Thursday, September 14, 2006

European Tour

My football club is like a three pin plug - useless in Europe. The only team Blackburn Rovers has ever managed to defeat in European competition has been Rosenberg of Norway in 1995. That game saw the first and fastest ever Champions League hat trick by Mike Newell as Rovers clawed back three points and hardly any dignity after humblings in Trondheim, Warsaw and Moscow.

Since then a brave display away at Lyon counted for nothing, we were 1-0 down anyway. Even the giddy defeat over CSKA Sofia was over 2 legs as we turned a 3-0 lead into a scary draw. Don't even get me started on Celtic.

But the best thing about the European adventures are the trips. But not this year. As I speak some of my pals are having slightly more fun than I am as they sample the delights of the cultural quarter of Salzburg (probably taking in an afternoon Mozart concert).

Hopefully Mark Hughes can draw something from his treasure chest of European adventures to prepare the team better than Harford, Hodgson and Sourness.

Passage to the next round would mean the group stage and all manner of possibilities.

C'mon you blues.

No comments: