[Archived] Rovers V Basel

[philipl]

On Thursday, we welcome the Swiss team from the town that speaks German with the airport in France. Rovers will be playing in red as the opponents are in their home strip of red and blue stripes which used to be red and blue halves (very QEGS). This is our second match of four in the Group Stage but a win for Rovers and the right result elsewhere can achieve qualification for the next round from this game!

So all is clear and logical.

Basel are now the big club of Swiss football as eleven Championships and seven Cup wins more or less all within the last 50 years indicate. Their St Jakob Park Stadium holds just over 30,000 but is being increased to 40,000+ for the European Nations Cup Finals so for England-followers this game is about as close to that event as we are likely to get.

Basel kicked off this season with two very impressive home gates of 0. The 'drog wrote long diatribes about forming Switzerland United, SG194 said it was disgusting but surprisingly nobody blamed the ticket prices as there weren't any.

You see Basel's 59 match home unbeaten run came to a crushing end when FC Zurich scored in the last minute of the last game to secure the 2005/6 Swiss Championship away at Basel who would otherwise have been Champions themselves. The ever-sporting FCB (Football Club Basel) fans took the defeat in good grace except for a few thousand who ran onto the pitch to break-up Zurich's celebration. They let off rockets directed at Zurich players missing from a few feet away, got into general direct physical confrontation with opposition players with the predictable results outcome of boozed-up morons being kicked senseless by professional athletes having to fight for their lives and generally entered into the spirit of celebrating Zurich's title achievement (not).

A SFR80,000 fine and two "ghost" matches later and Basel are in pretty sorry shape having played 11 won 5 drawn 1 lost 5 so far in the Swiss Super League. That leaves them stranded in mid-table way off the pace of the top three. An away trip to table-topping Grasshoppers today could have got them acclimatised to playing blue and white halves but a cunning piece of UEFA chicanery means the home side plays in the away strip if the kits clash so they won't even have that advantage over us.

So to the Basel team. They are managed by Christian Gross who looked completely at home in his brief unhappy sojourn at White Hart Lane and didn't win anything whilst the Rovers did!!! Yes, the Manager is the only Basel player I'd ever heard of and I'll be quite happy for it to stay that way come Friday morning. For novelty value, there is an Australian male stripper who plays for them which should get the girlies snapping up the Rovers' cheap ticket offer.

This is the first European game for Rovers in this campaign against a team not top of their league. Neither were Trelleborgs, Lyons, Gencler, Legia, Spartak etc when we played them either but Rosenborg were top of the Norwegian League when Mike Newell wrote himself into the CL record books.

Yes, I guess this one comes with a major Euro banana skin warning.

[92er]

Don't Basel have a Croatian striker who scored 4 goals against Andorra or some other equally poor team?

You're right that it is a big game for us as the first 2 times we went out of EUFA we did badly at home and reasonably well at home-trelleborg and Lyon.

[herbergeehh]

You're right, I believe he's called Petric. But scoring four against Andorra isn't necessarily proof of anything..

[nellybc]

Apparently the croatian striker is fairly usefull. I heard that he gave the england central defenders a good runaround in the recent game. :-(

[1864roverite]

2-0 Rovers

happy Friday morning sees Rovers guaranteed qualification for the next rounds

Friday also sees the news headlines that Bumley have been closed down, the turd sold for a recycling tip to be opened, all the players and staff placed on the dole and that name "Burnley" erased from the annals of English football as a dire mistake

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Rovers 2 Basel 0 Benni Mac 2

Att: 19,400 'disgusting but surprisingly everyone blamed the ticket prices'........

Edited October 28, 2006 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[Bazzanotsogreat]

You're right, I believe he's called Petric. But scoring four against Andorra isn't necessarily proof of anything..

Not sure but he plays for Grasshopers

They have a few useful players Carigno,Delgado useful argentinian duo, dont underestimate them as i believe they are the best side in our group

However 2-1 rovers

[cletus]

I cannot ever remember seeing Rovers play at home without wearing the famous blue & white halves

Has this ever happened before?

