Willem II (Tilburg) Link

[ExiledAjax]

Nice to see the club doing something like this for a group of fans.

I have a genuine question for those that are involved in this relationship - will this be a rare example of an actual FRIENDLY? For example will there be an away/home end? Presumably Willem II fans will be welcome in the normal home City pubs?

To be clear: I love it if this is the case. I'm all for actual friendlies and fraternal bonding between different clubs, wish there was more of it.

Edited May 9 by ExiledAjax

[willem ii]

Apologies that I couldn’t react earlier, was busy driving some city supporters from Amsterdam airport back to Tilburg… :-).

I already knew this was coming, but I am so happy that it is officially announced! We were waiting and asking for this for a very long time and It is great that it is going to happen (for whatever reason).

Fingers crossed that this will be the start of more to come in the following years! Let’s have a great party together!

[Cowshed]

10 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Nice to see the club doing something like this for a group of fans.

I have a genuine question for those that are involved in this relationship - will this be a rare example of an actual FRIENDLY? For example will there be an away/home end? Presumably Willem II fans will be welcome in the normal home City pubs?

To be clear: I love it if this is the case. I'm all for actual friendlies and fraternal bonding between different clubs, wish there was more of it.

The 3 Lions is having a party day for City and Willem II fans.

[ExiledAjax]

10 minutes ago, Cowshed said:

The 3 Lions is having a party day for City and Willem II fans.

Splendid.

[Wedontplayinblue]

23 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Nice to see the club doing something like this for a group of fans.

I have a genuine question for those that are involved in this relationship - will this be a rare example of an actual FRIENDLY? For example will there be an away/home end? Presumably Willem II fans will be welcome in the normal home City pubs?

To be clear: I love it if this is the case. I'm all for actual friendlies and fraternal bonding between different clubs, wish there was more of it.

Seeing as Willem fans are regularly in city home ends it would be bonkers to segregate it and it wouldn’t be followed anyway. 

[One Team]

3 minutes ago, Wedontplayinblue said:

Seeing as Willem fans are regularly in city home ends it would be bonkers to segregate it and it wouldn’t be followed anyway. 

Indeed no segregation needed, it will be one massive love in that game. 

This may well be a getting fans on side reaction but credit where it’s due at least they are doing it. 

[Topper 123]

32 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Nice to see the club doing something like this for a group of fans.

I have a genuine question for those that are involved in this relationship - will this be a rare example of an actual FRIENDLY? For example will there be an away/home end? Presumably Willem II fans will be welcome in the normal home City pubs?

To be clear: I love it if this is the case. I'm all for actual friendlies and fraternal bonding between different clubs, wish there was more of it.

I’m 100% sure this will be a day fans mix more than you’d ever know , my sons been going there for years 

[2015]

Might have to go to this one

[Jerseybean]

2 hours ago, Red Army 75 said:

 

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/bristol-city-confirm-first-friendly-9273213
 

[Tim Monaghan]

I said they were going to shock a few people this summer with a few things. What a great fixture for the fans. 

Well done JL and everyone else involved (don't forget Manning would have to agree too). 

COYR's 

[Topper 123]

Is there anyone out there that has any contacts with Bristol city hotels that maybe able to pull some strings and offer some group DISCOUNT it can then be put on here to help cost ?

[Mike Stone]

52 minutes ago, willem ii said:

Apologies that I couldn’t react earlier, was busy driving some city supporters from Amsterdam airport back to Tilburg… :-).

I already knew this was coming, but I am so happy that it is officially announced! We were waiting and asking for this for a very long time and It is great that it is going to happen (for whatever reason).

Fingers crossed that this will be the start of more to come in the following years! Let’s have a great party together!

I am so happy that this is actually going to happen but really sad that my great friend Scooter will not be there to witness the event.

RIP mate, never forgotten.

[Silvio Dante]

1 hour ago, ExiledAjax said:

Nice to see the club doing something like this for a group of fans.

I have a genuine question for those that are involved in this relationship - will this be a rare example of an actual FRIENDLY? For example will there be an away/home end? Presumably Willem II fans will be welcome in the normal home City pubs?

To be clear: I love it if this is the case. I'm all for actual friendlies and fraternal bonding between different clubs, wish there was more of it.

