Sloop John B Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 So finally the international clash of the teams with lengthy names has happened. I'm sure the international broadcasters will be chomping at the bit for this one as we are both 1 game away from actually having to care about this competition. Big talking points for the game include: What on earth is there to do in rural Shropshire? Will we ever win a televised football match again? Are fans of the club formerly (and more iconic IMO) known as Total Network Solutions more reasonable than Linfield fans? Can Lyndon Dykes get himself on the plane for the World Cup by scoring against CL team? How do you pronounce Oswestry? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Berk Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 35 minutes ago, Sloop John B said: How do you pronounce Oswestry? And how would they pronounce Dumfries? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elgin Street Badger Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 I might be able to answer some of your questions as I was down on Saturday with the Mighty Elgin City. For some background info you might want to have a look at my posting in the Domestic Cup Forum/TNS V Elgin City. I was the last poster. Firstly, I managed to get away with calling Oswestry as you would I suspect and did not hear any other localised name for it. you might also want to have a look at the Wikipedia posting for TNS as it might give an insight into why nearly all the locals that we spoke to(it was definitely the main talking point amongst City fans)wanted us to win. Never been to a ground before where that has happened and there appears to be a lot of animosity directed at the owner of the club for reasons I will not go into here but I am sure you will find out. The locals were very friendly and we had no hassles at all, at least where we were located.(Premier Inn Oswestry) Travel:Train- from Dumfries you will of course get the Scotrail train to Carlisle and then get the Virgin West Coast /Cross Country to Crewe. Change at Crewe for Shrewsbury. There is not a train station in Oswestry with the nearest being Gobowen which is a £9 taxi fare away(unless you phone ahead you may have to wait for a taxi-see below) The first train out from Gobowen on a Sunday if you are planning to do the weekend in Oswestry is 09:55 which coincided with the time of my train from Shrewsbury to Crewe so I had to get the taxi and the fare cost £24 with a travel time of approximately 30 minutes. The trains were heaving in both directions and I suggest that you get reservations from Carlisle to Crewe and Crewe to Shrewsbury, although there were no actual reservation tickets on the seats which caused a few arguments. Taxis:the taxi service in Oswestry is a mystery as they are very difficult to obtain one when you want it. When we tried to order one to get to Park Hall around 14:30hrs(16:30 hrs kickoff),there was a 1 hour waiting time and trying to get back was over 1-2 hours. The fare to Oswestry from the Premier Inn was about £5 and to the footie around the same. Burgess Taxis is the biggest operator: Tel 01691 656363 A to B taxis:tel 01691 671072 Oswestry Cabs: Tel 01691 661663 Alpha Cars:tel 01691 662188 Kerr Kabz :Tel01691656575 Accommodation: quite a lot of the city fans stayed in the Premier Inn which is in an industrial estate on the outskirts of Oswestry and it is a good 30 minutes walk into town. It cost me £93 for the Friday and Saturday nights however, as there will be more Doonhamer fans I would suggest you book early as the hotel is currently undergoing renovations and extension and the amount of rooms may be limited. The staff in the hotel and the restaurant were very friendly and the food was excellent. Beer was Brains and Bombardier with the usual lagers on display. There is a Travel Lodge nearby but the locals informed us to body swerve it again for reasons you will find out when you get there.If you are travelling by car then Shrewsbury might be a better bet and there are also villages that you will find hotels near to Oswestry that offer good value. eg Whittington where several City fans stayed and they said it was excellent. The Old Boot I think was one of the locations. Every City fan I spoke to said that they had a great time and as we were not really expecting to beat TNS(see my posting ) the game was to be enjoyed as was the craic. As TNS do not get big crowds(average 400 -500), I think they were taken aback at the level of noise generated by the 150 or city fan base singing, especially when we were inside the bar at the ground. I think the Queens have a far better chance of beating them on the artificial surface and I am putting a 1-3 away on the coupon. Best of luck and enjoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Flash Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 Helpful summary. An alternative by train is to go to Warrington, then Chester for Gobowen (note