Aris F.C. vs Mancester City

[Elvistheblue]

[youtube]m9NGJwZxLhg[/youtube]

About 1.20 in they do the Poznan. Ha

Blimey, They do the Poznan better than Poznan.....Maybe now we should sing 'Let's all do the Aris'!!

[ArisThessaloniki]

check it in 4.07 of this video, by 25.000 Aris fans in Athens

[youtube]pnI--BqTakI[/youtube]

we cant be compared with anyone

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

"The club is named after Ares, the god of war."

Let's hope we come out of this one smellin' of joy.

[TonyM]

Does me head in this glorification of "creating an intimidating atmosphere". These days fans just want to go to a game safely, enjoy it, sing songs, have banter and get home safely. All the flares and crap is just a mickey mouse attempt to be a tough boy.

FIFA and UEFA forced a more sanitory version of support down the throat of England years ago and it has to be seen in large as to the benefit of the common fan for the most part (standing debate aside).

There are few if any clubs known now for being a dangerous place to go. At least not at the upper levels of the game.

So why then in mainland Europe is it fine to see week after week of flares, violence and billy big boy. It's a f*ckin joke if you ask me. This is just one area that UEFA and FIFA should be spending time on rather than trying to spread football to Outer Mongolia and beyond. There are other things too like technology and breaking corruption in the game.

So for me this might be a great spectacle of passion and if I was 16 again I'd probably love to be in the middle of it... but it's just another example of the unfairness in football today.

I'm off the cigarettes 15 months now but it doesn't make me any less angry. :-)

[Wonderwall]

Does me head in this glorification of "creating an intimidating atmosphere". These days fans just want to go to a game safely, enjoy it, sing songs, have banter and get home safely. All the flares and crap is just a mickey mouse attempt to be a tough boy.

FIFA and UEFA forced a more sanitory version of support down the throat of England years ago and it has to be seen in large as to the benefit of the common fan for the most part (standing debate aside).

There are few if any clubs known now for being a dangerous place to go. At least not at the upper levels of the game.

So why then in mainland Europe is it fine to see week after week of flares, violence and billy big boy. It's a f*ckin joke if you ask me. This is just one area that UEFA and FIFA should be spending time on rather than trying to spread football to Outer Mongolia and beyond. There are other things too like technology and breaking corruption in the game.

So for me this might be a great spectacle of passion and if I was 16 again I'd probably love to be in the middle of it... but it's just another example of the unfairness in football today.

I'm off the cigarettes 15 months now but it doesn't make me any less angry. :-)

Spot on mate, good post. I am all for fans creating an atmosphere and its their right to do so, but leave all the toys in the box and do it the right way by backing your teams vocally.

[King Kev]

I think we have now established that Aris fans are good at singing and dancing.

What I want to know is, are their team any good?

[neto-3]

Hi lads! I am an ARIS FC fan

First of all, i am apologizing for my English, it's been a little rusty lately :)

We are looking forward to 2 nice games against your favourite team, we are delighted to have you as opponents, because our team has a problem of motivation when we play against mediocre teams. So... personally i wouldn't be happy if our opponent was Twente or a Spartak Moscow for example. We are surely not the favourites to pass to the next round but we hope we still have our chances (20%).
This year must be the greatest in our entire history since 1914, ok maybe we had another good one at the end of the 70s when we eliminated Perugia FC and Benfica Lisbon for the UEFA cup... we had also a clash against Ipswich Town when they won the UEFA cup in 1980- 81 season (Paul Mariner bla bla...). We had lost in England 5-1 because of a terrible Portuguese referee and we won 3-1 in Salonica. The score was 3-0 till the 75th minute, so you can imagine the fever of Sir Bobby Robson (RIP).

