We’ll be covering the draw as it happens for the UEFA Cup first round as British clubs Tottenham Hotpsur, Newcastle United, West Ham United, Blackburn Rovers, Derry City Hearts and Rangers wait to see who they’ll face.

The first-round matches are played over two legs on 14th and 28th September.

A total of 40 teams will then advance to the group stages, where pools of five teams vie to reach the knockout stages.

The winner, runner-up and third-placed team from each group advance to the last 32 where they are joined by eight clubs knocked out of the Champions League.

The competition will culminate in the final at Hampden Park on the 16th May.

UEFA Cup First round 2006/2007 Draw:

Levadia Tallinn v NEWCASTLE
Molde FK v RANGERS
DERRY CITY v Paris St Germain
Sparta Prague v HEARTS
FC Salzburg v BLACKBURN
WEST HAM v Palermo
Slavia Prague v TOTTENHAM

Monaco hosts today’s UEFA Cup First Round draw as 80 teams prepare themselves for their ticket to a European adventure. While the glitz and glamour of yesterday’s Champion’s League draw mightn’t be quite as evident, the UEFA Cup still holds some of it’s old glory and there is a strong selection of Europe’s big footballing names, both seeded and unseeded, with which to make for an interesting tournament this season.

These 80 sides will play each other home and away before the winners progress to the group stages where eight groups of five teams will play each other once.

For today’s draw the sides have been split into seeded and unseeded groups and then further divided into eight pools of ten teams, five seeded, five unseeded from which the draws will be made. Seeded teams can only play unseeded teams from within their own group or pool. Confused yet? Have a look down the following tables to see which of the British clubs involved (Newcastle United, Rangers, West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, Hearts, Blackburn Rovers and Derry City) have the toughest possible draw.

We’ll be covering the draw live here at State of the Game from 1200 BST.
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Chelsea and Champions League holders Barcelona will renew their rivalry after they were drawn together in the first phase of this year’s competition. The two sides, who have now been paired for the third time in three years, also face Werder Bremen and Levski Sofia.

Manchester United will meet Celtic in Group F with Benfica and FC Copenhagen.

Last year’s finalists Arsenal take on Porto, CSKA Moscow and Hamburg while Liverpool face PSV Eindhoven, Bordeaux and Galatasaray.

British teams in bold and the top seeds in CAPITALS.
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Chelsea?s group stage opponents in this season?s Champions League will be determined today (Thursday) when the draw is held in Monaco at 5pm BST.

The 16 winners from this week?s qualifying matches join the automatic qualifiers to make up the 32 teams in the group stage. They will be divided into four pots for the draw according to a coefficient decided by past European results.

Chelsea will be in Pot 2 and will be drawn against a team from each of the other three pots. The fact that we cannot draw another Premiership side means we are guaranteed to play either Spanish or Italian opposition from Pot 1 containing the top seeds.

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Jose Mourinho?s men went into their match against Middlesborough at the Riverside Stadium hoping to avenge last season?s mauling at the hands of the North-east outfit.

Confidence would have been high in the Chelsea squad after Sunday?s home win against Manchester City and it didn?t take long for the visitors to continue where they left off. 16 minutes on the clock to be precise when great work from Wayne Bridge down the left hand side saw him produce the cross for Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko to stab home and score his first goal of the season. Bridge was once again showing Mourinho he doesn?t need to fork out unnecessarily for the services of Ashley Cole.

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Following your famous father into his profession is no easy feat. Take Chad McQueen for example. Dad Steve made The Great Escape and The Magnificent Seven. Chad made Sexual Malice and Indecent Behavior II. Or Julian Lennon. His Pop wrote Strawberry Fields Forever and Imagine. Julian penned the lesser known ?Jesse? and ?Stick Around?.

So it was never going to be an easy task following three time European Cup winner and holder of a record 102 caps for Scotland, Kenny Dalglish. But son Paul has carved a career in football for himself despite several setbacks.

A striker, just like his dad, he has his father?s looks but is more of a target man than the great architect of goals Kenny was. Now with Hibs he?ll be looking to be in the starting line up for this weekend?s game against Kilmarnock having made an appearance as a substitute last week at home to Aberdeen.

Born in 1977 he first signed professional forms with Blackburn Rovers before he moved to Celtic as a 17 year old. This was of course the club where his father had scored over 100 league goals and became a legend. His spell at Parkhead failed to yield a single first team game and in 1997 he left to join Liverpool.

If he wanted to get out of the shadow of his famous father Anfield was certainly the wrong place to go. In nearly fourteen years there Kenny had won 8 Championships, 2 FA Cups and 3 European Cups. After two years Paul left Liverpool, just as with Celtic, without ever having played in the first team.

