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Im staying in Jacobs hotel. I've heard nothing. Is this a fact? Just checked my emails. They have cancelled my reservation. Is Belgium a country full of c***s? Beyond p*ssed off That's disgracefull. Did you book directly with the hotel? If not and you booked through a travel company, shouldn't they offer you alternative accommodation? We booked through late rooms. Luckily we haven't lost out financially because we've managed to book up at another hotel at a similar price. I'm very tempted to go along to Jacobs hotel when I get there and see if its really closed. However there are very few hotels left with rooms available so if any other hotels decide to cancel reservations it could become tricky for a lot of people. Pleased you're sorted elsewhere. I thought businesses around europe were were supposed to be finding it hard financially. Strange that they can afford to close during a period of being virtually gauranteed to be full to capacity.

Im staying in Jacobs hotel. I've heard nothing. Is this a fact? Just checked my emails. They have cancelled my reservation. Is Belgium a country full of c***s? Beyond p*ssed off That's disgracefull. Did you book directly with the hotel? If not and you booked through a travel company, shouldn't they offer you alternative accommodation?

Dismissed it in an earlier post, but tbh i haven't been, nor had the inclination to go to Sunderland city centre for years. Unless an NUFC side are playing there, i don't set foot in the city as a rule. The only exception is rarely visiting my wifes' relations in Washington.

No. It hasn't.

Man U fans. Can honestly say i've more respect for Sunderland fans than that lot. Passing their buses on the way to the game yesterday, they were from the likes of Yeovil, Brum, Glasgow. Then there are the flags inside the ground, "Hartlepool reds, Durham reds". They're actually boasting that they follow a club from another town/city. Sorry, far from impressed. Not everyone following Newcastle is a local, i know, but toon fans can't be attracted by our success. That's for sure. There are other successful clubs visit SJP and can be annoying, but for the most part they support their team throughout the game. Man u are just antagonistic. Song after song about Shearer, where's your famous atmosphere etc. Then i go to work today to put up with bile spouted from such red strongholds as Amble and Seaton Delaval. Not one of them went to the game. AAARGH!!!

As long as they dish out the tickets in the post to home addresses it should be fine, hopefully. As for travel checks, i don't see how they can check how people are travelling. They've surely just got to take your word for it. You could say you are travelling with a group of nuns. What do they know?

Anyone know how detailed the declaration of travel arrangements you have to submit to NUFC has to be for a Brugge ticket? Think someone above said they were after specific train times etc. What if you hadn't booked anything because you were waiting for the outcome of your ticket application? A bit of a catch 22.

As I said earlier this is what they did when we played Waregem in Ghent. Few of my mates went over in hope of buying on the door and got turned away/threatened to be arrested if they didn't f*** off. We went to Ghent without tickets, and had heard rumours the day before leaving that we might get turned away. Eurostar pulled into Brussels and we got off the train to be faced by a line of Belgian coppers. Here we go, we thought. Gonna get turned back. We nervously approached the ticket barriers, only to be handed a leaflet saying "Welcome to Belgium". It had loads of info, maps etc. Had a great time and got into the home end, although we did prearrange tickets with a Waragem fan, via their forum IIRC. Exclusion zones? Can they even do that? Are we not supposed to have freedom of movement around Europe? Are they going to turn away non football related tourists too? Although turning up half cut with a toon top on might blow your cover.

Well I would be one of those affected as I will have enough points. I was told when booking that they would not deduct the money for the trip until it was confirmed and so far I have not paid anything so I don't think anyone will be waiting for refunds if it is cancelled. Fans have no choice but to book their travel and accommodation as soon as dates are announced because the prices go up by so much. Maybe when the draw is made they should not confirm dates until the ticket allocation has also been sorted between the clubs because then at least fans will know where they stand from the start. Aye, a lad at work's on the Thomas Cook trip too and he was saying the same about not having had to pay up front. I hope you get there. It's just a bit of a shame that you're left sweating on wether or not the trip goes ahead, because the club has misleadingly worded their ads to suggest that if you book the trip, you'll get a ticket. Which i'm sure swayed many into the Thomas Cook option. I know what you mean about booking early too. I, like thousands of others, am all paid up for travel, hotels etc with no ticket guarantee. That's the gamble, and i'll be there regardless.

I've a feeling the majority of fans who booked on the Thomas Cook trip did so because they thought it would get them a match ticket that they wouldn't otherwise qualify for. It seemed to be sold to them on that basis. I reckon the numbers on the those trips will be decimated, now that those fans still have to abide by the points system. May even be cancelled. For those who booked with Thomas Cook who are assured of a ticket, it could be an uncertain few weeks, while they wait to see if sufficient numbers actually still go.

