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Despotov is apparently done deal. He's coming to Thessaloniki tomorrow. 3.5 mil to Ludogorets, 1 mil contract for 4 years.

Booked my night train to Aberdeen. Perhaps I will make the trip to Frankfurt too, not sure yet.

That first Frankfurt game (which is in Greece) is bookended by Panathinaikos (away) and Atromitos, and the second one is Panserraikos and Lamia. So I guess it's slightly better that we get to stay at home for the first one.

I am a fan of Poyet and what he's doing with the Ethniki, but there are 3-4 of these call-ups that are puzzling. Bouchalakis and Limnios have not played one minute of football in the first month of the season, yet they are un-droppable. While Alexandropoulos and Konstantelias are not called-up. Tzavellas he wants for experience(dressing room etc), but seems like he's played one out of three for a newly promoted side in Turkey, not exactly inspiring form. Poyet is trying to do what Otto and Santos did before him, have a 'club' like feel to the NT where it's the same core of players that are called-up. While that has some merit it can also lead to disharmony amongst players/coaches/fans. Ultimately if we get results people will forget about these decisions, but if you add the layer of Fortounis stepping away the media and football public are starting to slowly starting to turn on Poyet. The atmosphere around the team had been so positive because of great results, hopefully this doesn't throw too much of a spanner into the works and the team can keep chugging along. You can guarantee if we come out of the 2 games next week with 4 points, everyone will be singing his praises. Let's see what happens.

Drawn against West Ham United, Freiburg and Backa Topola

Couldn't ask for a better draw. Avoided some tricky teams. No excuse for not advancing past the group stage.