Barca fans get together in Manchester

[Ducado]

Hi guys, me and my brother Jim Tolmie (ex player) are coming down tomorrow for the game, can anyone recommend any supp clubs or pubs to go before and after the game.

Cheers

There are dozens and dozens, mate. In town and near the stadium. It really depends what you are looking for: good beer, traditional pub, bar etc. Good to hear your brother still maintains an interest. Plenty of fans remember him fondly

Remember him, we sure do we even have users named after his hair style!

 

[lancs blue]

Hi guys, me and my brother Jim Tolmie (ex player) are coming down tomorrow for the game, can anyone recommend any supp clubs or pubs to go before and after the game.

Cheers

Brilliant, one of my favourite players from the 80s. Enjoy yourselves, as said there are plenty of pubs in and around town, not too many near the stadium. The Waldorf just off Piccadilly is usually full of City fans pre-match.

 

[1961_vintage]

Hi guys, me and my brother Jim Tolmie (ex player) are coming down tomorrow for the game, can anyone recommend any supp clubs or pubs to go before and after the game.

Cheers

Should responses not be in the form of a teasingly ambiguous you tube music video?

Or is this in fact the news that we have been waiting for - ie Isco really is on his way?

 

[jimharri]

Did anyone tell our Catalonian friends to get themselves down to the Printworks or the Birdcage? If they can't pull down in that part of ton, they're fucked. The smell of fish down there at night time is something to behold. Just tell them to take some penicillin when they get back home.

 

[savo]

Brilliant so the four years I spent not paying attention in Spanish were not wasted after all because I cant use the bloody language when we go over anyway

Of course you can, never mind this wikipedia bulls**t. The catalans speak Spanish just as well as the Basques and the Andalucians. Cataluyna is full of migrant workers from south america and they speak Castellan i.e. spanish, not Catalan. The catalans are extremely nationalistic and they do love their culture, language and heritage but to suggest that they would be offended to talk with anyone in spanish is just tripe. People just love to overstate things.

 

[jaiden]

i went in that manchester bar when i was there with my mates. Fucked it off after ten minutes. felt like i was in the northern quarter. Went too a cool square just off las rambles instead and got extra cultural sampling the Spanish Mahou beer !

 

[tolmieblue]

Thanks guys, looking forward to tomorrow.

 

[Dribble]

Have they sold out? Spanish fans are notoriously bad travellers.

just a heads-up here lads & lasses...

i was lucky enough to live in barcelona for a year and i pretty quickly realised that the majority of them do not consider themselves to be spanish.
barcelona is in catalonia & they are incredibly passionate about independence form spain,
so much so that they have regular marches through the city.

you will find they are very fluent in english so there's no problem communicating at all
and although they understand spanish they would rather you don't speak it to them.
(a few of them actually find it insulting and ignorant)

on first hearing, catalan sounds like a mix between spanish and french but it is a separate language of its own developed from latin 1000yrs ago

it was actually made illegal to speak or write in 1940 by the fascist dictatorship in power in spain.
it is now the official language - taught in school - even the newspapers use it.

so if we intend to greet them nicely - it's best not to call them spanish or speak to them in a language that represents everything they reject.

there are some words and phrases on here if you are interested
<a class="postlink" href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Catalan_phrasebook" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://wikitravel.org/en/Catalan_phrasebook</a>

I have family living there and its true that the Catalan dislike of Spain runs deep. Our company also has an offshoot in Barcelona so I've worked closely with them over the years here and in Catalonia and the hatred they have for Franco and what his regime did to them is frightening but understandable.

I've always had a soft spot for Barca and seriously can't wait to see them tonight at The Etihad, it all seems surreal..... :-)

 

[Kippaxgirl]

I've been to a great many away games and have been so scared by the locals that I would stick my scarf under my coat -- Arsenal and Chelsea

However, I have also enjoyed the company of good fans on away games such as Newcastle, Villa,. Spurs and Liverpool and had a great time.

Let's not go with the mindset of having a brawl. You can have a great time learning from fans of other clubs.

Here in the US there is tailgating before the games (College Football, American type) and there is a lot of fun meeting folks and eating their grub.

 

[Kinkys Left Foot]

I've been to a great many away games and have been so scared by the locals that I would stick my scarf under my coat -- Arsenal and Chelsea

However, I have also enjoyed the company of good fans on away games such as Newcastle, Villa,. Spurs and Liverpool and had a great time.

Let's not go with the mindset of having a brawl. You can have a great time learning from fans of other clubs.

Here in the US there is tailgating before the games (College Football, American type) and there is a lot of fun meeting folks and eating their grub.

I'm afraid you have had an irony failure common to US citizens.

It's a difficult concept to understand but I'll give it a go. All the people on here talking about having a scrap with the Spanish fans were just taking the piss in that they didn't really mean it - it's mostly an English thing like toilet humour - unfortunately it doesn't travel well particularly over the Atlantic!