Donbass Arena opened on August 29th, 2009, and this week will host its first international and one of the biggest game's in Ukraine's history: the second-leg of their World Cup 2010 qualifier playoff against Greece. Ukraine are in great shape to qualify after a 0-0 draw in Athens this weekend.

The game could be taking place in no more beautiful setting.

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Manchester United having already bucked the Premier League trend by raising ticket prices this season and selling Cristiano Ronaldo for more money than actually exists in the world are now taking somewhat odd cost-cutting measures, according to The Sun. In addition to logical reductions like trimming the staff at MUTV, the club are also apparently forbidding groundsmen at their training ground from taking any left-over bread for morning toast and the former players who act as hosts at Old Trafford can no longer take up seats to watch the game, nor can they eat the left-over food put out for guests, instead being given packed sandwiches.

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This Sunday was fairly familiar for me. I was sporting a cracking hangover and woke up wondering what happened the previous night. The ‘Big Clash' of the day, as usual, didn't match the hype that it was given. Patrice Evra failed to remember he's a great left-back against Chelsea and an angry Scotsmen made more comments about a referee.

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Last week, we reported on exhibit A in how to alienate fans in Australia by A-League expansion team Gold Coast United's billionaire owner Clive Palmer. The club closed three sides of their stadium, Skilled Park, and capped capacity to just 5,000, forcing supporters out of their usual position in the stadium.

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Supposedly he'll be back in mid-July 2010, after the World Cup concludes.

He'll join Milan Dec. 28 after the Galaxy's post-season tour and remain with the Italian club through the end of their season in May.

"After the wonderful experience of last season we are very happy to see David Beckham again wearing the red and black colors," said Adriano Galliani, Vice President and CEO of AC Milan.

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This is the game Southern California MLS fans have long awaited.

I'd like to say there's a buzz in the air, a sense of anticipation and tension and plenty of concrete expressions of the rivalry that have temporarily divided friends and families.

I'd like to say that, but it wouldn't be true.

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The good news was Robbie Fowler combining with Dave Williams, and a pen, to get to 8 goals this year.
The transport charges issue for the Gold Coast is a furphy. This type of direct cost - ie it is charged per ticket - is simply included in the ticket pricing model. At the start of the season Gold Coast's accountants - who worked out how to get the best squad in the A-League under the cap - would have assumed that crowds were going to be above 5,000 for every match and popped the $3. Click to continue reading...

Ahead of Sundays game at Birmingham I had the chance to catch up with Kev, who runs the Birmingham City blog 'Joys and Sorrows' to gage the mood ahead of the game and to pose one or two questions about how the season has been going so far.
How has Joe Hart fared this season? Would you like to sign permanently and will that happen? Click to continue reading...

At 86:35 minutes Orangecrush leaned over to me and said 'Do you think the players realise that this is the most important 3 minutes of the club's history and they have to score?' I agreed with his sentiment and said 'And they aren't going to score.'
The low crowd didn't help. This was a dull game. Click to continue reading...

Big Story
Every time crowd trouble breaks out involving an English team as it did this week when Manchester United fans visited Barnsley in the Carling Cup, we get the "return to the dark ages" pieces that suggest these are nostalgic occasions akin to 70s night at your local disco.

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I have a huge amount of respect for Frank Lowry. Five years ago Frank was the driving force behind the rebirth of football in this country. The creation of the A-league, the move to Asia and the recruitment of Guus Hiddink all contributed to a resurgence of the game here in Australia.
However I do wonder if Frank understands that all of this new found love for the game may evaporate if a few missteps are made. Click to continue reading...

I know today has been a little light from me. I've had a super busy day at my normal day job so posting items on here kind of went out of the door. I came close to posting an updated MLS playoff scenario chart but I will be honest there are so many damn tiebreakers that could happen it will make your head spin.

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The Board and the FFA made the decisions that impacted the Roar's crowds. The ill disciple against Melbourne had nothing to do with it! How could it? The poor crowds had already happened.
Why did the crowds fall:
1. Gold Coast - split the Roar crowd and have no fans of their own (FFA have admitted this with typical club fisted approach ). Click to continue reading...

Its been just over a month since I last put fingers to keyboard and tapped out a paragraph or two for this blog and a lot has happened in that time. Crowds continue to be a major talking point and I was very pleased to see Gold Coast and Brisbane take steps to reduce their ticket prices and make them more affordable for the general fan. Click to continue reading...

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- QPR REPORT...UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY: Checkout the TWO QPR Reports! This QPR Report site. And, the second combination messageboard and quasi-blog QPR Report Messageboard. If you're interested in constantly-updated news re anything QPR-related and also QPR nostalgia, this site has both - along with assorted eclectic non-QPR football material. Click to continue reading...

I was surprised to see the attendance at yesterday's ISL game between Persebaya and Bontang given as less than 4,000. This for a newly promoted side rich in tradition who took 6,000 to their play off against PSMS at Soreang earlier in the year.
It seems the club's supporters, known as Bonek, are peeved at the hike in ticket prices. Click to continue reading...

While surfing over to the Arsenal site to find out how ridiculous their ticket prices are, I was confronted by this lightbox-y (wow, that's a daring design choice) pop-up:
The text reads:

Hi, you appear to be visiting our site from the USA.
Arsenal Football Club has just launched a new website especially for fans Stateside - USA.