Anyway... we had also a good european "trip" in Europe when we eliminated Zaragoza FC from Spain 3 years ago, which had some great players like Milito, Aimar etc. We won them 1-0 in Salonica and lost 2-1 in spain. So we passed because of the away goal. At the group stage we had as an opponent Bolton Wanderers, we had 1-1 in Reebok stadium. A late equalizer at the last minute of extra time eliminated us from the rest of the competition. It was very tough goal for all of us, Aris fans.

we have an unbeaten run record in European competitions in our stadium for 40 years and more... ok we were not in european competitions every year but there must been played almost 20- 25 games since 1969 against some great teams and we havent (still) ruined our record. OK records are meant to be broken, so who knows maybe you will be the blessed :)

Our stronger factor is the coach, Hector Raul Cuper, who is our leader. The team has some quality players but it needs to be stronger in some positions which i will not reveal to you :)

I would say that some of our stars are Sergio Koke (captain and forward), Mihalis sifakis(goalkeeper, National team member too), Sakis Prittas (defensive midfielder, also member of the national team), Ricardo Faty (DM), Neto (DR) and i personally like a lot Javito (AMR). We know your team and we respect it. Our stadium capacity is 23000. Be sure that we will not harm you if you don't provoke us. We don't want drunk fans, we dislike them, we are all against violence and racism, we like to sing during the game so we are much different than the other Greek fans. So don't hesitate to come to Greece and Thessaloniki, which is a perfect city to visit, with nice cafe and bars, especially at the center of the city. You have to search for the area called Ladadika and Leoforos Nikis street which is along the sea (Paralia). That's where you should go to enjoy yourselves. I would suggest you not to wear scarves or hats of Manchester city the days before the game. None of Aris fans will harm you (i am 100% sure about that) but i cannot promise you the same for PAOK fans who are a real disaster and i mean it. Although i think that even these guys will not harm you, because they will feel sympathy for you because you want to eliminate us :)

The atmosphere at the stadium is impressive with choreo and tones of papers and yellow smokes etc but everything is under control, so you don't have to be scared. You will be sitting at Gate4 which is on the opposite goalpost of Gate-3 (Super-3) which is the gate of the ULTRAS. Ok you will be sitting near (around 50 meters) Gate 1, which is the gate of another club of Aris fans, Ierolohites, but they will not harm you if you don't provoke them. If you do, i cannot promise you anything :)
In general it will be a good trip for you and for the loyal fans who want to watch a good game. I wouldnt advise you to take kids or women with you. It is safe for them but they will not feel very comfortable at the stadium, with the facilities of the stadium (WC etc). That's my opinion. But it's a good trip for a regular fan, who doesnt want to be involved in fights. It's surely not Istanbul or Poland or Eastern Europe and you will feel it.

This is a good site for bookings http://www.booking.com/city/gr/thessaloniki.en.html
I would advise you to stay at the center. 2 or 3 nights are enough to visit the sightseeings of the city. There is the white tower, which is the symbol of the city http://www.easypedia.gr/el/images/share ... _Tower.jpg , there are some good museums (which i have never visited to be honest, hahahaha)

This is Paralia (lets say.. the beach- of course you cannot swim, it is polluted), but you can walk alongside it is about 4-5 klm http://www.lastoffertravel.gr/photo/city/P7160058.jpg

This is Aristotelous square for cafe and beer http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2378/225 ... 5c88aa.jpg
http://www.holiday.gr/members_images/15477.jpg

The airport is about 12 klms from the center of the city. There is bus to the center every 30 minutes which costs 0,60 euros. A taxi to the center will cost around 15- 20 euros (not more). I wouldnt advise you to stay near there, there arent many things to do, except if you like casino and strip dance (there are some strip clubs there) :)

There are some good fish and chips places near Ladadika, which are called "Bakaliarakia" . They serve bacalaus with chips and salad, i think you will like them http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak- ... 9450_n.jpg

The stadium from the center of the city (Aristotelous square) is about 3-4 klms, one hour on feet and 10- 15 minutes with buses (number 10 and 11), which pass from Egnatia Street. Now... there are some cheap and not so bad hotels at Egnatia Street, i think they re the best for you and they re relatively clean (so search for Egnatia Street hotels at the site i sent to you http://www.booking.com/city/gr/thessaloniki.en.html )the others cost much more. OK if you have the ability to pay, go to stay to Macedonia Palace or Electra Palace but i dont think that everybody has the money nowadays!!!

I insist that the best area for you, for drinking and hanging out is "Ladadika".There are many bars and tavernas. It is 5 minutes from Egnatia, you can walk...
It is an easy and nice city to be walked in general. I hope you to have a good time and if you have anything to ask me i will reply as soon as possible!

If you can pass me some piece of information about manchester i would be delighted. Especially how can i travel from Manchester to London after the match... are there any means of transportation after midnight?? How can i book some seat??

