Where to start? I'm in emotional and hormonal overdrive, it's 330am, just got back, exhausted, finally ate my first meal of the day about an hour ago...I will ramble...it will be long...it probably will make no sense. You've been warned. ;-)

Ok, first off..one for the girls...especially Susie! Big Dunc is really strong! I went to pose for a picture with him before the game and he put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in tight. Oh lawdy I thought I was gonna die right there! And to Dougal....Shearer...shirtless...2ft away...photo coming...if it comes out. Needless to say I nearly dropped the camera on his head so who knows what the picture will look like! I MET BOBBY!!!!!!!!!! Got an autograph and photo with him. Also chided for handing him the pen with the cap still on. Great great man! He came around signing autographs and chatting with nearly everyone at the rail. I think Sting also got to meet. Sting and I were like kids at Christmas leaping around to meet various players as they came out for warm ups. There's plenty of photos between us! Also got to talk to Domi a bit more as he was the first to come out and there was hardly anyone in the area at the time. What else....ah yes, at the postmatch party, my new friend Dena climbed onto Howey's lap for a photo...taken by Dunc! It started because she went over to Dunc to get a photo and Howey took the picture. She came back all excited cause Dunc stooped down and put his face right next to her(she's about Susie's size!). Then she realized she never got a photo with Howey, so I marched her back over and she gave Dunc the camera then hopped on Howey's lap. It was great! We'll soon see how they are at photography! Those two in particular beelined out of the private area almost as soon as they got in and came over to the public area to mingle and also cause there was alot more space on our side. Domi and Bobby also wandered around quite a bit. Bobby really is like your old uncle or grandad! It was so great to see them just come and hang out with the 'regular'folk. And they actually got bothered a lot less in the public area, it seemed. Dunc was boogying to the music and having a great time. As it turned out in the pub, we wound up standing right in the path to the men's room. Once they gave up checking for wristbands for entrance to the private area, we debated cruising in and mixing, but it was so crowded and we figured they all gotta use the men's at some point...so...we stayed put. Great idea. Met a number of players and between got more photos...I don't remember who's got which shots. I know I'm in one with Speed. We were hoping to get Harper, but he never came back that way. Neither did Shearer. Apparently he was a bit surrounded the whole time. Surprise. Also, as we were waiting to get into the pub in the first place we were told the players were already in and it looked like we'd be waiting awhile. WEll a few minutes later a bus pulls up across the street...full of guys wearing identical tops wth adidas stripes....it was the team! So there was Shearer and Bobby left standing on the side of the road trying to get across traffic and about a dozen Toon supporters cheering. As for the game, well. We were sh*te in the first half. No shape, 10 headless chickens and a goalkeeper. Second half was much better and had a few periods of good play. It was hard to see who was who mch of the time and their shirts had no names on back plus some numbers were different. Gavilan looked great when he came on. Cort seemed a bit clumsy at times, though his height and build really add to the look. Harper still give me more condfidence in goal tan Given, though Given only had 1 really bad collapse in concentrtion. Glass looked decent in spurts. Cordone showed a bit of promise. Kerr did very well for himself. Saw a couple of good moves from McClen, but he and Speed seemed a bit anonymous much of the game. Eek...I'm falling asleep over this computer, so I better get tp bed now! More later as I remember..if I rememver. :-) Night all!

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2000

Answers

Brilliant report Ciara! I'm green with envy. When you wake up, tell us if you know why Dunc and Domi weren't on the field! Get those photos on the Web. :o))

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2000

Excellent, sounds like it was worth the wait.

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2000

Ciara - fantastic!!! Everybody will be green with envy - but pleased as Punch for you that you had such wonderful `close encounters! It sounds as though it was all well worth the wait and the organisation! Looking forward to your next report!(:o)

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2000

BTW even the `matchday thread` was fun! How cool was that, being able to e mail the commentary team?! Fancy us getting mentioned on the webcast! Made my night! Also an e mail read out from Stuart Jamieson - who I believe to be one of my Geordie relations!!!(:o)

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2000

Sounds like I missed a good night on here....

Glad in some respects that we got beaten cos maybe we'll not take things too lightly now....there's been too much talk of being a top 4 or 6 team.....if we want to be that then we've got to work HARD at it....I'm certain no-one was taking things too lightly but a couple of bad results pre-season might just drive it home with a hammer!

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2000

Morning all..semi awake here, still floating on air. Ya know, you'd think I'd have asked Dunc why he didn't play especially at the bar where it was much easier to talk to him..but of course didn't even think about it until much later. argh. Domi has some kind of stomach strain or something. I think he's hoping to play Weds. There's supposed to be 2 trainng sessions tomorrow, so maybe I'll get more of a chance to find out then. It shouldn't be as crowded and crazy as the game and pub were.

