Views from the Euros

[Captain...]

I thought I would start a topic for those who went out there and fancied sharing their views on what they thought of the tournament the organisation etc, would like to hear from those at the England games mainly.

I've just got back from Gdansk fantastic place, went to the Spain Croatia match, great atmosphere, but a bit of a flat game, Spain just ticked along as usual, Croatia tried but were no match. The stadium in Gdansk is pretty cool and the atmosphere outside was great but the organisation was a bit poor, to get there we ended up walking along blocked off dual carriage ways including the slip ramp so we ended up doubling back on ourselves a couple of times and getting directed past the stadium and then back again to come in at the right angle.

For the rest of the games we watched England in the Fan zone which was pretty big but the atmosphere was a bit flat as there weren't many fans in there, we ended up having a game of keepy ups with about 100 people at the end, but it could have been so much better if more people had been there we got a few England chants going but not many, we tried to get to the fan zone for Poland Czech match but it was full (30,000) and had at least as many Poles again on the outside trying to get in, so just ended up in a bar watching it, great atmosphere with the Polish lads, but the result and the weather put a bit of a dampner on things.

As for the fans, when we arrived it was all Irish and Spanish and then the Croats turned up, but we saw no violence (except a couple of Irish fighting amongst themselves) and at no point felt threatened or intimidated.

They were not happy with the BBC documentary though, we had a Polish guy tell us how wrong they were, then proceeded to go on about hooligans and how it was all the fvcking Jews fault, and a Ukrainian guy told us how wrong the bbc were and "that fvcking nigger Sol Campbell". We didn't engage him in intellectual debate after that.

the highlights of the area were the Gdansk old town and neighbouring city of Sopot which was so un-Polish it was untrue, it was a beach resort that felt more like the South of France than Eastern Europe very strange, great food, reasonable prices, lots of beer and vodka.

I recommend it, so any other views from those that were out there?

(apologies if there is already another thread for this but I couldn't see one)

[hbkkids]

No. Didn't go. Especially with all the warning about the violence.... And the prices.

Would of loved to of gone to the 2006 world cup in Germany but was too young. Lots of English went and it was suppose to be great.

[Captain...]

No. Didn't go. Especially with all the warning about the violence.... And the prices.

Would of loved to of gone to the 2006 world cup in Germany but was too young. Lots of English went and it was suppose to be great.

It's a shame people were put off by the rumours about violence, the prices in the Ukraine did seem extortionate, but Poland was reasonable never paid more than £2 for a beer, and safe as anywhere really, no violence or antagonism between fans and lots of banter and fun.

France 2016 should be good (even though they have ruined it with the new format).

[lcfcadam]

France 2016 should be good (even though they have ruined it with the new format).

Any chance someone could summarise the suggested pros and cons of the planned Euro 2016 format? I struggle to see past the "more teams the better" philosophy, but appreciate that's probably quite short-sighted somewhere along the line...

[ratters]

I went to Ukraine for 4 days, hotels expensive but everything else really cheap. Also very friendly and no sign whatsover of trouble or racism. Felt much safer in Ukraine than a UK city centre.

We arrived in Kiev for the England Sweden game, fantastic atmosphere and game in the Olympic Stadium. We then spent a day in Kiev seeing the sights (WW2 museum) and hanging around the fanzone.

The next day, we took the early train to Kharkiv to watch Holland Portugal. We were greeted at the station by a brass band then proceeded to our hostel accommodation. This was ok but looked like something from a cold war thriller. We joined the Dutch fans march to the ground and saw anothet good game. Glad Portugal won as most Dutch fans were bumped into seemed pretty arrogant. Kharkiv has a nice centre witj lots of old Soviet architecture, the rest is a but of a dump especially near the ground. You feel they have tried hard though.

We then took the early morning train to Donetsk, had a look at the ground (fantastic) - I don't think the manicured park around the ground wold survive in the UK. We then flew home.

Overall a fantastic trip clearly made better by England winning. It's a reel shame so many people missed out due to the press coverage beforehand....

