We've written a few articles recently about the possibility of Newcastle qualifying for the Europa Cup next season. Alan Pardew keeping his feet firmly on the ground That will be at least one season earlier than any official plans at St. James' Park, and we are also trying to keep our feet on the ground and not get too carried [.

Ryan Taylor has been little short of a revelation this season for Newcastle. A good action shot of Ryan Taylor The Liverpudlian has so far played in both full-back positions, out on the right wing and last Sunday he filled in for Yohan Cabaye in central midfield, when the French International had to leave the field with an injured ankle.

Ryan Taylor has been little short of a revelation this season for Newcastle. A good action shot of Ryan Taylor The Liverpudlian has so far played in both full-back positions, out on the right wing and last Sunday he filled in for Yohan Cabaye in central midfield, when the French International had to leave the field with an injured ankle.

Looks like the 23 year old Argentinian striker/ winger has committed himself to remaining at Anderlecht to help them win the Jupiter League. He has been strongly linked with Arsenal with Wenger tracking him for months since the Europa Cup began. Suarez has scored 14 goals for the Belgian first division side.

In my two decades as Newcastle fan I have had worse Christmases, tucking into my Turkey in 2008 whilst languishing four points above the relegation zone springs immediately to mind. This was made all the worse by having to bypass drinking my despair away due to a nice early drive to Wigan the next morning.

Channel 5 is not engulfed in self congratulatory happiness at the prospect of showing Man Utd matches in the Europa Cup.

The Premiership club might lost out to the RN Caribbean patrol which documents the travels and travails of HMS Manchester waging war against the drug smugglers in the Caribbean.

szólj hozzá: CL: Basel - ManUtd 2-1 071211

Marco Streller and Alexander Frei combine to put the hurt on Man Utd. To add to the gloom, Utd lose Nemanja Vidic with suspected knee ligament damage which could keep him out for a while. Sir Alex did not get his 100th Champions League win and now takes Utd to the Europa Cup.

szólj hozzá: Villarreal 0-2 Napoli

City managed to rain on Bayern's parade by beating them 2-0 but it was not enough as Napoli turned on the screws against Villareal to run out 2-0 victors. Bayern and Napoli go through to the Champions League knock out stage.

It's no idle conjecture imagining Napoli going far into the CL maybe even to the finals.

Marco Streller and Alexander Frei combine to put the hurt on Man Utd. To add to the gloom, Utd lose Nemanja Vidic with suspected knee ligament damage which could keep him out for a while. Sir Alex did not get his 100th Champions League win and now takes Utd to the Europa Cup. It's akin to Greg Louganis doing a belly flop and coming up purple in embarrassment.

THFC1882 gives a debut to Siva who previews the Bolton game for us. Siva has been a Spurs fan all his life and as the man puts it himself he was born with lilywhite in his vains! The first game Siva remembers was when he was 5 or 6, Ledley King (or Mr Spurs for Siva) is his favourite player and he likes a drink in the Bell and Hare pre match.

Relax. We can still qualify The JimmyG2 Column PAOK acting on Danny Blanchflower's advice equalised almost before we took the pitch. Then like 'New York; New York' they liked it so much they did it again. 2-0 down in 12 minutes through slack defending and the future looked bleak. As Danny had once suggested, 'Get your retaliation in first' But that is at least the 4th time we've been 2-0

Roman Pavlyuchenko has been ruled out of tonight's game with PAOK as a freak training injury is set to see him endure a spell on the side lines.

Yesterday, manager Harry Redknapp said after Pav's knee problem came to light,

'It doesn't look very good. He just banged it on Andros Townsend's head.

szólj hozzá: M2-2B

Manchester United must avoid defeat in their final Group C game away to Basel to avoid the drop to Europa Cup football after Benfica grabbed a deserved 2-2 draw at Old Trafford tonight and in doing so showed United's soft Centre.

