Anyone any ideas on numbers of fans travelling to Bari so far???
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Anyone any ideas on numbers of fans travelling to Bari so far???
4,634 :d
do i win a prize??
Judging by the availability ,of fairly limited seats into Bari Airport, I reckon 5 thousand max, add in the economic situation,the fact that its a midweek fixture and the difficulty in getting to Bari overland, even that figure stars to look optimistic.Quote:
Originally Posted by Conormack
5,000 sounds about right. This was probably the Italians' thinking in arranging the fixture for midweek and choosing Bari as the venue. Keep the away support numbers down.
In a bizzare way, it's kind of admirable that they didn't put profit above all else. Otherwise they would have gone for a weekend match in Rome or Milan, no?
Whatever about choosing Bari as the venue, the FAI have as much say in the day of the fixture as the Italians, after which if it can't be agreed UEFA intervene. There are a limited number of match day fixtures and all selected must be agreed between both associations.Quote:
Originally Posted by newrynyuk
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluetonic
sorry, but that's wrong, the level of imput depends on what seed the countries are, and Italy could pull rank on Ireland so to speak and Montenegro will have had little or no say on fixtures.
Delaney et al would have much preferred a weekend game to increase the amount of fans going. I think the Germans have set a precedent though, following the 30,000 we took to Paris and the influence that had. In moving us to Stuttgart (no direct flights from ireland), they tried to negate the fans effect, as have Italy.
I imagine most top tier sides will do this unless the credit crunch really kicks in and they all try and grab the money.
Any idea of number going to Sofia?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Conormack
looking at that another way.. i doubt any has left yet :D
I would love to have a read of or be pointed in the direction on the stance on this.Quote:
Originally Posted by magnumpi
i'll look it up when i have time this afternoon, but basically i remember it being talked about that time we were seeded 4th, behind Germany, Czech Rep and Slovakia, and Staunton & delaney saying how, as we were 4th seed the negotiations re: fixtures were more difficult but they had got most of the fixtures they were looking for.
Cheers! Not that it'll be that interesting of a read!
Usually it is the second seeds that host the fixtures meeting.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluetonic
This was Tony O'Donghue's take on the meeting for RTE:
World Cup 2010 qualifying negotiations
About two hours into the negotiation of the World Cup fixtures for Group 8 we headed up to the second floor of the Grand Hotel in Sofia. The guy from the Bulgarian football association, who were hosting the meeting, popped his head out of the room and declared 'they're on a break, the Irish can't agree anything. stadium, fans, weather!'
The lack of availability of Croke Park except on certain dates meant that the FAI had little enough flexibility in these negotiations anyway and in truth the stadium issue may have worked in their favour with Ireland finishing up the campaign with a home double header against Italy, the world champions and top seeds, and sixth seeds Montenegro.
The hope is that the Republic of Ireland will still be in contention for at least second spot by then.
Ireland was the only country without their senior coach or manager in the room, the FAI delegation led by President David Blood, Chief Executive John Delaney and Caretaker boss Don Givens. Givens has been here before though and represented Ireland for the last World Cup fixtures meeting at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin while Brian Kerr waited in a nearby room to increase the chances of winning at hardball.
This time around hosts Bulgaria were equally belligerent, and it's no surprise really considering that Ireland would be seen as their direct opponents for a second place finish. They were immovable on certain issues and so the big gamble could well turn out to be the trip to Sofia in June twelve months - a full three weeks after the English Premier League season has come to an end.
It means players after, no doubt, a long hard season will be thinking of the beach and will hardly want to stay in camp all the way to the game in Sofia on 6 June. Remember how the Irish rugby team suffered from familiarity fatigue at the Rugby World Cup last year?
That presents the new manager, whoever he may be, with a massive challenge. The fixtures immediately preceding that high summer excursion though could well define the group. The home fixture against Bulgaria at Croke Park at the end of March followed four days later by a trip to the home of the World Champions is as big a task as any Republic of Ireland side has ever had to face.
It's at that crucial time of the season when you start hoping and praying that all your best players are available, free from injury and suspension, and that in the first game of the double header that nobody gets hurt. Inevitably there will be something that will go wrong and the trip to Rome or wherever will probably be undertaken without a key player or two for whatever reason.
The campaign begins, as it had to, with an away double header and on paper playing the fifth and sixth seeds in September this year is about as good as it gets. However, the journey to Georgia is, geographically, the most arduous of the group and who is to say what the political situation will be like in the volatile region in eight months time. Remember this is the place where a knife was thrown at the Irish players on the pitch in Tiblisi last time when a Gary Doherty goal gave us a rare victory on the road.
Montenegro are not to be confused with your average bottom seed. They certainly are no Luxembourg, Liechtenstein or San Marino and will hardly be the whipping boys of the group. There will be a huge amount of history and national pride at stake as they take on first Bulgaria and then Ireland at home in September. The first ever representative game by Montenegro since their split from Serbia saw their Under-21s beat Bulgaria by two goals to one in Sofia. Ireland must beware.
The threat of Cyprus is well known to us by now and even a trip there in September will hardly entice as much as it once did. A 5-2 drubbing in Nicosia last time out has taken all the romance out of that particular holiday and the ever improving island was undefeated at home in the last European qualifying campaign, it's not just Ireland who find the Cypriots troublesome opposition.
As the snow continues to descend on Sofia it's hard to be too optimistic about a place for Ireland in the sun in South Africa in 2010. Apart from Italy, who are acknowledged as the class act, the feeling here is that all the other countries, from second seed to last, are very close to each other in ability and potential. Everybody is fighting for the runner-up spot.
Because of that every little detail counts. Little victories, even in fixtures negotiation, mean a lot. The FAI insisted that Irish fans will not be ripped off at away venues, as has happened in the past and so the ticket price must be the same for both sets of fans. For those who travel and get behind the boys in green that's important as is the fact that none of the countries we visit should be too hot, or too cold, when we get there.
What we need now is an inspiring Daddy Bear figure at the helm of Irish soccer, someone who can blow on the players' porridge, if necessary, to eke the maximum effort and performance from the collective.
It's a big ask of the new boss, no more huffing and puffing in qualification, this time we've got to believe we can blow this group away.
I'll be leaving it as close as possible to the game to try and get a few quid to go over. Also if the result against Bulgaria ain't great, I'd much prefer to go to Sofia or Nicosia later on.