Hampden Diehard

If you're interested in the whole spy thing, the Cold War Walking Tour by Insider Tours is an absolute must. An incredibly tall guy called Barnaby was the guide and he was excellent.

Absolutely spot on! Now, Dublin...that was great for Irish pubs, but sometimes I think that some TA would boycott an away match if there wasn't an Irish pub in the venue city.

Stasi Museum was Ok, but better if you can imagine the scenes from Deutschland 83 that were filmed there. Also did the Cold War walking tour which was fascinating; best 12 euros I spent in the city. If you can, get a kebab from Mustapha's - it'll be the best you've ever tasted, but be prepared to wait at least 30 minutes. For free and if you like architecture, walk up Karl Marx Allee in the old East.

Yip, I've found to my cost that Ryanair board really early and close the gate if all the passengers with luggage in the hold are on board. Don't dilly dally!

What's often overlooked with Vogts is that the team he took over was full of auld guys who disappeared all at the same time, leaving him with lots of gaps to fill and no one with any sort of experience to replace them. No wonder he played so many friendlies. Can't believe Strachan doesn't want a game. How often does he get the chance to work with the players, and here he is not using it? Surely he'll at least have a training weekend?

The English version of the SSC charge £75 for two years but give you £5 off the price of a ticket for home games. You also get points for home games (good idea, especially for shite Friendlies) and they put 30% of away tickets into a draw for ALL members.

I think that the prices for the last campaign and the general stuff-the-customer attitude (the SFAs fault) and the days of the week that games are on (not the SFAs fault) may well lead to a fair tailing off in memberships. Other than the England game (which will be a nightmare anyway as utter pricks desperately try to outprick each other to the detriment of decent coves like myself), there are hardly what you would call glamour matches. I'll join up as I want to carry on travelling abroad with a ticket in my pocket, but I can understand the thoughts of those that won't. Look at how hard they pushed the Poland game to SSC members, and they still ended up selling almost half the Celtic end to Poles, quite apart from them being in every other part of the ground. That was a reasonably glamour tie, and the casual fan wasn't really interested. As for the season ticket, I bought £42 tickets as I prefer the North Stand at Hampden as I thought that I could do without the hassle of buying them individually. I was given the princely sum of £10 off; £2 per game. Add to that, I missed one of them as my club side played on the Saturday, losing myself £40. I won't buy a season ticket again; I must have been daft. £42 for the North Stand against Gibraltar on a Sunday night. Let that one sink in. Will it be £42 for Slovenia, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia? Most likely, and they'll proudly announce that prices haven't gone up. I'll chip in.....£50 for the SSC. An utter rip off and we will carry on paying it. For most, it's a £5 surcharge on every home ticket. The SFA see the SSC as a money-maker; that's simply not right. They have money from hospitality, merchandise, tickets and TV. that should be enough.

Enough of the wee teasers about "the truth"! Give us the gen or at least some juicy lies.

I have absolutely no problem with anyone making a few bob from selling Tartan Army merchandise, but to prevent anyone else from doing so is pish. It's a disgrace that the Adies were given a trademark and worse that they made a stash from selling it. Hopefully the two carpetbaggers taking the magazine to court get their erses felt.

If they'd tell us what was happening re the Gib game, then no one would need to e-mail them and piss them off. We're the ones pissed off. We're paying a fair bit of money to be part of the SSC and I reckon that we deserve a bit better service, even if it's only to say that Gib tickets go on sale (say) on 14th August or whatever. This happens with every away match; home tickets go on sale weeks and weeks before we know what's happening with the away tickets. The high-heidyins need to sharpen up their planning skills.

It doesn't really matter if they add in the Georgia game or not, one point isn't going to make much of a difference. They should just announce the sale so that we know if we have to buy home end tickets or not. The usual nonsense. We're all paying through the nose to stay in the SSC, so they should help by being a bit sharper with away ticketing arrangements.

Unfortunately it was only a last minute thing, so I was only able to spend two nights in Tokyo, but I hope to go back next year and I'll make an effort to spend more time there. As a wee aside, two days and didn't see one bit of litter! Tokyo's a great place, and the game was excellent. Terrific atmosphere and we were seated up above the noisemakers. As a non-lager drinker, I was pleasantly surprised at how good the beer was in Tokyo. Spent a good few hours in the Beer Station which served up some excellent non-lager beers.

