Sunday drinking – Bet on the Greyhound

There’s been a lot of rumours flying around about the Community Shield pre and post-match drinking in and around Wembley.

Just to confirm, the Torch, at 1-5 Bridge Road will NOT be letting in United fans before or after the game. The pub has been allocated to Pompey fans only and their bouncers won’t be messing about.

But fear not.

The Greyhound at 324 Harrow Road, is the pub of choice for reds near the ground.

It has a licence that allows it to open at 7am, but the manager, Alex, said it will be open from “about 11am” on the day.

A special food menu will be on offer and you can get a pint of lager for £3.60 (Fosters, Carling) or £3.80 San Miguel.

It’s a decent pub, but it’s apparently going through a “management change” at the moment, so there’s no matchday entertainment or the like.

But it does have Sky, four pool tables (which will probably be covered up at some point), a big (ish) car park and a small porch area.

Directions: From Wembley Central:

Turn right out of the station and the pub is about ten minutes away on the left side of the road.

From Wembley Park: Go down the hundreds of stairs toward the castle of sport, but bear right onto the road (Empire Way). Walk down the road past the Plaza Hotel until you reach the High Road, turn left and the pub is ahead on the left.

From North Wembley: Turn right out of the station and then right into Llanover Road. Follow the road until it becomes St John's Road and carry on until it ends at the High Road. Turn left - the pub is about five minutes away on the left.

If you prefer something slightly quieter, head for the Windermere, in Windermere Avenue, outside South Kenton Tube Station.

It’s out of the way but the queue at the bar will be smaller and you can still make kick off if you leave 20 minutes before the game…and walk fast.

My personal favourite however is the Royal George Hotel right outside London Euston.

With everyone making their way down to London in different ways, it’s a handy place to meet with mates pre-match and get in a couple of early pints before heading to the ground on the Tube.

Or, failing that, a decent place to get a pint in while you’re waiting for the train home.

Any other recommendations or questions, make a comment.

Monaco on the cheap

Here are a few idea for anyone still looking for a place to stay in Nice when United play Zenit St Petersburg on Friday August 29 in Monaco.

Hostels

At the time of writing, these places have vacancies from at least the day before the game to the Sunday after it.

Hotel les Orangers

£15.78 pp pn in a 12-bed dorm.

£18.14 pp pn in a six-bed dorm

£19.72 pp pn in a four-bed dorm.

Good points: It's three minutes from the train station and five from the old town where all the decent bars are.

Bad points: It's 15 minutes from the beach and you can't stay in a private room.

Hotel Antares

£17.35 pp pn in an eight-bed dorm

Good points: You cannot possibly get closer to the train station. I've stayed here before and it's clean, safe, with decent staff and friendly guests.

Bad points: From memory, there's a 3am curfew. It's a good 15-minute trek to the beach too. There are no private rooms.

Hotel La Licorne

If you're going in a group of two-to-six people, this might work out as the cheapest bet.

£26.03 pp pn in a three-bed en suite room (you must book three or six places at the same time)

£31.16 pp pn in a two-bed en suite room (you must book two, four or six places at the same time)

£35.10 pp pn in a two-bed en suite room with a terrace (you must book two places at the same time).

All the above can be booked using hostelbookers. You pay 10% up front and the rest on arrival. And you can cancel anytime up until 24 hours before arrival.

Hotels

They're either really expensive or unavailable at this time of year, but the best is Ibis Nice Gare.

It works out as £32 pp pn based on two people sharing a twin room for three nights. Book here.

Apartments

If there's of group of three to six of you wanting a bit of freedom and luxury, you can get a great apartment deal without breaking the bank.

This two-bedroom apartment is in the Quartier Musiciens close to the town centre.

It sleeps six people and, for the week, it's yours for £397 to £635 for the week, depending on the number of people staying.

(It's only free from the day of the match for the following six days, but you can haggle with the owners on a price for fewer days).

This studio apartment sleeps four and is right near the beach. It will cost £413 to £595 for a week, but is only available on the week leading up to the game, so you'd have to check out the morning after. Ideal if you're flying home on the Saturday.

Apartments might seem expensive, but if six of you are paying £100 each for seven nights, that's £14 pp pn - cheaper than a hostel - with a lot of freedom thrown in.