Welcome to Aeroflot Mr.Pavlyuchenko. Just the single ticket? Six English players took the field for Spurs last night with an average age of 22.5 and an average height of 5ft. 8in. They saw off a spirited performance once again by more experienced opposition in the Europa cup to head their section on the verge of qualification for the next stage.

1-0 down but Harry's not worriedRead on to find out why. Committee for match fixtures and fittingsEuropa Division. Dear Mr. Redknapp, Just a courtesy note to you which I have copied to Mr. O'Neill. The two Chairman , Messrs Roche and Levy have now agreed in consultation with their respective PR departments the general outline of the Europa League game at your ground on Thursday.

But the men done better Highlights of the Europa game and all four (yes four) goals against Liverpool ( yes Liverpool) at the end of the blog. The boys,and I mean the boys, done good, But the men done better. First the Europa cup entree. The PAOK supporters lived up to their reputation even if the team did not.

Rubin Kazan downed a gallant Shamrock Rovers 3-0 tonight in the Tallaght Stadium. The Irish minnows got off to the worst possible start in their first appearance in European football proper with former Newcastle striker Obafemi Martins getting the opener on 3 minutes.

Stoke were denied a famous victory in Kiev tonight as Dynamo snatched a draw with an injury time leveller. Stoke debutant Cameron Jerome scored 10 minutes into the second half and just when Stoke thought they had the points in the bag, Ognijen Vukojevic scored deep into injury time for a share of the spoils.

Ryan Fredericks, Tom Carroll and Harry Kane all got their first taste of senior Spurs action in the recent Europa Cup tie against Hearts, but they were outshone last night by new Spanish arrivals Cristian Ceballos and Yago Falque.

Tottenham travelled to Northamptonshire to take on Kettering in a testimonial for their Senegalese striker Jean-Paul Marna and came from behind twice to win the game 5-4.

As last season began to draw to a close, it seemed as though Roman Pavlyuchenko would be the first player to leave White Hart Lane this summer. Despite leading the scoring amongst our three regular strikers, Pav was very vocal in his desire to leave for a chance of more regular football.

All that seemed to change following his two long range strikes against Birmingham City on the last day of the campaign.

FC Barcelona won the 2011 UEFA Super Cup by defeating Europa Cup Winner, FC Porto 2-0 at the St.Louis stadium in Monaco. Goals from Messi and another from Cesc Fabregas sealed a record 11th Trophy for Guardiola as a coach. FC Porto really made life difficult for Barca with their high pressure.

After last week's emphatic 5-0 victory away to Hearts you could have been forgiven for assuming that Spurs would go into the home leg with a changed side to give some fringe players a run out. With a crucial game against Manchester City coming up on Sunday and the tie in the bag, it's a good chance to look at some youngsters but according to Joe Jordan, the strongest possible team awaits our opponents.

There appear to be no new injury concerns for Spurs ahead of tonight's game against Manchester United and with Luka Modric ruled out, manager Harry Redknapp may well stick with the starting XI from last week's Europa Cup Tie against Hearts.

The back five look set to stay as they are unless Harry decides to change the keepers around, otherwise Walker, BAE, Dawson and Kaboul should start ahead of Gomes.

Clint Dempsey's brace against Dnipro in the Europa Cup qualifiers has put Fulham in pole position to go through to the League format, following their3-0 win at Craven Cottage tonight.

Why I can't wait for Mad Vlad's Tottenham trip

Mad Vlad is coming to town. The Europa Cup may be a mere bauble, but Tottenham's tie against Hearts is pure gold. Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov deserves a wider audience. His targets include ‘media monkeys' and imaginary ‘maniacs'.

This morning was the draw for the qualifying round of the Europa Cup. A two legged affair, that if we win, we go forward into the the group stages of the competition.

This time last year we were all excited about who we would be drawn against in the Champion League qualifying round but this competition is a real chance for glory.

