Connor1874

Times like this I really miss Hesgoal.

Anyone play this on Xbox? Not sure my laptop would handle 23, so thinking of getting this instead.

Great to see pictures of Albert Park. Been about 13 years at least since I was last there. Used to live in Hawick for a wee while and went to watch the Albert a few times. It's a crying shame that they're so poorly supported and basically a joke in the EoSFL. They've been the whipping boys for years. Hawick is a massive rugby town and has a great history, but with a population of 13,000+, they could easily have a fairly well backed and competitive football team in the town too. There are still plenty of football fans in the town, and Teri's are very proud of their town and its accomplishments. Also, they're miles from anywhere which means there's no real direct competition from bigger clubs. Would love to see them marketed much better.

No worries mate, I've been to Budapest twice and love it. ****ing cold in Winter though. Took in a game each time, Ferencvaros vs Honved and Ujpest vs Puskas. Would love to see a game at the Puskas ground, and would like to tick Honved and MTK's grounds off the list. Even a national team game at the incredible Ferenc Puskas arena would be good. Would certainly like to visit Austria and Slovakia too. By no means an expert on Budapest or that but feel free to drop a message if you're looking for any recommendations.

Personally think Cove and Kelty will slip back down the table in years to come. They've rode the crest of a wave and shown great ambition to climb the leagues, but don't really see how they grow much more than their current standings.

Said it a lot last season, and still worried now, that we might slip to 4th this season. Personally, if we finish 3rd then I think it'll be a bigger achievement this time round. That said it really depends on other teams too. The one thing that was clear last season was that there was a lack of competition to push us harder to 3rd place. As plenty have mentioned, others have strengthened but still a bit unknown as to how they'll do. Hibs have a lot of unknown qualities, and I genuinely do think they'll hit a sticky patch which will just surround them in negativity again. Aberdeen and Dundee United will be stronger but consistency is the key. I even think the likes of Livi, County and Killie will throw massive spanners in the works. Motherwell of course too, but I guess that'll really depend on who comes in to replace Alexander.

Saturday 30th July - DFB Pokal - Viktoria Berlin 0-3 VfL Bochum - Att. 5000 While the rest of the country was heading off to the opening day of the new SPFL season, I was in Berlin for a long weekend which nicely coincided with the 1st round of the DFB Pokal. Was really hoping that Schalke would draw a team in Eastern Germany, but alas, it wasn't to be. A nice experience instead was had, at the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn Sportpark. Now, this isn't Viktoria Berlin's historical home, that would be the Stadion Lichterfeld. But that was fine, as their temporary home is only a short U-Bahn ride from Alexanderplatz where I was staying. The ground itself, as you can see, has shades of Hampden about it. View wasn't great from behind the goals I must say. But a pleasant enough stadium. Viktoria themselves play in the Regionaliga, Germany's 4th tier. They were promoted to last seasons 3. Liga for the first time in their history, hence the stadium move, but immediately went back down. Viktoria did play some nice stuff against their Bundesliga opposition. First 15 or so, I did actually think we could see an upset on the cards, but in terms of chance conversion, Bochum's quality just shone through and Viktoria made it too easy for them at times. Crowd was listed at 5000, with Bochum fans accounting for 3/4000 of that number. Fair few in the Viktoria end seemed much like myself who were just there to watch a game of football. 5 Euros a beer or juice was a bit steep, and 4 euros for a Bratwurst served in, not a bread roll, but literally a slice of bread from a packet. Cash only too which wasn't ideal. The tiny club shop inside the stadium did take card, but only one scarf available which was a half and half scarf to commemorate the days tie. Not what I'd opt for but a nice souvenir all the same. 15 Euros for the match ticket wasn't too bad, but paid for my girlfriend too, so all in all, spent about 70 Euros on match tickets, food and drink and a scarf at a 4th tier clubs game. Suppose, every little helps though.

Cracovia might be a little tricky for tickets as their ground only holds 15,000, but then perhaps I'm being a little optimistic at their crowds. Wisla now play in the 2nd tier, so that could be an interesting experience. Just had a look at the 2nd tiers wikipedia page, and the stadium map shows that half the league is pretty close to Krakow so plenty choices there I'd think. Like the Ekstraklasa, the 2nd tier games are pretty well staggered out over the weekend too. If you haven't booked yet, or are considering future trips, I'd highly recommend Hungary. Games spread out over a weekend, no problem at all getting tickets, and cheap as chips. Quality of football is pretty dire, but despite low crowds, every club has a good wee Ultra section to keep a decent atmosphere. Even if you don't fancy some games in Hungary, you can also do fairly short train journeys to Vienna, Bratislava and Prague.

That may be the subconscious reason this very topic was on my mind. Think I read that Aberdeen had supplier issues with their home top so only had their away. Have you switched kit provider? Hearts played their first few pre-season games in last seasons home kit. Which I didn't understand as not only had we released the new shirt, it was on sale in the club shop. I watched Hearts vs Spartans earlier in the month wearing the new top while the players wore last seasons.

Bored and had this random thought in my head about times I've seen Hearts wear an away kit at home. Quite common in friendlies but competitive games is different. That said, seen it a few times: Hearts vs Dundee 02/03, Hearts vs Liverpool 12/13, Hearts vs Arbroath 15/16, Hearts vs Partick 18/19, Hearts vs Livingston 20/21. Want to say we wore our black 3rd kit from 19/20 in a home game once too but can't remember who it was against. Can't remember if we wore the shirt with all the names on it too? I recall a Hibs vs Celtic match many moons ago at Easter Road where both wore their away kits, and I'm sure it happened quite often in Motherwell games vs Dundee United/Aberdeen?

