Offical NUFC protest to EUFA

By Dave Eadevic
January 13 2004

Newcastle United took the extrordinary step of issuing a statement to reinforce there bitterness in what is becoming another EUFA farce. So to the people that supposedly 'run' the cup, newcastle had this to say:

Newcastle United wishes to clarify the current position with regard to the UEFA Cup third round match versus Valerenga IF of Norway scheduled for Thursday 26th February.

The Club is doing everything possible to resolve what is proving to be a difficult issue. Regrettably it is being hampered by circumstances beyond its control.

The Club received notification on Friday from the English Football Association that UEFA had decided that this match would be played in the Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo.

UEFA further confirmed that in the event that the game could not take place in Oslo then Rosenborg’s Lerkendal Stadium in Trondheim, 500 km and six and a half hours away by train, would be the second choice venue the next day.

Newcastle United immediately raised objections with UEFA with regard to both of these decisions, which ignored all the issues the Club has raised in previous correspondence and which place both Newcastle United and travelling supporters at risk in numerous ways.

The fact that Valerenga IF has been required to name a second choice venue clearly demonstrates that UEFA are far from confident that the game will take place on 26th February because of the historical weather conditions and fixture history in Oslo during that month.

This is a view also held by Valerenga IF which they have verbally confirmed to United on a number of occasions.

United have told UEFA that their instructions are totally unacceptable given Trondheims location and have again repeated their original suggestion that the 1st leg game is played in a location where the game can go ahead without the clearly evident difficulties that both the existing proposals carry for both sets of fans.

The requirement for an additional journey and accommodation would result in possibly insurmountable travel difficulties let alone unnecessary additional travel and accommodation expenses for supporters.

On this basis and taking into account the concerns shared by all three parties (UEFA, Valerenga IF and Newcastle United) the Club are in no doubt that UEFA should establish a venue where the game has more than an even chance of taking place on the 26th February and have once again urged them to do so.

The Club naturally respect Valarenga’s and their own fans home advantage position in all of this but the weather factors cannot be ignored.

The Club spoke to a Senior UEFA Official yesterday, Monday, to once again voice these concerns and are currently awaiting a response.