Sanjay Shah

:lol: Brilliant! The Arky’s line had me in stitches! :lol:

Appalling. Football has officially eaten itself. :angry:

UEFA website or on TV on British Europsport 2

Fair point, but did our gaffer, DW, say any of that?

And what you haven’t also mentioned is that you were recruited for a not insignificant amount of money to take the company to the next level and repeatedly promised us (despite 4 years of under performance) that that was where we were going, but at the end of it just spunked the investment of 20000 (well maybe 10000) ultra-loyal customers. ;)

Gents – if you don’t like the topic then don’t engage with it.

I think that the nature of Bob’s departure after what is by and large an unsuccessful 4 year tenure (allbeit with some moments of magic), despite what was promised by someone so loved, has touched many a nerve – mine included.

Had he kept us up and then gone there would be no hard feelings, just as with PJ a few years back. I certanly didn’t follow PJ’s fortunes as closely afterwards, but I was saddened by how he wasn’t been able to recreate his success at Wigan. That’s because he left us with a good taste in the mouth, unlke Bob’s bittersweet departure.

Getting very very excited about Friday now. So much so that, even though I only need to wait till Friday for 3 teams, I’ve spent the last couple of evenings researching where each team left in the comp is from and how I might get there. I thought my knowledge of Europe was pretty good, but it’s been a real eyeopener. Below is the list that includes everyone already qualified, CL losers and the ties to be played Thurs night (I’ve left out Swansea and Spurs opponents as they’re all but gone).

Airports are based on travel from London, so may be different from Manchester/Liverpool. Some are also train-able. Some very tricky places to get to, esp. some which are a good 4-8 hours from the nearest airport by train/bus/car (based on rome2rio.com). I’d like to avoid the ‘stans, ‘ans and ia’s in the draw. Law of averages suggests 1 will be doable, 1 will be tricky and 1 will be dodgy (racist/hoolie/unstable).

Praying our first game, not the second, is away!

Team – Country – City – Best Airport

QUALIFIED

Valencia – Spain – Valencia – VLC
Anzhi Makhachkala – Dagestan – Makhachkala – MCX
Lazio – Italy – Rome – Rome
Maccabi Tel Aviv – Israel – Tel Aviv – TLV
Vitoria de Guimaraes – Portugal – Guimaraes – LIS
Bordeaux – France – Bordeaux – BOD

CL LOSERS

Fenerbahce – Turkey – Istanbul – Istanbul
Ludogorets – Bulgaria – Razgrad – OTP (Bucharest)
Dinamo Zagreb – Croatia – Zagreb – ZAG
Legia Warzawa – Poland – Warsaw – WAW
PAOK – Greece – Thessaloniki – SKG (Thessaloniki)
Pacos Ferreira – Portugal – Porto – OPO (Porto)
PSV Eindhoven – Holland – Eindhoven – EIN
Shakhter Karagandy – Kazakhstan – Karagandy – KGF (or Astana + train)
Maribor – Slovenia – Maribor – ZAG (or Ljubljana)
Lyon – France – Lyon – Lyon

EUROPA PLAYOFFS

Kuban Krasnodar – Russia – Krasnodar – KRR
Feyenoord – Holland – Rotterdam – RTM

Zulte Waregem – Belgium – Waregem – BRU (or Antwerp)
Apoel – Cyprus – Nicosia – Larnaca or Paphos

Rapid Wien – Austria – Vienna – Vienna
Dila Gori – Georgia – Gori – Tblisi

Tromso – Norway – Tromso – TOS
Besiktas – Turkey – Istanbul – IST

Panduril Targu Jiu – Romania – Targu Jiu – CLJ (Cluj Napoca)
Braga – Portugal – Braga – OPO (Porto)

Apollon Limassol – Cyprus – Limassol – Larnaca
Nice – France – Nice – Nice

Aktobe – Kazakhstan – Aktobe – AKK (Aktyubinsk)
Dynamo Kyiv – Ukraine – Kiev – KBP (Kiev)

Atromitos – Greece – Athens – Athens
AZ – Holland – Alkmaar – AMS

FH – Fimleikafelag Hafnarfjaroar – Iceland – Harnarfjarour – KEF (Reykjavik)
Genk – Belgium – Genk – BRU

Elfsborg – Sweden – Boras – GOT
Nordsjaelland – Denmark – Farum – CPH (Copenhagen)

Sevilla – Spain – Seville – Seville
Slask Wroclaw – Poland – Wroclaw – WRO

Red Bull Salzburg – Switzerland – Salzburg – SZG
Zalgris Vilnius – Lithuania – Vilnius – VNO

Qarabag – Azerbaijan – Agdam – EVN (Erevan) or how about to Ganja??!
Eintracht Frankfurt – Germany – Frankfurt

Minsk – Belarus – Minsk – Minsk
Standard Liege – Belgium – Liege – BRU

Jablonec – Czech Republic – Jablonec – PRG (or Dresden)
Real Betis – Spain – Seville – Seville

Rijeka – Croatia – Rijeka – PUY (Pula)
Stuttgart – Germany – Stuttgart – Stuttgart

Chornomorets Odesa – Ukraine – Odessa – ODS
Skenderbeu Korce – Korce – Albania – TIA (Tirana)

St Gallen – Switzerland – St Gallen – ZRH (Zurich)
Spartak Moscow – Russia – Moscow – Moscow

Molde – Norway – Molde – MOL
Rubin Kazan – Tatarstan – Kazan – KZN

Vojvodina – Serbia – Vojvodina – BEG (Belgrade)
Sheriff Tiraspol – Moldova – Tiraspol – KIV (Chisinau)

Kukesi – Albania – Kukes – TIA (Tirana)
Trabzonspor – Turkey – Trabzon – TZX (Trabzon)

Esbjerg – Denmark – Esbjerg – BLL (Billund)
Saint Etienne – France – Saint Etienne – Lyon

Grasshopper – Switzerland – Zurich – Zurich
Fiorentina – Italy – Florence – Florence

Maccabi Haifa – Israel – Haifa – Tel Aviv
Astra Giurgiu – Romania – Giurgiu – OTP (Bucharest)

Udinese – Italy – Udine – VCE (Venice)
Slovan Liberec – Czech Republic – Liberec – PRG

Estoril – Portugal – Estoril – Lisbon
Pasching – Austria – Pasching – LNZ (Linz)

Nomme Kalju – Estonia – Tallinn – Tallinn
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk – Ukraine – Dnipropetrovsk – DNK

Partizan – Serbia – Belgrade – Belgrade
Thun – Switzerland – Thun – BRN (Berne)