is taking place on Thursday at 5pm GMT! I know there’s a few of us planning on getting to a couple of Celtic games this season. If you’re up for coming then you’ll need to join the World Huddle Club to guarantee yourself a ticket. Think it costs about STG30 to join and it’s on the official website at www.celticfc.net - rock, don’t forget to take Thursday off to be ready and primed at the computer.
I’ll be taking a half-day Thursday to book everything.
Bandage can you let me know what I need to consider when doing the bookings. I presume the prioties are:
- flights to first home game
- try and attend the biggest away game stadium (most chance of a ticket), subject to variables (when people can’t take holidays)
There are also a number of factors to take into consideration with the draw. I think the groups are drawn and then the order is drawn so at that stage we should know the games schedule. However this may change if we have Milan, Internazionale or anyone else with a shared city/stadium in our group. I think the rule is that 2 teams from the same city can’t play at home on the same night. So we need to consider that the draw won’t be final if we get a team like Benfica and if Sporting are also in the draw.
Anything else to factor in?
Watched the draw live 2 years ago when I was on study leave from work and it takes ages because it?s so contrived. You have the teams from the same countries being kept apart and then the order of the groups being changed around, like you say, for both TV reasons, i.e. Spannish TV won?t want their 4 teams playing on the same night, they want a 2 and 2 split and the same goes for the other countries and also then the safety issue of rivals from the same city. I can?t recall when you exactly know your schedule for definite but it?d be an expensive mistake to fook it up, a lot of pressure on your shoulders!
Think you?ve got all the bases covered really. The first home game would be ideal for me whether it?s 12/13 Sep or 26/27 Sep. Ideally the first away game would suit me best as taking holidays while the auditors are in (Oct to early Dec) is frowned upon here apparently but I don?t think they?d prevent me from going to one of the away during that time if that was our only real ticket hope. In any case I?d actually hand in my notice if they tried to.
Thought I’d stick the schedule and co-efficients up again ahead of Thursday’s draw. The excitment is building at the prospect of The Telf nullifying Ronaldinho in the Nou Camp.
Matchday 1
12 and 13 September 2006
Matchday 2
26 & 27 September 2006
Matchday 3
17 & 18 October 2006
Matchday 4
31 Oct & 01 Nov 2006
Matchday 5
21 & 22 November 2006
Matchday 6
05 & 06 December 2006
Final Phase
First knockout round
20 Feb & 07 Mar 2007
Quarter-finals
03 & 11 April 2007
Semi-finals
24 Apr & 02 May 2007
Final
23 May 2007
And here are the new pots and teams’ coefficients…
Pot 1 coef.
FC Barcelona (TH) Esp 127.006
Real Madrid Esp 120.006
Internazionale Ita 112.020
Liverpool *** Eng 105.950
Arsenal *** Eng 101.950
Manchester United Eng 100.950
Valencia *** Esp 95.006
Olympique Lyon Fra 89.757
Pot 2 coef.
FC Porto Por 87.533
PSV Eindhoven Ned 81.640
Bayern M?nchen Ger 80.960
Chelsea Eng 79.950
AS Roma Ita 76.020
Ajax *** Ned 60.640
Celtic Sco 60.023
Lille OSC *** Fra 54.757
Pot 3 coef.
Sporting CP Lisbon Por 54.533
Benfica *** Por 51.533
Girondins Bordeaux Fra 47.757
Steaua Bucuresti ** Rom 46.381
Werder Bremen Ger 43.960
Olympiakos Piraeus Gre 43.587
CSKA Moscow *** Rus 42.504
AEK Athens *** Gre 39.587
Pot 4 coef.
Anderlecht Bel 38.981
Dinamo Kiev ** Ukr 36.777
Palermo *** Ita 36.020
Levski Sofia ** Bul 35.016
Shakhtar Donetsk *** Ukr 33.777
Galatasaray *** Tur 33.634
Hamburger SV *** Ger 30.960
Slovan Liberec *** Cze 28.769
Are you sure Palermo should be in there? Didn’t that change thanks to Berlusconi’s lawyers getting AC Milan reinstated? (and I presume the rossoneri would be in Pool 1?)
Yeah scheidt I lifted that from the old board pre Milan’s appeal. Bear with me!
From a quick search it appears the co-efficients are not being finalised until after the qualifiers this week. Disregard my previous post!
Can’t wait for the draw. I’m just praying the hoops get in a few more players before it all kicks off. I would love to drawn with one of the english teams.
Are you sure that they change the groups around when they are doing the draw like that? I thought when they were making the draw they just make sure none of the teams who have already met/from same country etc. are not pooled together. Then they draw the match fixtures and then they sit down and figure out any changes to the default fixture schedule later on.
I also just rememberd that I don’t have Sky Sports, but I do have Sky Sports News - is that enough to watch it?
Yeah SSN will have it live not Sky Sports. Not really sure about the draw - don’t take my word on it.
There?s a row on the huddleboard at the moment over the sequence of CL games. There?s a few bhoys and ghirls who are adamant we are away to the #1 seeds on either match day 1 or 2 (depending on whether the draw says we start home or away) and there?s an equal amount saying we don?t know the order at all until after the draw?s been made. I think I?m in agreement with the latter but I can?t find anything to back it up. Anyone get any joy on this since?
It would suit me perfect if the former was the case because the first 2 game days suit me best with work and if the away game with the top seeds was one of these 2 dates then it?s likely to be a big club in a big stadium so we?ll have a decent chance of tickets. I was told today there is no chance of holidays in October or November and to count out a game during this time and I just grinned and then laughed as if I thought he was joking. Which he wasn?t.
I had this debate with you in Kehoe’s a while back if you remember. I tried to go through the previous groups in my head for Celtic to see if there was a pattern. When we were third seeds we started away to Bayern one year and home to Barcelona the other year so it doesn’t seem to be the same year on yeaer. I think all the groups play their games in the same order but I’m not sure if it’s predetermined. Haven’t been on the HB this afternoon so this might be a repeat of what’s been said on there.
And there it is - the most predictable draw in the history of sport - Wolfsburg v Real Madrid.
I did not expect the other three ties:
Bayern Munich v Benfica
Barcelona v Atleti Woof
Manchester v Paris