Historians??

[bluebruce]

I cannot ever remember seeing Rovers play at home without wearing the famous blue & white halves

Has this ever happened before?

Historians??

This is pretty ridiculous. Our opponents play in red and blue stripes, so we're not going to wear our blue and white home kit, but our almost purely red away kit?! What's wrong with Basel's own away kit? Doesn't that come into play first?

Edited October 28, 2006 by bluebruce

[stuwilky]

This is pretty ridiculous. Our opponents play in red and blue stripes, so we're not going to wear our blue and white home kit, but our almost purely red away kit?! What's wrong with Basel's own away kit? Doesn't that come into play first?

Yes.

Their home and away kit clash with our home kit (their home being blue and red, and their away being all white). Therefore the only combination which does not clash is their away AND our away.

Edited October 28, 2006 by stuwilky

[frosty]

2-1 Rovers

Benni 2

[spanishblue]

Is it on TV? if so which station? Guess I will have to have hubby babysitting again

Cath

[Dr Gonzo]

I cannot ever remember seeing Rovers play at home without wearing the famous blue & white halves

Has this ever happened before?

Historians??

Brilliant, I love all this stuff. This is what being in Europe is all about, weirdness at Ewood is just what the Dr ordered!

[philipl]

I am pretty certain I've seen Rovers playing in their red and black away kit at Ewood but I am struggling to remember when. Did they play in it against Lyon? Also I have a feeling an away tie got switched to Ewood in the domestic cups and Rovers played in their away strip.

Back to Basel- they won their second successive game yesterday beating leaders Grasshoppers 2-1 away (2-0 at half time).

[Silver Fox]

I cannot ever remember seeing Rovers play at home without wearing the famous blue & white halves

Has this ever happened before?

Historians??

Yes approx 1996 Seff Wed came with only their home kit so Rovers played in away kit [black and red stripes]

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Sod the British Eurosport coverage and be there in person on the night if you can,at these prices there should be a decent gate on the night.We could be looking at winning this game to qualify through!

Edited October 29, 2006 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[Darth Paul]

Didnt we play Man City at Ewood in our red and black kit? Possibly 93-94 season?

[Andy_f]

I cannot ever remember seeing Rovers play at home without wearing the famous blue & white halves

Has this ever happened before?

Historians??

Tony Parkes Testimonial

[92er]

I am pretty certain I've seen Rovers playing in their red and black away kit at Ewood but I am struggling to remember when. Did they play in it against Lyon? Also I have a feeling an away tie got switched to Ewood in the domestic cups and Rovers played in their away strip.

Back to Basel- they won their second successive game yesterday beating leaders Grasshoppers 2-1 away (2-0 at half time).

Might that have been against someone like Millwall, maybe late 70's?

[1864roverite]

Striker shortage for Thursday me thinks

No midfield attacker if Emerton is sidelined, Bentley may have to come in field if Rovers are to produce a victory in this game

[kevinyip]

I really hope that hughes will give up europe by give more fresh leg to play. If he still keep the same player to play at the end of season we get nothing.

Sorry for my negative words.

[1864roverite]

After being so positive about Europe, I am actually really concerned about this game.

I cannot imagine a team like Rovers surviving a troubled week with a win at home.

We really hav to think about the formation or this one.

friedle

Todd

Zurab

Andre

Neill

Savage

Bentley

Tugay

Peter or MGP

McCarthey

Jeffers

Gally has to be considered for the wide right berth should Bentley replace Tugay

worried now....

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Will Nonda be fit...touch and go?

This fixture seems so much more difficult now.

[Derby Blue]

I realise this has been asked before but can't seem to find a reply anywhere. It the game covered on TV anywhere. Work has dealt me a blow and won't now let me have the afternoon off to get upto Ewood in time. Channel 5 and ITV have snapped up Newcastle and Spurs but no mention of Rovers anywhere.

[92er]

I think someone has mentioned it might be on Eurosport.