The Famous Aberdeen’s European Tour 2023/24

[jagfox]

1 hour ago, Thane of Cawdor said:

Surely that can't be right. If McGrath had been booked at the penalty award it wouldn't be rescinded?

If no foul they can be rescinded but don't  call me Shirley!

Edited November 9, 2023 by jagfox

[kingjoey]

43 minutes ago, AyrAtlanta said:

“Precious point for Aberdeen” So precious in fact it puts them out of contention to qualify.

We have just taken a point in Greece which earns us a fair wad of cash. We were never qualifying, so “points mean prizes” is important for us.

[Don exotic]

7 minutes ago, kingjoey said:

We have just taken a point in Greece which earns us a fair wad of cash. We were never qualifying, so “points mean prizes” is important for us.

Also may end up being important in terms of co efficient points ultimately as well. 

[kingjoey]

1 hour ago, Hedgecutter said:

Surely Aberdeen, needing the win, want the clock to go slow? 

 

In their three Conference group matches before tonight, PAOK have scored in the 99th, 92nd and 96th minutes. One point is better than none. Even with a win we weren’t qualifying.

[Menzel]

Well that was class. Didn't get stabbed either. Up in 6 hours for the flight back to Bratislava.

[Connor7]

No brainer now to rest players against Frankfurt before the cup final 

Edited November 9, 2023 by Connor7

[bpdon]

Well in loons - another cracking battling shift. We were always going to be relying on some backs to the wall performances in a tough group. The difference between the POAK and Frankfurt away ties was we took the few chances we created tonight (see Sokler late miss in Germany).

Unfortunately we gifted away 5 points at Pittodrie. We were close to 6 but we got 1 and that was always going to be costly. And here we are - oot. 

Overall we have acquitted ourselves admirably so far. Cut out conceding those cheap goals and we might actually start to get some traction at this level. 

Edited November 9, 2023 by bpdon

[low-life]

Good to see another point for the co efficient but its not gonna make much difference really. Another really poor total this year and although we will likely get group stage football for 3 teams again next year we fall off a cliff points wise after that and it will be back to 4 and all teams qualifying again for a good few years as the last 2 years points totals will be around 20th in Europe. 

[Melanius Mullarkey]

Allegations of racial abuse.

 

[kingjoey]

6 hours ago, Melanius Mullarkay said:

Allegations of racial abuse.

 

The response from PAOK

 

In response, PAOK described the complaint as "clearly a product of imagination, as it did not come to the attention of any official".

They said there has "never been racist behaviour" in their stadium and it "would not be tolerated anyway". 

They also criticised "the defiant behaviour of the Aberdeen substitutes in their equaliser" and praised the home fans for not reacting.

[Melanius Mullarkey]

1 hour ago, kingjoey said:

The response from PAOK

 

In response, PAOK described the complaint as "clearly a product of imagination, as it did not come to the attention of any official".

They said there has "never been racist behaviour" in their stadium and it "would not be tolerated anyway". 

They also criticised "the defiant behaviour of the Aberdeen substitutes in their equaliser" and praised the home fans for not reacting.

Probably just the wind,

[Don exotic]

2 hours ago, kingjoey said:

The response from PAOK

 

In response, PAOK described the complaint as "clearly a product of imagination, as it did not come to the attention of any official".

They said there has "never been racist behaviour" in their stadium and it "would not be tolerated anyway". 

They also criticised "the defiant behaviour of the Aberdeen substitutes in their equaliser" and praised the home fans for not reacting.

And their manager called us arrogant! This kind of statement should add to their troubles when UEFA investigates.

[TopDon]

Does anyone have a clip of the non penalty surely a booking for diving

[Jim Main]

13 hours ago, low-life said:

Good to see another point for the co efficient but its not gonna make much difference really. Another really poor total this year and although we will likely get group stage football for 3 teams again next year we fall off a cliff points wise after that and it will be back to 4 and all teams qualifying again for a good few years as the last 2 years points totals will be around 20th in Europe. 