FC Tokyo v Shimizu (?) on the 27th. A Chinese lad that supports Queen's Park has a Japanese mate is going to take me....just as well as my Japanese is unlikely to be that honed by then!

Cheers, gents. I'm on holiday in Seoul and am taking the opportunity to head to Tokyo for the weekend. Good point re travelling about; I know from Seoul that working out fares is a nightmare. Looking forward to it and I'm taking in a fitba match on the Saturday evening as well.

I'm spending a weekend in Tokyo and haven't got a clue what to do. I don't want to spend two days looking at palaces and shrines. I like architecture and beer that isn't too hoppy. Any suggestions?

Well, after the lad's been there, but I would recommend a Cuban restaurant near Grand Place....can't remember the name, but there can't be that many. An oasis of good food and value in a sea of tourist shite. Also, pure touristy, but I went to the Le Ceurceuil pub which is done up like an undertakers and just off the Grand Place. First time I went, they had mandarin flavoured alcohol served in wee glasses that were shaped like skulls and the tables were glass topped coffins. There was funereal music and a guy who was a ringer for Maigret was behind the bar. Next time I went, he was gone. so were the glasses and the music was typical pumping pish. Maybe I caught them on a bad night.

Do the bus tour. Book tickets beforehand to go to Sagrada Familia and you can just walk up and walk in. You have to see the inside. DO NOT MISS IT! If you like architecture, go to Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau. Probably the best thing to visit after Sagrada Familia. Surreal. Beer....it's almost all lager, but La Fabrica Moritz is definitely worth a visit. It's a brewery in an old factory that does food and has a museum, and a terrific shop that sells all sorts of beer-related and quirky stuff, and the food is good too. Not expensive and well worth seeking out. The beer is great and it's usually packed, which is a good sign. Not too far from the main drag. Las Ramblas is over-rated. Go when it's not busy if you must see it....and, really, you don't need to. Pick pockets are, indeed, rife.

Get near a subway station and you can't go too far wrong; it's something else. Get one of the tickets that you can charge up. The subway doesn't run into the night though, but taxis are relatively cheap. Try airbnb for your accommodation. Gangnam is pretty expensive; that's where the pretty young things go and you pay for the privilege. Itaewon is a better bet although it is very touristy. Although most of the city is sparkly new, the toilets in bars and restaurants etc can be absolutely dreadful. Take paper and wipes; seriously. They don't really have pubs as such. Most places are restaurant / bars where you are expected to eat, although there are a growing number of places with about a dozen fridges where you take your beer from and then pay at the end of the night by taking your empties to the bar. Korean beer isn't up to much, it has to be said, so the locals get some rice wine (soju) and top up their beer with that. It's a great place with next to no street crime and an admirable honesty. Expect every shopkeeper and bar owner to bow to you. You do the same back. Koreans generally love Europeans. You'll have a great time. It's worthwhile taking one of the tours to the Demilitarized Zone. Every South Korean soldier wears Ray Bans; they're actually part of the uniform as not seeing someone's eyes is deemed unnerving. Some tours will take you a couple of places other than the DMZ, but give them a miss. I went to the baseball. Even if you have no interest in it, it was worth going to particularly if you like young teenage cheerleaders bend over in front of you. Honestly, I didn't know where to look. Relatively cheap and, of course, public transport is excellent. Very American of course, but good fun.

Very disappointed. I was hoping that this was a Star Trek transporter or the like.

One wee niggle - the Aer Lingus site wouldn't let me leave until I had bought seats. Only a tenner, mind, so I won't complain. Under a hundred quid for flights at decent times that allow me a wee bevvy on Sat and Sun, particularly at this late stage when I was thinking about planes / buses all over the shop, isn't too bad at all..

Aer Lingus have a flight on Sat morning from Glasgow to Dublin returning on Sunday evening for £98.00

PM sent to you. Cheers

I went a number of years ago and you only received vouchers for three half-pints as part of the admission fee. You couldn't buy any beer after that. Sounds like it's changed since then.

That's probably what you'd expect if you went to a museum with a name like that.

Loan to deal to Morton looms.