Aye, that crossed my mind too. They had a drink ban at the Juventus game a few years back. Still seemed to be 1 or 2 bars where you could drink without being hassled though. If need be we'll just have to drink somewhere on the outskirts of the city. How big a radius can they impose a drink ban? Going to be a big police job this. One of the biggest invasions since the nazis.

I'm pleased for anyone connected with the tragic events at Hillsborough that day, that the incompetence of the police, and the FA mistake of choosing the venue without it having a safety certificate has been highlighted. After all it could have happened to us or any set of fans in the country. However, my sympathy towards Liverpool fans on the whole is tempered by my memories of the Heysel disaster, only 4 years earlier, when undoubtedly SOME Lfc fans were to blame for the deaths of many Juventus fans. Then more recently Liverpool played a champions league final in Athens, i think, when SOME ticketless fans tried to force their way into the stadium. I highlight "some" because i don't want to generalise. For most of the fans affected by Hillsborough, their only crime was to innocently try to follow their team that day.

If that 1,400 is true, it'll be a busy night for the Brugge police, keeping an eye on thousands of ticketless fans. After all, once you've shelled out on the trip, you're going to go with or without a ticket, surely?

Fair enough, we didn't bring many in during the summer, but it is a bit of a freak bout of injuries at the same time, in the same area of the pitch, we're having to contend with here. There's not many proven defenders would come here to sit on the bench, as they may have been expected to do had everyone remained fit.

Its strange because i find that lots of our fanbase quite like them. And it isnt because theyre not Liverplol. quite a lot of people here (or at least on some other toon messageboards) laughed at them when they lost their CL qualifier few years back. iirc, sections of online nufc supporters wanted them to slip-up all season. I think it's only natural for football fans to laugh at the misfortune of other clubs generally. Though maybe that's just me speaking personally.

Clicked on some of the links to Brum fans at Brugge after watching that clip. The atmosphere in that away end sounded cracking. What about these vouchers for Maritimo then? Have people got them and have they got names etc on them? Curious as to what to possibly expect for Brugge.

I'd like to think that matching 6000 or so passport details to vouchers for Brugge will be impossible/impractical for the home club. Hope so, as my mate's doomed otherwise. worried none the less. tickets or not. Brugge going to be one hell of a party.

NH Brugge for us. Just down the road according to map.

Aye, i remember him getting particularly bad abuse. A: he stood out for being black. there weren't many black players in the game in those days. B: he was certainly the only black goalkeeper i can remember from that era, for which he was singled out further. He got terrible stick. Off the pitch, you really did take your life in your hands at matches back then. Opposition goals were met with "you're going to get you're f'ing head kicked in"/"Can you run?"/or "We'll see you all outside." The last one to the "those were the days"-Mary hopkins(i think) tune. While i've no time for Man U, the "Who's that lying on the runway" song has also been a bit OTT in more recent times.

What about this in post 21? They actually shower? http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=729208#ixzz25xa3X9HO

Still £92 for me, which is what my mate paid last night. I paid £71 a few hours earlier so it's worth doing it asap. (That's going 6.50 thursday, returning 19.52 friday) Think we're going on the wednesday which is screwing us over. Lot of effort to get down to London for 6.50AM like. Last time i looked, eastcoast had numerous trains to london on weds evening for £15, which is what we've booked. Having to book an overnight stay in London, but that's not the poshest, most expensive hotel. It's just a base so that we catch the same 06:50 eurostar next morning. Not sure how else you'd get down to London in time otherwise.

Aye, lovely place. Best euro trip i've been on that Zulte Waragem game. Better than v more illustrious opponents, Barcelona, Juventus etc.

Aye but if it's +1s and that they'll soon get hoovered up. Birmingham got a full end (6-7,000) behind the goal last year but we're a way bigger draw than they are, no disrespect to them. Tickets are registered with passport numbers now apparently for all uefa games so very doubtful they'll do +1 with hem. Do you think you'd get away with A passport No, as opposed to THE passport No of the actual person whose s/ticket you are using to apply? Surely that mob in the box office couldn't be bothered to try and check that thousands of passports belong to the applicants. I've a feeling the ticket allocation for Brugge could be a lottery.

Been hearing that Blackburn's friendly with nijmegan in Holland at the weekend was called off for fears of more violence after trouble the previous 2 nights. Blackburn? Hardly notorious, though i suppose every club has some nutters in their ranks. Saw a lad wearing a Blackburn jacket stepping off the plane we were about to board in Amsterdam on Sunday morning. Probably unaware his teams game was postponed. Harsh on the innocent, genuine fan.

Him with the keyring man. What a wacky lot those mackems are eh? I saw a few at Sundays olympic matches at SJP wearing sunderland shirts. Personally, unless the toon are playing there, i wouldn't set foot in the SOS. Nice for them to have a day out in a real city though.