November & December 2001

Why was the web site not updated in November and December? Well, this is down to a combination of things. Aside from the obvious disappointment of not qualifying for the World Cup Finals, there has been time away in Prague and over Christmas. On top of all this, I've had work and study commitments, and I've not been very well recently... excuses, excuses! And, just to rub salt in the wounds, NATA's old web space provider has drastically reduced what it offers in the way of free web-space to the extent that the previous site was too big, so we have now invested in paid web space - this has taken a few weeks to fully sort out.

This new start has given us the opportunity to expand, and I now hope to commit to a realistic target of at least one update a month. I hope you enjoy the site and come back to check on it's progress.

Regards, Paul Allison (aka The Fat Man), Webmaster

28th October 2001

Back on track with the updates, although the next one will not now be due until after we get back from Prague in mid-November. Meanwhile, check out:
Helen's Questionnaire has been added to the Meet The Netley Boys page.
And, not content with Prague, check out the Travel Page (forward-planned) details of another potential foray into Eastern Europe for non-Scotland reasons.
And remember, to keep abreast of all the TA gossip, check out Ezzy and Mirza's Message Board. Check back in a few weeks to hear all about Prague.

Cheers, Paul.

24th October 2001

At last, a week and a half later than promised, NATA can bring you a vast update to the site, including an epic account of the ups and downs of the Brussels trip.  

• At last, the bumper Belgian diary has been added
• The Sarajevo Tartan Army has been added to the "Meet the Netley Boys" page under the other usual suspects banner, including 4 photos of Mirza.
• 7 new photos added to the Belgium galleries, courtesy of Stuart and Ally & Sue - 4 of matchday have added to Belgium 2, and 3 of the lost Thursday night have been added to Belgium 1.
• Two brand new essentials have been added to the Tribute to Talc page
• And the Travel Details page has been amended to include a surprise trip lined up by four of the NATA faithful

The poor effort in getting the site updated is purely down to the webmasters vain attempts to pursue a work qualification, so be warned for the future! In all honesty, expect near-monthly updates from next week onwards, although do pop back on Monday 29th October for Helen's answers to the NATA questionnaire. To follow soon will be some pictures of the Latvia home game, along with the insider report on the play-off that could have been!

23rd September 2001

A lorry-load of photos arrived at NATA HQ this week, so I've been busy scanning, compressing and formatting. You can see the fruits of my labour by looking at:

• A gallery of 16 photos from the Croatia home match has been added
  As well as a total of 45 photos from Brussels, split into Belgium 1 (26 of Mon/Tues/Thurs) and Belgium 2 (19 of match day) galleries.
• And to round off the photo theme, two more sepia photos of Netley Abbey have been added.
• All this, and Ally's NATA questionnaire has been added as well.

Due to having to sort out all those photos, the Belgium diary account will be here for the next update (after the Latvia home match). There'll be nothing new here until Sunday 14th October at the earliest, as Helen and I are off to Barcelona and Glasgow for some sustained alcohol abuse over the next two weekends. Hope to see some of you at the Latvia match. Cheers, Paul.

16th September 2001

Back home and recovered! Hello to everyone I met - it was good to put some faces to names, and a big hello to CARTA (the fledgling Cardiff Tartan Army), who we met in a Brussels drinking den over a couple of glasses of 11% beer. And on another note, some good news from American Dave, who lives and works near the Pentagon in Washington DC - he's fine (if a wee bit shaken). Anyway, back to the update:

• A brand new anecdote on the Netley guide, along with an explanation of how the Ossie Wall got it's name.
• Four new "Classic" t-shirts, one honorary T-Shirt (for Mirza) and the acclaimed Belgium design have all been updated on the T-Shirt page in the gallery.
• Also on the T-Shirt Page is a picture of our brand-spanking-new Pin Badges, as debuted at the Croatia and Belgium matches.
• 2 new verses (featuring Messrs Booth and Mahoney) have been added to the song that shall remain nameless on the Song Sheet page. 

Tune in after next Sunday evening's update for Ally Maciver's NATA questionnaire, Paul's diary account of the Belgium trip, and hopefully, some Belgium photos.