Greetings from Salonica!! I cannot wish you good luck though :)

PS- Don't go to Halkidiki on February. It's completely empty... and it is 1 hour by car. That's my opinion

[Yellow]

I was in greece a few years back and watched one of their games, they've scored the best goal ive ever seen, free kick from the centre circle straight to the top corner and the guy was going for goal

Hi lads

A somehow similar goal we scored last weekend

[youtube]WnIBwYQ7idQ[/youtube]


Greetings from Thessaloniki

[Yellow]

Does me head in this glorification of "creating an intimidating atmosphere". These days fans just want to go to a game safely, enjoy it, sing songs, have banter and get home safely. All the flares and crap is just a mickey mouse attempt to be a tough boy.

FIFA and UEFA forced a more sanitory version of support down the throat of England years ago and it has to be seen in large as to the benefit of the common fan for the most part (standing debate aside).

There are few if any clubs known now for being a dangerous place to go. At least not at the upper levels of the game.

. :-)

Good post mate

Truth is that UEFA does not permit flares in European games so they will be none in the ARIS -CITY match. Just pieces of paper or toilet rolls thrown when the teams enter the pitch. It will be loud with a lot of singing throughout the game but really it is not an intimidating atmosphere.

The Greek league...Oh thats different, especially when we play our city rivals PAOK

Here is how it looks like in a local game (turn on your speakers)
Enjoy


[youtube]ebBAQLf8nDU&feature=related[/youtube]

In the last few years our club has made a great effort to control violence and they've done it. In my opinion its the safest stadium in Greece. Fantastic atmosphere - a fans show - but perfectly controllable

Have no fear of coming to our stadium. Its very safe unless some drunken asshole provokes our fans. You can shout for your team - thats not a problem - but do not hit anybody before or after the game. Then your security will be at risk...

Greetings from the CITY OF GOD

[CitizenYank]

check it in 4.07 of this video, by 25.000 Aris fans in Athens

[youtube]pnI--BqTakI[/youtube]

we cant be compared with anyone

Greetings! Welcome to the board. See that your club has a basketball and a baseball team.
Very nicah!!

I remember when the Greek National Team played in the WBC. Congrats on making it too the next round.

[Mase]

Hi lads! I am an ARIS FC fan

First of all, i am apologizing for my English, it's been a little rusty lately :)

We are looking forward to 2 nice games against your favourite team, we are delighted to have you as opponents, because our team has a problem of motivation when we play against mediocre teams. So... personally i wouldn't be happy if our opponent was Twente or a Spartak Moscow for example. We are surely not the favourites to pass to the next round but we hope we still have our chances (20%).
This year must be the greatest in our entire history since 1914, ok maybe we had another good one at the end of the 70s when we eliminated Perugia FC and Benfica Lisbon for the UEFA cup... we had also a clash against Ipswich Town when they won the UEFA cup in 1980- 81 season (Paul Mariner bla bla...). We had lost in England 5-1 because of a terrible Portuguese referee and we won 3-1 in Salonica. The score was 3-0 till the 75th minute, so you can imagine the fever of Sir Bobby Robson (RIP).

Anyway... we had also a good european "trip" in Europe when we eliminated Zaragoza FC from Spain 3 years ago, which had some great players like Milito, Aimar etc. We won them 1-0 in Salonica and lost 2-1 in spain. So we passed because of the away goal. At the group stage we had as an opponent Bolton Wanderers, we had 1-1 in Reebok stadium. A late equalizer at the last minute of extra time eliminated us from the rest of the competition. It was very tough goal for all of us, Aris fans.

we have an unbeaten run record in European competitions in our stadium for 40 years and more... ok we were not in european competitions every year but there must been played almost 20- 25 games since 1969 against some great teams and we havent (still) ruined our record. OK records are meant to be broken, so who knows maybe you will be the blessed :)

Our stronger factor is the coach, Hector Raul Cuper, who is our leader. The team has some quality players but it needs to be stronger in some positions which i will not reveal to you :)