Back to Kiev now on Sunday for the Q/F.

Cheers,

Iain

[Captain...]

Any chance someone could summarise the suggested pros and cons of the planned Euro 2016 format? I struggle to see past the "more teams the better" philosophy, but appreciate that's probably quite short-sighted somewhere along the line...

It is going to be longer I think we worked out an extra 20 games, and more shitty games with shitty teams, one positive is the 2 best 3rd placed teams will go through so there will be no dead rubbers so to speak, but is anyone missing Norway, Switzerland, Austria, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia Herzegovina? Of the teams not there the only ones I would have any interest in would be Wales and Belgium because they have some quality players.

Even with only 16 teams we had Greece vs Russia, I don't think anybody got too excited by that, it will also make qualifying a joke, with so many places available teams will have qualified after playing half their games they may then rest players in the others.

As it is the tournament is currently just right, and would have been even better if France had hosted it as is, the worst thing about this tournament is that both hosts took top seeds when they are clearly nothing like.

Finally more groups means more stadia needed, so we are going to get more countries doing joint bids, there was even a rumour of a triple bid by Scotland Wales and Ireland, that is just a joke (and still the only way the Scots would qualify) and other nations would need at least 12 international class stadiums and cities if they want to host it.

[Captain...]

I went to Ukraine for 4 days, hotels expensive but everything else really cheap. Also very friendly and no sign whatsover of trouble or racism. Felt much safer in Ukraine than a UK city centre.

We arrived in Kiev for the England Sweden game, fantastic atmosphere and game in the Olympic Stadium. We then spent a day in Kiev seeing the sights (WW2 museum) and hanging around the fanzone.

The next day, we took the early train to Kharkiv to watch Holland Portugal. We were greeted at the station by a brass band then proceeded to our hostel accommodation. This was ok but looked like something from a cold war thriller. We joined the Dutch fans march to the ground and saw anothet good game. Glad Portugal won as most Dutch fans were bumped into seemed pretty arrogant. Kharkiv has a nice centre witj lots of old Soviet architecture, the rest is a but of a dump especially near the ground. You feel they have tried hard though.

We then took the early morning train to Donetsk, had a look at the ground (fantastic) - I don't think the manicured park around the ground wold survive in the UK. We then flew home.

Overall a fantastic trip clearly made better by England winning. It's a reel shame so many people missed out due to the press coverage beforehand....

Back to Kiev now on Sunday for the Q/F.

Cheers,

Iain

Nice, sounds like a quality trip, how was the Fan Zone in Kiev? Gdansk was good but the paying system was a pain in the arse you had a buy a prepaid credit card and put money on it and then take it to the bar and then at the end take it back to get your money off it and deposit back.

Would you recommend the Ukraine for a holiday?

[ratters]

Fan zone was huge and was just cash. I would recommend Kiev for a long weekend.

[thewarmanator]

I'm still here but so far it has been amazing.

All of the talk about violence chaos etc have been made to look ridiculous as the Ukrainians have been friendlier than I have found in any stadium around the UK.

Kiev is a great city with plenty to do, WW2 museum, monestrys very cheap beer and public transport.

I didn't explore much of Kharkiv, what I saw if it was a dump and thank fk we wernt based there!

Donetsk is a nice city and the Donbass arena is the best stadium I have been in anywhere in the world

[Captain...]

I'm still here but so far it has been amazing.

All of the talk about violence chaos etc have been made to look ridiculous as the Ukrainians have been friendlier than I have found in any stadium around the UK.

Kiev is a great city with plenty to do, WW2 museum, monestrys very cheap beer and public transport.

I didn't explore much of Kharkiv, what I saw if it was a dump and thank fk we wernt based there!

Donetsk is a nice city and the Donbass arena is the best stadium I have been in anywhere in the world

Nice one

Are you going to the quarter final?

I really hope we stuff the Italians, but then we will face our Teutonic nemeses again.

[thewarmanator]

Yep I'm just about to board a train from Kiev to Donetsk for the Spain France match then get a train back on the 24th for the match the home on 25th