UEFA Cup part 2 - Denmark

Moving onwards to the Danish teams we start with a team which requires no introduction. FC Copenhagen, or F.C. København who are one of the most successful teams in Danish football. Unsurprisingly, based in Copenhagen itself and they play at the Parken stadium. Famous players include Jesper Grønkjær and Mads Laudrup - son of Michael. They qualified for the UEFA Cup by finishing 3rd in the Danish Superliga, having won the league the previous two seasons.

Brøndby IF are based in the town of the same name on the western outskirts of Copenhagen. They're a good team with a lot of experience of competing in European competition. They qualified for the UEFA Cup after winning the Danish Cup.

FC Midtjylland are based in Ikast, on the Jutland peninsula in Western Denmark. They're a fairly new team as they were only formed in 1999. They're a bit of an unknown quantity for me personally but they have finished second in the Danish league the last two seasons so they can't be that bad!

FC Nordsjælland are based in the town of Farum in Eastern Denmark. Again, quite an unknown quantity. They qualified for the UEFA Cup as one of the "fair play" qualifiers. One interesting fact is that they're managed by former Celtic player Morten Wieghorst.

UEFA Cup

The time for the UEFA Cup draw is nearly upon us and I'm starting to get a litttle bit excited about potential opponents. Obviously, the preference would be Man City in terms of prestige and the fact that it's only down the road in Manchester! Who else could we face? I'll start my guide by looking at the Swedish clubs:

Kalmar FF are based in the city of Kalmar, in the South-East of Sweden. They finished second in the Swedish first division last season and also won the Swedish Cup.

The only real problem with Kalmar would be that it's not the easiest place to get to. After making some half-hearted enquiries it seems that flying in to Stockholm would be the sensible option and either catching a connecting flight to Kalmar airport or by train.

Djurgårdens IF are based in Stockholm itself. Handful of familiar names in the team include Daniel Sjolund (ex Liverpool) and Aki Riihilati formerly of Crystal Palace. They finished third in the Swedish first division. They've also won the Swedish league on no less than eleven occasions!

Here we go...

Again, I've let the blog go a bit - only a year or so since my last post...

What a season, didn't expect to win the Welsh Cup. It's a shame that the victory will be tinged with sadness at the actions of a few cretins who again brought shame on the club and its true fans. However, once the police are able to obtain the footage then I doubt there'll be any problem in identifying the perpetrators who will receive the punishment that they deserve which is likely to be banning orders. Let's just hope that the FAW decide not to throw the whole bookcase at us and limit themselves to throwing the book...

Putting that unsavoury incident to one side, it's been a good season on the whole for Bangor - rather frustrating in the sense that we could have done better and won a few more games against the lesser sides. But, if you'd have told me we'd finish fifth and win the Welsh Cup I'd have gladly taken it at the start of the season!

Nice to see that there'll be two new faces in the Premiership, here's hoping that Stoke and Hull (the thought of Bristol City in the Premiership is slightly unplatable) do themselves justice.

At last, some football!

Finally, pre-season has started. Tonight I went to Mynydd Isa to watch Bangor in action. More or less the same team as last season were there with the addition of Craig Hutchinson, Mark Limbert, Les Davies and Gareth Parry. Some promising signs of a decent season to come maybe but it's a bit soon to make predictions after just the one match.

Looking forward to my next outing now, West Kirby a week tonight. We're playing Denbigh on Friday night but due to my graduation I'm unable to go, part-timer!!

I'm still alive!

After rather a long sojourn I return. This timely return coincides with the start of pre-season which has been rather long coming.

Quite a bit has happened, Nev has brought some decent players to the club so far. The re-signing of local boy Les Davies is sure to whet the appetite of many a local supporter I'm sure.

Having to make the most of the pre-season friendlies due to my impending move to Chester in September which will doubtless have some effect on the number of matches I'll be attending!

Welcome back to Bangor Nev!

Great news that Nev Powell has been unveiled as the new Bangor manager. I've no doubt that this will prove to be a shrewd choice. A big well done goes out to Ken Jones for getting his man. I, for one am very pleased!

Clayton Blackmore

He's gone down in my estimation today. He never got anything less than full support by the Bangor fans even when under his management we played some of the worst football I've seen at Farrar Road.

The fans had too much to say? I think he should clarify this one. Was it internet postings? The BCFCSA? Surely fans are allowed to voice disapproval from time to time when they feel let down by the team? Personally, it sounds like an attempt to endear himself to Port fans. Slag off Bangor and get the fans on board. Shame he had to resort to that, I thought he was a decent guy but I, along with many others, were obviously wrong.

Poorly run club also irks me, a lot of problems stemmed from his doing. The joke of a pre-season we had being a prime example.

I don't think he could handle the pressure of managing a club with any expectations.