I’d have my doubts. The trouble is that the Willem link won’t be fully known by all fans (likely will be by the Willem fans who come over) and as such you always have the risk of a City fan having Willem around him and reacting badly.

The police advice would, I’d imagine, to notionally sell home/away tickets. That doesn’t mean it will be stuck to obviously but the small risk of things going wrong, and the kickback if it wasn’t segregated “officially” will likely be pointed out by both the Police and SAG.

Outside the ground - no issues. Inside I’d be surprised if they didn’t “officially” err on established practices.

[Tim Monaghan]

1 minute ago, Silvio Dante said:

I’d have my doubts. The trouble is that the Willem link won’t be fully known by all fans (likely will be by the Willem fans who come over) and as such you always have the risk of a City fan having Willem around him and reacting badly.

The police advice would, I’d imagine, to notionally sell home/away tickets. That doesn’t mean it will be stuck to obviously but the small risk of things going wrong, and the kickback if it wasn’t segregated “officially” will likely be pointed out by both the Police and SAG.

Outside the ground - no issues. Inside I’d be surprised if they didn’t “officially” err on established practices.

That is the clubs job to communicate the link to the fans. Will they do it, well..... 

But I'm glad that this is over the line finally.  Great work by the club. 

[Silvio Dante]

Just now, Tim Monaghan said:

That is the clubs job to communicate the link to the fans. Will they do it, well..... 

But I'm glad that this is over the line finally.  Great work by the club. 

 If you work on the basis this forum consists of the most engaged/internet savvy of the fanbase then even here you get people missing publicised tweets/announcements. A large proportion of the fanbase won’t be “reached” by the clubs comms channels and just see “oh, game on” or read the first line of a club email.

I’m all for criticising the club when they don’t do things well but it’s really unlikely they will have the ability to communicate this to the satisfaction of the Police to not make it segregated (again, doesn’t mean it will be in practice)

[COYR's]

1 hour ago, Cowshed said:

The 3 Lions is having a party day for City and Willem II fans.

Fantastic! A big flag day party then both sets of fans should do the march to the ground together euro style!

[mozo]

Both sets of players will mark the occasion by playing in traditional wooden clogs 

[ExiledAjax]

17 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

The police advice would, I’d imagine, to notionally sell home/away tickets. That doesn’t mean it will be stuck to obviously but the small risk of things going wrong, and the kickback if it wasn’t segregated “officially” will likely be pointed out by both the Police and SAG.

Outside the ground - no issues. Inside I’d be surprised if they didn’t “officially” err on established practices.

Yeh this was kind of what I was getting at. I've got no idea how friendlies are governed though, or how much flexibility/discretion groups like the Police or SAG have with stuff.

Will there still be an official home/away end? I absolutely get that unofficially, outside the ground and all around everyone will be full of philia and happy, I love it. Wish more games were like it. It was one of the things that made trips to Griffin Park so great.

Guess we have to assume it's been thought of by both clubs and both fans groups and some sort of announcement will follow.

[Ciderarmy23]

3 hours ago, willem ii said:

Apologies that I couldn’t react earlier, was busy driving some city supporters from Amsterdam airport back to Tilburg… :-).

I already knew this was coming, but I am so happy that it is officially announced! We were waiting and asking for this for a very long time and It is great that it is going to happen (for whatever reason).

Fingers crossed that this will be the start of more to come in the following years! Let’s have a great party together!

How is the reaction over there with your fans? Do you think a lot will travel?

[supercidered]

4 hours ago, willem ii said:

Apologies that I couldn’t react earlier, was busy driving some city supporters from Amsterdam airport back to Tilburg… :-).

I already knew this was coming, but I am so happy that it is officially announced! We were waiting and asking for this for a very long time and It is great that it is going to happen (for whatever reason).

Fingers crossed that this will be the start of more to come in the following years! Let’s have a great party together!

Hi there

Myself and a mate of mine want to connect with Willem II club and supporters. We are looking to make the trip over at least a couple of times next season. Would also like to do at least one away trip which doesn't need to be away to one of the bigger teams.

How do we go about this? PM me if easier. Cheers.

[supercidered]

3 hours ago, mozo said:

Both sets of players will mark the occasion by playing in traditional wooden clogs 

To be honest it looked like we were wearing wooden clogs at various times this season!!

[Street red]

At long last lets fill the south stand and with flags. Looking forward to this You reds.

