Would UEFA close the door on Newcastle? When a football club takeover involves a cast of characters including the World Trade Organization, the United States Trade Representative, Amnesty International, Saudi Arabian Pirates, Neil Kinnock, a Middle East proxy war, the fiance of a brutally murdered journalist, a former World Chess Champion, FIFA, UEFA, AFC, The Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and many others it could only be for one club, Newcastle United.
At this time, the Saudi led consortium’s bid to take over the Magpies hangs on the (much delayed) decision by the Premier League as to whether the prospective buyers are ‘fit and proper’ people to take over a Premier League club. Many column inches and web pages (mostly drivel) have been wasted on it. However, there is another aspect of the deal which doesn’t seem to have been thought of at all. What I mean is that overcoming the Premier League hurdle will not necessarily be the end of the story if the new regime have ambitions for the Magpies to compete in UEFA competitions such as the Europa League and the Champions League. (more…)
The real Stadium of Light.With the Newcastle United being drawn against footballing aristocrats Benfica for their Europa League quarter final on Thursday, here is part two of my guide to Benfica.
In part one, I took a look at some aspects of Benfica’s history, including it’s links to Newcastle United and the North East in general. In this one, I will looking at things like the club’s current form, it’s coach Jorge Jesus, tactics, some of Benfica’s key players and that sort of thing.
Benfica and Newcastle United have never played each other competitively, so we can get that one out of the way pretty sharpish and take a look at their current form.
Current Form.
Benfica’s form in the Portuguese League is pretty predictable. If they’re doing well they’re top of the League, and if they’re doing not so well they are second, usually behind their fierce rivals, FC Porto. Their other great rivals in the Portuguese “Três Grandes” (Big three) are fellow Lisbon side Sporting Clube de Portugal, but they seem to be in a bit of a pickle at the moment, currently languishing in eighth in a sixteen team league. (more…)
“Out of many, one.”As Newcastle United’s next Europa League opponents are the Portuguese footballing aristocrats of Benfica, I have been inspired to write a two part guide to the club.
In this first part, I will taking a brief look at the history of the club, as well as taking a look at the links between Benfica, Newcastle United and the North East in general. There aren’t a huge amount and Thursday will be the first time the teams have ever met in a competitive game, but they are quite interesting nonetheless.
History, facts and stats.
The club known as Sport Lisboa e Benfica, or simply “Benfica” was formed by 18 year old footballer Cosme Damião on 28 February 1904. In their 109 year history since then they have become Portugal’s most successful club, with 32 Portuguese League titles, 24 Portuguese Cups plus 3 Campeonato de Portugal titles (the old version of the cup), 4 Portuguese League Cups, 4 Portuguese Super Cups and not least, 2 European Cups won in 1960 and 1961. (more…)
St James’ Park: A Europa League ghost town?“♫ For we’re the loyalest football supporters, the world has ever had… ♫”
So goes the terrace chant much favoured by we Newcastle United fans. However as you can see below, the attendance figures for this season’s Europa League could be calling that proud boast into question.
As you can see below, Newcastle United’s home attendance figures for Europa League games have hardly been impressive, with an average of only 24,154 Geordies attending St James’ Park for the games. This makes us the least supported of any of the English clubs competing in this years competition, and only the sixth most supported of the teams in the last sixteen.
In the table below I have only included the attendances of the remaining 16 teams, as there would be 80 teams if I’d included all who have competed in the competition! This means that Liverpool aren’t in there as they were knocked out by Zenit St Petersburg in the last round, but they were one of the most well supported teams with an average of 40,929 shifty looking scallies showing up at Anfield for their five games, with the crafty Cockney’s of Chelsea and Tottenham also beating Newcastle in the teraace table with an average of 38,642 and 36,240 respectively. It should be added that Chelsea have only competed in one game in the more recent stages which might affect things somewhat, though this isnt the case with ‘Spurs and Liverpool. (more…)
Who is right?Speaking in recent interview on Swansea City’s Europa League campaign next season, Chairman Huw Jenkins knocked Europa League knockers such as Alan Pardew, who has frequently used midweek European competition as an excuse for his poor League form this season (amongst other things), with Jenkins dismissing such talk as “rubbish.”
Meanwhile his manager, Michael Laudrup, has also welcomed the extra games next season, seeing no need to significantly increase the numbers of his small squad (around 23 currently) for next season’s European campaign. On this Laudrup commented:
“I know one year that Barcelona played with 19 first-team players, as well as a few younger players, and they played every three days. It is possible.
“I know again the risks if you get an injury. Look at what happened to us when Neil Taylor broke his ankle the day after the transfer window shut. That has special implications, but I don’t believe in having 27 or 28 players (27 was about the size of Newcastle United’s first team squad before the new French player were beought in). You won’t have 27 players who are at the same level, so you will still have five or six who never play.(more…)
