Pipirig

@StanCollymore As a poster above said, Nevizade (about 10-15 mins walk from Taksim off the main Istiklal shopping street) has bars on either side of a small street (alley) so an amazing atmosphere at the CL final. Lost my phone to a pickpocket on Istiklal though!

Istanbul for Villans. Population 15 million. Europe's largest. Formerly Constantinople, Capital of both Eastern Roman Empire and Ottoman Empire. One of earth's most important cities. Geographical size, 3.5 times bigger than London. It's a monster. Besiktas Stadium. European side. Villa fans have the left of the stadium( map enclosed) but expect pockets of Villa everywhere. IST Airport. European side (35-60 mins between Airport and Besiktas . Use Uber or licenced taxis only, cost 1900-2400 Lira, £50-£60) Taxis. Yellow, standard, Turquoise, comfort, Black, luxury ( if uou have Uber, use it) Havaist Buses run from Airport to Besiktas for 100-150 lira, £2.50. Istanbulkart for those without a ticket. Metro, buses etc. £3 to buy one and top up as you go. Most journeys are around £1 in the city. 1 card can be shared by up to 5 people. Europa League ticket gives FREE publuc transport across Istanbul. Show your ticket. Stadium Capacity 42,684. Almost identical to VP. Currency. Lira. A country where cash is still king. Religion. Secular state with 98% of population Muslim. Voltage. 230v, EU plugs Villa Official Meeting place. Taksim Square. Bars and restaurants galore. Matchday weather. 20 degrees, sun and cloud. 21% chance of rain. Must Visit. Grand Bazaar. Since 1400. Haggle. If they want £20 for something, offer £10. They love it. Hagia Sofia Was a church, now huge and incredibly beautiful mosque. Dress appropriately. Topkapi Palace. Home of the Sultans. Blue Mosque. Stunning. Sultanahmet. Part of the city that hosts many of the above and a whole lot more. Beyoglu. South of Taksim square, start at Galata Tower and walk around. Eat. Doner Kebab. Hello! Pide. Turkish pizza. Kofte. Meatballs Menemen. Scrambled eggs with veggies and peppers from breakfast. Coffee. Strong as fuck. And sweet. Clothing. Whatever the fuck you wore at Villa Park v Forest, wear it again. UP THE FUCKING EUROPEAN VILLA!!💜 💙

@Londonblue_2 Plus the pants. Nobody needs to see the pants

What’s your Wembley good luck charm, ritual or superstition? For me the limited edition away top from Le Coq Sportif 🫡

@Londonblue_2 A genuine lol 👏

Chelsea fans on Saturday trying to decide between Wembley and the Tommy Robinson march.

@RetroMCFC All in front of a crowd of 15,147! Well done Mr Chairman @PeterSwales2012 #emptyseatsathome

OTD 1985: #ManCity 5-1 Charlton Athletic. ⚽️⚽️ David Phillips - 6’, 59’ ⚽️ Andy May - 15’ ⚽️ Jim Melrose - 56’ ⚽️ Paul Simpson - 57’ City were promoted back to the top division after 2 years away. ⬆️

@CHartleyPhotos Spectacular shot! 👏

Duxford 09/05/26

@9320pod Audible groans in the stadium when a dozen(?) crosses weren’t given a finish that they deserved.

So many little things from yesterday’s match stick out. Another one is Doku’s crossing is now consistently hitting the same areas. The other attackers need to start tailoring their movement.

@MaybePod A 0-4 league cup quarter final loss to Palace. Their manager put pictures of City players on punch bags for the Palace players to whack in the build up. Also the 5-0 in the derby (Kanchelskis hat trick). I seem to remember we were favourites going into that game for some reason…

As it’s the anniversary of the ‘81 Cup Final, here’s my Top 5 City Nightmares…

@MaybePod These are absolutely top drawer. Very entertaining and brought back some great memories. Looking forward to the next series…

🎉And that’s a wrap for Season 1 🎉 Thank you so much to everyone who’s listened, watched, liked, subscribed, downloaded or whatever else you’ve done with it. Thank you to everyone who’s took the time to send lovely messages of encouragement.

