Maratimo at their place.Team: C.S. Maritimo. League: Portuguese Primeira Liga. Position last season: 5th. Stadium: Estádio dos Barreiros, Funchal, Madeira. Last major trophy: Campeonato de Portugal, 1926. Fixture dates: Thurs, 4th Oct (A), Thurs, 22nd Nov (H)
Though Maritimo play in Portugal’s Primeira Liga, Maritimo (Maritime) are situated on the island of Madeira, some 600 miles from the Portuguese coast and slightly closer to Africa than to Portugal.
Madeira was colonised by the Portuguese in the early 15th Century and is now an autonomous district of Portugal. Despite being a very small island, with a population which is roughly similar to that of Newcastle upon Tyne without Gateshead, Gosforth and the rest, the island of Madeira has no less than eleven teams competing in the Portuguese leagues, the major ones being Maritimo and their main Madeiran rivals Nacional in Portugal’s Primeira Liga. Both Maritimo and Nacional are from Madeira’s capital city, Funchal. It was Nacional who helped to groom the young Funchalian who subsequently went on to become Madeira’s most famous football export by far, Christiano Ronaldo, who won a title with Naconal’s youth team before he moved on to one of the big three of Portuguese football, Sporting Club of Lisbon, at the tender age of twelve. (more…)
Little Vurn: NUFC's "marquee" signing in this window.As you no doubt know only too well, the Summer transfer window ended at 11pm on Friday evening. But are you happy, or not, overall, with the comings and goings at the club?
Reviewing the ingoings and outgoings at Newcastle United during this particular window (see table below), nine players have left the club and four have come in. I have included Ryan Donaldson and Phil Airey in the nine outgoings as they both enjoyed at least one or two outings for the first team in the past, though I have omitted several other Academy players who were released by the club in the infamous “night of the long knives” at the Benton Academy, when at least seven young prospects were axed in one go, plus the slightly older Kadar.
Though the figures are approximate, the overall spend for the club seems to be a figure of around +£2.64 million to +£3.14 million. Looking at the individuals involved will always be something of a subjective thing, but having a bash at some kind of assesment, I would say that the club has lost three squad members who had been very handy for the club when the inevitable injuries occured, or when more regular choices were fulfilling international commitments in major competitions such as the Africa Cup of Nations. We also lost the all but redundant Alan Smith (and his huge wages), the talented but constantly on loan Fraser Forster, the once regarded as highly promising defender, Tamas Kadar, who never quite failed to live up to earlier expectations, as well the two bairns mentioned above. (more…)
Second fiddle, but still in it to win it says Silver Supremo.Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle. Date: Thusday 30th August, 2012. Kick-Off: 8:00pm. Referee: Stephen Studer . UK TV: ITV 4.
Hello, good evening and welcome to our latest “match banter” feature for this evening’s Europa League game against FC Atromitos of Athens.
With a shortage of success in the transfer window so far, Alan Pardew has now been playing down the importance of this competition, even though it is over five years since we last tasted European football with Glenn Roeder’s legendary Intertoto winning “Dream Team” back in the 2006–07 season. Speaking in the pre match press conference for the game, the Silver Supremo said that he will be prioritising the Premiership and the FA Cup, seeing the League Cup and the Europa League as a chance for younger players and squad players to “show their wares,” though he did add that the priority would be raised should the club reach the latter stages of the competition.
Speaking on the fringe players, Pardew commented:(more…)
The road to Amsterdam.Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle. Date: Thusday 30th August, 2012. Kick-Off: 8:00pm. Referee: Stephen Studer . UK TV: ITV 4.
With the sides evenly matched at 1-1 after last week’s first leg Europa League tie in Athens, Newcastle United entertain FC Atromitos at St James’ Park this evening to determine which club will take the road towards the Amsterdam Arena (with some welcome additional revenue), and which team will pack away their passports and sun tan lotion for another season.
Should we prevail and make it through to the Group Stages we’ll be one of 48 teams split into 12 groups who will play one another, home and away during the next few months. After which, if we finish in the top two, we’ll move on to the Round of 32 having been joined by the eight clubs finishing third in their UEFA Champions League group.
Europa League Finances
So what exactly is at stake tomorrow evening? While we all know that this revamped second tier competition is the poor man’s version of the Champions League, it is encouraging for all competing clubs to learn they will now benefit from a greater proportion of the “Market Pool” to help add to the official UEFA prize money. (more…)