19th August 2001

Only the one update this month, as I'm off to the Lake District next weekend to purify my liver ahead of Glasgow and Brussels. However, we do bring you a combination of cosmetic changes along with some brand new content to keep you entertained:

• The France World Cup diary has finally been completed - read all about the second round match that could have been!
• And speaking of which, the other Diary pages have been split out into 1998/9, 2000 and 2001 to allow for faster loading - and now with tunes to serenade you as you read (see below)
• Inverness David (aka The Lost Man) takes the NATA challenge and does the questionnaire for September - click here for all the answers (which is almost the complete opposite of everything Clarkston Chris said in his).
• And last, but certainly not least, music has been added to the individual diary pages, Tribute to Talc and songs page - this is an experiment, and I will add this to other pages if successful - please let me have any feedback by emailing me at fatman@netleyabbeytartanarmy.com

There you have it - enough to keep you going until September? There will be no more updates until after we return from Belgium and recover from the hangover! Cheers, Paul

29th July 2001

Firstly, a big hello to everyone I met at the Lunnainn Albannaich meeting on Saturday (yesterday) - I had a great time and it was good to put some faces to names, etc.

Just a wee update this week as it's questionnaire time again - this time in the hot seat it's Clarkston Chris, aka The Blonde Man:

• Check out Chris's questionnaire here - Chris used to be a ballboy at Hampden, but that doesn't excuse his bad taste in football kits, and even worse taste in pubs!
• And an account of the USA v Yugoslavia game has been added to the World Cup Diary - just one more to go!

Check back again in the next few weeks for more small updates (and another interview at the end of the month), and of course, after the September double-header when we will have a full post-mortem - only 5 weeks to go now!

22nd July 2001

After the last massive update two weeks ago, we've reached the 2,000 mark on the homepage hit counter - this is around 70 hits a week in the six months that the site has been up and running. I had hoped to get more sorted for this update, such finishing the World Cup diary, and sorting out the away trip diary to make it faster to load, but due to other things going on I haven't quite managed it. I have updated the following though:

• 17 new photos of Netley Abbey's sights and pubs from the lens of the Ladies Man
• These photos have also been added in to the Netley Guide to give it a bit more colour
• An account of the Scotland v Morocco game has been added to the World Cup diary

Right - expect an update next weekend when Clarkston Chris should be in the interview hot-seat, and possibly more of the World Cup diary. Only 6 weeks until Belgium!

8th July 2001

The old Message Board page has been removed from the navigation buttons as part of the reorganisation of the site, making space for new buttons, such as:
A dedicated Travel Page - allowing this page to concentrate on News and Updates

• An option to Sign Guestbook has been added to the navigation, saving visitors from having to scroll to the foot of the guestbook. And if you haven't yet signed it, well you've no excuse now, have you?
• A Site Map has been added - to help you stumble around the site, and just in case you can't see the buttons at the top of the page, text links have been added to the foot.
• And, what you've all been hanging on for in order to book your summer holidays - The Rough-ish Guide to Netley Abbey is upon us (at last), sans photographs for the time being (these should go up in the next update or two), but for the meantime get to grips with this 5-page extravaganza, a "site-within-a-site", no less!
• As the NATA message board was discontinued in March, the generic Tartan Army Message Board will have to satisfy everyone's message appetite for now. If I hear of an overwhelming demand for us to have our own, then I will sort something out - I've heard nothing in the last 3 months!

So, a thumping great update then. Come back in two weeks for the long awaited conclusion to the World Cup diary.

17th June 2001

We're getting there! From questionnaires to World Cup diaries, along with some photos and some topical melons, its all here! Enjoy:

• It's here: the Meet The Netley Boys: One-at-a-time questionnaires have finally been launched, with Rich breaking the ice - access is through the Meet The Netley Boys page, but you can go straight to his questionnaire answers here.
• The World Cup Diary has finally been updated! Entries have been added for Spain-Paraguay and for USA-Iran. Just 3 more entries to go!
• Four new items have been added to the list of Tartan Travel Essentials on the Tribute to Talcum Powder page - including watermelons, loo roll, Toblerone and cameras. 
• And 3 more photos have been added to the Poland 2 Gallery, including this one of The Kirrie Boys.

The next update is expected in a fortnight, depending on summer weekend plans (it's hell with no football!), when we hope to bring you more on the World Cup diaries, and the start of the Rough-ish guide.

3rd June 2001

Well, apart from the work-in-progress Rough-ish Guide to Netley Abbey the site is now nearing completion (for the time being), and a good job too, as we're almost at capacity on our free web-space. This hasn't stopped us from adding the following:

• Links to an excellent MultiMap.com map of the South Coast showing Netley Abbey has been added to the About Netley Abbey section - or just click here (map is zoomable - right down to street level).
• The NATA Travel details section (at the foot of this page) now outlines the initial thoughts for Egypt and France.
• And speaking of Egypt, check out the new Egypt Links section.
• Also added to the France 98 Gallery: two great stadium panaromas of Bordeaux and St Etienne (Spain v Paraguay) from the camera of Inverness David.

