England playing away to Poland, at Wembley.

[hans kraay fan club]

So the same people moaning about boring old worthless England wont be watching the World Cup in Brazil if we qualify? If we do then they will probabaly dressed as full kit wankers in the pub singing England til i die and going on about loving watching England play.

If this has been away in Poland with them needed a point then we would have been given the minimum allocation as the Poles would be seeking to use home advantage. Our FA are a disgrace and its all about making a quick few ££££££s. Fail to qualify for Brazil and that will cost the FA rather more £££££££££ss.

All that. Well said.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

I'm getting more then a bit nervous about this game now, particularly when looking at the teams we could draw in a play off.

 

[hitony]

Mental isn't it.

Other teams / countries give the away support a tiny little block, up in the gods MILES away from the pitch to ensure that the "home advantage" is fully gleaned.

We seem to have decided the complete opposite is done. I don't know where their seats are, but it won't be upper tier only, they'll be pitch level, cheering on their boys.

Yeah, well done the FA!!

#clueless

I need look no further in this thread, as THIS above says all that I would have to say on the matter.

 

[Stat Brother]

If few England fans wanted to buy the tickets, until Friday 10pm, who were the FA supposed to sell them too?

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

If few England fans wanted to buy the tickets, until Friday 10pm, who were the FA supposed to sell them too?

Exactly, the same armchair England fans would have been moaning about a half empty Wembley in a critical game

 

[Stat Brother]

Exactly, the same armchair England fans would have been moaning about a half empty Wembley in a critical game

Or the same fans moaning that the ticket office wasn't open Saturday and Sunday, to cope with the rush, selling tickets that have been on the open market since August.

 

[Ali_rrr]

If England don't win, it won't be because of the extra number of away fans.

This. If winning was to do with atmosphere, we wouldn't be in the top 50.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

This. If winning was to do with atmosphere, we wouldn't be in the top 50.

We would deserve to be bottom of the rankings because of that ****ing band !!

 

[Puppet Master]

I'm sad for you lot. Genuinely.

Ditto. The Summer of 1994 was torture. Us not being there next year is unthinkable, I won't want to switch the telly on, read the paper or even look at a football.

 

[Simster]

I'm sad for you lot. Genuinely.

I used to care a lot more - I went to Germany in 2006. But ultimately, we are never going to compete at the level we ought to be competing with the situation as it is, and that is where my apathy comes from. Every single major event comes round and we nearly always end up being totally outplayed by the first half decent team we come up against.

 

[blockhseagull]

If the 70k fans there are suits and tourists it won't make a blind bit of difference if its 18k or 9k poles they will still make more noise.

Bottom line is we can't sell Wembley out and the FA can't afford to keep waiting on apathetic England fans to fill the stadium.

 

[vegster]

Bognor will be a ghost town Tuesday evening then....... could be some tasty tear ups at The Station pub later that night.

 

[Dandyman]

The most impressive away following I've seen was at an England v Scotland game at Wembley in the early 70s but felt like the game was being played in Glasgow. Looked like there were 50k jocks inside and about another 5k locked out all baying for English blood. When they sang Flower of Scotland and waved their flags you could see that about 2/3 of the ground seemed Scots. It was like being on the film set for Braveheart. No quarter given on the pitch either, with some eye watering tackles going in across the pitch and somehow England scraping a 1-0 win. Us England fans gave a good account and the combined effect was mega spine tingling. Still haven't heard anything like it since.

Scotland the Brave in the early 70's, surely ?

 

[melias shoes]

How many of that 60,000 will be corporates, tourists and the various other types of silent fan?

I reckon with 18,000 in the "away end" the Poles will comfortably make more noise than the "home end."

I just don't see why we would risk the £££s that qualifying will generate, in extra for a few extra quid tomorrow. We should be doing EVERYTHING we can to maximise home advantage, not give it away and hide behind some nonsense about "they'll only get tickets in the home end otherwise.

Exactly.

 

[BN9 BHA]

2 more brits going here - Can't wait!

Enjoy the match lets hope for a good win.
With 18,000 away fans in the stadium I hope you don't end up sitting behind a pole and cant see the pitch!

 

[Simster]

How many times have we been outplayed in recent years then? The obvious answer is the 4-1 against Germany in 2010. Other than that, we haven't actually lost a match at a major tournament since Brazil in 2002, when we lost 2-1 to the eventual winners. We might flatter to deceive, but we are very rarely humiliated. Even in qualifying I am struggling to remember any meaningful defeats other than the two against Croatia in the group for Euro 2008.

I didn't say humiliated, I said outplayed.

Ones that jump out at me are:
Germany 1-4
Brazil 1-2 (looked second best even when Brazil were a man down for half an hour)
Totally outplayed in the 0-0 v Italy in 2012
and against Portugal (2-2?) in 2006. Both ended in "unlucky" play off defeats.

Not saying we were humiliated in any of them - even Germany should have been a different story - but certainly outplayed. In fact, I can't think of many quality teams where we've looked like a good match. Argentina 1-0 in Japan stands out, as does Holland in 1996 - but there haven't been many since 1990...

 

[Mellotron]

I used to care a lot more - I went to Germany in 2006. But ultimately, we are never going to compete at the level we ought to be competing with the situation as it is, and that is where my apathy comes from. Every single major event comes round and we nearly always end up being totally outplayed by the first half decent team we come up against.

But expectations SHOULD be massively lower this time round , I think it's a case of accepting we're not one of the best teams, and just enjoying the ride. Most of the more dickish players are gone now, and have been replaced by young players who seem genuinely hungry to play for the shirt. I think the outlook for being an England fan is the best it's been in AGES.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

If the FA hadn't sold that block, thousands of those tickets would have been taken up by Polish residents of the UK anyway. Tickets were easy enough to get.

What's preferable: a block of them together, or thousands dotted in bunches all round the stadium, whereby a bunch of their tools might find themselves in the vicinity of a bunch of our tools, and the FA get blamed for any trouble that kicks off?

I am loathe to defend the old *******s at the FA at the best of times, but I feel they can't really win on this one.