Is there a supporters bus going ?
If not is there a Mini-Bus going ?
If not are there any car sharings ?
If not is anyone going ?
If not - why not ?
Eli, all I can tell you really is that I spoke to Neil and Andy Chad regarding a supporters coach for Gateshead. With us only having one home game leading upto the match, the feeling was that it wasn’t a viable option as we couldn’t get enough names in the time to make it worthwhile.
So in my programme article, I included that seats were possibly available on the team coach but hadn’t got any other details than that at the time.
Yes the decision was made not to try a coach based on the general response to my text messages and on here on the web - between us we have had 1 enquiry about a coach that was it!
Given the coach was to cost £500+ and as said we had 1 game in which to fill it with say 30 adults at say £18 (and many regulars currently arent turning up at home games!) it wasnt deemed a “goer”,
I’m actually still waiting on confirmation re the team coach which I will hopefully be able to confirm soon,
Rumour has it that the team bus is going overnight - any truth ?
Only 1 enquiry Neil - Pathetic - we don’t deserve a team !
This is the FACup we are talking about - come on lets be havin’ YOU !
Keep the faith.
Yep 1 enquiry - you can see why we didn’t go gung ho with the double decker!
Re the team - last I heard it was still being looked into, but thats not my dept!
Eli get a minibus priced, and see what interest there is over the next 24hrs.
We’ll let you drive it and buy you a pie en-route!
It is possible that the team may travel overnight, subject to us getting suitable accomodation at the right price. There is a hotel that the England team have used, that has training facilities for us to use on Saturday morning at only £15 per head, but unfortunately it is full up.
To keep it financially viable, we are looking at other options…possibly BB by the coast, and we can train on the beach.
I know it sounds a bit of a luxury to travel overnight when the club is not overflowing in money, but it gives us a better preparation for the game, rather than playing straight after such a long coach trip. We need to give our lads the best possible chance of pulling off a shock as we can, but not to go overboard financially.
If it works, then the £4500 win bonus will be gratefully recieved, plus the chance to win even more money in the next round.
Worth the gamble in my opinion.
WHS.
As at end of day on the 23rd, nothing is yet confirmed about arrangements for the players coach, or whether or not we will be staying overnight.
I would like to point out a different attitude from our players this season.
If we do stay overnight, the players will be contributing to the cost!
On a different subject, I would like to mention an injustice in football, namely the punishment for having atleast 6 players booked.
Our punishment was a £500 fine, which is about 33% of our normal take for a home game.
Man United’s punishment is £25000 which is 1.67% of their normal take for a home game!
Our players are having deductions taken from their wages to pay for this fine over a period of weeks.
I wonder if the same is going to happen to Manchester United players?
I can now confirm that the team bus will be leaving for Gateshead on Friday evening and staying overnight in Sunderland (for some reason, all the other hotels nearer to the ground are full up?). I would like to point out that this will not be a strain on our finances, as all the players will be contributing to the hotel bill, and all non playing staff will be paying in full.
Although there will be plenty of room on the bus at £12 per head, I have been informed that there is no more room at the hotel. In other words, you may want to gamble on coming on the team bus, but you would need to get a taxi to another hotel in Sunderland to get a bed for the night, and a taxi back to the hotel the next morning to get a lift to the ground.
If anybody is interested, please get in touch with Neil in the normal way.
I have been informed tonight that the hotel we are staying at (The Sunderland Marriot) may have more rooms available to be booked online, but we have been limited to the number of rooms we have booked for the players etc at a special rate negotiated by Mark.
In other words, if you want to go on the team bus and stay at the same hotel as the players, you may still be able to do so, but you will need to negotiate your own price with the Marriot Hotel.
I am sure the youngsters going would manage a good kip on the bus, me? sorry I need my bed!!
WHS.
Not been able go today, but the excitement is already building!!
I would expect the team to be re-shuffled quite a bit today. Something like;
GK - Greg Smith
RB - Mark Drew
LB - Donnelly
CB - Burke
CB - Gary Scott
RM - T’Dozzler
CM - Ben Thornley
CM - Willis
LM - Steve Smith
FW - Rodders
FW - Thompson
Purely guesswork tho of course.
Robbo, you are a genius (not least for working out how text messaging works)! 