h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Actually I was wrong - my BCFC season ticket was even cheaper than I thought, at £255.
But £247 for a season ticket at Arsenal?!
Some mistake, surely?

Yeah, try £585 at the Lane - and the cheapest is £430.......

Still, at least we've got a proven world-class striker again. Hooray!

Well I hate to piss you off, but Arsenal Bondholders prices were fixed for ten years. That's £210 per year for ten years and each tickets always includes 6 cup ties. So some years it's even less. Only a couple more years to run though. Still by then we'll probably have a new ground and a new deal . For the record do Spuds prices include cup ties? Bradford? And Zebedee, you've got a striker with a dodgy knee again...maybe he'll be world class maybe not. If he proves his fitness with you he'll be off to Italy like his mate. Have you asked yourself why Italian clubs have left him alone?

I couldn't get a ticket for the Arsenal - Sunderland game, so I wen't down to find one on the day. Four of us ended up sitting together in the North Bank for fifteen quid each. Not only was the price great (in comparison,) but the stand is the best I've ever been in. Huge concourses, easy exit/ entrance, good queueing system, nice toilets (nobody pissing in the sinks), padded seats, armrests, loads of shops etc. There were even Sega Dreamcasts that you can use, I couldn't believe it. John Jensen was sitting a couple of rows in front of us as well.

Oh, belated congratulations to Ormondroyd. Brilliant result.

John Jensen was sitting in the place where the ball usually ended up after he shot.

LOL That's right.

Ok, enough abuse here.

1) Go back 18 minths, two years, and read the serious soccer press. Rebrov has always been rated as a more important and influential player than Shevchenko - creates more of the goals as well as scoring them. He is also legendary for getting crucial winners - and we're not talking a couple a season here, we're talking once a month.

Shev went because Kiev needed money and the fashion in recent years is to pay 20/30 mill for out and out goalscorers. Rebrov plays behind him so would fetch less. And now they need money again.

And what has ANdriy done this season? Not a lot......

Rebrov is as proven world-class as Bergkamp, Klinsmann, Gullit, etc, the only difference that Ukraine have never lifted a championship trophy. But Holland have only ever got one........and Ukraine have only been an independent team for 10yrs, so the statistic is pretty irrelevant (but I knew it would come up). End of debate.

2) Read the papers - I believe Inter are an Italian side (correct me if I'm wrong) - and let's face it, one thing that top Italian sides aren't short of is strikers. Most could fill a bench plus the 2 on the field with international forwards. But they're all being careful this summer after a few crazy years of trying to outbuy each other.

3) A knee injury that hasn't put him on the sidelines for several years (sports writers try to sell more papers by making mountains out of every rumour or out of context quote - sales pay their salaries, duh - I'd suggest you learn who the reliable sources are.....)

4) Dreamcasts at Highbury? Now, who sponsors Arsenal, I wonder? And why? To sell their product. Who goes to football matches? Could it be the same demographic likely to buy a console? SO let's give 'em a go and see if they bite..........Mind you, I wouldn't mind if they served complentary Holsten at the Lane......

Oh, and we get four hom ecup ties in the season ticket.

Well done androyd - sounds like you've got the best deal. Although you haven't mentioned how much the bond cost you in the first place...
My £255 Bradford season ticket is for league matches only, but I must say that I still think it's a pretty good deal. Less than £14 per Premiership match is pretty good, and next season I can watch in safety. Last season (when I was living in London) I had to watch the few home games I got to from a section that was supposedly for home fans but which was, in practice, regularly infiltrated by large numbers of away supporters. That was no fun at all when the away fans included some of the primitive life-forms who follow Leeds United (apologies for swearing).
Next season I will be safely among the Bantam hardcore, sitting behind one of the goals alongside one of my oldest friends. And my new home in Bradford is so close to Valley Parade that I'll be able to walk to the home matches!

Well, hopr to see you at the Lane Ormy - but we won't be so profligate next season.....

And before anyone points out that Shevchenko is Serie A top scorer this season, that was meant to be a sarcastic comment - they don't translate well in text, do they?

I would say that the big European clubs don't tend to make mistakes in who they shell out for but Real Madrid paying £23mill for Anelka says I'm wrong on that one . Bit touchy there Zebedee, that wasn't abuse just gentle joshing. The Bond cost £1000 and the ticket price is fixed for ten years. Arsenal are offering to buy back bonds at cost price if fans don't want to keep them in the proposed new stadium. Rumour is that people are offering double the price to get hold of one but few are selling. Lets face it, I got one so I continue to watch the team from the spot on the North Bank where I had always stood so why would I sell? My feeling is that the club will want to propose a new deal to celebrate the move to a new stadium as the old one runs out, but that's in the hands of the council. £14 per match is a very reasonable deal for the Premiership and it's good to see a club rewarding it's loyal fans instead of taking the Chelsea/West Ham route of fleecing them of every last penny.

Fair enough, I just feel hugely relieved that we are finally buying decent players.

I've been saying to my mates for the past 18 months that Sugar's not tight, he just refuses to fork out on any more sub-standard players - and so does Graham. Sure enough, when the RIGHT man came along, as opposed to any of a dozen who might be a bit better than who we have, they wrapped it up.

Haven't had a bad season, prediction wise. Said that Anderton would sign - the sticking point being the length of contract, not the dosh, and I got that one right. It's no coincidence that both he and Sol have one year left - they won't commit to the club long term unless the board buys in quality to match them. And now they have the board by the nuts - if they don't spend 20m on players, then 20m of players (SOl and Shaggy) will walk next summer for nothing.......it's a good time to be a Spurs fan - there's no way Sugar will let £20m walk away, so expect more quality this summer - probably a world-class "complete" midfielder - in the Petit/Keane/Veron mould......

Hmm, Gary Mac has signed for Liverpool....
It's good to see an optimistic Spurs fan again. Come and play a little game on the new thread, Hopes and Expectations.

Zebedee, did you see Sol Campbell's solo lap of honour after Spurs' last game? It looked to me like it may have been his last appearance. A few Spurs lads at the time said that as well.

Interpret it how you will.

The most popular and enduring chant for the last few games of the season was "Sol Campbell, Campbell, he's done his country proud.....",
which, funnily enough, everyone sang relentlessly duriong and especially after the Sunderland game.

It would have been slightly rude of him not to show his appreciation to the fans in such a circumstance.........

Sol's going nowhere - he and Shaggy, as I've said before, want to win things with Spurs - hence why they both will walk on Bosman's at the end of next season if the squad isn't strengthened. They have Sugar by the nuts and that is no bad thing. Neither has ever said they want to leave.......