It is much harder to buy standing ticket for the Gersag than it was for the Allmend. If you want to stand in the small visitor enclosure then you have to buy tickets directly from the visiting club.  Home standing area tickets are not available online, this it to avoid away fans buying them. Therefore you have to go down to the ‘LZ Corner’ in Luzern (a short walk from the station) or buy them on the day (the risk here is that there will be sell-outs). These are available at a small turnstile next to the entrance.

For more info on Gersag and how to get there please see:

Gersag – First Impressions

Gersag – here we come!

Remember the days when you could stand up and watch football? And you could have a real beer in the stands? And when you could decide on a Saturday morning that going to a game would be fun, get a bus to the stadium and easily buy a ticket there and then? And then next week, you’d take the football special to see your team away?

If you don’t remember this you must have at least been told about it by your Dad/older brother? No? Ask your Dad/older brother!

Well, it is still possible. And here is how to do it:

Home
Firstly, if you don’t live in Switzerland you take a flight to Zurich Kloten (which if you are Dutch has huge comedy value in itself). From there there is a direct train to Luzern, which takes about one hour.

For the ‘value’ option you can fly to Basel/Mulhouse airport. This is not much further than Zurich,  EasyJet have a number of flights here. Sadly Ryanair no longer offer their £2 specials to/from here.

In Luzern you will find free buses on match day to the stadium, they depart just outside the main station. Alternatively take the train from Luzern to Emmenbrücke Gersag. The JCBT can often be found on the 15.44 departure from Luzern for a sunday game. This allows; a) more drinking time in Pickwick and b) rarely is there a queue at this time.

At the ground you can ask for a ‘Stehplatz’ ticket (this is for the home standing area, if for some reason you want to stay with the away team you ask for ‘gaste’) this is 25 CHF. A seat is the double, but personally I would recommend the cheaper one. When in the ground you buy two plastic cups of the local Eichof beer and then get up on the terrace for a good spot. The beauty is, that they also have kids walking around selling trays so there is absolutely NO NEED TO QUEUE FOR BEER……………………….Just can’t beat that!

If you are traveling and want to make sure that you do get in there is also an online booking/ print at home option here https://fcl.showare.ch/General/ShoWareFrontEndHome.aspx.

Away
If there is an away game this is what to do: Go to any SBB train station and ask for the Football ‘Extrazug’  to wherever FC Luzern are playing. This ticket is a return and it will take you all the way to the away gound and back. If the station is beyond walking distance from the ground then there will be special buses taking you there. Please note that drinking on these trains is absolutely the fine, it is even the norm. JCBT’s Alex claims that it is obligatory but you’d be better off not listening to him.

In general the atmosphere is great, between 300-1000 will join you on this train.

On most trips the match tickets will be sold on the train, you can also but from the ground at arrival or in some cases at the SBB train station.

Zone 5

Supporter run bar that has for Swizerland very reasonable priced beer, 4 CHF. Open before and after games both home and away. More info and directions here: http://www.zone5.ch

Pickwick

Before most home games JCBT and friends will meet for a few beers in Mr Pickwick, which is a short walk across the bridge from the station in Luzern.  More info and directions here: http://www.pickwick.ch/luzern/

From time to time we’ll mix it up and head somewhere else pre match. Times and dates of meetings will be posted on the JCBT Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Just-Cant-Beat-That/146448575389853?v=wall

Southampton Executive Chairman, Nicola Cortese, has narrowed his list of potential managers down to 5 primary candidates.

He spoke to the number 1 man he wants – MARTIN O’NEILL today and has offered him a lucrative salary to try and persuade him to drop down to League 1.

Phil Brown, Paul Tisdale, Iain Dowie and Rolf Fringer (manager of FC Luzern – Swiss table–topping team) are the other men on the “main 5″ list.

I guess this is what we will have to get used to if FCL remain at the top end of the league…..

Follow us here. . . . .

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Just-Cant-Beat-That/146448575389853?v=info&ref=ts

In the statement:
The magic of football consists of the two-way exchange of emotions between the pitch and the stands, where the public can transmit a full range of feelings to the players. However, UEFA is of the view that the vuvuzelas would completely change the atmosphere, drowning supporter emotions and detracting from the experience of the game.

First, lets have a look at this statement:

“The magic of football consists of the two-way exchange of emotions between the pitch and the stands where the public can transmit a full range of feelings to the players” Didn’t you decide that a player expressing his emotions by celebrating a goal with the crowd should get a yellow card? Didn’t you ban standing areas where the crowd could in your own words ‘transmit a full range of feelings to the players’?

