Sometimes things happen completely out of
the blue and out of one's contril that change all plans beyond
all recognition. December has been one of those months, and
has seen all bets off, all Christmas market travel plans change,
and ultimately, the website update shrink from what had been
planned.
Rest assured, the Austria Diary has been
half-written and WILL be ready in January, to be followed
quickly by the Slovenia trip account! For now, it's more of
a graphic and beer-flavoured update to get your festive chops
around.
A recent visit to the winter wonderland
of Brussels has resulted in a personal photo gallery and a
juicy update to our pretty comprehensive mini-guide. This
was followed a few weeks later by a flying visit to Osnabrück
to watch Fortuna's demise.
Finally, people often ask how I always manage
to track down weird and wonderful places to drink - I'm now
sharing my best-kept secrets by adding all my beer websites
to the Travel Links page.
So that's your lot for now. Enjoy the bunting
and frolics, and hopefully see you next year!
A snow-covered accident waiting to happen! Savour the atmosphere
of ungritted, ice-clad sloping cobbled streets with these
20 photos from my birthday trip ...more
At last, the truth is out. Learn all about the joys of "scooping"
and find out where all those pesky foreign micro-breweries
are hiding! The rest of the Travel Links have also been reviewed
...more
Unable to safely walk the streets for fear of taking a header,
we had no choice but to seek shelter from the blizzards in
a number of local hostelries, purely for the sake of keeping
intrepid NATA travellers genned up! ...more
Finally, here's 32 photos from one day in Osnabrück,
with a little bit of Christmas Market and a lot of humiliation
for Fortuna, who went down 5-0. But hey, we got to see someone
burn a scarf! ...more
EDITORIAL: Monday 21st
November 2005
See, I promised that the last one was just
a quick update, and I was right! Yet again there's more eye-candy
and less to read, but that's just representative of the shortening
attention spans of today's discerning internet user. Or possibly
because I'm still suffering writer's block! Anyway, put all
thoughts of Austria and Slovenia diaries from your minds for
now and focus on...
A bumper gallery of photos from our credible
draw with the USA, as well as a real Look-alikes frenzy -
marvel as Campbell "Ming" Burton makes a bid to
become the most photographed man in the Tartan Army as he
grooms his Lenin beard! Finishing off this update's quartet
of tidbits is a brief description of Warsaw in the travel
section.
December promises to be a hectic month with
lots of travel lined up, so any update is likely to be brief
again, but please do stay tuned!
And last, and at last, here's a wee update to the Eastern
European Travel Guide following a short trip through Warsaw
in June this year ...more
EDITORIAL: Tuesday 8th
November 2005
Just a quick update to keep things ticking
over, with over 250 photos from Slovenia (and a separate trip
to Berlin) now online.
Coming soon (maybe even later this month,
maybe not...) will be the diary accounts of Slovenia and Austria
(remember that?). There's also loads of new and updated travel
info that I'll be adding to over the bleak winter months,
so keep coming back for more!
In the meantime, there's rather a lot of
travel planned (I blame Helen's addiction to Christmas markets),
so planning a full update is proving tricky. Fear not though,
we will still keep coming up with the goods!
Here they are - 181 photos
from an incredible week in Slovenia (and a stop-over in Munich).
The diary will follow soon, but for now, feast your eyes on
these ...more
And in other Tartan Army website news, the West of Scotland
Tartan Army have relaunched their website with a rather fetching
tartan trim ...WESTA's
site
EDITORIAL: Thursday 27th
October 2005
I know I said early October, but... I've
been very busy, and not just gallavanting around Europe. I've
been helping several pals with a number of other web projects
and that's meant less time for NATA Online, but only for a
while!
What we can bring you now is a bevvy of
new quotes, a decent helping of home game pictures and some
new t-shirt designs in the NATA Shop. On a non-Tartan Army
tip, we've got some extra travel gen on Düsseldorf and
Munich as well as some new photos of the former (on my personal
site).
There's a lot still to come online in the
near future, not least of which are the Austria and Slovenia
diaries and Slovenia photos (and there's a lot of those!).