it isn’t Gabowen). Depending on what day it is played, our fans might be able to avoid an overnight stay if travelling by public transport and certainly if travelling by car. It isn’t that much further away from Dumfries than Montrose was in the last round. Of course, folk may want to make a weekend of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elgin Street Badger Posted October 10, 2017 Share Posted October 10, 2017 Forgot to mention,if you are taking flags there is a wire fence at the uncovered end of the ground that you can put them up on. I do not think you can place them on the walls around the pitch due to the advertising hoardings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doonhamer doon south Posted October 11, 2017 Share Posted October 11, 2017 Fantastic queens are finally travelling south for a competitive fixture. Gutted cos I'm working that weekend. On the spfl website it says fixtures subject to change for tv. Would that be change of date and time for example on the Friday? The game will definitely be on S4C at least though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Flash Posted October 11, 2017 Share Posted October 11, 2017 You’d think one of the reasons for scheduling the games for the weekend would be to prevent the need to travel in the afternoon before it and at night after it. Also, England play Germany that night, so maybe the tv folk will want to avoid that. Think a Friday night ko is unlikely, although I suppose anything is possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan mosniack Posted October 13, 2017 Share Posted October 13, 2017 Very informative post Badger. A couple of questions. Is there a bar at the ground and why the bad karma with the travelodge? BTW, no happy with the thread title Mr Sloop! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elgin Street Badger Posted October 14, 2017 Share Posted October 14, 2017 There is a bar in the main building;there was only one two bar staff on duty at the time but I would assume they would get more in as they should be expecting more QoS supporters than City fans.On our short visit to Oswestry on Saturday morning I did notice that there is a Weatherspoons and plenty of independent pubs which you might want to try. Travelodge Issue:I should have been a bit more clearer and I am not personally advocating you do not book there, as that would be totally unfair on Travelodge, as I have no personal experience of the place. This is based entirely on hearsay from some locals including taxi drivers who may of course have vested interests; they informed us that there had been problems with the Travel Lodge taking in temporary homeless and some issues with pets, which apparently the hotel had allowed to stay. You could of course phone them up and clarify if these allegations are/were true and make your mind up then, as you may of course get a better offer than the Premier Inn, which as I said in my previous piece is currently undergoing renovations and as rooms availability is limited prices will go up accordingly. If you do choose the Travel Lodge and it is OK, you may want to come back and clarify this for any future users. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan mosniack Posted October 14, 2017 Share Posted October 14, 2017 Cheers Badger. Was actually up in Elgin (well Lossiemouth) a couple o weeks ago before the ICT game. Pleased tae hear there is a bar at the ground. Didnae want tae arrive early at a dry ground. Re the Travelodge, no wish tae demonise the homeless ( hey in a different world could be me) but have booked in elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan mosniack Posted October 14, 2017 Share Posted October 14, 2017 Doonhamer doon south, good point, canny think of any other fixture other than the Border Cup at Annan? Does that count? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skyline Drifter Posted October 15, 2017 Share Posted October 15, 2017 8 hours ago, Jan mosniack said: Doonhamer doon south, good point, canny think of any other fixture other than the Border Cup at Annan? Does that count? No, but we've certainly played many a competitive fixture "South" of Dumfries given that Annan, Stranraer and Gretna are further South. So are the likes of Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbright and Dalbeattie, etc who we played in Cup ties many moons ago and also competitively before we joined the Scottish Football League. