopefully, because games on artificial pitches are a bit crap for an international tournament.

I've seen Man United women play at Leigh and it's definitely grass. 99% certain City's Academy is too.

[Patrick Thistle]

I heard that the requirements for hosting games are quite extensive and that one of them is that clubs have to basically give their ground over to UEFA while the tournament is on, so essentially they won't be able to host any pre season friendlies next summer. I imagine that might have put some clubs off.
.

Yes, that would make it quite onerous and I can see smaller clubs deciding it wasn't worth it. Just feels a bit odd that the capacity gap between Man City's training ground and Old Trafford for various group games. I presume England will be in Group A and playing at Old Trafford.

[Ray de Galles]

I've popped a link and details for today's onsale in the draw and finalists thread, btw.

Didn't think it belonged here really,

[Gangster Octopus]

I realise it's a controversial take.

Consider yourself severely admonished.

[imp]

I wonder if, given the serial economic difficulties of the clubs involved, a Rotherfield Wednesday FC wouldn't be a thrusting, forward-looking, innovative merger.

[Duncan Gardner]

This could be Rotherham or Bramall Lane
Mid Eastlands and Leigh
South Coast, MK and Brentford
Then see yiz all at Wembley

[Gas In Name Only]

I totally support Benjm wanting the games at Brentford to go ahead. As none of the venues are less than 150 miles from my house I'm not going to be looking for tickets.

Given one of the venues is basically Manchester City's reserve pitch it feels a bit crap that there are no games in, say, Bristol that would be accessible to a large swathe of the population.

I'm in the, sadly minority, position of being happy my home city didn't get any games because then I'd have to not buy tickets for them because I won't set foot inside AG unless the Rovers are playing there.

[Guy Profumo]

You'll catch it from Gangster Octopus

I might have a thing or two to say too

[Guy Profumo]

Thanks all for replies. Brentford the potential Southern-thon

So where's the northern one?

Manchester or Rotherham?

(Or is Rotherham still something of the "beer desert" it always was back in the day?)

[Patrick Thistle]

I'm in the, sadly minority, position of being happy my home city didn't get any games because then I'd have to not buy tickets for them because I won't set foot inside AG unless the Rovers are playing there.

Understandable position. Also, welcome to the board.

[Various Artist]

This could be Rotherham or Bramall Lane
Mid Eastlands and Leigh
South Coast, MK and Brentford
Then see yiz all at Wembley

I read that to the tune of
"This could be Rotherham or Bramall Lane
Liverpool or Rome
But Rotherham is anywhere
Anywhere alone..."

[Patrick Thistle]

Various Artist me too

[Various Artist]

Thank goodness for that!

[imp]

Understandable position. Also, welcome to the board.

Yes, welcome to the board, Gasman. I don't really get the position, though. When I was in Zurich, Grasshopper had to share with FC Zurich for a while, and there were Grasshopper fans who wouldn't go to Grasshopper's 'home' games at the Letzigrund. So they were depriving their own team of income and support. Now they share the stadium permanently, so I've no idea if these same fans gave up on the game completely as a matter of principle.

I get the reasoning, I suppose, in theory. It's just that if there was, say, a U19 World Cup in England and Sincil Bank was chosen as one of the stadiums, I'd be really proud of that and would want to be at every game. What might happen to me if I walked into the stadium and Lincoln weren't playing? A seizure of some kind? Accusations that I'm not a true imps fan? Seems an odd thing to take a stance on.

[Gas In Name Only]

Yes, welcome to the board, Gasman. I don't really get the position, though. When I was in Zurich, Grasshopper had to share with FC Zurich for a while, and there were Grasshopper fans who wouldn't go to Grasshopper's 'home' games at the Letzigrund. So they were depriving their own team of income and support. Now they share the stadium permanently, so I've no idea if these same fans gave up on the game completely as a matter of principle.

I get the reasoning, I suppose, in theory. It's just that if there was, say, a U19 World Cup in England and Sincil Bank was chosen as one of the stadiums, I'd be really proud of that and would want to be at every game. What might happen to me if I walked into the stadium and Lincoln weren't playing? A seizure of some kind? Accusations that I'm not a true imps fan? Seems an odd thing to take a stance on.