Quick Reminder, Real Life top me if you've read this before but Everton didn't start out the season particularly well. Shocking, I know. This time around, it took them a little longer to revert to being a top half team but they got there eventually with a late charge up the table well after there was any chance of them challenging for a Europa Cup spot.

With the United States-Mexico friendly nary two weeks away, Jurgen Klinsmann's first brushstroke to his legacy begins.

But who else?

Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the US roster comes out for the August 10th friendly against El Tri in Philadelphia.

There is a lot to balance in the first roster announcement including dialing up the appropriate amount of cut-bait with respect for legacy players.

This has been in the pipeline for a while now but today it has been confirmed that Andre Villas-Boas has been given the job as Chelsea manager on a 3 year contract.

Villas-Boas is just 33 years of age and comes to Chelsea (for the second time) with just 3 years full managerial experience. He has previously been assistant manager at Chelsea, and Porto, and Inter where he has previously been Jose Mourinho's understudy.

We have an extremely hard start to the season that's what!

Everton at home to start, some will say is fine as the toffees are very often slow starters to the season but then couple that with the Champions away followed by the richest club in the world at home it is a tough first month.

2010 Europa Cup Finalists Fulham will again fly the flag for England after securing a Europa League Cup spot next season via the fair play league.

Although Chelsea topped the fair play league, Fulham grabbed their European spot after Chelsea qualified for the Champions League by finishing second to Manchester United in the EPL.

The feeling within Tottenham at the moment is that you can't mount a serious league campaign and play your first choice team in the Europa Cup. Yesterday, Tim Sherwood gave the clearest indication yet that Spurs will play a second string side throughout the European competition if we were to qualify.

szólj hozzá: Por 1-0 Bra

In the all Portugese finals, it was Porto taking bragging rights. And fittingly it was Radamel Falcao, arguably Europe's hottest striker scoring the winner off a beautifully whipped in cross from Colombian compatriot Fredy Guerin.

This was Falcao's17th goal in the Europa Cup, eclipsing the previous record of 15 goals in a single UEFA championship held by Juergen Klinsmann.

Porto striker Falcao scores his 17th goal of the tournament to give his team a 1-0 half-time lead at the Aviva Stadium against Braga in Europa Cup Final.
szólj hozzá: Porto 1-0 Braga

The league doesn't lie; it merely reveals an incontestable truth that Udinese (and heavens forbid Lazio), deserve a tilt at Champions League football certainly more so than the Giallorossi. Now, and with one game remaining, the question for Roma is whether or not the prospect of Europa Cup football is a blessing or a curse.

The three of us can reckonThat the Champions' League would beckon If we could only score some goals. How many straws can you clutch at the same time? And how many straws if successfully clutched will keep you afloat? There are plenty of straws in the wind, but some are more elusive than others. The first straw was that if we won all three of our last fixtures everything would magically come

Kenny Dalglish's appointment as permanent manager was a mere formality.

Taking a club from mid table to a Europa Cup spot in three months is not just mere accomplishment in itself but the way they've done it has the pundits talking. For the first time in a long time there is fear and loathing in playing Merseyside.

Andre Villa Boas, whose FC Porto bludgeoned the Portugese Liga into submission and now faces Braga in the Europa Cup final in his first season is being eyed by Roman Abramovich to replace Carlo Ancelotti. Boas is a former Chelsea assistant of Mourinho who was charged him with the responsibilities of compiling full dossiers on the opposition.

It's the real thingSo sue me As usual the frequent fliers politely ignore the safety briefing, 'Brace, brace'. As if. 'Life jackets are stowed' Yeh, yeh. 'Seats upright; tables folded, window blinds up' Whats the problem? We aren't going far, just an ordinary run of the mill domestic trip. What can possibly go wrong?

Man City's exit from the Europa League at the hands of Dynamo Kiev on Thursday night has certainly been a wake up call for Mancini and his superstars. Coming into the second leg on the back of a 2-0 defeat in Ukraine, City desperately needed their key players to perform at the best if they were to overturn the deficit.