Salvo Montalbano

Was that Gala stand the first cantilevered stand at a football ground in the UK? I think Scunthorpe or somewhere equally random had the first in senior football.

Great to see the two favourites slugging it out on the climb. Good efforts from Valverde and Konig to keep their men up there too and they're both having good races. On the power meter thing, am I just imagining this or did they have a stage in the TdF several years ago where team radios were banned? They only had the motorbikes with the chalk boards on to tell them their progress. I think the Olympics is like this too?

The roof on that stand at Gala is crazy. Looks like there's no way it should be balanced like that.

Is he still "Scottish" or has he played for someone else yet?

Well remembered - couldn't recall why we had it.

Not a quirk as such but that view of Somerset reminds me of being there for a Pars game last season where there was a minutes silence for some reason and the burger van to the right of the camera is was blasting out some cheesy Europop tune that was on their radio during it while also shouting that people could get their sugar for their coffee at the end of the bar.

OK, buy an away end ticket; sit in a seat with a restricted view (and again, not just a pillar like at the othet grounds you mention but a wall where you can't see a significant part of the pitch) then try and move. Come back to us when you've tried. The walk through the cemetery to East End Park was my favoured route when I used to get the bus into town. It took you to the away end but I always enjoyed that walk rather than getting the bus in further and walking along Piggie's Lane. Also on East End Park (after a fashion), before Cowdenbeath moved to Central Park they used to play at West End Park in Cowdenbeath, behind the library. West End Park of course is several miles East of East End Park and vice versa which despite them being in different towns amused me for the almost but not quite symmetry.

Interesting username for a Par! On Williamson, he gets the crowd excited when he beats a man but he doesn't ever do it with ease as has been claimed - he kicks it by then and hopes to run past them before it goes out of play for a bye. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. When it does, it's rare that anything comes from it. Twice on Saturday there he did the hard part then shanked it out for a bye. The way some folk go on about him is incredible considering he's a decent pacy attacking full back and nothing more. Defensively he's average and he still gets brushed off the ball easily. I like him but let's not kid ourselves.

You think wrong. In fact Dunfermline are one of the few in our league who don't do that as far as I know. Raith and Dumbarton certainly do anyway. As for the main thread, one of the worst things about the all seated rule has been that a lot of those quirks (the Broomfield Pavilion, the window at Brockville, the bench seating et al) have been lost forever. Even some of the old stands are no more.

Always hard to judge just on ascent of the climb given that in different years there will be different approaches, different weather, different tactics, riders working together or not etc. Even today, Quintana and Contador were attacking each other and accelerating and recovering while Froome went at a fairly steady pace albeit with two domestiques for company on the lower slopes.

Agreed. And those stands usually havr one or two pillars that block one line of the pitch rather than whole sections . The other problem at Celtic Park with the restricted views is that the Stewards seem intent on stopping you moving to a seat where you can see the full pitch. That Turriff stand is crazy. Is it just that they've plonked seats onto an existing social club or something? Some of the grounds in the Highland League are quirky. I liked visiting Clach's ground with its large unused terrace at one end, the social club at the other end and a wee stand on one side. And when I was there, a young lad bouncing on a trampoline who saw a second of the game every two seconds or so for about 30 minutes from the gardens behind the hedge on the other side.

Another great stage - maybe the TdF organisers need to look at doing something to encourage teams to animate the race a bit more. Quintana looks like he's in great nick and Froome has it all to do even with a good chance to make up time in the individual TT later. Sky still looked decent though with Konig and Kennaught doing big turns to help Froome out and will need to do the same in the second week you'd think. Think this will go all the way.

Always thought Kilbowie and Pittodrie had a bit of a cheek claiming to be all seated when they had those benches. Not that I didn't enjoy a trip there with the Pars. Although we had an awful record at Aberdeen when the Beach end was bench seating.

I take it Aberdeen being in the Scottish Southern League Cup was to allow Dumbarton to be in the North Section of the BetFred Cup? The two best areas for away fans at Cappilow are shown above - the uncovered bench seating (where I stood in the sunshine to see Dunfermline win the Division One title) and the terracing with seating opposite the Main Stand (where we stood one night a season or so later and had a good view, was close to the turnstiles and "toilets" - a wall with a gutter) and being next to the Morton fans meant there was a bit of atmosphere. I don't understand why away fans don't get to stand there more often rather than having their knees dislocated sitting in the Main Stand.

European Cup? Inter-cities Fairs Cup/UEFA Cup? Games for Rangers or Celtic at Hampden maybe?

Was another good race yesterday. Not sure about the new Sky tactic of sending Kennaught up the road (is this to force Movistar to up the pace?) but with the second and third riders in GC it's up to Movistar to dictate the race now. How much do you think Froome could make up on Quintana and Valverde in the time trial?

Bayer is a pharmaceutical company. Bayern with an n is the German name for Bavaria. And Leverkusen is nowhere near Bavaria, it's in North Rhine Westphalia near Köln and Dortmund (you pass the stadium as you drive between the two IIRC). Apart from that though...

Not sure if that was to do with condition, a tactical error or what. Strange to see Froome attack quite early without having the Sky train blow apart Movistar first as Quintana still looked pretty fresh. I know there's a time trial later which should suit Froome but he'll need to make sure he gets a wee bit closer before he can think about winning in Madrid.

Back in the days of grounds having mostly terracing, my dad would always want us to sit in the stand so for a lot of years it was interesting seeing the different seating areas. Raith and Dundee Utd both had those weird L shaped stands which I liked but always imagined would look great if they extended further round. Tannadice in particular was impressive since it hangs over the road outside. It's a shame the seats were uncomfortable and had no legroom. The best bit about East End Park before the new stands came up was the dressing room doors leading out to the pitch with a little set of stairs between them and the playing surface. It was expecially neat if you sat in the stand because you could tell by the roar from the cage that the players were coming out before you could see them. These days, I like the fact that the front row at NDP is high up with the toilets and coffee bar beneath - you're going to get a good view wherever you sit and you can see the game while waiting for food and drink.

Aye, it's amazing how many top athletes have "athletic induced asthma". More good racing today with the peloton a bit all over the place. Another crash near the finish with Bertie taking the brunt again and Valverde picking up some bonus seconds for a third place finish.

I thought Froome actually finished ahead of the others? Before the times were neutralised I mean. Good that the organisers have apologised for the bollard being in the road but it's no consolation for the guy who has had to abandon. More great racing today, it's always interesting in the Vuelta when the breakaway has a chance and there have been plenty of great efforts already in this race. Quite surprised there was a big effort from Movistar to get the stage win though when they have Valverde and Quintana going for the GC win. In the end it didn't work and a great attack from Yates saw him take advantage.

That was crazy steep. Did Fernández just not realise there was another guy further up the road? Will be tough for Bertie to make the time up.

Strange. A mate of mine phoned up the night before the final a few years back and got a ticket no bother. Might have been since he was just after a single ticket and not a pair or more. It was a bit of a thrashing for whomever lost since they were planning an exhibition frame or two if it didn't go long enough into the final session.

Didn't expect that, I had thought Orica Greenedge (as I can't stop calling them) or BMC would have taken it. Interesting stage today too with several attacks failing in the final few kms before 2 crashes in the final stages before the bunch sprint. Looking forward to the first mountain stage and the possibility of an early Bertie attack.

Looked like a horrendous place to watch football from the highlights tonight.