[Tinmans Love Child]

5 hours ago, Silvio Dante said:

I’d have my doubts. The trouble is that the Willem link won’t be fully known by all fans (likely will be by the Willem fans who come over) and as such you always have the risk of a City fan having Willem around him and reacting badly.

The police advice would, I’d imagine, to notionally sell home/away tickets. That doesn’t mean it will be stuck to obviously but the small risk of things going wrong, and the kickback if it wasn’t segregated “officially” will likely be pointed out by both the Police and SAG.

Outside the ground - no issues. Inside I’d be surprised if they didn’t “officially” err on established practices.

  This is the way to sort out any issues, get the WPC's in

[willem ii]

2 hours ago, Ciderarmy23 said:

How is the reaction over there with your fans? Do you think a lot will travel?

The reaction on our side is that we are really happy with this. On the other side please note that attending away matches in The Netherlands is not that big as in England. For example an average awaybox for a club in the Eredivisie is suited for around 700people.

Taking into account the distance and the time of the year I would estimate 500 supporters will be there from Tilburg. But it is really buzzing over here, so it could be double of this amount. The biggest number of Willem II supporters coming over to the UK for a City match was the final at Wembley for the Johnston Paint Trophy where around 250 supporters came over.

[willem ii]

2 hours ago, supercidered said:

Hi there

Myself and a mate of mine want to connect with Willem II club and supporters. We are looking to make the trip over at least a couple of times next season. Would also like to do at least one away trip which doesn't need to be away to one of the bigger teams.

How do we go about this? PM me if easier. Cheers.

Just send me a PM in due time to try to arrange the tickets for the home matches. At match day I can guide you around the stadium and take you to the right pub(s). Please note that of the start of next season every section in our stadium will have its own entrance, so it will most likely not possible anymore to sneak you into for example the singing section (since this part of the stadium is always sold out). But I can try to get you nearby. And with small numbers I can try to find some people with season tickets who will not go to this particular match.

For away matches please also send me a PM. Please note that most of the away matches can only be attended if you go by bus/coach which journey starts in Tilburg. There are two organizations/foundations who arrange these bus trips. Most of the time these tickets are sold two weeks before the match will be played on a first come, first serve basis. Tickets will cost around 30 euro (this includes bustrip and entrance to the match). I have quite good relations with one of these foundations so perhaps I can arrange to have some arranged tickets (for small groups) taking into account that you will have to arrange transport to The Netherlands in due time. But please send me a PM and I will try to arrange something for you. I attend most away matches to so I will try to arrange that we will be in the same bus.

[supercidered]

4 minutes ago, willem ii said:

Just send me a PM in due time to try to arrange the tickets for the home matches. At match day I can guide you around the stadium and take you to the right pub(s). Please note that of the start of next season every section in our stadium will have its own entrance, so it will most likely not possible anymore to sneak you into for example the singing section (since this part of the stadium is always sold out). But I can try to get you nearby. And with small numbers I can try to find some people with season tickets who will not go to this particular match.

For away matches please also send me a PM. Please note that most of the away matches can only be attended if you go by bus/coach which journey starts in Tilburg. There are two organizations/foundations who arrange these bus trips. Most of the time these tickets are sold two weeks before the match will be played on a first come, first serve basis. Tickets will cost around 30 euro (this includes bustrip and entrance to the match). I have quite good relations with one of these foundations so perhaps I can arrange to have some arranged tickets (for small groups) taking into account that you will have to arrange transport to The Netherlands in due time. But please send me a PM and I will try to arrange something for you. I attend most away matches to so I will try to arrange that we will be in the same bus.

Thanks. That will be brilliant.

[cidercity1987]

Is it just me that wishes this match was in Tilburg? We never get a European trip but it would be quality 

[Street red]

7 hours ago, Wedontplayinblue said:

Seeing as Willem fans are regularly in city home ends it would be bonkers to segregate it and it wouldn’t be followed anyway. 

Absolutely will be fantastic the more of willem the better  

[mozo]

5 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

Is it just me that wishes this match was in Tilburg? We never get a European trip but it would be quality 

Let's hope for 2025 

[The Masked Man]

20 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

Is it just me that wishes this match was in Tilburg? We never get a European trip but it would be quality 

I'd love an excuse to go back to Beekse Bergen too.