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There have been a few stories rattling around the blogosphere lately about how the cratered economy has decimated fans' ability to pay ever-spiraling ticket prices for professional sporting events.
Yesterday the always biting Field of Schemes linked to Wright Thompson's experience in the absurd seats at Yankee Stadium, and highlighted an interesting statistic from the piece:

A recent poll discovered an unsettling trend emerging for the first time.

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Hark back to 2006. It was the first season at The Grove and despite many more tickets being on sale on a match-by-match basis, many gooners couldn't get a ticket to watch their club in the plush new stadium. It was nigh on impossible for Red members to get a ticket.
In those times, we couldn't buy a home draw in the Carling cup. Click to continue reading...

photo: Patrick MeredithThe Aztex bagged an impressive win last night at the RRISD Athletic Complex, beating Mexico's first-division contenders Monterrey 1-0.
Though just an exhibition match, the win is significant. For one, it ends 2009 play in Austin on a high note. The fact that it was earned from a good Mexican pro team, in the midst of their season, adds to the victory. Click to continue reading...

The Galaxy won't sell tickets to the upper deck at Carson's Home Depot Center for its first and perhaps only playoff game this year at the stadium (date and opponent TBD), the first time the club has done that since moving there in 2003.

Of course, that's slightly misleading because the Galaxy haven't made the playoffs in the last three seasons.

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Jeff Baker at New University wrote an interesting article today about David Beckham and his contributions (or lack thereof) to the development of soccer in North America. It's true that this is a tough market to crack. We seem to love technical games like football and baseball or fighting games like boxing, ultimate fighting, wrestling and hockey.

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Big Story
New models in stadium ticketing don't come along too often, and when they do, they are rarely great for fans. Many in England will remember the massively unpopular bond schemes dreamed up by clubs such as Arsenal and West Ham in the 1990s when they were scrambling around for a new way to suck cash from fans to pay for needed stadium redevelopment.

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I've been meaning to start writing more about ethical football. Not in the sense of dodgy owners and spiralling ticket prices - although that is all connected in the broader picture.Rather how football is harnessing it's awesome power to bring about positive social change at home and in developing countries across the world. Click to continue reading...

County travel east to The Galpharm Stadium this weekend to face Huddersfield for the 2nd time this season, following our trip in the Carling Cup.

The Hatters will be looking to extend a run of games which has seen them lose just once in the last 6, away to Leeds.

Huddersfield will be looking to bounce back from defeat against Milwall last weekend and feature County old-boys Anthony Pilkington and Jim Goodwin.

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Oh man, did you hear what Sevilla is doing to its poor fans. The club is jacking up the ticket prices like crazy for the Real Madrid match.
Not being very nice to the people writing your paycheck.
Almost as mean as sending off four of your team's players, only to get them back in some weird, not-really transfers. Click to continue reading...

I've mentioned before on here about Singapore's whiney sports culture. They complained that Liverpool didn't bring Steve Gerrard, they complained about the ticket prices against China for a recent friendly. And now they have something else to complain about. And rather like a gaggle of hags settled round their knitting and cauldrons you get the impression they might just be enjoying themselves. Click to continue reading...

Is football hooliganism in the U.K. more prevalent than ever?

In an age of astronomical transfer fees, CCTV, better policing methods, higher ticket prices & all-stadium seating, one would think not. Aren't we always led to believe that football in the U.K. has emerged triumphantly out of the dark ages of the 70's & 80's?

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ESPN's Steve Davis seems to say here that he thinks linking tickets to the World Cup finals with attendance at World Cup qualifiers would be a good way to help increase ticket demand for the qualifiers. That's an interesting idea, one whose complexity of execution boggles my mind at the moment.
I have a simpler plan. Click to continue reading...

It's been long rumored, practically guaranteed in previous statements, but now it's officially official: the Austin Aztex will play at AISD's House Park in 2010. The downtown stadium is technically located at 1301 Shoal Creek Blvd, though most think of it as being on Lamar Blvd (Google Map).
Yes, it will still be artificial turf. Click to continue reading...

Stockport County host Carlisle United Tomorrow night at Edgeley Park.

Ablett's men will be looking to bounce back from that disappointing 2-0 defeat at the weekend to Bristol Rovers.

County conceded two early goals in the 3rd and 8 minute.

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<!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --> To celebrate the increase of traffic since linking up with 'Newsnow' I have spent vast amounts of time and money re-painting the site and I hope you like the more 'Tottenham' effect. I tried yellow flashes but they didn't show up and I have settled for pale and dark blue. Click to continue reading...

Stockport County face Bristol Rovers Tomorrow afternoon in their first home game of the 2009/10 campaign.

County will be looking to bounce back from their midweek defeat to Huddersfield, after they lost 3-1 in the Carling Cup first round.

There are no injury worries for County apart from Matty Mainwaring he broke his Fibia and Tibia three weeks ago in the 1-0 Pre season win over Grimsby Town at Edgeley Park.

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Fears about the amount of travelling and the hectic schedule were dispelled as Liverpool's tour of the Far East was a great success both on and off the pitch.
The gruelling heat and humidity will have boosted fitness levels and the two matches were decent, competitive workouts.
But what will live long in the memory is the extraordinary reception the Reds received both in Thailand and Singapore. Click to continue reading...

The once mighty invincibles have finally fallen. The last of them, Kolo Toure having joined Manchester City. I have to admit I am sad that he has decided to move on. Unlike Adebayor, Kolo always played with a heart of a lion whenever he put on the red and white which made him a fan favourite among the Arsenal fans.

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