Ah, I see the misunderstanding here

See, AG is not the home ground of Bristol Rovers. *someone else* plays there hence why I never go unless we're the visitors.

[imp]

Ah, I see the misunderstanding here

See, AG is not the home ground of Bristol Rovers. *someone else* plays there hence why I never go unless we're the visitors.

Ha, my apologies - didn't read the post carefully enough. Appreciate that you can not even spell out AG for speed readers like me.

[Duncan Gardner]

I read that to the tune of
"This could be Rotherham or Bramall Lane
Liverpool or Rome
But Rotherham is anywhere
Anywhere alone..."

Apologies, somehow that turned into a Beautiful South/ Lonnie Donegan mashup

[Gas In Name Only]

Ha, my apologies - didn't read the post carefully enough. Appreciate that you can not even spell out AG for speed readers like me.

I try not to even mention their name if I can help it. Believe it or not, I'm one of the more moderate types when it comes to them

[imp]

Genuine question - are there people who go and watch and even support both Bristol clubs? I only ask because if I live in a city, and there's a game on, I'll go. Here I go and watch Eintracht, FSV and Offenbach Kickers (Offenbach is basically a suburb of Frankfurt, but it's obligatory to pretend you hate everything about it, presumably for reasons of historical idiocy). As a kid, even as Lincoln fans we'd go to watch Scunthorpe and Grimsby on weekends when my dad wasn't on call. Same with Rangers and Celtic when he moved back to Scotland (he's been Rangers since he was knee-high, Presbyterian family, but always abhorred sectarianism). In Zurich, I watched both FC and Grasshopper, even though I was only a fan of the former. But, you know, a game's a game, in a stadium, and there's nowhere else I'd rather be in my free time. So while I know about and understand the fundamentalists, I sometimes wonder how many other fans there are like me. But we probably keep our heads down.

Still, why should I deny myself a night out at Kickers Offenbach? It's a great stadium, they have raucous fans, a fine fanzine, and it takes me only 10 minutes longer to get to by bike than it does to get to Eintracht.

[ad hoc]

My sense in Sheffield is that the only people who would go to both Wednesday and United games are those in "mixed marriages" , but they certainly wouldn't support both. Apart from anything else going to both of the league clubs would be a huge financial commitment, significantly greater than that in Germany, I imagine. However i think quite a lot of people do go to their first team and one of the non-league sides (like Sheffield FC).

[ursus arctos]

Well, if you told the lads at Kickers that you were enjoying your visit to their suburb, you'd be going home in an ambulance

[imp]

Well, if you told the lads at Kickers that you were enjoying your visit to their suburb, you'd be going home in an ambulance

Heh. I'm not so relaxed about it that I wear one of my Eintracht scarves (the one with MITGLIED stitched across the emblem) to keep warm.

Plus' - 'suburb', I should have said 'satellite town', because there's no stretch of countryside between the two, unless you count a couple of cabbage fields in lower Oberrad. But yeah, neither's a description I would blithely put past an Offenbacher. One of my favourite t-shirts I ever saw at a game was a few years back in Offenbach: "Nach Frankfurt fahr' ich nur zum Ficken".

[imp]

My sense in Sheffield is that the only people who would go to both Wednesday and United games are those in "mixed marriages" , but they certainly wouldn't support both. Apart from anything else going to both of the league clubs would be a huge financial commitment, significantly greater than that in Germany, I imagine. However i think quite a lot of people do go to their first team and one of the non-league sides (like Sheffield FC).

Hadn't thought of the financial aspect - of course that plays a huge role nowadays. Plus, it presumably makes a significant difference if you grow up in that city, rather than just floating into it by chance. Maybe if I'd grown up in Lincoln itself (rather than half way between the two), I'd have had a less relaxed approach about an afternoon out at Blundell Park.

[ursus arctos]

It isn't really a satellite town either, because it has been around since the first millennium and has always had its own distinct identity and business/industrial base (can you tell that I've had this conversation with Offenbachers?).

I think of it more as Brooklyn to Manhattan or Oakland to San Francisco. Seven hundred years ago, one could have said Southwark to London, but that hasn't worked for quite a while. Maybe Rotherham to Sheffield?