Middlesbrough has become a regular on national television - Wednesday's match against Charlton was the club's ninth appearance on BBC-1, BBC-2, C5, or ITV4 in as many weeks. But success comes at a price, and the club now has a tremendous fixture pile-up:
15 Apr - Portsmouth (a)
17 Apr - West Ham (h)
20 Apr - Steaua Bucharest (UEFA, a)
23 Apr - West Ham (FA, Villa Park)
27 Apr - Steaua Bucharest (UEFA, h)
29 Apr - Everton (h)
7 May - Fulham (a)
10 May - UEFA Cup Final?
13 May - FA Cup Final?
tba - Manchester Buccaneers (a) (was 22 Apr)
tba - Bolton (a) (was 28 Dec)
The Bolton match has implications for UEFA Cup qualification next year, and might reasonably be played first. Does anyone much care if Boro v Bucs turns into a B-team exhibition on or around 16 May?
Espanyol won the Spanish cup, and book their ticket for the UEFA Cup. Eintracht Frankfurt of 2. Bundesliga - and on course for relegation to the Regionalliga - will come through from the German cup. Linfield have won the Northern Irish league, and Glentoran have the cup place. And Rangers will play in the UEFA Cup Q1. That's Ranger's of Andorra...
The draw for the Intertoto Cup took place on Monday, and it's geographically seeded right through.
Northern section
England(2) v Norway(19)/[Iceland(35)/N.Ireland(43)]
[Sweden(25)/Finland(31)]/[Estonia(42)/Wales(44)] v Netherlands(6)
Denmark(22)/[Lithuania(34)/Ireland(37)] v Scotland(9)/[Latvia(30)/Faroe Is(47)]
Central-Med section
Spain(1) v Serbia-Montenegro(16)/[Slovenia(27)/Andorra(49)]
France(4) v Ukraine(14)/[Slovakia(26)/Luxembourg(45)]
Germany(5) v Russia(12)/[Belarus(38)/Kazakhstan(48)]
Czechia(11)/Switzerland(18) v Belgium(8)
Austria(13)/[Georgia(33)/Armenia(39)] v Poland(17)/[Moldova(32)/Azerbaijan(46)]
Southern section
Italy(3) v Bulgaria(20)/[Romania(24)/Macedonia(36)]
Greece(7) v Turkey(10)/Hungary(23)
Israel(15)/[Bosnia(29)/Malta(40)] v Croatia(21)/[Cyprus(28)/Albania(41)]
First round 17/18 and 25/26 June, involving teams 24 and below. []
Second round 1/2 and 8/9 July, involving teams 9 and below.
Third round 15/16 and 22 July, involving the remaining teams.
Almost a quarter of the entrants are known, or probably known.
Russia: Rubin Kazan (prob, depending on cups)
Norway: Lillestrom
Sweden: Kalmar
Latvia: Dinaburg
Finland: Tampere
Lithuania: Vetra Vilnius
Iceland: Keflavik
Ireland: Shelbourne
Faroes: HB Torshaven
Kazakhstan: Kairat Almaty
Andorra: St Julia (prob, 4 clear with 2 to play)
Scotland's entrants will be Hibs or Inverness Caledonian Thistle, thus making it impossible for ICT *and* Gretna to play in Europe. Next season.
Look out for a completed bracket once the season has finished, in a month or so. The winners of the third round progress to the second round of the UEFA Cup.
The week-end's betting:
Portsmouth - MIDDLESBROUGH (3.50 / 3.50)
Athletico Madrid - ATHLETIC BILBAO (4.00 / 3.00)
Lille - BORDEAUX (3.00 / 2.80)
