There was more bad news yesterday for those intrepid Irish supporters planning to disregard official advice and travel to Turkey for the second leg of the European Championship play-off on November 17th.
In a move widely predicted the Turkish Football Federation confirmed that the game is being taken out of Istanbul's Ali Sami Yen stadium where Chelsea beat Galatasaray 5-0 on Wednesday.
Instead, it is now almost certain to be played in the Ataturk Stadium in Bursa with "a one per cent chance" that it will be shunted still farther to Izmir where the international stadium is capable of accommodating a crowd of up to 70,000.
Officially, the reason for removing the fixture from Istanbul is that an international business congress in the city at the time of the game, will put hotel accommodation at a premium.
Other, more cynical souls, attach a different reason to the decision. Although the stadium in Bursa is far and away the smallest of the three originally mentioned as possible venues, it is known to have some of the most fanatical supporters in the country.
More than that, Bursa has no international airport. The city's sole airport caters for only light aircraft and to reach it, travellers must undertake a difficult road journey, made even more hazardous by recent earthquakes.
Because of earthquake damage to the roads, the journey from Istanbul now encompasses a coach trip of 90 minutes, a ferry ride of similar duration and then another 90 minute road haul.
This was the marathon which the German squad was required to undertake when they played in Bursa. After leaving Istanbul in the morning, they did not arrive at their destination until well after nightfall. Not surprisingly, perhaps, they lost their Euro 2000 qualifying game 1-0 to the Turks.
It means that the Irish party may have to leave a day earlier than their original departure date of November 15th. But with the function for the Opel International Player of the Year awards set for November 14th, that could cause problems.
Mick McCarthy's reaction to the news was predictably, full of apprehension. "If Chelsea thought they were hard done by in having to play in Istanbul on Wednesday, it's as nothing compared to this," he said.
"But the host country have the right to nominate the ground on which they wish to play the game and if it conforms to international standards, there is nothing we can do but grin and bear it."
The good news for McCarthy and his players is that Turkish football is in something approaching a state of shock after a Galatasaray team, containing six members of the national squad, was fairly taken apart by Chelsea in Wednesday's Champions League game.
"I think that game can have beneficial spin-offs for us and I hope to be talking with Gianluca Vialli and some of his players over the next couple of weeks," said McCarthy.
