Voll Blau

It works because football in Scotland is still seen as something to be enjoyed, and fans get that. In England, we let the sanitised, corporate vision of football wash over us like it should have always been that way. Add in that clubs in Scotland realise they need those kind of fans to survive and it provides could conditions for active support to thrive.

Come on the Dutch!

@fuchsntf Thanks for the tips. We're staying around the corner from the German Mining Museum so I'm hoping to visit that too. I've been going to Bochum multiple times a year for 12 years and haven't managed to go there yet, even though one of my mates actually got married in the mine shaft there! We'll be staying in the Ruhrpott for the whole weekend, I think - although Koln II v Fortuna Koln was a potential match we could have visited on the Friday (logistically it looked a bit difficult as we're flying into Eindhoven to save money). We won't have that much time before the BVB II game on the Sunday if we're coming straight from Wattenscheid, but I'll bear your recommendations in mind. We also considered Schalke v Osnabruck on the Friday night, but I'm told standing tickets would be impossible.

Yeah, saw that. Think the kick-off time may count against chances of a decent-sized away support, given how far they're coming from. Did a Saturday lunchtime game with 1860 in the away end as Duisburg a few years ago and there were only 3-400 there. They do have a weird, minor "enemy of my enemy is my friend" friendship with Dortmund though so that may boost the attendance.

All booked for me and my brother to take my dad to Germany at the start of December as a 60th present. Doing Bochum v Wolfsburg on the Saturday, then Sunday presents the chance for a double-header as Wattenscheid are at home in the afternoon and Dortmund II at home in the evening against 1860 Munich. Hoping the latter might be played in the Westfalenstadion, although it's most likely to be the Rot Erde right next door to it. Friday fixtures didn't fall too kindly so we'll chuck in a bit of Christmas Market action and a trip to the German Football Museum. Job's a good'un.

Nobody's having a "meltdown" about people not staying to watch players walk back down a tunnel. People are annoyed that a large proportion of our fanbase won't stay until the final whistle - at minimum - no matter the context of the last few minutes of a game. In any case, both a pre-match tifo and a full ground cheering at the end are things that are far more likely to inspire the team than the alternatives.

This is why it's imperative that people who enjoy the tifos let the club know. They put far too much stock in the opinions of the minority for whom watching some men walk out of a tunnel is the best thing about football.

Afghanistan are a good side in conditions they know well and England played poorly. The former deserve plenty of credit but it's hard to say it's that much of an upset.

That review from Livingstone.

Three out of three for good boozers so far - Old Harkers Arms, Cavern of the Curious Gnome (very Belgian and German-oriented) and Deva Tap. Westwood Cheshire Cat pale in the Old Harkers went down a treat after diving in there to get out of the hale this morning.

India's game management has been really good so far, even when they've come under pressure. Would just love to see Shaheen get right into them as see if that changes that.

Absolute scenes if Pakistan pull off a win tomorrow.

Enjoyable watch, that.

Junior Foxes Euro 96 tournament? I played for Switzerland.

Snap.

Should just show a montage of it on the "Iconic Moments" segment on repeat for the rest of the tournament. Sounds a great atmosphere today too.

Feel like The Glorious Republic of Leicestershire are going to become the new Gibraltar when it comes to unnecessary slurs about our place in the international game.

I'm sure Harry Maguire will lend them a hand tomorrow night on that front.

Love seeing the Aussies filed like clowns. Bit of a harsh characterisation, but oh well.

Savage made his Wales debut last night.

All the best Shakey.

The number of people who have a four-hour trip to games are in an absolute minority, though. Again, people would expect *a few* fans each game to leave because of circumstances like that - there's no way half of the stadium have that excuse. Dunno if it's just me, but sitting in a warm car in a traffic jam after a game with my old man listening to the Moan-In or Sports Report on the radio used to be part of the fun of a matchday for me? Almost feels like actually going to games is a borderline inconvenience for people if they're determined to leave early every game, whatever the context of the match.

Side note but had a tin of Ben Shaw's shandy in the chippy the other day and it was so refreshing. Used to love a Shandy Bass back in the day.

Milner's record-breaking goal was Boxing Day '02 - after we'd moved. Remember it being on 5 Live as we were parking up on Saffron Lane before we played Ipswich. Guess his first appearance against us would have been the following season?