City council reveals plans to welcome visiting Champions' League fans

[MC Prussian]

I dread to think of what the "Welcomers" will have to go through at hotspots such as the train station when handing out leaflets to foreign disgruntled or intoxicated ultras, such as Besiktas, Rostov, Roma or Dynamo Kiev followers.

 

Just have something "special" arranged if we draw Atlético.

 

(Imagine Celtic fans in Leicester, tying to navigate around on their own, that'd be funny) 

[Carl the Llama]

13 hours ago, boots60 said:

Every dog has its day & at this moment in history this is a time to be proud of Leicester & proud of living here. There are far many worse places to live in the U.K as I'm sure most away travellers will know.

Before the 1992 Olympics Barcelona was not the beautiful city it is now. It was a bit if a shithole with a decent football team.

 

Wow I never realised Gaudi & co's art nouveau buildings from the late-1800s/early-1900s were built for the Olympics.

[lgfualol]

I just have an image of a bunch of students waving, smiling and shouting hello in Russian and then all fleeing for their lives moments later.

[norwichfox]

17 hours ago, yorkie1999 said:

Especially when everyone that lives there spends their entire life trying to get out.

You can take the man out of Leicester, but you can't take Leicester out of the man......I moved away many years ago and still feel as though I'm a  local Leicester lad, even though I can barely find my way around the place now. A good starting point for the council in helping tourists would be some decent sign posts and road markings.

[Rob1742]

It's a tough one. Signposts heading them towards the City Centre would probably mean most would head straight back, go home and watch it on the telly. 

 

Maybe some sort of mono rail to cut out Granby Street and Gallowtree Gate so they have direct access to The Highcross. Or maybe buses laid on to take them to The Curve. 

 

That way they won't get that feeling of "what the hell is this" when they arrive in our lovely City.

 

In all seriousness I personally  would set up some sort of fan village at the top of High Street and at the ground,  food options that are catered by the local restaurants to enable them to benefit. 

 

But if they are to go down to Granby Street, I think there first thought would be that nothing has changed since Richard 3 was alive 

 

 

[Voll Blau]

16 minutes ago, Rob1742 said:

It's a tough one. Signposts heading them towards the City Centre would probably mean most would head straight back, go home and watch it on the telly. 

 

Maybe some sort of mono rail to cut out Granby Street and Gallowtree Gate so they have direct access to The Highcross. Or maybe buses laid on to take them to The Curve. 

 

That way they won't get that feeling of "what the hell is this" when they arrive in our lovely City.

 

In all seriousness I personally  would set up some sort of fan village at the top of High Street and at the ground,  food options that are catered by the local restaurants to enable them to benefit. 

 

But if they are to go down to Granby Street, I think there first thought would be that nothing has changed since Richard 3 was alive 

 

 

 

Yeah I'm sure their fragile little minds are going to be absolutely beyond repair after seeing a couple of hobos necking White Ace outside Maryland.

[RowlattsFox]

Leicester isn't great but its not that bad. There are bad areas of all great cities. I remember going into Rome on the train and thinking it was a shithole. Same goes for Milan.

[Rich Fox]

Are the Millwall fans being drafted in to greet the Russians at the station?

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Put it this way, the fans that come to Leicester following European teams will have been to much, much worse shitholes in their time. 

[GaelicFox]

Wonder will the massage parlors in town be getting language lessons for the girls 

 

How on earth will the explain the "extras" in russian  

[Manwell Pablo]

13 hours ago, MarriedaLeicesterGirl said:

In all honesty, as an American currently living in Rome (and with a wife in the tourist industry), Leicester does have stuff to offer. First of all, location. If you are visiting England, it's in the middle, and close to Nottingham and Stratford,  which are huge tourist destinations for US tourists, but not where you want to spend the night. Second, within the city, the RIII stuff is actually a big deal right now; also, more could be done with the Roman angle; and third, is the countryside, which is a big deal for us foreigners. Heck, one of our restaurants in Rome is even decorated with illustrations of a foxhunt in Leicestershire. Leicester is sellable, especially as an affordable "home base" for people wanting to spend a week or two in England.

Why on earth would you not want to spend the night in Nottingham but Leicester would be fine, just to stick to one point at a time as I am busy and do not have time to go through the rest. 

[Finnegan]

2 minutes ago, Manwell Pablo said:

Why on earth would you not want to spend the night in Nottingham but Leicester would be fine, just to stick to one point at a time as I am busy and do not have time to go through the rest. 

 

..... Because Forest aren't in the Champions League?

[AndWhat?]

 

Has this video been posted yet?

 

Napoli fans arriving in Rome.

 

Good luck trying to stop these guys for a chat  

[Grewks]

Send Bernie for the 'meet and greet' at the station.

[Guest Bilo]

3 hours ago, Rob1742 said:

It's a tough one. Signposts heading them towards the City Centre would probably mean most would head straight back, go home and watch it on the telly. 