@MaybePod Would love to hear this season covered in the pod. Have some very vivid memories but also some very hazy ones c/o the Marstons Pedigree in the Whitworth!

Favourite pre-takeover season! Anyone who knows their stuff fancy covering this in Season 2?

@RetroMCFC Loved this game. Shepherded from the football special onto buses and driven through Oxford with police outriders like some visiting banana (topical!) republic president. The Manor Ground had more uneven stands than even Maine Road - impressive!

OTD 1989: Oxford United 2-4 #ManCity. ⚽️ Nigel Gleghorn - 46’ ⚽️ David White - 48’ ⚽️ Colin Greenall - 56’ [OG] ⚽️ Ian Brightwell - 88’

@CheshireBlueCW2 @RetroMCFC Happy days mate!

@andyctwit @RetroMCFC People around us could tell we were City fans but weren’t bothered as we were being respectful - and they wanted Coventry to go down 🤣 Oasis on the Sunday for us 🩵🫡🤘🏻

OTD 1996: Aston Villa 0-1 #ManCity. ⚽️ Steve Lomas 69’

@CheshireBlueCW2 @RetroMCFC I was in their main stand with what felt like a hundred others. Chants of CITY, CITY after we scored with - relatively- no bother. As others have said, straight off to Oasis at MR afterwards…

@RetroMCFC Was sat in the Holte End for this game 🩵

@MaybePod In the north stand and a bloke came back from the bogs on the half hour and said; ‘Just had a call from R kid who asked what the score was?’ I said ‘4-nil’ He says ‘To who?!’’ Place fell about. I had a lift back down south afterwards with a car full of gooners. Lovely.

Love this account. Completely forgotten about this goal. Probably because I was in The Parkside after 20 minutes.

@RetroMCFC THE most drunk I’ve been at a football match I reckon @LunaticRenfield

OTD 1990: Norwich City 0-1 #ManCity. ⚽️ Adrian Heath 5’

@dovesmusicblog Title track for me. Great to hear it live at Leeds on Saturday 🙏🙇‍♂️

Our fourth album Kingdom of Rust was released on this day in 2009.  Which track is your favourite?

@m_gunn @FootballInT80s I beg to differ sir. Heard it at Anfield on the opening day of that season (admittedly sang by about 3 blokes)

@FootballInT80s Birth of the Blue Moon song

1st Apr 1990 In front of the ITV cameras Aston Villa’s title challenge suffers a setback at home to Howard Kendall’s Man City Cowans had given the home side the lead, Ward equalised & then another old Everton stalwart (there were many to choose from) Peter Reid, got the winner

@FootballInT80s Anything of note at this game @LunaticRenfield ? 👀

@Ticketmancity Good shout. Looked very good from the North Stand and even better when standing next to a pal who is a Leeds fan!

@SamLee Our next game; Salah gets rapturous reception from the away end whilst Rodri gets muffled boos. That would indeed be a huge shame given his contribution but this isn’t the way to signpost your exit…

The Rodri answers about Madrid felt inevitable to me. He’s done a couple of post-match interviews with Spanish reporters in the last fortnight, which is quite rare, and it felt to me - and I may be wrong - that he was ready to drop some kind of hint about his future. International breaks are usually good for that. I feel City’s squad doesn’t need much work this summer as it’s very strong, but if Rodri and Bernardo go then it’s a bigger job. Rodri does say he’s happy in the PL for now so it may be that he does the last year of his deal, or even stays, but it’s interesting that he’s still open to the idea of playing for Madrid (he always has been) after the Balon d’Or stuff.

@9320pod Our next game; Salah gets rapturous reception from the away end whilst Rodri gets muffled boos. That would indeed be a huge shame given his contribution but this isn’t the way to signpost your exit…

“They” being the club you’re out here fluttering eyelashes at. Shame. Real shame.