dieselarmy

Thanks to everyone who responded on the above - got tickets directly from the club a couple of days before the game! I'm now going to be in Madrid next March when Real v Barcelona is on, and I was wondering if anyone had experiences of getting tickets for El Clasico at the Bernabeu? From a search online, the advice seems to be that the chances of getting tickets directly from the club is tiny, and that I'd probably need to pay way over odds from a third party. I'm hoping that this isn't the case, especially given how (relatively) easy it was to get tickets for the Camp Nou fixture in the end. Cheers.

I’m not saying he is. But that, or right wing back, is where he is likely to get his chance for Scotland.

It's all about opinions I guess, but I've always thought that he's a very poor footballer, and the outing against Costa Rica only reinforced that opinion. Don't get me wrong, he's got some really effective attributes - he's big, strong, athletic and has an eye for goal - but technically and tactically I've always thought he was lightyears away from being international standard. Not meaning to be negative for the sake of it - I hope he has me eating my words when his goals from right back send us through to the Euros!

Cheers - this is the response I was hoping for! Hopefully Barca will have the league sewn up by then and there will be tickets to be had directly.

Hi all. I’m hoping to head over for the game in May but the cheapest tickets I can see online (for 3 of us sitting together) come out at about €700 each! Has anyone been before and, if so, any tips on how to get a ticket for a half-way sensible price? Cheers Gary

Also, if anyone kens anywhere in Scotland that sells Basque cider, let me know!

Aye, it's a great part of the world. We're heading to the Basque Country for a week in May. We've been to San Sebastian, Vitoria and (very briefly) Bilbao before so are planning to explore some smaller towns and villages this time. Any recommendations for places, eating and drinking would be most welcome. Rough plan is to use Getaria as a base and then take day trips from there. Cheers

The one place I'd make a point of going to is La Venencia. It's an old school sherry bar, so wouldn't necessarily be top of everyone's list, but it is an absolute gem of a place. As mentioned above, the Mercado de San Miguel is class. The Mercado San Anton is really cool too and, from memory, has a rooftop bar.

Three things spring into my mind from this. 1. Agreed, Fraser has some real attributes. 2. Jess was wonderful. 3. As a club, Aberdeen have been okay at producing guys coming through to the first team but haven't produced many players in the past 25 years who went onto play at a much higher level.

Just found the thread, and I went for these ones. U Zlateho Tygra (At The Golden Tiger), Prague - probably my favourite pub in the world. No gimmicks, just a place to drink great beer. Great Panenka photo, too. Malt and Hops, Leith - my local, and I reckon by far and away the best pub at the shore. Fruh am Dom, Cologne - great city, great beer, great food and an underperforming football team. Cologne has everything that a Scottish football fan wants. Fruh am Dom is so good that I still love the place, despite the fact that the owner is a Rangers fan. La Venencia, Madrid - a proper old school sherry bar. No tipping or photography is allowed, and they write your order in chalk on the bar. It's like nowhere else I've ever been. Turns out sherry isn't as rank as I thought it would be, either! Sheffield Tap, Sheffield - I could have gone with any of about 10 pubs in Sheffield, it's the best city for ale I've ever been to. The only problem is that I always have too many Jaipurs and end up in a state. I've just moved to Musselburgh from Leith, so I'd probably swap the Malt and Hops for Staggs. Otherwise I'd probably stick with this list, although I was in York last weekend, and I did take a real shine to The House of Trembling Madness.

Couldn't agree more with The Golden Tiger - what a place. I'm sure there was a thread on this around 6 months ago. I'm away to check (and see what I said...)

Brutal. Mclean looked like the only interested Dons player, but we decided to play him in a position where he never saw the ball. Brown is shite. Our centre halfs have looked nervous all season and Jack is too weak mentally. Terrible.

Marble Arch is a great pub. I'd go for: U Zlateho Tygra (At The Golden Tiger), Prague - probably my favourite pub in the world. No gimmicks, just a place to drink great beer. Great Panenka photo, too. Malt and Hops, Leith - my local, and I reckon by far and away the best pub at the shore. Fruh am Dom, Cologne - great city, great beer, great food and an underperforming football team. Cologne has everything that a Scottish football fan wants. Fruh am Dom is so good that I still love the place, despite the fact that the owner is a Rangers fan. La Venencia, Madrid - a proper old school sherry bar. No tipping or photography is allowed, and they write your order in chalk on the bar. It's like nowhere else I've ever been. Turns out sherry isn't as rank as I thought it would be, either! Sheffield Tap, Sheffield - I could have gone with any of about 10 pubs in Sheffield, it's the best city for ale I've ever been to. The only problem is that I always have too many Jaipurs and end up in a state. Interesting that the Bad Pubs thread is so much longer than this one...

If you don't like Bridcutt as a player then fair enough. If it sticks in the craw that he's not Scottish, that's fair enough too. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But...I can't agree that his (or anyone's) Scotland future should hinge on one bad tackle. Are you suggesting that we bin everyone who makes a bad challenge? Or are you're saying that Bridcutt didn't show enough last night to warrant selection again? If so, fair enough, but I find it harsh to judge someone on 20 minutes of football, where the team were hanging on.

I can see both sides on the Strachan debate. I agree there are certainly some bizarre inclusions in the squads but I think that having two squads is a decent idea and we need to give more players a chance to step up. If 3 or 4 lads can really stake a claim for the next campaign, then fair enough. That said, the exclusion of Shinnie is baffling. He's really excellent, the most deserving Dons player in years. With Reynolds, Anderson, Jack etc, the case for a call-up would be based on potential, spl performances and the lack of quality in the squad generally. It's different with Shinnie, he's a Scotland player all day long.

Strange half. Two nil up without playing much football. Can't complain! The two left backs have been excellent so far.

I agree to an extent. I do think that we would benefit from the option of real physical presence in the middle of the park, but don't see that we need the attributes that Cowie would bring. Really happy that Storie is getting a start, I'd be nervous about the prospect of him and McLean lining up in the middle against Celtic.

I've always fancied Dresden. Disagree an the comments about beer in Cologne though, I love a kolsch.

My favourite cities are probably: Edinburgh Cologne Beijing Madrid Nottingham. I'd reluctantly concede that Notts might not be on everyone's list, right enough.

If you're into ale, you need to go to the Wellington on Bennett's Hill. Craven Arms is also a cracking ale pub. The Post Office Vaults has a really good beer selection, but I could never take to the place. If you want to go somewhere a bit more upmarket (but with good beers) try the Victoria or the Pure Bar and Kitchen. All these places are within a 5 minute walk of new St station, by the way.

Hibs played ok i thought, without looking particularly dangerous (up until they scored, that is!). Fair play to them, they took their chances and we didn't. Nae idea why we played the lad from Liverpool out of position - he looked poor, but not entirely his fault. Hopefully it's a wee wake up call for Saturday.

Not a red.

Definite red. We've dodged a bullet. Considine (who has transformed into an very reliable left back) is having a 'mare. Good ball by Mulgrew, but Andy could have just held the line and played Griffiths off. Once he follows the run, he can't allow Griffiths to get goal side. Still, we are still in the game. I'd like to see Jack impose himself a bit more.if he's as good as we all like to believe, it's game like this where he has to show it.

I'm in the same boat. Looking for two seats.

I know a couple of guys who got this too. They were planning to ignore the letters on the basis that they are unenforceable, but one of the guys has had a look online and reckons that they could take you to a small claims court for breach of contract. Does that sound about right? Even if they could, the risk seems minimal.