He joined Newcastle where his father was manager and was immediately sent out on loan to Bury. He played several times for The Shakers, mainly as a substitute before returning to St James? Park.

After 17 months in the job Dad Kenny was sacked. New manager Ruud Gullit was prepared to give Paul a chance and he scored twice in eight starts. He also earned a call-up to the Scotland Under-21 squad, scoring on his debut in a 2-0 win over Estonia at Broomfield Park, Airdrie in October 1998. This was the first of seven Under-21 caps in which he scored a total of 3 goals.

Fellow Scot Duncan Ferguson?s ?8M arrival from Everton saw Dalglish move back into the reserves. After that his first team chances were few and far between and although settled in the north-east, a clash with Gullit saw him make a move to Norwich City, initially on loan, then in a permanent ?300,000 transfer.

Paul scored Norwich’s first goal of the 1999/2000 season on the opening day at West Bromwich Albion.

Dalglish found himself lonely in East-Anglia as his friends and family were all 5 hours away back in the North. He scored only two goals for The Canaries in 48 appearances. Norwich would have had to pay Newcastle an extra ?200,000 if he played 2 more games for them.

Paul eventually joined Wigan on loan in March 2001 with an understanding that Norwich would not block a permanent move. Two sendings-off in consecutive matches over the Easter period blotted Paul’s copybook with Wigan but things were looking up as he turned it into a permanent move in August.

In April 2002 Scotland boss Berti Vogts called Paul into a practice squad for uncapped players to play against Dundee United. He scored in the 2-0 Scotland XI win and Vogts told him that he could have a future in the senior international set-up if he found regular first team football.

That same month however, he was released by Wigan. In a bid to find that elusive regular first team place he had trials with DC United, Preston, Burnley and Peterborough before ex-Liverpool player Steve McMahon signed him on a one year deal with Blackpool. Two goals in 31 appearances wasn?t enough for him to hold down a regular place at Bloomfield Road.

From there he ended the 2002/2003 season on loan to Scunthorpe, though he failed to win a permanent deal with The Iron and on his return to Blackpool he was released. He then went back to the United States for a trial with Dallas Burn, but a move didn?t materialise.

In July 2003 he signed another one year contract, this time with Linfield. The weight of expectancy on him due to his famous father was beginning to get on his nerves at this stage. After signing he told The Scotsman, “You can?t go anywhere without people saying ?You?ll never be as good as your dad? or ?You?ll never live up to your dad?. People have made it difficult for me because of my dad, but I?m a strong character and I?ve never let people get me down.”

He had started a multi-media company in Manchester and it was the resulting business commitments that led to his parting of the ways with the Irish side. When he signed, it was on the understanding that he would travel to Belfast on the Thursday, train with the full squad that evening, carry out promotional activities on the Friday, and fly home after the game on the Saturday. Linfield were happy to allow Paul to follow his business interests while still receiving the benefits of having him as a full-time player.

In October 2003 however the two parties agreed to a termination of his contract due to Dalglish?s business interests increasing and Linfield?s feeling that they weren?t getting the best from the deal.

In January 2004 it was reported that he had signed for Italian side Modena. Paul, who was at that time working as a football agent scoffed at the suggestions. “I wish,” he told the Belfast Telegraph. ?It?s funny. It’s not even that I’ve been linked with a move to Italy, according to some reports I’ve actually signed. The nearest I’ve come to Italy is watching The Godfather on television.” He went on to say, “If I can sell myself to a club in Serie A then I must be the best agent in the world but then why aren’t players queuing up outside my door?”

He made a big move into television in August of 2004 with a regular spot on Sky?s Soccer AM. Every week he interviewed footballers such as Michael Owen, Graeme Souness, Joe Cole, and yes even his Dad.

He also played for their football team The Soccer AM Badgers.

His involvement in the media led to him taking a part as an extra in the Danny Cannon film Goal! Here he began to realise that he missed being a footballer and decided that at 28, it wasn?t too late to have another shot at it.

?When you are out of it, you realise football is the best game in the world,? he later told The Scotsman newspaper.

Mike Newell at Luton Town allowed him to have a pre-season with him in order to get himself fit.

In August 2005 Paul signed with SPL side Livingston. Only four hours after signing he made his debut in the League Cup 2nd round match away to Raith Rovers. He scored an extra-time winner in a 2-1 victory. He went on to establish himself in the Livingston first team as he relished his return to the game.
After scoring against Celtic in a 2-1 defeat on Boxing Day Paul told Sky Sports, ?I have screwed the nut. My attitude was a disgrace after I left Newcastle and it is only now that the penny has dropped. Last Christmas I was at my mum and dad’s house, eating turkey and barely able to see because I was that drunk.?
On transfer deadline day January 2006 Hibernian manager Tony Mowbray took him to Easter Road for a nominal fee. Dalglish was delighted to take a step up from bottom of the table Livi.

