Wembley...behind closed doors.

[Geoff Parkstone]

If only...a tad idealistic, possibly especially during a pandemic.

There was a lack of fairness for those, not me, in the various England supporters clubs. Can’t remember for sure now but I had a guy doing some work for me at the time who got very affordable tickets for the earlier matches, including Germany, but then found himself completely priced out as tickets were snapped up by celebs and other ‘worthies’. We need to address that.

Agreed. You can’t rely on stewards at huge matches.

Vicious circle Andy. Those you speak of are going to struggle to respect our anthem/flag when others with the flag draped around their shoulders or wearing nationalistic badges including the UJ are the very ones conspicuously and vociferously jeering the anthems of others. Having attended many RU, RL and Cricket internationals...this seldom happens with other sports.

Pricing on tickets is all relative. Tickets for final of Euro 2020 started at £ 250 and rose to around £ 750 I believe. Expensive, but compare it to the £ 21,000 you would have to pay today to get a Qatar world cup final ticket. Compare it to the $ 7-10,000 face value ticket to see the superbowl 2021.

Yes there were no doubt very much cheaper tickets to see earlier round games, but a meal in Macdonald's might cost £ 5 as opposed to £ 300 at the Fat Duck in Bray. That doesnt excuse diners kicking in the doors at the Fat Duck to steal a free meal.

yes it was depressing to see the tv cameras picking out all the "celebrities" who had somehow managed to get tickets at the expense of the loyal England supporters, but its always the same: and how many of the thugs stameding into the ground do you really have sympathy for?

[Andy_Faber]

Sorry, Andy...I’m not sure it’s me who’s guilty of ‘muddled thinking’ on this one.

Firstly your attempt to link this topic to the murder of David Amess, or Jo Cox for that matter, seems tenuous in the extreme.
Secondly, I’m sure I’m not the only person who supports their country but is not actually a monarchist.
Not sure how you fly ‘in a respectful manner’ but it would be utterly hypocritical of me and a great many others to sing the National Anthem - which I don’t think I’ve done since I was nine or ten - when, without going over old ground, I don’t actually believe a word of it.

You clearly not only stopped singing it at 9, you never took the trouble to actually read the words, either all or even some. Are you honestly saying you can’t bring yourself to wish an old lady long life? And the sentiment of the third verse is so inclusive it could be a Blue Mink song. Do you not want worldwide peace?. Your opinion on this is regrettably an ignorant not an informed one

[ramAnag]

I never made the link between David Amess andJo Cox but somehow knew you would

Are you being deliberately obtuse? My ‘link’ between David Amess and Jo Cox is transparently obvious. Your link between the murder of David Amess and Wembley having to have a match played behind closed doors rather less so.

[Andy_Faber]

Are you being deliberately obtuse? My ‘link’ between David Amess and Jo Cox is transparently obvious. Your link between the murder of David Amess and Wembley having to have a match played behind closed doors rather less so.

I thought my link/correlation was dead clear

[ramAnag]

You clearly not only stopped singing it at 9, you never took the trouble to actually read the words, either all or even some. Are you honestly saying you can’t bring yourself to wish an old lady long life? And the sentiment of the third verse is so inclusive it could be a Blue Mink song. Do you not want worldwide peace?. Your opinion on this is regrettably an ignorant not an informed one

Oh c’mon...now you’re being ridiculous. You know as well as I do that invariably the only part of the National Anthem that is ever sung is the first verse.
When have you ever heard the third verse sung...least of all at Wembley?
Tbh I have few feelings about the Queen. She seems now to be a pleasant enough old lady and I wish her no harm at all, but I don’t respect the anachronistic system she is the head of, or her dysfunctional family, and I certainly don’t want her/them to ‘reign over us’.
It’s a weird contradiction...that Brexiteers and traditionalists alike frequently hold democracy in such high esteem and yet also seem to paradoxically respect the monarchy which is the complete antithesis of democracy...or maybe that’s just me being ‘ignorant and not informed’.

[ramAnag]

Pricing on tickets is all relative. Tickets for final of Euro 2020 started at £ 250 and rose to around £ 750 I believe. Expensive, but compare it to the £ 21,000 you would have to pay today to get a Qatar world cup final ticket. Compare it to the $ 7-10,000 face value ticket to see the superbowl 2021.

Yes there were no doubt very much cheaper tickets to see earlier round games, but a meal in Macdonald's might cost £ 5 as opposed to £ 300 at the Fat Duck in Bray. That doesnt excuse diners kicking in the doors at the Fat Duck to steal a free meal.

yes it was depressing to see the tv cameras picking out all the "celebrities" who had somehow managed to get tickets at the expense of the loyal England supporters, but its always the same: and how many of the thugs stameding into the ground do you really have sympathy for?

Firstly your figures are wrong. It’s all a tad anecdotal, but the guy I was referring to paid only around £50 (if memory serves) for his Germany ticket but the last I heard was being expected to shell out around £1000 for the final.

No idea about Qatar but two wrongs etc.

Where have I defended ‘thugs steaming into the ground’? I haven’t and never would. That’s why they were top of my list of those to blame. I have no ‘sympathy for any of them’.

[Geoff Parkstone]

So sing Hickson's Alt National Anthem of 1830's rA

God bless our native land!
May Heav'n's protecting hand
Still guard our shore:
May peace her power extend,
Foe be transformed to friend,
And Britain's rights depend
On war no more.

There you go, now you too can j0in without fear of any demonstrable royalist leanings

I always liked the verse about crushing seditious scots myself

[ramAnag]

I thought my oink/correlation was dead clear

I’m sorry...I’m not sure if you’ve been hacked or are just having a bad day but I’ve no idea what the above means.

[ramAnag]

So sing Hickson's Alt National Anthem of 1830's rA

God bless our native land!
May Heav'n's protecting hand
Still guard our shore:
May peace her power extend,
Foe be transformed to friend,
And Britain's rights depend
On war no more.

There you go, now you too can j0in without fear of any demonstrable royalist leanings

I always liked the verse about crushing seditious scots myself

I don’t think I’ve come across that before, but it seem a lot more acceptable. Sadly you and I might both struggle with the God bit.

P.S. Could we change the tune too please? Away from that turgid dirge that is also true of ‘Steve Bloomer’s Watching’.
‘Three lions...’ much more fit for purpose.

[Geoff Parkstone]

Strange that because my "wrong" figure of £ 250 was seen on a genuine ticket to the match that a client of mine had bought - he then had to pay scalpers many thousand for a couple more tickets, but that was his choice. £ 50 may well have been the price for the quarter final, bt it was a quarter final, not the final..... and perhaps (I dont know) he had to buy that ticket "blind" without knowing if England were even playing in that game?