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…)
Two Phoenixes who have risen from the ashes.In a football world which is used to great turns of fortune, the two protagonists in today’s game at Stamford Bridge, Swiss Supremo, Roberto di Matteo, and our own Silver Supremo, Alan Pardew, have arguably seen two of the greatest.
Firstly, there is the fall and rise of Chelsea manager, Roberto di Matteo. After getting promotion with West Brom alongside Chris Hughton and our lot, and a good start to their subsequent Premiership campaign, his and West Brom’s form then nosedived, with only one win in ten games. The then seemingly perennial “yo-yo” club looked like they were heading for relegation once more, and the Swiss Italian was sacked and thrown on the managerial scrapheap.
After losing out to the aforementioned Hughton for the managerial position at Birmingham City, a blessing in disguise some might say with the chaos unravelling behind the scenes there, he was taken on as assistant to Andre Villas Boas at Chelsea. Of course, it would be something of an understatement to say that Villas Boas’s new approach had a few teething problems, and there is no time for those with Chelsea managers. So within months, di Matteo found himself in charge of one of the world’s richest clubs, and competing for some of the highest honours in the game. In less than 25 games, which were full of the grit and defensive discipline that was missing under his predecessor, and less than a year and a quarter after being thrown on the managerial scrap heap, di Matteo was a Champion’s League winning manager, and an FA Cup winning manager to boot. (more…)
♫ "Blue is the callah, football is the game!" ♫Venue: Stamford Bridge, London. Date: Saturday 25th August, 2012. Kick-Off: 5:30pm. Referee: Phil Dowd. UK TV: ESPN / HD.
Roberto Di Matteo’s Chelsea await the Magpies this Saturday, as Newcastle United return to Premier League action in the capital for another live ESPN scheduled encounter.
Alan Pardew will look to build on last weeks 2-1 home victory versus Tottenham Hotspur at a ground in which we are now undefeated for four games. This stretches back to the 2008 / 2009 season where we left with a point after a 0-0 draw.
You can’t help but reminisce about last seasons fixture, where a certain Papiss Cissé opened the scoring with a sublime flick and volley in the first half to put United 1-0 up. Unfortunately for that particular strike, it was completely overshadowed by what he managed to do late into injury time, when he smashed a right-foot volley at an insane angle past Petr Cech, securing Newcastle the three points in a 2-0 victory. If you haven’t witnessed that goal, then I seriously suggest you scroll straight to the bottom of this page right now and watch it before reading any further. (more…)
Greek Cup Final 2012 – Olympiacos 2 – 1 Atromitos (AET)
I just thought I’d include this post as a kind of addendum to Andymac’s excellent Atromios v Newcastle United match preview for this evening’s game, which kicks off at 6:00pm.
Atromitos have been losing finalists in the last two Greek Cup finals. The first one ended in a convincing 0-3 beating at the hands of Athenian neighbours, AEK Athens. However that game was more notable for real beatings as the infamous AEK hooligans decided to celebrate by starting a riot just before the end of the game, invading the pitch and attacking Atromitos players. (more…)
Atromitos: A stiff test for the bairns.Venue: Peristeri Stadium, Athens. Date: Thursday 23rd August 2012 Kick-off: 6.00 pm UK TV: Premier Sports (Sky channel 428 or Subcription)
So where were you on March 15th 2007?
It’s over five years since the Toon were able to compete in Europe, and on that day, with Take That heading the UK charts with a Morrisson’s Supermarket ad, we ended a roller coaster campaign (with wins over Celta Vigo, Fenerbahce and away at Palermo – Tim K’s senior debut) in the UEFA Cup with a rather dismal perfromance at Alkmaar, losing our two goal first leg advantage in the process.
So five long seasons later we find ourselves back in the European spotlight (well sort of) in a final qualifying round of the Europa League, before hopefully entering the Group Stages. Our opponents on Thursday are FC Atromitos who also begin their European campaign at this stage having finished fourth in last season’s Greek Super League and losing finalists in the Cup. (more…)