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doonhamer doon south Posted October 15, 2017 Share Posted October 15, 2017 Maybe I should of said south of the border [emoji12]. It's a 3 hour drive for tns game as opposed to 6 hour for any home game for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan mosniack Posted October 15, 2017 Share Posted October 15, 2017 Fair play SD. Was trying really hard tae erase Gretna from myy memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustafa_sheet Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 Really looking forward to this game now. Anybody any idea how many fans are expected to make the trip? I would expect the travel club will be running a bus as well as the Dev bus plus a mini bus doing the Saturday overnight in Oswestry.It won't quite be like Copenhagen but I'm confident there should be at least 300 Queens fans there [emoji170] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan mosniack Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 Spoke to Mr Travel Cub after the Pars game and he was predicting circa 500. Canny wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skyline Drifter Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 How many buses definitely going? My initial thoughts were about 200 - 250 Queens fans given the distance, the fact its a Sunday and available on live tv. I would be surprised but delighted if it was anywhere near 500. Edit - Now aware of at least five buses though 2 or 3 are minibuses. Something over 300 maybe even towards 400 looks likely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustafa_sheet Posted October 31, 2017 Share Posted October 31, 2017 How many buses definitely going? My initial thoughts were about 200 - 250 Queens fans given the distance, the fact its a Sunday and available on live tv. I would be surprised but delighted if it was anywhere near 500. Edit - Now aware of at least five buses though 2 or 3 are minibuses. Something over 300 maybe even towards 400 looks likely. I spoke to a good few people at Palmy on Saturday and it surprised me the amount that are actually driving down and making a weekend of it. Plus there will be a good few English based fans that will be making their way to this fixture.There also looks to be 6 buses going now so I think 500 Queens fans is a distinct possibility.For one off, out of the ordinary cup games we generally do bring a healthy away support. You only have to cast your mind back a few years when we played Hibs mid week at Easter Road and took near 1.5k fans. Many fans missed the kick off as Queens had told Hibs to only expect a couple of hundred or so away fans!!Then there was the Rangers Cup game that went to penalties where we again had 1.5k and we took near 1k to Copenhagen!Any idea what the club’s official guesstimate to TNS is SD? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skyline Drifter Posted October 31, 2017 Share Posted October 31, 2017 14 minutes ago, Mustafa_sheet said: I spoke to a good few people at Palmy on Saturday and it surprised me the amount that are actually driving down and making a weekend of it. Plus there will be a good few English based fans that will be making their way to this fixture. There also looks to be 6 buses going now so I think 500 Queens fans is a distinct possibility. For one off, out of the ordinary cup games we generally do bring a healthy away support. You only have to cast your mind back a few years when we played Hibs mid week at Easter Road and took near 1.5k fans. Many fans missed the kick off as Queens had told Hibs to only expect a couple of hundred or so away fans!! Then there was the Rangers Cup game that went to penalties where we again had 1.5k and we took near 1k to Copenhagen! Any idea what the club’s official guesstimate to TNS is SD? I've a fair idea since it was me who gave it. See above. Latest suggestion would be somewhere between 300 and 400. I'm sceptical about 500 but I hope you're right. It won't fundamentally matter much though. It won't make any odds to their organisation either way. 6 buses? As I've already said, I'm aware there are two, almost full, from the Travel Club. A 33 seater from the Devorgilla on the Sunday and a minibus the day before and a minibus (I think) from the New Bazaar on the Sunday as well as an advance party away by cars on the Saturday. There's a group of Afan Lido supporters going to support us too due to a link with the Doonhamers Tartan Army. The Shrewsbury and Merseyside fans are also going albeit not with buses and that's a total of about 20 people. What's the 6th bus? Copenhagen was an exceptional circumstance obviously. The other two you mention clearly benefited from being in Central Scotland where the matches were nearer for a chunk of the attendees than a home game would be. Both much higher profile fixtures than a trip to TNS too. Still, I take the point, and it's clearly being picked up on as a novelty fixture worth making a trip out of by a lot of people. I certainly wouldn't be absolutely astonished now if we had 500 there. Don't know if the fact it's Remembrance Sunday will prevent some people from travelling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northfield 53 Posted November 4, 2017 Share Posted November 4, 2017 Take it Queens will be going down on the Saturday . Do Queens get money to help with the travel costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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