I would say that some of our stars are Sergio Koke (captain and forward), Mihalis sifakis(goalkeeper, National team member too), Sakis Prittas (defensive midfielder, also member of the national team), Ricardo Faty (DM), Neto (DR) and i personally like a lot Javito (AMR). We know your team and we respect it. Our stadium capacity is 23000. Be sure that we will not harm you if you don't provoke us. We don't want drunk fans, we dislike them, we are all against violence and racism, we like to sing during the game so we are much different than the other Greek fans. So don't hesitate to come to Greece and Thessaloniki, which is a perfect city to visit, with nice cafe and bars, especially at the center of the city. You have to search for the area called Ladadika and Leoforos Nikis street which is along the sea (Paralia). That's where you should go to enjoy yourselves. I would suggest you not to wear scarves or hats of Manchester city the days before the game. None of Aris fans will harm you (i am 100% sure about that) but i cannot promise you the same for PAOK fans who are a real disaster and i mean it. Although i think that even these guys will not harm you, because they will feel sympathy for you because you want to eliminate us :)

The atmosphere at the stadium is impressive with choreo and tones of papers and yellow smokes etc but everything is under control, so you don't have to be scared. You will be sitting at Gate4 which is on the opposite goalpost of Gate-3 (Super-3) which is the gate of the ULTRAS. Ok you will be sitting near (around 50 meters) Gate 1, which is the gate of another club of Aris fans, Ierolohites, but they will not harm you if you don't provoke them. If you do, i cannot promise you anything :)
In general it will be a good trip for you and for the loyal fans who want to watch a good game. I wouldnt advise you to take kids or women with you. It is safe for them but they will not feel very comfortable at the stadium, with the facilities of the stadium (WC etc). That's my opinion. But it's a good trip for a regular fan, who doesnt want to be involved in fights. It's surely not Istanbul or Poland or Eastern Europe and you will feel it.

This is a good site for bookings http://www.booking.com/city/gr/thessaloniki.en.html
I would advise you to stay at the center. 2 or 3 nights are enough to visit the sightseeings of the city. There is the white tower, which is the symbol of the city http://www.easypedia.gr/el/images/share ... _Tower.jpg , there are some good museums (which i have never visited to be honest, hahahaha)

This is Paralia (lets say.. the beach- of course you cannot swim, it is polluted), but you can walk alongside it is about 4-5 klm http://www.lastoffertravel.gr/photo/city/P7160058.jpg

This is Aristotelous square for cafe and beer http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2378/225 ... 5c88aa.jpg
http://www.holiday.gr/members_images/15477.jpg

The airport is about 12 klms from the center of the city. There is bus to the center every 30 minutes which costs 0,60 euros. A taxi to the center will cost around 15- 20 euros (not more). I wouldnt advise you to stay near there, there arent many things to do, except if you like casino and strip dance (there are some strip clubs there) :)

There are some good fish and chips places near Ladadika, which are called "Bakaliarakia" . They serve bacalaus with chips and salad, i think you will like them http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak- ... 9450_n.jpg

The stadium from the center of the city (Aristotelous square) is about 3-4 klms, one hour on feet and 10- 15 minutes with buses (number 10 and 11), which pass from Egnatia Street. Now... there are some cheap and not so bad hotels at Egnatia Street, i think they re the best for you and they re relatively clean (so search for Egnatia Street hotels at the site i sent to you http://www.booking.com/city/gr/thessaloniki.en.html )the others cost much more. OK if you have the ability to pay, go to stay to Macedonia Palace or Electra Palace but i dont think that everybody has the money nowadays!!!

I insist that the best area for you, for drinking and hanging out is "Ladadika".There are many bars and tavernas. It is 5 minutes from Egnatia, you can walk...
It is an easy and nice city to be walked in general. I hope you to have a good time and if you have anything to ask me i will reply as soon as possible!

If you can pass me some piece of information about manchester i would be delighted. Especially how can i travel from Manchester to London after the match... are there any means of transportation after midnight?? How can i book some seat??

Greetings from Salonica!! I cannot wish you good luck though :)

PS- Don't go to Halkidiki on February. It's completely empty... and it is 1 hour by car. That's my opinion

Some good information there. Welcome and thanks.

[Manx Blue]

I notice the away leg is in Thessalonki on the Tuesday 15th. Is Our home leg likely to be brought forward does anyone know??

**** Just been on UEFA.com - We're confirmed for the Thursday night, with the CSKA/PAOK & Porto/Sevilla confirmed for Tuesday

[john@staustell]

PS- Don't go to Halkidiki on February. It's completely empty... and it is 1 hour by car. That's my opinion

Good. Quiet drink without all those pesky tourists!!

