Arsenal vs Cologne

[blacklion1725]

just stumbled across it – apparently 20,000 (!!) ticketless Germans now plotted up outside the Emirates Stadium – kick off delayed by an hour – not too much trouble but looks like it might get worse.

20,000?? Mixed between “fair play to them for the turnout” and “how has this not been detected earlier and managed better” and “wtf are they going to do with that many without tickets?”

Could get messy.

[PlaneMan]

That’s insane.

It’s bad enough round here when the Bluebirds matches get delayed, not violence but just a bad feeling in the air.

The local ASDA to the Cardiff City Stadium can’t sell booze between certain hours when a home match is on, but the even closer Lidl and pub can. ?

About 10 years ago if Cardiff were at home, the routes from town were almost no go zones, now, if you don’t mind the traffic, it’s fine.

[blacklion1725]

Is the new Cardiff City stadium on the site of the old Arms Park? Not been there but had a few interesting strolls through Cardiff to Ninian Park a few decades ago. Lively times!

Flicked round a few of the games tonight and realised again how utterly sh*te football is in this country. Sanitised, corporate, “family friendly” and crazy expensive. Less and less bothered with it by the week.

[The Duke]

This after noon the news was reporting upto 20k followers and that all the banks in cologne had ran out of pound sterling.

So “they” was well aware of their small army. I like it tbh, as long as their isn’t much trouble.

[PlaneMan]

The Cardiff City Stadium is opposite where Ninian Park used to be, that site is a small housing estate now. The memorial gates were saved and moved across the road.

Cardiff Arms Park is the name of the stadium the Cardiff Blues call home but the Principality Stadium (Millennium Stadium) is also on the Arms Park site. The whole site was a park.  So it’s possible to go the Arms Park without going to the Arms Park. (Go to the Principality Stadium but not the Arms Park stadium)

[Ed P]

Although one newspaper (The Mirror) decried the crowd hooliganism, and Arsenal face enquiries over the tickets that obviously went to touts; the Koln fans were actually very well behaved (by Koln standards), and The Sun said it wasn’t nearly as bad as the West Ham-MU match. However, I think I’ll avoid going to the Koln Christmas Market during the return game!

[Bob Williams]

When was in Germany, my closest big team was Dortmund, just a few K’s down the B1. I began going to see them and, when not playing myself, I would see as many home games as I could. I became a supporter, except when on leave in the UK during the Season, when I would return to the City Ground and resume my lifelong support for Forest. (Now 65 years this year) So I became a part of ‘Die Gelbe Wand‘ in the Westfallenstadion, the Yellow Wall. Always fanatical in their support, Dortmunders were fair to all other teams in the Bundesliga, but did not like Köln at all: their supporters were considered to be among the worst-behaved in the Bundesliga even then. Not violent in the mass apart from a few nutters, most German fans are well-behaved, just noisier than you might expect. I have been back to the Westfallenstadion a few times since, and the noise from 90,000 (yes, 90,000!) passionate Germans has to be heard to be believed. They love their football in Germany! Supporters come from all over the Rühr to watch Dortmund play.

But the sight and sound of 20,000 Germans marching and singing through London, must have had Sir Winston spinning in his grave. ??? I thought (just for a moment!) of being in an upper window of Oxford Street, with my old L42A1 ‘scoped rifle and a box of 7.62mm rounds… the flares would have backlit them.

There are conflicting reports of trouble, mostly caused by Köln fans having bought tickets from touts and then moving into Home fans’ areas. The touts will have bought their tickets from Arsenal fans of course, which has made my North London mate Brian and his family very angry. There is talk of any Arsenal fan proved to have sold a ticket in this way, to be banned from the ground. There was a great deal of fear reported amongst Arsenal fans, especially with children, in the midst of Köln fans. There are also reports that Stewards were inneffective and not in control, also apparently Arsène Wenger asked for the game to be postponed before kick off, but was refused. There is to be a UEFA and possibly FIFA investigation.

The Beautiful Game is suffering once again, although I never expected trouble from German supporters. I am not an Arsenal fan, but I hope they follow up that 3-1 win at home, with a total stuffing of Köln on their own Ground. It has been said that Köln have had a bad time, being relegated and out of Europe for many years. Personally, I hope they are again relegated at the end of this season.

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