Travel-wise, there's new or revised guides on the way for
Graz, Brno, Vilnius, Ljubljana and Berlin. So, with all this
still to come, why not sign up for our Newsletter to make
sure you don't miss a thing!
And finally, look out for our adverts on
the Tartan Army Message Board. There may only be the one right
now (and that's on here as well), but there's more to come
soon!
One of the many websites that's been keeping me busy is the
Sussex Beer Festival site, a CAMRA festival due to be held
in March next year ...visit
EDITORIAL: Sunday 11th
September 2005
A mere fortnight after the last update,
and here's our biggest one of the year! The Norway Diary and
Photos are online already - the Austria Diary will follow,
but seeing as that trip was four times longer, so shall the
diary be longer.
We've also got a bumper gallery of snaps
from the Italy home game and associated festivities - if you
were in The Iron Horse, The Shed, Baby Blue or The Sports
Cafe, you may even be able to pick yourself out. And the photos
don't end here either - check out Bruce's snaps on his own
Fotopix site.
Both trips have been rich in humour, and
12 more quotes have been added to the ever-expanding Quotes
page. The T-Shirts and Travel pages have also been updated,
giving you plenty more to chew over.
Still to come are the Austria Diary, which
we hope to bring you with the next update (either late September
or early October, before the Belarus home game) - remember
to sign up for the Newsletter to get notified of when we update
the site.
So in the meantime, enjoy the fact that
we're not out of the World Cup yet, and remember to check
back soon.
Not the avalanche of photos you may be used to, but 50 photos
from the historic win are now online. Still not bad for less
than 48 hours in the country! ...more
And to round off this bumper update, the Travel
Details page has been updated with the 2006 international
dates, and the T-Shirt Gallery has
been updated with the Italy and Graz t-shirts.
EDITORIAL: Tuesday 30th
August 2005
A photo-tastic update with all the evidence
from Austria (and surrounding countries) and even a few from
Vilnius. The Austria diary is "in production" but
may be an update or two away from seeing the light of day.
We can also bring you a whole 11 new quotes,
which at least gives you something to read! Seriously, if
it's meaty morsels of text that you're after, you could do
a lot worse than cast your eyes over the Norway 2003 Diary.
Would you settle for 0-0 this time around?
Thanks to many people for the kind comments
on the travel information and the "In Your Sporran"
phenomenon - I know they're not all-encompassing, but I will
be working on them throughout the autumn. Updates are already
planned for the Czech (Brno), Bratislava, Austria (Vienna
& Graz) and Vilnius guides - I just need to find the time!
And speaking of finding time, I have several
other commitments that will be keeping me busy, so expect
the next update in mid to late September (sign up for the
Newsletter to make sure you don't miss out).
In the meantime, why not check out the new
NATA Shop?
Over 230 (two-hundred and thirty!) photos from the epic trip
across three countries, with a superb Scotland performance
(for 75 minutes at least!) in the middle of it ...more
Bruce Cairns is trying hard to be a one-man quote machine
- see the evidence as he contributes 4 of the 11 new quotes
added to the legendary Quotes Page ...more
A handful of photos from a swift Bank Holiday break to Vilnius
(booked before we knew about the Austria game!). What a transformation
- highly recommended and expect an updated guide in the near
future ...more
A sound Scotland performance saw us secure a very respectable
0-0 draw. Relive the trip, the crowded bars and the £7
pints ...more
EDITORIAL: Sunday
6th August 2005
Hot on the heels of our last update,
we can now bring you another of our trademark Look-alike galleries
(our biggest yet!), as well as some timely travel info for
Austria and Germany.
The links page has had a few new sites added, and we welcome
our fellow Tartan Army webmasters to the expanding network
of TA sites - good luck with them, and the more the merrier!
And the fun never ends... we're already preparing the next
update, but it may be a good few weeks until it sees the light
of day! Our route to Graz takes us in via Brno and out from
Bratislava on an 8-day extravaganza, and factor in the English
bank holiday weekend the following weekend before the September
double-header, and you can see how it's going to be a push
to get anything online in the meantime!
Anyways, enjoy our latest update for now, and remember to
let us know if there's anything else you'd like to see on
NATA online!
