Danger Mouse wrote:
Coming to this thread extraordinarily late, but opted to follow Zenit for no reason other than we were there on holiday...

You didn't happen to wander past the building site of the new stadium by any chance, did you? Just wondering if there were any chaps knocking about pretending to do some work...

We did indeed. There were a load of road/building works from the fortress to the ground.

It was strange - you get towards the ground and it strikes you as rather underwhelming, and then hear the fans and think how good it would've been to be in the ground but tempered by the sheer number of riot police and the inevitable complications of trying to get a ticket with a very minimal knowledge of Russian.

Plus, we opted for the watching a bit of it on the big screen from the bridge.

Danger Mouse wrote:
We did indeed. There were a load of road/building works from the fortress to the ground.

It was strange - you get towards the ground and it strikes you as rather underwhelming, and then hear the fans and think how good it would've been to be in the ground but tempered by the sheer number of riot police and the inevitable complications of trying to get a ticket with a very minimal knowledge of Russian.

Plus, we opted for the watching a bit of it on the big screen from the bridge.

They've sold out most of their games this season, if I am not mistaken but the current ground's only holds about 21,000; however, one-off tickets aren't cheap. (Don't have the prices to hand at the moment)

Unusually for a Russian club, they've introduced a season ticket waiting list at the start for the season. Season ticket holders get something like 70% off the nominal ticket prices for European games.
e.g.
www.fc-zenit.ru/main/tickets/tickets/tickets_anderleht_z/

Oh to be honest it was on the last day of our hols and I just fancied going to see the ground.

In true lack of organisation from me on holiday I had no idea they were actually playing.

Danger Mouse wrote:
Oh to be honest it was on the last day of our hols and I just fancied going to see the ground.

In true lack of organisation from me on holiday I had no idea they were actually playing.

If the opportunity arises, I do drag my bird along to a match with... errr... mixed results. Say, a cold night in Bordeaux didn't go down too well but River Plate was well received. However, watching Ajaz Cape Town in Athlone on Cape Flats was a no goer from the start.

Ah but it's early days and we were only there for 4 or 5 days.

She's so far survived Hereford v Rotherham (a 3-0 victory for the home side) which, I must admit, I'd have left long before the end of and the misery of the playoff final last season.

And let's be fair, if that wasn't going to put you off...

However, in non-football related sports she appears to have fallen in love with baseball so the current plan is for Boston v Cubs and Philly v Reds next May. (see thread passim re baseball teams).

My bird went to a few Liverpool games with me when we started going out, just to see what it was all about. Decided to leave me to it.

Penultimate round of games in Russia today.

Spartak disastrously lost to CSKA. 1-0 and a man up after 51 minutes (Semberas sent off after picking up his second booking for having a go at the ref for a non-award of a penalty), they carried on attacking, got hit on the counter (Honda putting in the rebound), then couldn't clear an Akinfeev goal kick and watched as Doumbia danced around several players to make it 2-1. Pareja sent off in the last minute and Vagner Love running through in injury time to finish off the scoring. Deja vu isn't the word.
Goals here
football.kulichki.net/ruschamp/29/8v.htm

In other matches, teams placed 13-15 all won (not unexpectedly) but 12th-placed Anzhi lost to Saturn at home and are thus dragged back into the relegation scrap; however, they're away to Nalchik in the last game and I'll eat my shorts if they don't get something out of that, despite the fact that, mathematically, Nalchik can still finish 6th (last Europa League spot) if they win and Lokomotiv lose at home to Rubin (unlikely IMHO). Also, Nalchik's defeat in Perm today means that Spartak are guaranteed European football next season.

Do you know much about Zydrunas Karcemarskas who was the keeper at Dynamo Moscow for 7 years?

He is our keeper at the moment and is in magnificent form which seems to have attracted the interest of Galatasaray and Besiktas.

Talking about football and the missus we could technically say that our honeymoon was a day trip to Bursa to watch them play Gaziantepspor in the opening match of the 2003-04 season.

Don't know much about him, to be honest, as he was the number 2 at Dynamo for most of that time. Not sure he even notched 50 matches for them; however, what I do remember is that he played in 2 ridiculous matches Dynamo had with Zenit.
1. 7-1 in 2003, which I think was only his 2nd game for the club. The Zenit keeper that day was also their nominal reserve keeper Contofalsky (ex-Bohemka).
2. 3-9 in the cup in 2007. Tymoschuk, of all people, scored a hat-trick that day.

Talking of keepers, Vladimir Maslachenko (the Spartak 'keeper in the 1960s and Yashin's back-up in the national side for a number of years) had a stroke on 18 Nov. Currently stable but hasn't been improving - paralysed on the right side of his body and can't talk. A very sad situation. He's 74, the eccentric old man on the box but very much the grand old nom.

Maslachenko didn't pull through. Passed away yesterday morning, just before the final round of games. One of the greats, on and off the pitch. RIP.

The final day... brought nothing unexpected at all. Anzhi won in Nalchik. Tom beat Rostov in a thoroughly meaningless match. Whilst all the other games end in draws, meaning that Alaniya go down. A pretty dire season all round. This was the last of the "normal" 30-match spring-autumn campaigns. The next season is going to be a three-round, 44-match affair.

Spalletti should keep his shirt on.

Well, a dire domestic season finishes with Russia getting the World Cup... I suppose I'll keep you updated on all that building work in Saransk.

Guess this is the thread to ask about Wagner Ferreira Dos Santos who has moved from Lokomotiv Moscow to Gaziantepspor. Should I build up false hope or is signing him on a 4.5 year deal good news?

Now delaring Pluto a Dwarf Planet is one thing but Saturn is second biggest after Jupiter...

why then Saturn Moskowskaya Oblast has withdrawn from the league? Always thought Saturn is from Ramenskoye or is it another Saturn?

Gullit taking over in Grozny?

Really?

Magik, Moskovskaya oblast is the region; Ramenskoye is the city where the ground is.

Saw this on the sports news this morning and was shocked, what has he been doing since his last managerial job apart from TV work?

Is Terek Grozny a state sponsored team?

A few things have been going on off-season but I've been a little snowed.
I'll start a new thread for 2011/12 as this one's going to be a bit of a marathon.
Will respond to the latest comments there.

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