Visit Holiday-rentals for many more apartments.

If you have any additions or questions, email this blog here.

London bound

Portsmouth
Community Shield
Wembley
3pm, Sunday August 10, 2008

Tickets

United have sold their allocation. Portsmouth have not and are selling what’s left on Ticketmaster

But they’ve taken steps to ensure only Pompey fans can buy them, so I wouldn’t waste your time trying to get around the system.

There was some talk earlier in the week of Ticketmaster selling neutral tickets, but they all seem to have gone.

World Ticket Shop is doing its usual thing of selling tickets at extortionate prices (£111.75 for the United end).

It’s another example of how stupid the system is when a team who can’t sell out is given the same allocation as a team who can easily sell out.

Anyone going down without a ticket shouldn’t worry just yet though. While people haven’t had too much look hunting down spares on Red Issue, there’s a long history of people getting hold of tickets on the day of the game for face value.

Getting there

Coach - £32

Official club coaches leave OT at 7am, cost £32 and get back at about 9.30pm.

Coach/Tube - £28.50

Megabus costs £20.50 from Chorlton Street to Victoria Coach Station in London.

Outgoing times are: Leave 06:30 arrive 11:00 or Leave 08.45, arrive 13.30.

Return times are: Leave: 18.30, arrive 22.55 or Leave 19.30, arrive 23:55 (if you go on the later one, it’s £24.50 return).

Wembley Park is the nearest tube stop to the stadium. It's in Zone 4 on the Metropolitan Line and the Jubilee Line. It’s £8 return from any central London stop.

Here’s a sample way of getting from the Megabus stop to the stadium:

Walk from Victoria Coach Station to Victoria Tube Station
Tube from Victoria to Westminster on District Line green: Leave 12:37, arrive 12.45
Tube from Westminster to Wembley Park on the Jubilee Line grey: Leave 12.46, arrive 13:15.

But beware that there are Tube improvements on the day of the game, so give yourself plenty of time to get to the stadium on the Tube.

You could also go on the train from Victoria to Wembley Stadium, but it’s £2 dearer and takes slightly longer.

Sample times
Tube from Victoria to Embankment on the Circle Line or District Line: Leave: 13.05, arrive

Maylebourne: Leave 13:05, arrive 13.15
Tube from Embankment to Marylebourne on the Bakerloo Line: Leave 13.15, arrive: 13.25

Train from Marylebourne to Wembley Central: Leave 13:33, arrive 13:42

Search for your own train times here.

Train - £70.50

The cheapest route by train is:
Train from Piccadilly to London Euston
Walk from Euston to Euston Square (five minutes)
Tube from Euston Square to Baker Street
Tube from Baker Street to Wembley Park

All journey times on Sunday are about four hours and, even if you were to get the earliest train, which leaves at 08:44, you could still end up missing kick off with one fuck up.

Train costs £62.50 for a saver return and then you can buy an £8 Tube ticket.

The only train I’d risk is:
Train from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston: Leave 08.44, arrive 11:36. The rest of the journey takes about 23 minutes.

Coming back, it’s the reverse route. Trains leave Euston at 18:29, 18:45, 19:01, 19:31, 19:46, 20:10, 20:51 and 21:56. Search for your own train times here, but buy tickets with Virgin Trains.

The return to Manchester is jibable, but it’s always recommended to buy a ticket. You can, however, buy a saver single for £31.20 with Virgin.

You can also get off Euston-bound trains at Watford Junction and go to Wembley Central from there. So that's

Train from Piccadilly to Watford Junction: Leave 08:44, arrive 11.06.

Then train from Watford Junction to Wembley Centre: Leave 11:21, arrive 11:45

That'll work better if you're not meeting people in London or if you're happy to put up with few pubs near the stadium or in Watford. Thanks to ZebeDee on Red Issue for that one.

Fly - £127.70

If you can’t be arsed with an eight-hour round trip and don’t mind paying more to get there quicker, try this:

Fly Manchester to Gatwick on British Airways: Leave 10.30, arrive 11.30. Price: £78.70

Fly Heathrow to Manchester on flybmi: Leave 20:50, arrive: 21.55. Price: £49.