18 more innocent bystanders get the look-alike treatment
in our biggest Look-alikes gallery to date, from the sublime
to the ridiculous. Remember to send us your suggestions (with
photos)! ...more
Just in time for the Austria friendly, here's a comprehensive
NATA Mini Guide to Vienna. Make sure you try the Heuriger
wine taverns in the suburbs! And because we're nice, we're
even going to get an In Your Sporran guide online for you
in a week or two! ...more
Our most comprehensive "Mini Guide" has just got
bigger. Some brief details on Hannover have been added from
scratch, Düssefdorf has some improved pub information
and the Munich section has been updated to include the Allianz
Arena and the excellent Unionsbrau. The real jewel in the
crown of this update is the Cologne info - grab your cheap
Easyjet flight and away you go! ...more
Our comprehensive Links page has been brought up-to-date
with a few new Tartan Army sites, and new addresses for a
few old ones. Check out: Saltire Fashions, Castlemilk TA,
KELTA, Longforgan TA, Monkton TA, Rampant Lions, SADTA and
Vancouver TA for starters.
If you want your own TA Club website listed, please drop
me a line. Reciprocal links are always appreciated! ...more
EDITORIAL: Tuesday 26th
July 2005
This update brings together almost all the
popular elements of NATA Online - stories, photos and travel
tips. "Where's the irreverent yet entertaining humour?",
I hear you ask... Fear not, a new Lookalikes page is just
around the corner.
The Belarus diary account is a monster -
almost 5,000 words covering an epic five-country trip. And
they're not all short words either! There's also a raft of
more recent photos on my own "scrapbook" site from
a surreal trip to Liechtenstein to cheer on Moldova's FC Dacia
in the UEFA Cup.
The travel front sees updates to the Brussels
guide, with some cracking pubs to play chess in, and a timely
update to the Austria guide giving the low-down on Vienna.
Let me guess - it means nothing to you!?
A mini update is planned in early August
with a Sporran guide for Vienna, and we will try to get the
Graz photos online by the end of the month, although I'm sure
by now it will shock few of you to hear that due to a lot
of upcoming travel things may get a little tight once more!
Are you sitting comfortably? You better be - this is a mammoth
account of a mammoth trip. Rest assured though, it will take
you less time to read it than it did for me to write it ...more
Just in time for the Austria friendly, here's a comprehensive
NATA Mini Guide to Vienna. Make sure you try the Heuriger
wine taverns in the suburbs! And because we're nice, we're
even going to get an In Your Sporran guide online for you
in a week or two! ...more
Brussels is one of Europe's top drinking cities, yet still
relatively free of the stag party crowds. Newly added to the
Brussels section of the Low Countries mini guide are details
on the excellent Cantillon brewery and some superb bars in
which to enjoy the local brews ...more
Yes, I know I get too much holiday! Anyway, keeping a promise
to Andrew (Dacia's press officer and friend to the Tartan
Army) following our visit to a league match in October, Helen
and I represented the Tartan Army on tour in Liechtenstein
with Dacia. We even went to Switzerland, for 5 minutes ...more
EDITORIAL: Tuesday 28th
June 2005
Well, we've managed to keep up our run of
an update each calendar month, but only just! What we do bring
you is a photo-tastic extravanganza, with over 340 photos
in this update alone, all from one incredible two-week period!
Starting slowly with a score of snaps from
the Moldova home match, we have over 200 from the Eastern
European leg, followed up by 100+ from the Confederations
Cup. Why the Confed Cup? Well, I have to take a 2-week break
from work once a year, and with cheap flights to Germany...
Anyways, another hectic month awaits in
July, but we will be back, and with more words this time -
expect to see a Minsk Diary and Guide, and a Vienna Guide
appearing in the next update or two.