I've been trying to work this out all week...I think our Cup Winners go into the Play-off round of the Europa...then drop into the Conference groups if beaten. If it's one of the cheeks and they are already in CL qualifying then f**k knows.

It's all changing next year with that league system for the CL...

[low-life]

1 hour ago, Jim Main said:

I've been trying to work this out all week...I think our Cup Winners go into the Play-off round of the Europa...then drop into the Conference groups if beaten. If it's one of the cheeks and they are already in CL qualifying then f**k knows.

It's all changing next year with that league system for the CL...

Yeh correct, cup winners go into Europa and guaranteed group football. If a cheek wins it then 3rd gets it. Likely to still hold on and get it next year.

UEFA Country Ranking 2023/24 | *LIVE* | UEFA Coefficient (footballseeding.com)

Top 10 get guaranteed 3 teams group football. After our 19/20 season drops off we will drop down to 16th at best. The club tab is very depressing for Scottish teams. Aberdeen and Hearts level on coefficient with a team from Gibralter and behind some Irish teams.  

[kingjoey]

It would be interesting, for me anyway, to hear about the trip experiences of any fans on here who were in Greece.

[tarapoa]

I write this a little worse for wear after several days on the sauce, and the sounds of the noisy nightlife of this Greek city going on eight floors below.

Experience has been nothing but positive. This was always the away game of the three in the group I targeted going to, and firmly believe it to be up there amongst the ultimate European away trips.

The city itself is a wonderful setting and absolutely rocking . The Toumba was special in terms of an atmosphere you will just never experience in any UK ground. There was no real issues getting to and from the ground, which was always a worry.

The fact that the team stood up to it and gave us a couple of cracking goals to celebrate just topped things off beautifully.

We were never qualifying from this group, but maybe the only regret is a couple of more very gettable points in the home games and things could be very much alive for the couple of games to come.

Still important to win in Helsinki, even if the bizarrely timed LC final now means just accepting playing a shadow team and enduring a horsing at home to an Eintracht side keen to win the group.

Edited November 11, 2023 by tarapoa

[betting competition]

What a great trip Thessaloniki, nice place and locals really friendly. Some amount of drink they put in their nips ha ha - took me a few days to recover. 

Great performance from the team too against a team that has way over our budget.

Think this might be the best trip out of 3 this season. On to the Tbilisi for me with Scotland match.

Looking forward to Helsinki at the end of the month.

Edited November 13, 2023 by betting competition

[Bogbrush1903]

 

On 10/11/2023 at 18:05, kingjoey said:

It would be interesting, for me anyway, to hear about the trip experiences of any fans on here who were in Greece.

 

The PAOK match for me was also the most attractive in the group primarily because it was in Southern Europe and the football culture is slightly alien to us Northern Europeans.

I also had a tickle at Northern European earlier in the campaign with the trip to Gothenburg and I must say that I really enjoyed both trips with the added bonus of improving my own European away record with a couple of credible 2-2 draws (and so near yet so far to a win against Hacken).

We flew to Sofia and spent only around 12 hours there, with this compressed view of Sofia from later evening/early morning made the place seem quite grim especially to my fellow travellers; however, I had been there before a few years ago and enjoyed it.

We took Flix bus down and we knew from the plane journey from Edinburgh the previous night that we would be accompanied by quite a few other Dandies. A protracted stop on the Greek border (although with perfectly aimable border guards) and a bizarre police escort involving a changeover in cars (the second driver appeared to be petting a dog for most of the journey) which suddenly ended about 30 minutes away from Thessaloniki.

On arrival, we just had three tins outside a sort of newsagent just off the main drag (and across from Hotel Mandrino) then we went to a restaurant, had another three pints and, realising it was now 19:15, asked the waiter to arrange that taxi we had requested at the beginning of the meal.

We asked the driver to drop us off at the home end because the traffic was bad, then we ran round, stopping intermittingly to check if it was our gate ("No, keep going round"), but it's now after kick-off. We finally get in but to my immediate left is the toilet and the physical activity has got my bladder weighing heavy so into the pits I go with one of my fellow travellers, whilst the other two enter pitchside.