I wonder if Bobby gave them a good talking to at half time, they certainly didn't look happy with themselves going into the dressing room. Perhaps he reminded them that there were a lot of people here just for them(there were shirts all over the stands! had to have been at least a thousand Toon supporters scattered throughout!). Still, this was only their first real game whereas DC is in midseason and needing to get some wins to get their own season back on track. I don't think last night was any indication of what we'll see on Aug 20. At least not the first half! I do hope they play a bit better on Weds though. I won't be surprised if Columbus win as well, they're in a bit better form right now than DC.

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2000

Ciara - where are you e mailing from? (:o)

Hope there`s another webcast on Wednesday - last night`s (sorry this morning`s) was a hoot!(:o)

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2000

Pardon my ignorance, but was the score last night?

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2000

hi GAlaxy! My bed. I've only had about 4 hrs sleep, so thought I'd get up and play on here for awhile until I can fall back asleep, but it's not happening. I'm still too wired from yesterday! Perhaps I should have drank last night...i might have slept better! Oh well, bit of sightseeing today then back for an early night, I think.

btw, sorry about the formatting of my original post. I kinda forgot to put in paragraphs. oops.

What I didn't mention about yesterday was the pregame festivities. It felt a bit surreal walking around DC with Sting and Caroline, in our Toon tops...tired, hungover, hot, not quite feeling like a match day. Then we got to the designated meet-up pub...shirts everywhere! The place heaving. That's when it began to seem real. Even better was heading out for the stadium. Shirts up and down the street, shirts streaming into the stadium. brilliant!!

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2000

Sounds fantastic! You have got me soooo jealous and desperate for the season to start!! I will have to get to the training ground when the lads get back here!

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2000

WOW! FANTAASTIC. I WOULDN'T WORRY ABOUT THE RESULT EITHER.. AS YOU SAY, DC are midseason, WE ARE STILL PLAYING TO GET SOPME FITNESS BACK. BESIDES WHICH, LIVERPOOL LOST TO STOKE YESTERDAY ((_:

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2000

Just for Marty as no one seem to be talking to him.....we lost 3-1.

Great report Ciara......brilliant fun on here as well.......

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2000

It wasn't the getting beat it was the taking part that counted...or so I keep telling myself.!!

15:36

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2000

Dougal, is there a hidden message in your post and that is why "are midseason" isn't in capitals?

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2000

Tony,

Don't start her off on the Caps again!! :)) all that shouting is giving me a headache....

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2000

DOUG, CAN YOU STAMP YOUR FEET AS WELL ?

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2000

My Carlisle and Scotland supporting mate went along - this was his summary. Fair enough or harsh?

On the plus side :

(i) Keiron Dyer looked well good, he cam eon in the second half and slotted into the midfield general role and controlled the whole second half. Some nice skill. (ii) Gavelan looks pretty good on the right wing. Skinned two defenders at once only to sail a shot over th far post. (iii) Dabizas looks good coming forward.

On the minus side :

(i) Cort was bollocks, playing up front with Cordone (average- looks like Sharon Peacock) with Gallacher playing just behind (he was still looking good in a support role). Basically Cort was in the Ferguson role (who wasn't even on the bench) and doing nothing. (ii) The second two DC goals were defensive howlers.

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2000

Geordie Jew- Fair enough, I agree 100%. Dyer was excellent, Cort showed me something but left me wanting much more and Cordone is not better than Ketsbaia.

Ciara, where were you!! I guess you found a taker for your spare ticket. I was looking for you in the 20.. something range in the 9th row of section 119 at the half. I saw the guy in the kilt - who was that? Went down to the first row to watch the team come out and even Dabs sped right by me leaving me with a pen and an empty piece of paper!

Can you believe as I was heading into the metro tunnel I heard chants of "re-le-ga-tion" coming at me from some smart ass DC United fans! I am convinced they will now win their remaining games and beat the Metrostars in the playoffs. F*ck.

Also read Bobby's quote about Etcheverry- he said something like "Clever pass, he's a bit lazy, etc". I guess he means that this man beat us today but I dare him to play in the EPL.

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2000

Hey Pete! Glad you made. I actually was only in the vicinity of my seat for about 2min. I was sitting with Sting and Caroline till the cranky DC fans showed up in the 35th minute, then I wound up next to some other American Toon fans, one of whom asked me about the "black and white army" bit cause she couldn't understand what I was singing. ;-) Then found a couple other new friends with some empty seats next to them down by the players tunnel, so sat there for the 2nd half.

Didn't hear the relegation chant. Though there was a big group of Geordies coming down the escalator to the metro singing plenty of old favorites. Made standing in line for a stupid ticket(why they can't just collect the money and let people through!) much more pleasant. :-)

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2000