Another update will follow in 2 weeks, as I'm off to the Promised Land next weekend (and therefore away from my computer) - check back then to see an update to the World Cup diary, and the first of the not-at-all-late Meet The Netley Boys questionnaires.

28th May 2001

Egypt anyone? So it looks like a trip to Cairo is imminent in either November or February - perhaps a bit expensive if we do qualify for Japan/Korea, but I'll be sorting out sorting out some Links that should be up next week. In the meantime, check these out:

• A Miscellaneous Gallery has been added, with 17 pictures of both England matches, plus Belgium and San Marino at home.
• After some sound "legal advice" from the webmaster of the Tartan Army Home Pages, the song previously known as the "Posh Spice Song" has been changed to throw the gruesome twosome off the scent.

Next week will see some further updates to the World Cup diary, and possibly even the first in what will become a monthly series of interviews with NATA members.

21st May 2001

Apologies - this update was delayed due to 'technical difficulties'. All the NATA Poland photos are now in, including some from the erratic lens of the Ladies Man, along with the best NATA photo of the entire World Cup. The addition of the Estonia trip gallery means that all 12 NATA foreign trips now have their own gallery page. But first, check out how NATA have made the headlines:

• The Netley Abbey Tartan Army (well, four of them at least) graced a front cover of a Polish paper the day after the game, click here to see it (also in the Poland 2 gallery).
• An unbelievable 54 web-worthy photos of Poland have been sorted into two separate galleries: Poland 1 for the Gdansk photos, and Poland 2 for the Bydgoszcz/Wloclawek photos.
• Don't forget to check out the Poland Account in the diary.
• An Estonia Gallery, albeit with a meagre 6 photos, has been added here.
• Pictures of Wee Fern and The Garioch Branch have been added to the Meet The Netley Boys page.
• And our most amazing photo from France 98, with a Scotland-supporting riot policeman, has been added to the France '98 Gallery, or just click here to see it on it's own.

A gallery section including some photos from various home matches should be ready for next weekend, and the long-awaited "Rough-ish Guide to Netley Abbey" will be following shortly - so check back soon (weekly updates every Sunday night/Monday morning).

13th May 2001

Having had a wee look at the site, I think that it's grown faster than we ever anticipated, so I am planning an overhaul of it in the summer to make it a wee bit more user-friendly. If anyone has any suggestions, please e-mail me on the address at the foot of the page. Anyway, this doesn't mean the site will disappear, nor will the updates will stop! Just take a look at these:

• Meet the newest members of the Netley Abbey Tartan Army: Wee Fern, and Ally and Sue who have started their very own Garioch Branch (photos to follow).
• Ally has also provided us with some excellent photos of the Poland trip - more will follow once Rich and myself get our 7 films developed.
• STOP PRESS: The Swindon and South West England Tartan Army has recently been launched. A big welcome to our nearest neighbours - you can visit their site by clicking here.

Another update will follow next weekend, so be sure to check back soon.

7th May 2001

Well, we made it back from Poland in one piece! A big hello to everyone we met out there, and a big welcome to the newest recruits to the Netley Abbey Tartan Army, Ally and Susan (the Garioch Branch). Their details, along with Fern's (a recruit from the Belgium home match) will appear on the site in the very near future. The photos from the Poland trip (I got through 6 films!) will be ready to go on in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, feast your eyes over this lot:

• A massive Poland diary entry describing Paul and Helen's 7 days on the voddy and apple juice can be found on the NATA Diary page.
• Photo Gallery sections added for Germany 1999 and Bosnia 1999 - only 6 photos in each I'm afraid (no fit state at the time to operate delicate machinery!)
• We've also added a NATA T-Shirt page to the Photo Gallery - go straight to it by clicking here.
• The "Drink Around The Clock" song has been added to the song page, courtesy of Wee John (Perthshire Tartan Army)
• The Links page has also been updated, with a few more Belgian sites and some new Scottish football sites.

Apologies for the delay in updating the site - I took a while to recover from the voddy abuse, and my liver is suffering from withdrawal symptoms. I'm planning to knuckle down during the summer to get the France 98 diary finished and the Netley Rough Guide up and running - in the meantime, keep checking back often.

