Newcastle United return to European action this week and with the two-legged tie against Metalist Kharkiv comes a trip into the unknown. Literally.
Alan Pardew’s knowledge of the team currently fourth in the Ukrainian league must be limited. They topped their qualifying group containing Bayer Leverkusen, Rosenborg and Rapid Vienna but haven’t played since December thanks to their winter break. Recent scouting missions have been limited to a friendly in Dubai and a run-out at Whitley Bay on Sunday night.
But with a near-fully fit squad to turn to at last, and no FA Cup tie to pre-occupy minds and legs this weekend, the Newcastle manager will be hoping to name his strongest sides for both ties, taking full advantage of any Metalist fatigue as their season does not resume until after the second leg.
Hungry: Papiss Cisse will want to add to his solitary goal in the Europa League so far if he gets the chanceNext week, Newcastle must travel 2,055 miles to the second largest Ukrainian city, and the Metalist Stadium which hosted three Euro 2012 games last summer. They are used to football visitors now, even if only a handful will be making the trip from Tyneside.
What more can the discerning Geordie fan learn about Kharkiv? Well, you can turn to Wikipedia and look forward to a visit to the Assumption Cathedral or the memorial to the thousands of Ukrainian intellectuals who were murdered by the NKVD before the Second World War.
For the last decade, one man has painstakingly put together a football fans’ guide to cities across Europe for those travelling specifically to watch a game, or who might be in town with their mates or the missus and fancies taking in a game, or a stadium visit. More than 600 Brits visit the San Siro, just for a look, every week.
In 1997 writer Peterjon Cresswell assembled the Rough Guide to European Football book. His new website and App are an updated, condensed and ever-changing version of a handy travel guide which was gold-dust to any fan on the road in the continent, as well as being an encyclopedia of Europe’s biggest clubs. I’ll be using his version of Metalist’s history, or the Yellow-Blues.
History: The last time an English side played in Kharkiv was when James McFadden's Everton went in 2007Thirty-five cities and 90 clubs are featured in Libero Football and the first version will finally go on-line this week, including Kharkiv and Madrid for any Manchester United fans in the Spanish capital.
Every football fan's essential guideThe plan is to have six Apps running by the start of next season featuring all top level teams in the Britain and Ireland, France, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switerland, Germany, Austria, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Cresswell was in Norwich yesterday – informing foreign visitors (and Scandinavians in particular) of the hotel with views over Carrow Road - and will have been to Copenhagen, San Marino and Podgorica before returning to his home in Budapest by the end of the week.
The Libero Football motto is Eat Football, Sleep Football, Drink Beer and that says everything about the researcher and his research.
He is looking to introduce fans to his world, and the hundreds of match days and fans’ favourite bars he has experienced in more than 20 years on the road. There are club shops and hotels thrown in too.
But it is the unique insight into clubs large and small across the continent which will help fans indulge in a very different experience.
Such as the recommendation to Manchester United fans who made the journey to Cluj in Transylvania last year to visit a small house adjacent to the ground which is actually a bar run by Cluj’s biggest fan who has given up a life of following his team on the road – he missed nine games in eight years which is some feat in Romania – for married life.
And one of his favourite football-daft characters from Athens, Nikos, Panionios' greatest fan whose bar is near the stadium in Nea Smyrna.
'The story was that Nikos passed out drunk the night these perennial losers actually won the Greek Cup,' he said.'He was carried home from the official reception, and collapsed in a heap in the kitchen.
'Nikos was awoken at dawn by an urgent knocking on the door. Three Panionios players had brought the Greek Cup back from the do, and placed it on his doorstep.
'There's a fabulous photograph of Nikos behind the bar, still drunk, wrapped in bedsheets, looking completely mental as he opens the door.'
Continental: Several Euro 2012 matches were played in KharkivSo what of Kharkiv? Surely there is more to this city than the below zero welcome and Soviet monuments.
Libero Football says: `Of the expat haunts, the Irish Pub (Mironositskaya 46) is more promising on the inside (paraphernalia from Anfield, Bristol Rovers and the Shildon Football Club) than out, while 24-hour Patrick (Universitetskaya 2) is decked out in blow-up cuttings from the football press on the bare brick. Note that Churchill’s is a dimly lit live rock club. Sherlock Holmes (Krasnoznamyonnaya 5) is a recent opening.’
Wanna find a Geordie in Kharkiv? Head to the Irish Pub, I reckon.
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