â¬uro Mags. A breakdown on our journey into Yewrope, and the possible fixture changes it may cause. In Friday's Europa League Group Stage draw, Newcastle were paired with: Bordeaux (France) Brugge (Belgium) Maritimo (Portugal - on the island of Madeira) On the face of it that's a fabulous set of fixtures for both the team and supporters, avoiding the ordeal of lengthy expeditions to the likes of Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Italy, Slovenia, Cyprus, Israel and Azerbaijan. Bordeaux qualified by virtue of finishing fifth in the French League last season and sit fourth this time round with two wins and a draw from their opening trio of fixtures. An aggregrate 3-2 win over Red Star Belgrade saw them progress from the Fourth Qualifying Round. Their Stade Chaban Delmas holds over 34,000 fans they follow in the footsteps of Bastia, Metz, Monaco, Troyes, Marseille and Sochaux in facing us competitively. Brugge finished second in the Belgian League last season and after five games of the current campaign are top of the table. They entered the Europa League at the Fourth Qualifying Round and recorded an aggregrate 7-1 victory over Hungarian side Debrecen. They share the 29,000 capacity Jan Breydel Stadium with city rivals Cercle and become the fifth Belgian side that we've met competitively after Anderlecht, Royal Antwerp, Sporting Lokeren and Zulte Waragem. Maritimo play in the city of Funchal on the island of Madeira and finished fifth last season in the Portuguese League, entitling them to enter the Europa League at the Third Qualifying Round stage. Squeezing past Greeks Asteras Tripolis thanks to an away goal after a 1-1 aggregrate scoreline, Maritimo then made it through to the Group Stage as a result of beating Georgian side Dilas 3-0 over two legs. Sitting sixth in their domestic league after two games, CS call the 8,000 Estadio Do Barreiros home. They become the fourth side from their league that we've played, following on from Sporting Lisbon, Setubal and Porto. We have visited there before - albeit in a friendly match - with Chris Waddle's goal handing us a 1-0 win in August 1982 - a week before Kevin Keegan's debut v QPR. Note that the draw order is not necessarily the order in which the games will be played. UEFA claim that the finalised fixture schedule will be available within 60 minutes of the draw. Clubs are split into 12 groups of four teams, playing home and away against each of their pool opponents between September and December. Two sides from each section advance to the round of 32 alongside eight third-placed teams from the UEFA Champions League group stage. Group Stage Match dates: Thu 20.09.2012 Group Stage Match 1 Thu 04.10.2012 Group Stage Match 2 Thu 25.10.2012 Group Stage Match 3 Thu 08.11.2012 Group Stage Match 4 Thu 22.11.2012 Group Stage Match 5 Thu 06.12.2012 Group Stage Match 6 That means that we'll be in action on the Thursdays preceding these Premier League games, which are therefore liable to be moved back to the Sunday: Sat 22.09.2012 Norwich City (h) Sun 07.10.2012 Man United (h) already altered for TV Sat 27.10.2012 West Brom (h Sat 10.11.2012 West Ham (h) Sat 24.11.2012 Southampton (a) Sat 08.12.2012 Fulham (a) From a NUFC.com update.
Alot of those games being moved for Europe are winnable games/games we should pick upo points from i hope Pardew is looking at his squad and ahead to these fixtures and formulating a plan to get the most out of all 12 games.
The fixtures are as follows 20 Sep Maritimo (A) 4 Oct Bordeaux (H) 25 Oct Bruges (H) 8 Nov Bruges (A) 22 Nov Maritimo (H) 6 Dec Bordeaux (A) All home games kick off at 8.05, away games kick off at 6.00 BST.
Happy with the draw, not so keen on playing away to Brodeaux in the last game. Still would have took it this morning without a seconds thought.
