Eurotrash

A couple of days ago, the 48 teams still competing on the European stage learned their reward for progressing through their group - or, in the case of 8 third place Champions League drop-out's, their penalty for failing to cut it at the highest level.

It's probably not too much of a stretch to say that the English teams can all consider themselves pretty hard done by. Not one of them received what could in any fashion be considered an easy draw, plenty of tricky looking fixtures which will surely result in less than 5 English representatives moving on to the next round in their respective competition.

In the big show, Chelsea drew dangerous (somewhat) surprise package Napoli, who of course qualified ahead of Man City. Arsenal got AC Milan out of the hat and vintage edition or not there is no doubting their pedigree in European Cup football. With the attacking threat posed by Ibrahimovic, Robinho, Pato and even Kevin Prince-Boateng they should be feared.

The Europa League did not hand either City or United the humiliating 'who are they' kind of tie that many would have been hoping for, a chance to gloat at the lesser status of this competition. Ajax and Porto are former European Cup winners both and neither can be taken as pushovers.

Finally, Stoke City - the one English club to make it through their Europa League group - get rewarded with a very tricky looking tie against Valencia. Again, we're not talking the finest ever Valencia side here (for my money that was the 2000/1/2 mob, Mendieta, Lopez et al) but it is fair to say Stoke have a challenge on their hands.

The one thing that really jumped out to me from all of this though and what I'd like to ruminate upon here, is the lucky bloody fans of all of these clubs.

That draw has served up 5 absolutely storming away trips for fans of any of the English contingent. All pretty much accessible within a 2.5 hour flight - no long slogs to the far reaches of Eastern Europe; and all in cities with a lot to offer besides the football - no industrial backwaters or glorified villages.

Years ago, 2003 or 4 I think it was, I was in Paris when Chelsea were in town to play PSG. I remember being so jealous of the Chelsea fans that we saw on the Champs Elysees or at the Eiffel Tower - what a great trip to be able to make, all with the purpose of supporting your team thrown in too. Their team won 3-0 as well, so I can imagine it was one hell of a couple of days for those Blues fans.

Southampton have only been in Europe once during my time as a supporter, qualifying for the 2003/4 UEFA Cup by virtue of losing the FA Cup final to Arsenal who of course were in the Champions League. This was before the group stage era, still straight knockout, and we were handed a tough draw against Steaua Bucharest. I was desperate to go, but the away fixture fell on precisely the day that I had to turn up at University for my first year, so it was not do-able. We narrowly lost the tie and that was it as far as our European exploits go.

Travelling as an England fan is something that I would consider doing more of if it wasn't for the fact that, as discussed previously, I find the team hard to love at the moment; plus a disappointingly large percentage of England fans are, how to put this, not quite my cup of tea. Scumbags, we'll call them.

To travel away supporting your own club though, that is surely the pinnacle. Away days domestically tend to bring out the 'best' fans, and they often throw up adventures and encounters that the routine of a home match day rarely will. Discovering a new pub in a town you've not been too, feeling that sense of danger and apprehension about being on the territory of another; but bound by the camaraderie and togetherness of your fellow supporters. Often you will meet some fans of the opposition and get an interesting take on their views of your club and vice versa - they can look at your team through more objective eyes than you or your fellow fans can. Yep, you can't beat a good away trip and I can only imagine how brilliant it must be to be able to extend that over a couple of days, and being in a foreign country also.

All of the things that make an away day great are surely increased when you are on a European away day, and the fact you could do a bit of sightseeing or spend a bit of time down at the beach just adds to the experience.

I'm sure some of the managers and directors of the English clubs are probably looking at their draw with a rueful eye, wishing that the fates had dealt them an easier hand. As for the fans though, they should be loving it. Easyjet, here we come...