“the vuvuzelas would completely change the atmosphere” No amount of the devils own plastic trumpet could ever change the atmosphere at games in the way that all-seater stadiums with their corporate boxes, extortionate ticket prices, TV-friendly kick-off times and alcohol bans have already done.

Now, JCBT are not a fan of the plastic trumpet, we are even considering it to be a way to invoke Satan. However now that the old f@rts at UEFA have taken sides we instinctively take the opposite stance.

Our message to you professional sports politrucks in Nyon remains as always: focus on what you are good at; filling your private bank accounts at the expense of the fans and keep killing football with your ill conceived attempts to micromanage the ‘product’.

The human Vuvuzela invented by the FC Luzern fans remains a kick in the genitals of the clowns at Nyon. Keep it going and spread the word.

FC Perlen-Buchrain have more information on their home page: http://www.fcpb.ch/

FC Tuna- also known as Thun you may remember them from the Champions League- playing in the same group as Arsenal a few years ago. They have since then been busy in some kind of pedophile sex scandal, and also managed to be relegated and promoted. Murat Yakin, Hakans older brother is in charge, needless to say the mythical ‘Mama Yakin’ was also in attendance at the Gersag keeping a watchful eyes on her boys.

Game started well enough with Puljic heading in a corner after very passive defending from the Tuna. After this we were simply terrible. Somehow we managed to hang on to the lead and enter half-time a goal up.

Normally we are better in the second half though this may only be true when we are drawing or behind. Second half was even worse than first. We seemed to lack the will to hold the ball, attack and win. Tuna had most of it and we should consider ourselves lucky to get a way with a point.

We remain top of the league going into a break for international games. It is at this point unclear if we should count the points we need to avoid relegation or start dreaming of champions league next season.

Finally to all of you who decide to show up only when we are top of the league. Nice to see you at the Gersag but why only come when things are going well? FC Luzern has its ups and downs and we all know that – the team needs you more when things are bad. Be sure to come back then. Or to quote a famous song ‘ Where were you when we were shit?’

Lokomotiv Moscow Aliev (85)	1-1 (HT 0-1) (agg 2-2)	Lausanne Sports De Oliveira (17)
Lausanne Sports win 4-3 on penalties

WELL DONE TO LAUSANNE SPORTS! – their result is probably the shock of the round.

Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia relating to the European history of Lokomotiv Moscow:

Lokomotiv reached the Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final twice (in 1997/98 and 1998/99). The club also played in the 2nd group stage of the Champions league in 2002/03 season and lost by the away goal in the Champions League last 16 tie against AS Monaco FC in 2004. These were the best achievements of the club in the European cups so far.

and…

Celtic just got utterly pumped 4-0  by FC Utrecht, including a hat trick from the magnificently named, Ricky van Wolfswinkel who also scored against FCL in the Letzigrund, and now has 11 goals to his name for this season.

Oh well, not to worry – we’ve got Yakin vs Yakin to look forward to.  (I wonder if their mother will be attending?)

Meanwhile Grasshoppers narrowly went out on penalties against Steaua Bucuresti.  We are still undecided if this is good or bad news. On one hand having GC in the group stages would have given the Swiss league a better ranking for next year and the Zurich team could have a welcome distraction while we focus on the league. On the other hand a qualification would have given them a significant financial and moral boost.  Sforza lost, that’s always something to be happy about.

UPDATE – here is really what could have been…

Group F: CSKA Moscow, Palermo, Sparta Prague, Lausanne-Sport

Group H: VfB Stuttgart, Getafe, Odense BK, Young Boys

Group K: Liverpool, Steaua Bucharest, Napoli, FC Utretcht

We can only hope that the paedo’s favourites, Young Boys, concentrate their efforts this season into the Europapokal. I guess the prospect of playing against VfB Stuttgart will leave them greatly aroused!

It would be great to see Lausanne – Sport doing well too.

Do you have a better one? Use the comments below and we may add it to the poll.  Happy voting.

It is in German, but is none the less an interesting read (of course if you can read German, and if you can’t then here is an entertaining Google Translation: http://tinyurl.com/2010-youll-soon-see ).

Photo credit: http://fcl.fan-fotos.ch/

Both teams, Young Boys of Bern, and FC Basel are ahead in their respective qualifying round with the return legs to come this week.

Hopefully both teams will get through for a few reasons:

We are just going to have to make do with the SF2 highlights later….