A staggering 217 (two-hundred-and-seventeen)
photos from Riga, Minsk, Brest and Warsaw are crammed onto
8 gallery pages. None of the legendary 50p border crossing
exist, as it really wasn't the time or the place to brandish
the camera, but the rest are all here ...more
Paling into insignificance are the 20 photos
I managed to take at the Moldova home game the weekend before
the Belaris trip. See if you can spot Christian Dailly making
a guest appearance in The Shed! ...more
And finally, 105 photos from Paul's trip
to the Confederations Cup to see three games in Cologne and
Hanover ...more
EDITORIAL: Sunday 15th
May 2005
First things first, after a whole rush of
complaints (well, moaning from Rich really), I've changed
the page header font to a more business-like one. Please let
me know if you don't like it!
This is going to be the last full update for a wee while,
as I've got lots and lots of travelling in the next few weeks
- right through to the end of June, in fact. There's an off-chance
I may be able to stick a quick update on in the meantime,
but don't wait up. (In fact, sign up for the newsletter to
make sure you don't miss out!)
In the meantime, however, this update mixes a diary account
with some German photos, and travel advice for Nuremberg and
Belarus.
Finally, and on a personally sad note, many commiserations
to Netley's local team, Southampton FC, who were relegated
this weekend after 27 years in the top division. Less than
2 years ago I was cheering them on to the pitch in the FA
Cup Final! Here's hoping for a quick return to the top flight
for the Saints.
The much-awaited (well, by the 19 that were there anyway!)
diary account of the trip to Mattersburg for what could be
Scotland's final ever Future Cup away game... more
The early May Bank Holiday allowed for a relaxing break to
World Cup venue Nuremberg. The photos, including some taken
from the running track of the WC Stadium, are now on my personal
website... more
A whole load of information about Nuremburg has gone on to
the Germany Mini Guide page, so you'll now know where to go
for some brewery pub action in Bavaria's second city... more
In response to public demand, the information I originally
posted on the TAMB has been added to the WC2006 Qualifiers
Travel page... more
EDITORIAL: Sunday 25th
April 2005
It's a very pictorial update for you this
time around, with lots to look at and not so much to read
(unless you want to go back to Chisinau in a hurry?), but
the Austria photos do bring things bang up to date again -
expect the diary account, and maybe even the Vienna guide,
to follow within a month.
We can also bring you the next installment
of Tartan Army Look-alikes, our seventh to date, and even
if I say so myself, one of the best yet.
With an incredibly busy six weeks ahead
of us (right through until after the Belarus trip), it's going
to be tight to get the next update out in time, so please
do be patient with us. In the meantime, enjoy!
A grand total of 149 photos from the recent Austrian trip,
and one hilarious video
(courtesy of Tartan Par) of Ludo bugling away on the pitch
at half-time... more
Sixteen new additions to our ever-popular look-alikes gallery,
with a total of 46 new photos in our 7th Look-alikes Gallery.
And keep 'em coming - we've already started putting Gallery
8 together! ...more
The In Your Sporran series contiunes apace with the addition
of Moldova, in case you're in a rush to go back... more
EDITORIAL: Sunday 3rd
April 2005
This is now a danger of becoming a habit!
In what must be a new NATA Online record, we can bring you
not only photos but the diary account of the most recent trip
at the same time! And
not only that, but barely a week after the event! People will
start taking this for granted...
And we're not finished either - as the ink
is drying on this update, we're already starting to receive
a few extra photos and video clips that will grace the next
update. An update you can expect before the month is up to
boot! Just don't get too used to this level of service!
Anyway, for the time being (ahead of reality
kicking in again in early June), lets all bask in the shared
optimism that Walter Smith has steered around a corner towards
a new era of Scottish international football.
A shorter trip should have made for a shorter diary, right?
Well, the two nights we spent in Milan still runs to over
3,000 words! See for yourself here
with our first blow-by-blow account of 2005 ...more
The photos from Paul's camera are now available for your
persual in the Italy Gallery.
A more comprehensive collection can be found on Bruce's
Fotopic pages, and we will bring you some video clips
with our next update ...more
Our series of downloadable "In Your Sporran" guides
continues with a Faroes Guide - feel free to pass this on
to any Ireland fans you know who may be heading there in the
summer ...more
Six new quotes have found their way into Tartan Army folklore
through being captured for eternity on the TA
Quotes page ...more
EDITORIAL: Sunday 20th
March 2005
It is a rare and monumental occasion, and
it gives me a warm glow when it happens, but for only the
second time in the 4+ years the website has been running it
is completely up-to-date!