Be honest, have you? I've had files with Celtic and Rangers on several edition of the game, just for when I'm in a mood to have an easy save. I probably loathe them more than Hibs, yet haven't done a Hibs save. I feel dirty saying this, but I still play FM20 and really want to go Hibs. They're pretty minted in it and got some cracking players. The kind of club I'd be all over if I wasn't a Hearts fan. I have also took over at Dortmund on a save after a few seasons, but I'm not as embroiled in that rivalry so didn't really bother me. It's just a game after all so means little, but I still love seeing Hibs fail in it. Have you done it? Would you?

Found out yesterday I'm going to be a Dad for the 2nd time. Had a mental few months but its all coming up Milhouse.

Ardrossan Winton Rovers 2-2 Cumnock Juniors - c150 in attendance. First ever game watching 2 west of Scotland junior teams and thoroughly enjoyable. Not sure if there’s a massive imbalance in the WoSFL but wouldn’t think Ardrossan were 3 leagues below. Cumnock awarded an early penalty, saved by the keeper only for Ardrossan to quickly take the lead. Cumnock levelled not long before the break after a fair few chances. Ardrossan regained the lead from a cracking free kick but Cumnock levelled again shortly after. A draw probably a fair result in the end. Entry by donation, paid just over £3 in the end. 4 games in 5 days for a grand total of £21! You cannae beat non-league fitba. Cracking weather down in Ayrshire to boot.

Triple header for me this week. First games since a certain Cup final back in May so needed cleansed. Tuesday - Musselburgh Athletic 1-2 Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic - Att. c200-300 Good game this, and probably the most enjoyable match of the week. Bonnyrigg didn't impress me as much as I thought they might, and Musselburgh stood up to the task well. Bonnyrigg probably did control much of the game but looked poor in the final 3rd. Mussy playing well on the counter and really came into a game at the start of the 2nd half. Mussy took the lead with about 20-25 to go, and quickly had a 2nd ruled out. This seemed to spur Rose on though who snatched 2 goals in the last 10 minutes to win it, although Mussy came very close at the death to snatching a draw. Wednesday - Spartans 0-1 Heart of Midlothian - Att. c1000 Okay, not really a random game considering I am a Hearts fan, but felt like I had to include it in this post. Was pleasantly surprised to find out on the morning of the match that this would be a first team game. Wasn't expecting a repeat of the 7-0 the night before against East Fife, but it wasn't a great watch. Spartans played some nice football but Hearts generally controlled it. Early goal was all that was worth mentioning. Thursday - Preston Athletic 0-7 Hibernian XI - Att c300 First trip to Pennypit so happy to tick a ground off the list this week. A very youthful Hibs team, albeit skippered by Darren McGregor, coasted through this game. Preston struggled to get out their own half for much of the game. Hibs had chances and worked the keeper in the first half, as well as having 2 penalty claims but it remained 0-0 at the break. Hibs weren't messing about in the second half though. 4 in the first 15 minutes, with another 3 coming later in the second half. Connor Young scoring 4 for the Hibees. Not a game for the neutral, but an enjoyable watch for Hibs fans in attendance.

Ah, makes sense. I notice they use it for cup finals now too. Sort of a defacto national stadium in a provincial town.

Klagenfurt have got a massive stadium now too. No idea why if they don't really have the fanbase.

Cheers guys. See if I can break away from the bird for a few hours.

12 in the end for Klagenfurt and a 12-0 win too for FC Voluntari of Romania, against Polish side Orleta Kielce.

Ah nice one cheers! I get paid tomorrow so I'll buy them then.

To be fair, I think the Finnish Cup only changed to that format in the last couple of years. Sure all the lower clubs played prelim rounds but the top flight teams didn't come into it until the group stages, but which point there wasn't many clubs left who weren't in maybe the 2nd or 3rd tier. Love a cup competition that's straight knockout with bigger names in it early though. Just went to watch the highlights from the recent Estonian Cup final and found by chance that you can watch top flight games live on YouTube. Currently watching Flora Tallinn vs Parnu. Home side 2 up inside 20 minutes.

Seriously needing my football fix. Nothing planned as yet on Friday night so might take my first trip up to Tranent's ground to see them play a Hibs XI. I'll need to get something squeezed in as the Hearts fixtures aren't kind to me. I'm away next weekend so missing the Bonnyrigg friendly, away to Berlin on the opening season of the weekend, and the Edinburgh derby in August due to TV coverage coincides with my amateur teams opening day. Crap. I'm away to Saltcoats next weekend as my girlfriends family have a caravan there. Was pleasantly surprised to find their junior ground right beside the caravan park. Looked at the fixtures though and they're at home Wednesday 6th and Monday 11th, I'm only there 8th-10th. That said, I'm looking to get a game under my belt in Berlin. DFB Pokal kicks off that weekend and Viktoria Berlin host Bochum so hoping to get to that. Might even get a few Hearts B games under my belt too.

Nah I remember him signing too but between Ramadani and Miovski I was sure of a 3rd name mentioned. Then again I could be chatting bollocks.

Very much unknown players on these shores but could be a couple of real finds. Boy Miovski could be a cracker of a signing. Was there someone else recently linked from Eastern Europe? I swore you'd signed someone else but can't see it so maybe just a rumour but swore I saw someone else mentioned who was from a Balkan country.

Now that's a cracker of a Scrabble word.

Was just going off the Wiki page for that tbh. Not saying they'd change anything, they did after all exist purely as a social club for many years when the original Edinburgh City folded. But there's clearly a demand for the football club, and I wonder if they'll look to relaunch it themselves.