I've just finished when a muffled cry goes up and, not being familiar with the acoustics of the stadium, my eyes flit towards the toilet entrance to see if anyone chose the post-goal upheaval to join the pit lane, two women enter (unisex toilets), what looks like a Mum and daughter, "goal for PAOK?" I ask with increasing alarm, "goal for Aberdeen!" is the reply......Aaaaaargh, I missed it!!!!!

Anyways, I saw the rest of the match and, thank the Lord for a man called McGrath, I did finally have something to celebrate with my own eyes.

Flew back home via three nights in Berlin for the Synästhesie Festival (disappointing fare this year although perked up on the second night with a great performance from The Warlocks), and two matches in the Oberliga NOFV-Nord, SC Staaken - FC Anker Wismar (84 spectators) & BSV Eintracht Mahlsdorf    - SV Lichtenberg 47 (a healthy 384 although mostly for the away team).

However, returned home with an unwanted guest called Covid.

Apart from the home match with Eintracht, that's my European journey with Dons over for this season. I'll miss HJK as I'm going into the away end for Toulouse vs  Union Saint-Gilloise (another team heading for a Euro exit).

[kingjoey]

16 hours ago, Bogbrush1903 said:

 

 

The PAOK match for me was also the most attractive in the group primarily because it was in Southern Europe and the football culture is slightly alien to us Northern Europeans.

I also had a tickle at Northern European earlier in the campaign with the trip to Gothenburg and I must say that I really enjoyed both trips with the added bonus of improving my own European away record with a couple of credible 2-2 draws (and so near yet so far to a win against Hacken).

We flew to Sofia and spent only around 12 hours there, with this compressed view of Sofia from later evening/early morning made the place seem quite grim especially to my fellow travellers; however, I had been there before a few years ago and enjoyed it.

We took Flix bus down and we knew from the plane journey from Edinburgh the previous night that we would be accompanied by quite a few other Dandies. A protracted stop on the Greek border (although with perfectly aimable border guards) and a bizarre police escort involving a changeover in cars (the second driver appeared to be petting a dog for most of the journey) which suddenly ended about 30 minutes away from Thessaloniki.

On arrival, we just had three tins outside a sort of newsagent just off the main drag (and across from Hotel Mandrino) then we went to a restaurant, had another three pints and, realising it was now 19:15, asked the waiter to arrange that taxi we had requested at the beginning of the meal.

We asked the driver to drop us off at the home end because the traffic was bad, then we ran round, stopping intermittingly to check if it was our gate ("No, keep going round"), but it's now after kick-off. We finally get in but to my immediate left is the toilet and the physical activity has got my bladder weighing heavy so into the pits I go with one of my fellow travellers, whilst the other two enter pitchside.

I've just finished when a muffled cry goes up and, not being familiar with the acoustics of the stadium, my eyes flit towards the toilet entrance to see if anyone chose the post-goal upheaval to join the pit lane, two women enter (unisex toilets), what looks like a Mum and daughter, "goal for PAOK?" I ask with increasing alarm, "goal for Aberdeen!" is the reply......Aaaaaargh, I missed it!!!!!

Anyways, I saw the rest of the match and, thank the Lord for a man called McGrath, I did finally have something to celebrate with my own eyes.

Flew back home via three nights in Berlin for the Synästhesie Festival (disappointing fare this year although perked up on the second night with a great performance from The Warlocks), and two matches in the Oberliga NOFV-Nord, SC Staaken - FC Anker Wismar (84 spectators) & BSV Eintracht Mahlsdorf    - SV Lichtenberg 47 (a healthy 384 although mostly for the away team).

However, returned home with an unwanted guest called Covid.

Apart from the home match with Eintracht, that's my European journey with Dons over for this season. I'll miss HJK as I'm going into the away end for Toulouse vs  Union Saint-Gilloise (another team heading for a Euro exit).

Great stuff. Missing the kick off though.