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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.

Fair enough, it wasn't always brilliant, but what's replacing it is 2 more hours of repetitive music to go with the 22 hours a day they play already? 1st they scrapped the exciting commentary of toon games with Justin Lockwood and now this. Real radio have certainly went down in my estimation.

Seen the Japanese team jogging along Quayside yesterday. A couple of them stopped to pose for a photo with my Daughter.

Had to laugh at an old woman on "Look North" tonight. There was a piece about Sunderlands population dropping to 275k according to a cencus, while Newcastles' has risen to 280k. They interviewed a Sunderland woman who said "I was born here, but when i go to Newcastle there's things going on and it's alive. While here is fast turning into a dump."

For anyone who can handle an 18 hour trek, megabus to Amsterdam was £26 each way last i checked. I've booked a planes, trains and automobiles trip to Amsterdam involving a flight out of Glasgow and one back into Manchester with megabus to and from said airports. Was about £110 each return, for flights and buses.

Some confirmation on nufc.co.uk of some of the friendlies at last. http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20120712/united-heading-for-germany-and-hungary_2281670_2840613

2 days before a rumoured friendly in Germany and still no confirmation or denial of actually playing that or many other rumoured friendlies. Is a simple yes or no as to wether or not we are playing somebody too much to ask from NUFC?

Those games v Pompey and Leicester are easily among my most memorable games. The sheer relief after Kellys goal v Pompey and especially after the Leicester game was immense. I was resigned to us playing 3rd tier football after that season. If we survived at all.

I watched it on Virgins' catch up service a couple of days ago. Try typing it into the catch up search if you have virgin tele. That's where i accidentally found it when looking for something else. Love that type of show personaly. Takes you back. Reminded me of school, when everyone was wearing assorted shiny adidas strips. Man City and Brighton were wearing them in this episode and they were the in thing for teams of that era.