15th April 2001

Here it is - the last update before Poland. Remember to scan below to see what other gems you may have missed (previous update on 14th April):

• A Tribute to Talcum Powder: a light hearted look at the essentials every TA footsoldier needs on an away trip.
• More photos added to both the Ireland (6 new) and San Marino (3 new) gallery sections (courtesy of Clarkston Chris).
• By popular demand from the Worthing FC message board, the Goodnight Horse song has been added to the Alternative Song Sheet.

14th April 2001

Sorry about the delay with the update! A combination of the double-header, hangovers and work has prevented me from making an update, but plenty here to make up for it:

• As previous visitors to the site may have noticed, we've re-jigged the Home Page to give more space for the introduction, and given News and Updates their own page (ie. this one). This has enabled space to be given to outlining any travel plans for upcoming matches - click here to whizz down to the Travel Details section - at present there are entries for Poland and Belgium.
• A Czech Republic page has been added to the Photo Gallery, with 12 photos of the June 1999 trip - see them here.
• Already planning ahead for the next trip after Poland? The links page includes some handy Belgian links, for accommodation, travel, pubs and football - get straight there by clicking here.
• A diary entry for the Montpellier leg of the France '98 big adventure has been added.
• A NATA e-mail address for American Dave has been added, taking the total e-enabled NATA members to six - see Contact Information for details, and to drop us a line.
• And lastly, a big thanks to Steve at Worthing FC Online for including a link to this site.

Another update will follow very shortly, so come back soon. Cheers, Paul.

21st March 2001

Two updates in a week! If you haven't been to the site for a wee while, please take a moment to scan down the previous What's New updates to see what you've been missing.

• A wee taster to The Rough-ish Guide To Netley Abbey has been uploaded - check out the Netley Pub Guide now to see what alcoholic treats await the casual visitor to this Hampshire village.
• We've taken the decision to link direct to the Main Tartan Army Message Board. We may add a different board in time if the demand's there.

Anyway, we're all off to Glasgow for the qualifiers, so don't expect any updates until April. Please e-mail any comments to the addresses below in the Contact Info section. Cheers

18th March 2001

A later update than planned I'm afraid (due to spending last weekend on the beer, warming up for the upcoming double-header - well, you wouldn't go to the Olympics without a wee jog first, would you?), however we do have:

• A much improved Links page, with links to a whole load of other Tartan Army web sites.
• E-mail addresses for Rich, Chris, Steve and Julie - see Contact Info at the foot of this page.
• Essay-length diary accounts of the Latvia, San Marino and Croatia trips.
• Photo Gallery sections for San Marino (10 photos) and Croatia (13 photos).
• We have been advised that we will be losing our current message board from 1st April, so we will be setting up a new one, however as the matches are next week, it may be early April before we have a new one in place.

5th March 2001

• A full account of the Ireland trip has been added to the Diary page.
• And an even fuller account of the Bordeaux incident has found it's way in to the World Cup Diary.
• Two new pages added to the Photo Gallery: 8 photos of the Lithuania 1998 trip, and 11 of the Latvia 2000 trip.
• Another two Pish Spoce verses from that man Ally Macabre again. View the full 16 verses here.
• And after a brief surge in interest, the message board has quietened down again. Go on - gie us some abuse, will ye?

25th February 2001

• Photographs of Netley Abbey's famous landmarks, in tasteful sepia tones. View them here.
• An epic account of the Holland trip has been added to the NATA diary.
• No less than five new Posh Spice verses (courtesy of Ally Macabre). Sing along with them here.
• Signed the guestbook yet? Even my mum has!

18th February 2001

• A new Photo Gallery section, with photos of the World Cup, Holland and Ireland trips.
• Two profiles added to the Meet The Netley Boys page: Welsh Steve and Julie.
• Three new entries to the NATA diary: Bosnia, Estonia and Wembley.
• Two new verses added to the Pish Spoce song (featuring Tommy Boyd and Neil McCann) - please add any new verses to the message board
• And the speaking of the message board - someone gonnae start a ruck or something to make it interesting? (Nothing too abusive/offensive, mind)

11th Feb 2001

• A brand spanking new guest book. Please view it by clicking here, and sign it by clicking here.
• A new message board

4th Feb 2001

• A partial Diary of NATA trips (will be fully completed by March 2001), with new photos, and a France '98 diary section (again, only partial at the moment)
• More Links added to the Links & Stuff page
• Photos of the Inverness and Clarkston branches of NATA
• Two more songs (including the one-and-only Posh Spice song)