Paullow

I've just realised that Viaplay Xtra is basically the old 'Freesports', so Leipzig vs Frankfurt German cup final on Saturday at 7pm will be widely available to most. Never knew that - Xtra is also showing Osasuna vs Girona on Sunday at 5.30pm and Betis vs Valencia at 8pm. The former could decide the final European place (Europa Conference) with Osasuna in poll position, and Valencia are obviously involved in that relegation madness, although unlikely to go down, so there is probably not as much need to buy a subscription, as I was mainly wanting to see the German cup final. I wonder what else I have missed on that channel these past few months when oblivious?

Tempted to sign up for a month. https://www.live-footballontv.com/live-football-on-viaplay-sports.html Not many matches on TV in June, and the very few that are seem to be on there - German cup final on Saturday evening, so a chance to see Szoboszlai (in possibly his final RBL match), La Liga final day on Sunday, a few other random playoffs, Nations League semi finals and finals, Euro 2024 qualifiers - by no means not must have, but probably just about worth the price when there's very little else on. I see you can get a year for £60, but can't really justify that, and if I did sign up and cancel they'd probably offer me deals anyway - can you watch it on multiple Sky boxes, can you just have it for a month, and would you need to cancel pretty much the same day like other services to give them a months notice?

Does anyone on here subscribe to Viaplay sports (or have previously had it)?

Yep, looking like a 6th successive season in the 2nd tier for them. Crazy. They surely need to score tonight.

Return leg at Hamburg on Sky on Monday with same KO time.

Possibly the English equivalent of Newcastle vs Aston Villa?

Two. Return leg Monday, although coverage has just confirmed that.

Stuttgart vs Hamburg coverage just started on Sky Sports Mix.

Looking like it could be Ange Postecoglu for Spurs.

I'm quite looking forward to the Stuttgart vs Hamburg relegation / promotion first leg on Sky tomorrow (or even today) at 7.45pm. It was discussed a few pages back about their plight, but if you look at Stuttgart's history from 1992/93 onwards, then it's pretty similar to us: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_VfB_Stuttgart_seasons They did win the league in that time, instead of us blowing that big lead, and they did win the German Cup, as opposed to us just making a couple of FA Cup finals, but their league history was fairly similar, 3 CL campaigns and a number of UEFA / Europa campaigns and being in some sort of European competition most seasons, but a grim last 10 years or so, including 2 relegations and then bouncing back at the first attempt (like us), and a number of other seasons just hanging about the bottom half barely doing anything, or just surviving - there definitely are a lot of similarities with us prior to our takeover. And then there's European Cup winning Hamburg, who have now had 5 successive seasons in the second tier, and facing the prospect of a 6th. These are the premier clubs in Germany's second (2m popn) and sixth (600k+) largest cities, yet they've both had a really poor time of things of late - Hamburg haven't been in Europe since 2009/10, and the longer they stay down, the lower their stock will continue to fall. The fact that they are such prominent cities and were pretty good in recent memory does IMO make the tie a lot more intriguing to the neutral than say Bochum / Augsburg vs Darmstadt / Heidenheim. I can't find any tie odds, but the match odds tomorrow are around Stuttgart 4/6, Hamburg 4/1, so I suspect the former will be favourites to stay up this season.

Aye, that does make sense especially as it is actually the 'tickets' section, although it would have nice if they could have specified the actual Newcastle KO time to avoid idiots like me being confused

https://www.nufc.co.uk/tickets/on-sale-dates/ Did the kick off times change, or have the official website just got it badly wrong? They have the Aston Villa match on Sun 23rd at 9pm UK (it's really midnight), then Chelsea on Wed 26th at 10.30pm (it's really 1.15am), and then Brighton on Friday 28th at 12.30am (Sat morning) which is correct, but while UK viewers are obviously not the target market, so it's not a big issue, there's a hell of a difference between the stated times on the first two matches. 9pm and 10.30pm would make for some unusual / interesting late night viewing, but a midnight and especially a 1.15am start on a work night would rule most out of watching live here. I saw those times a couple of weeks ago and thought they were pretty ideal with the one less good one being on a weekend allowing more flexibility, so a bit disappointing, although if they are on Sky / BT then I guess you can always record them. Hopefully they are not on a niche channel like Viaplay or Molar TV (whatever that is).

Me too. I'll even be gripped by an S4C showing of TNS vs whoever in the earliest stage.

Looks like a group where you could quite easily finish anywhere from 1st to last. I'd far rather have a lesser third tier side like a Belgrade or Zagreb, possibly Salzburg to make it as straightforward as possible to make sure our long awaited European adventure extends beyond the CL group stages.

It's strange. This time last season when we finished 11th and were strongly linked I was very keen as it would have come across as a massive coup for where we were at the time and a big statement of intent, and while he would no doubt still improve us, I'm now kind of thinking he's 27 a couple of months after the season starts, injured for the majority of the second half of the season, and would now fall more into the expected signing bracket rather than one well above our station. Even though I have watched Maddison a hell of a lot more, and know far more about him and his game, if it came down to either him or the Leipzig lad at 22, captaining his country (who are no mugs), supposed big dressing room leader, already multiple years of CL experience, and be more in line with the rest of our successful post takeover signings to date, then I'd go for big Dom every time, although it may be harder to actually get that one over the line.

https://www.live-footballontv.com/ Matches are few and far between at the moment, but still some interesting matches coming up on the mainstream channels. Europa League final on Weds, Stuttgart vs Hamburg in the Bundesliga playoff looks intriguing on Thursday, FA Cup final on Saturday, Scottish Cup too I guess, although can't see it being competitive. What's FIFA+ and UEFA.tv for some of the junior championships? Just free to watch online, or do you have to pay a subscription?

Draws can open up like we saw with Inter this year with pretty much all the main contenders in one half and the rest in the other, so if we got through the group, who knows, but is there much difference financially getting through your group and losing in the L16 than finishing third and getting to say the SF of the Europa League? I think I'd rather have a group of PSG, Real Madrid and Red Star Belgrade, 3 capital city sides that we have never played before, be expected to finish 3rd by getting 4-6 points off Belgrade, and then a chance to test yourself against some of the best sides in the world, potentially create amazing memories like Tino's hattrick or Griffin's winner vs Juventus, and if you do fall short then your European adventure will likely continue, and you'd instantly become one of main faves to win a major trophy, and another potential route back into the CL. I'd rather have that than a group of Feyenoord, Leipzig, Zagreb and be expected to either come 1st or 2nd, but not really a glamorous tie of note. If you got MUCH for money for advancing, even if you lost in the L16 than a deep run in the Europa, then aye, I'd rather that, but there is something very appealing at this stage of our development, and baring in mind we have not played Europe for 11 years, to get the best of both worlds and have as many European matches as possible. I guess the best option would possibly be to get Feyenoord and Real, one giant but a great chance of going through, but I'm still kind of more leaning to hoping we get two powerhouses and seeing what happens. I defo wouldn't want Milan in Pot 3.

Despite the whole FA Cup thing, hope Sheff Wed come up today. One of my best mates is an Owl, I've seen them live at least 5 times, and will look to get to an away game next season either at Sunderland or Carlisle depending on how today goes, probably easier to get tickets to the latter.

You can still get 11/8, so worth hoying a bit on while it's out of date.

Bet 365 in play still showing 0-0 in the Leeds match, so pretty pointless following them for updates across the board.

Class. Paul Simpson legend!

You'd think Stockport were down to 10 here, on the ropes at the moment.

Great pick up by that Senior. Thought it was going to be a pen and red card about 2 mins prior.

Gerrin.

What a double act!