[Dummy01]

Hi everyone,

I am also an Aris fan and thanks for accepting me in your forum.

We are very happy although we know that we are the outsider against the very good team of yours and that only with a miracle we can qualify to the next round. But then, we reached until here doing miracles, so why not another one?

You are very welcome in Thessaloniki, so let me add another video of where you are coming:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD5kzMVZO-U

Also, thanks for the 3500 tickets. We will be there!!

[s1ty m]

Wow. Can anyone speak or write Greek as well as these people can write or speak English? Puts me to shame.

Greetings Greeks!

Very kind of you to give all this information.

[craigmcfc]

Wow. Can anyone speak or write Greek as well as these people can write or speak English? Puts me to shame.

Greetings Greeks!

Very kind of you to give all this information.

I think we should send Mancio4ever to their forum as our site representative

[Dazzacity]

I have to disagree with the earlier post. If Eastlands was like that, Id be there every game !! I used to go to alot of games when I could get into singers. I now find it hard to motivate myself to make the 250 plus mile round trip just to be sat in silence with a bunch of boring fookers. I go to matches to be part of the atmosphere. I can sit in silence at home and watch the football. Going to games is about being part of it imo.. I also love the Ultra scene and wish it would take off more in this country.

Aris are impressive, but nothing different. If you watch any side in Greece, Serbia, Croatia,Bosnia, Russia etc... you will see this sort of atmos all the time.

For those makin the trip. Try and take some sky blue smoke flares.

Im going to try and make the home leg.

[spiv]

There are still plenty of flights going out from heathrow with olympic and agean airways for around £208 but they are good time departures, 12-15 going out and 15-30 coming back so i wont be losing too much sleep with them.

[cdncityfan]

I don't think the fixture at COMS will be moved up as the only reason the away leg has been changed is because PAOK Thessaloniki is playing their home leg on the same matchday. I would much rather UEFA actually respected the Europa League as a competition and played it on weeks the Champions League was not occurring so that the matches could be split over two days. There are a lot of good matchups on the cards for the round of 32.

Question for our Greek friends: Love the atmosphere in your league, but how is the standard of play in your league? Is it improving, declining? Is the league getting more or less competitive, especially with the introduction of playoffs for the second Champions League qualifying place? I don't really follow your league, but am suprised to see so many good players (Djibril Cisse, Enzo Maresca, Sidney Govou, etc.) and managers (Jesualdo Ferreira, Zico, Hector Cuper, etc.) making the trip.

[raoul_duke]

Question for our Greek friends: Love the atmosphere in your league, but how is the standard of play in your league? Is it improving, declining? Is the league getting more or less competitive, especially with the introduction of playoffs for the second Champions League qualifying place? I don't really follow your league, but am suprised to see so many good players (Djibril Cisse, Enzo Maresca, Sidney Govou, etc.) and managers (Jesualdo Ferreira, Zico, Hector Cuper, etc.) making the trip.

Our league is sh*te compared to other major european Leagues. Greek football has relatively improved
over the past 15 years, the national team has done a few amazing things in the recent past, and some
native players have made their names known abroad.

However this has not reflected as much as everyone hoped inside the country, especially after the Euro
2004 miracle. The league has remained non-competitive, since i remember myself it's always been about
the two big clubs of Athens (Olympiakos-Panathinaikos) fighting for the title.
And three more other clubs (AEK, Aris, PAOK) conclude the big-5 team scheme of Greece. Rest of the clubs
just complete the league panel.

The two big rivals i forementioned have the largest fan base, including most politicians (and that does
mean something around here). They also control the majority of press (we got like 15 large circulation daily
sports newspapers!), having nurtured a relentless propaganda on their favour for decades now. And of course
countless incidents of corrupted arbitration, refs couldn't be out of this circle.

Most good foreign players who sign for a Greek club do it much after their prime. Djibril Cisse is a stellar
player and currently the only one deserving to be mentioned. Govou was almost sacked recently (he's been
touring around nightclubs too much), Maresca is no longer in the league (didn't play well for Olympiakos).

Hector Cuper (our manager) is one of the best coaches a greek club has ever had, and all of us Aris fans are
very happy having him here. We've had a bad first round in the league but doing great in Europe. Our roster
is not deep enough and having played 26 games till now (more than any other Greek team) makes it hard to
respond equally well in all competitions. But we're definitely ambitious for what comes next ;)