 

Maybe some sort of mono rail to cut out Granby Street and Gallowtree Gate so they have direct access to The Highcross. Or maybe buses laid on to take them to The Curve. 

 

That way they won't get that feeling of "what the hell is this" when they arrive in our lovely City.

 

In all seriousness I personally  would set up some sort of fan village at the top of High Street and at the ground,  food options that are catered by the local restaurants to enable them to benefit. 

 

But if they are to go down to Granby Street, I think there first thought would be that nothing has changed since Richard 3 was alive 

 

 

Spoken like a man who's never been to Naples.  

 

Believe me, Leicester will look pretty affluent compared to some of the places these people have been. I hardly think a few micey takeaways and pissed up tramps outside the Tesco Express on Granby Street are going to make them think they've taken a wrong turn and pitched up in 1990s Sarajevo. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

26 minutes ago, AndWhat? said:

 

Has this video been posted yet?

 

Napoli fans arriving in Rome.

 

Good luck trying to stop these guys for a chat  

That video makes me laugh so much, you think they're all through and then another load of them rock up  

The allocation in Rome is pretty big and it looks like they all arrived at one time! 

[Guest Bilo]

Always makes me laugh how people are so keen to do down Leicester as though it's some kind of unspeakable hell hole. Stranger still that we're playing up cities like Nottingham which, outside the polished touristic areas, is the armpit of the Midlands.

 

Bloody hell, we'll go to worse this season in the Premier League (arguably already have given we've had Hull away), let alone some of the places we could see in Europe. 

 

@MarriedaLeicesterGirl speaks the most sense on the thread tbh.

[purpleronnie]

2 minutes ago, Bilo said:

Always makes me laugh how people are so keen to do down Leicester as though it's some kind of unspeakable hell hole. Stranger still that we're playing up cities like Nottingham which, outside the polished touristic areas, is the armpit of the Midlands.

 

Bloody hell, we'll go to worse this season in the Premier League (arguably already have given we've had Hull away), let alone some of the places we could see in Europe.

 

@MarriedaLeicesterGirl speaks the most sense on the thread tbh.

well said no other nation talks their own country down more than we do.

[Guest MattP]

2 minutes ago, purpleronnie said:

well said no other nation talks their own country down more than we do.

True, you only have to remember the Brexit debate for proof of that.

[Guest Bilo]

3 minutes ago, MattP said:

True, you only have to remember the Brexit debate for proof of that.

Agreed - it was happening on both sides and boiled my piss to be honest.

 

One of the world's most visited, culturally influential, advanced and economically stable countries in the world for over a century and we compare ourselves unfavourably to every other country on the planet. A lot of the same mentality on here. Try telling someone from Greece or Russia that Leicester is a hell hole because the Haymarket Centre is a bit drab and there aren't enough Michelin starred restaurants in the city centre.  

[bovril]

Major city in 'good bits and bad bits' shocker.

 

In England we do love to refer to every second place as a 'shithole' just because it has a couple of rough areas. Some people on here talking about cities like Zagreb like they're Mogadishu.

[AndWhat?]

24 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

That video makes me laugh so much, you think they're all through and then another load of them rock up  

The allocation in Rome is pretty big and it looks like they all arrived at one time! 

 

Yeah it's ****ing mental.

 

Napoli fans got banned from all away games for like 2 seasons for what they did in Rome that day!

[Guest Bilo]

3 minutes ago, bovril said:

Major city in 'good bits and bad bits' shocker.

 

In England we do love to refer to every second place as a 'shithole' just because it has a couple of rough areas. Some people on here talking about cities like Zagreb like they're Mogadishu.

Equally there seems to be a drive to call places beautiful because they have a pleasant city centre or square with a nice fountain in the middle, conveniently ignoring the gang violence and grinding poverty in crime ridden areas five minutes down the road. We've a weird approach to travel in this country.

[bovril]

14 minutes ago, Bilo said:

Equally there seems to be a drive to call places beautiful because they have a pleasant city centre or square with a nice fountain in the middle, conveniently ignoring the gang violence and grinding poverty in crime ridden areas five minutes down the road. We've a weird approach to travel in this country.

Confirmation bias.

I think, in the particular case of English football fans abroad, we want to tell ourselves we're going to some menacing place with a 1980s hooligan vibe. It makes us look a bit edgy and acts as a nostalgia trip for those who long for a return to 'old-school' fandom.

[Guest Bilo]

1 minute ago, bovril said:

Confirmation bias.

I think, in the particular case of English football fans abroad, we want to prove to ourselves we're going to some menacing place with a 1980s hooligan vibe. It makes us look a bit edgy and acts as a nostalgia trip for those who long for a return to 'old-school' fandom.

The thing is, are there even that many places like that any more?

 

Napoli, Legia Warsaw, Dynamo Kiev as well as pretty much anywhere in Russia, but a lot besides that will probably be fairly welcoming so long as you're not a complete knob while you're out there.