The inclusion of the Germany diary (and believe me, it was
touch and go!) means that every single trip now has a diary
account and photo gallery online. How long will it last? Well,
six days I suppose...
So here we are on the advent of a new era
in Scottish football. Can Walter Smith turn things around
and do what Herr Vogts proved in no uncertain terms was beyond
him - namely to take a middling bunch of Scotland players
and make the sum of the whole greater than the constituent
parts. Well, only time will tell and it's unlikely we'll be
any the wiser this time next week, but we can hope.
Anyway, we're off again to Austria in April
(for the Future Cup - see the Travel Details page for, ahem,
travel details) so it's anyone's guess as to whether I'll
be able to fit in another update. Make sure you don't miss
out - sign up for the Newsletter at the foot of the front
page.
Four months after the event, having been delicately matured
in smoked oak casks, the sausage-by-sausage NATA guide to
December's B game defeat is now available for your delight
and delectation... more
Joining the other two Baltic capitals, Tallinn can now boast
its own In Your Sporran guide - right click here
and "Save Target As" to download to your own PC...
more
And not wanting to be left out, the centre of the beer-drinking
universe has also muscled into the In Your Sporran range -
download the Prague area and detailed pub crawl guide here...
more
Not one, but two trips to Düsseldorf - one in February
and one in March,
including some cheeky video footage from Bruce's new phone...
more
EDITORIAL: Tuesday 15th
February 2005
Well, here we are again, bouncing back to
cheer you all up again following the abject depression of
Valentines Day that's no doubt afflicted most of us!
A bumper update brings you the long-awaited
Moldova Diary, five new countries to both the updated Women
and Drunks of the World section and a Travel Special. Not
only is the Travel Details section updated with our plans
for all five scheduled first team away games this year (the
qualifying games and a friendly in Austria in August), but
the Travel Top Fives have also had a long overdue revamp,
with many more pubs for all the list fanatics out there.
However, the most exciting news is that
we have branched out into downloadable "In Your Sporran"
mini guides, making our popular Mini Guides even more portable.
To get you started, and to help with anyone planning the Belarus
trip, we've got both Riga and Vilnius covered.
So, with all this to keep you going, what
can you expect from us in March? Well, there's the Germany
Diary for one, as well as another couple of downloadable guides
(expect Prague and one other). Until then, keep well!
Okay, so it's been a long time coming, but at least it's
finally here! Read all about our Moldovan misadventures, and
the trip back via Budapest ...more
After the runaway success of our popular Mini-Guides, we've
decided to give the established competition a run for their
money with our new downloadable "In Your Sporran"
guides ...more
Five new entries have been added to NATA's essential guide
to where the burdz are, taking the total to 28. Denmark &
Hungary have been added to WOTW 1,
whilst Moldova, Romania and Spain go onto WOTW
2
And on a similar theme, the Drunks of the World section has
also been updated with the same five countries - see DOTW
1 and DOTW 2 for details.
EDITORIAL: Sunday 9th
January 2005
Well, I know I promised diary accounts,
but they don't write themselves, and I have been suffering
writers block... anyway, I will try and apply myself to the
task in hand in time for our next update in around a month's
time.
As well as our new look (well, different
font style at least!), we can bring you a whole new load of
Look-alikes (with the seventh gallery already in production!
Keep the nominations coming!), a fully updated guide to Germany
and a new load of Prague photos from yet another drinking
binge.
In the meantime, good luck and have fun
to anyone still going to Northern Ireland for the aborted
friendly match.
Another New Year, another drinking session to somewhere in
Europe... Prague had the privilege of our patronage for the
second year running, along with Bruce and Sharon (and their
far better photographs).
See Paul's photos here
UPDATED: New look site
Although not as far-reaching as previous re-vamps, we do
bring you - brand new for 2005 - an updated menu bar (complete
with natty NATA badge), a new font style (which should be
easier to read), and bigger text on the "away" version
(which is definitely easier to read).