It might sound steep, but mixing and matching, you could get the Megabus down for a tenner and then fly back. That work out cheaper than a return train and mean more drinking time.

Drive - £59.32

Add on £6 if you go by the M6 toll both ways.

Get door-to-door directions here.

Pub information coming early next week. If you can recommend a decent pre-match boozer for reds, email here.

Blues deadline extended

After getting permission from the police, Peterborough will sell tickets for Monday’s game up until 5pm on the day.

So you can get your tickets online 24/7 or at London Road on Monday in person until the deadline. See Thursday’s entry for contact details and other stuff.

The long way round

Anyone doing Pompey on August 25 and Zenit on August 29 should take some inspiration from a fearsome group of reds doing both on the cheap without a break in between.

Here's how they're doing it:

Monday August 25
Megabus from Manchester to Portsmouth. £5.
Train from Portsmouth to London. £10 approx. A possible jib.
Stay in London on Monday night in a hostel.

Tuesday August 26
Train from London to Stanstead on Tuesday night. A possible jib, though there are barriers at the main London stations.

Wednesday August 27
Plane to Wednesday to Begamo, near Milan, £40 return
Train from Bergamo to Nice via Milan £30 return approx.
Stay in Nice for three nights in a hostel.

Friday August 29
Train from Nice to Monte Carlo
Return after the game

Saturday August 30
Train from Nice to Bergamo via Milan.

Sunday August 31
Plane from Bergamo to Stanstead.
Train from Stanstead to London.
Megabus from London to Manchester.

Total cost: £250 approx.

Some of the prices, including the flights, have gone up since they booked, but it's still a very decent way of doing it.

Last chance for Posh

Peterborough

Friendly
Monday August 4
19:45

Tickets

More than 10,000 tickets have already been sold for United's trip to London Road on Monday night. Supporters have until 5pm today to buy a ticket as none are available on the night.

Tickets cost £15 terracing or £20 seating for adults, £12 for students, pensioners and the disabled and £5 for under 16s.

Fans will be unsegregated, but reds will be on the Moyes End Terrace and in the Main Stand section A

Call: 0844 847 1934 or go here (you have to register before buying online). All tickets bought at this stage must be collected on the night of the match.

Here's a map of the ground.

Getting there

Driving is by far the best bet. According to Green Flag, it will cost you £29.26 to get there and back.

If you're looking to go by train, travel after 10am else you'll get ripped off with ticket prices.

There are trains at 20 minutes past the hour from Piccadilly, but the majority change at Leeds, York or Nuneaton.

It's not cheap though. Adult return tickets cost £59.20.

The best direct one for those early drinkers is this:
Leave Manchester: 10.38
Arrive Peterborough: 13:35

There are a couple of ways of getting back to Manchester after the game. The match will end at 21:30, which means you've got 24 minutes to get back to the station to get home at a decent hour.

It's a 20-minute walk from the ground to Peterborough Train Station and probably £8 or so in a taxi there, so you should be alright.

Plan A:
Leave Peterborough: 21:54
Arrive Nuneaton: 23:08
Leave Nuneaton: 23:33
Arrive Manchester Piccadilly: 01:10

Plan B:
Leave Peterborough: 22:47
Arrive York: 00:41
Leave York: 02:00
Arrive Manchester Piccadilly: 03:59

Pubs

The word on Red Issue is there are plenty of boozers to choose from.

Mrs Robbo said: "Charters is a pub on a barge moored on the River Nene about five minutes walk from the ground - real ale pub with a Thai restaurant upstairs - nice outside drinking area (if the weather's okay).

"The Cherry Tree in Oundle Road is also five minutes away, The Peacock in London Road and the Palmerston Arms are about 10 minutes away.

"If you're coming by train it's worth visiting the Brewery Tap across the dual carriageway from the station and about 15 minutes from the ground - no colours allowed in the Brewery Tap though."

Hello and welcome

With the start of the season just a couple of weeks away, I thought I'd start this blog to help reds get to as many away games as possible.

It's getting harder and dearer to get tickets, but thanks to the wonderful world of the t'interweb, there's always a decent travel deal knocking about.

So if you've any questions, comments, or if you spot a bargain that should be shared with fellow United fans, drop me a line at redsaway@hotmail.co.uk

Thanks for reading.