He has become a fans? favourite with the green and white half of Edinburgh, who have christened him, not entirely imaginatively, Paulo.

After joining Hibs Paul told the Daily Record “I don’t regret taking time out of the game. I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t done that. My only regret is that after I left Newcastle my heart and soul weren’t really in football and I wasn’t trying my best every day.

“But without taking the two years out to take stock, I don’t think I would be sitting here now at Hibs.?

With Derek Riordan having left for Celtic, and Hibs in need of goals, he now has his chance to make something of the last few years of his career. It might not even be too late to break into the Scotland team. We?re in no position to overlook any decent Scotsman, even if they are uncapped at 29.

No matter how well he does on the field though, for some people, he?ll never shake off being his father?s son.

While Paul was at Livingston, Dalglish senior told The Scotsman, “I don’t think he has a problem with me being his Dad, it seems to be other people who do. It’s a fact of life. Whether it is fair or unfair is for other people to decide, but I think he’s alright with his name. He hasn’t asked to change it by deed poll as far as I know.”

The Scottish season gets underway this coming weekend. Yes, our season begins in July. Only 3 weeks after the World Cup Final and a week before the Edinburgh Festival starts we?re dusting down the scarfs and picking up the new season tickets.

Celtic actually play away to both Yokohama F Marinos and Chelsea in ?pre-season? friendlies after the league has kicked off.

The early start to the season seems akin to drinking in the morning to me. You might want to get down to it, but there?s no big rush and other folk will look at you funny.

But it?s here now so might as well embrace it.

With money tight the Old Firm have been looking around for the footballing equivalents of Lidl and Aldi?s to snap up some bargains. There are no big name arrivals, but Jiri Jarosik at Celtic and Jeremy Clement at Rangers could both make an impact.

In the close season Celtic lost Roy Keane, John Hartson and Dion Dublin. Stilian Petrov seems sure to follow suit. With the Bulgarian ready to join Portsmouth it becomes increasingly obvious that even playing for a club at the lower end of the Premiership is a better option than playing in Scotland for the league?s better players.

John Hartson will be a big loss for Celtic. He was a guy who loved pulling on the hoops and bagged plenty of vital goals in his time. He could also have played another season or two here with no problems.

In the south of Glasgow Rangers experienced something of a coup in landing Frenchman Paul Le Guen to replace Alex McLeish as manager. Le Guen has the arrogant swagger of a winner having led Lyon to three French titles. He?s already rocked the players by telling them to stop going to their favourite curry house for a feed.

On the continent this directive would probably be needless as the idea of curry on the menu is quite alien for most of Europe?s top players. But the Scottish media seemed stunned that a man in charge of a group of highly paid athletes could make such a demand.

Forward Kris Boyd is quoted as 2/1 favourite to finish top scorer in the SPL this season. Some of the Rangers faithful seem unconvinced by the 22 year old, despite his 20 goals for them last season. Add to this the 17 he bagged for Kilmarnock before his January transfer and he looks exactly the kind of player the Teddy Bears need.

Some fans though see him as ?just a guy who can score goals?. In the same way perhaps that Red Adair was just a guy who could put fires out. He?s not the big name that some supporters are looking for but he?s proven himself as a goalscorer up to now and what?s more he?s Scottish. Good Scottish strikers have been hard to come by as of late and perhaps the best two are now playing on both sides of the Old Firm.

Kenny Miller becomes only the third Post-War player to have turned out for both halves of the Old Firm, after Alfie Conn and Mo Johnston. Conn and Mojo were both firmly established names and fans? favourites during their first spells in Glasgow.

By contrast Miller was little more than a fringe player in his years with Rangers. He did score 5 goals in one game against St Mirren in November 2000 and is still the last Scotsman to score in the Champions League when he netted against Monaco just three days later.

He?s been outstanding for Scotland in the past year or so and if he can recapture that form in the league the Celtic support shouldn?t have many problems accepting him as one of their own.

Away from the Old Firm last season?s most interesting story was that of Hearts and their ever controversial owner Vladimir Romanov. The odds of current first team coach Valdas Ivanauskas still being in place at the season?s end aren?t good. Three managers last season didn?t do them any favours in their bid for the title. However, finishing second and landing that spot in the Champions? League qualifiers was more than most Jambos could have hoped for a year ago. As such the Tynecastle faithful are now seriously looking toward a title winning season.

They seem to have a good team spirit as it was tested plenty in the last campaign. If they can just get a bit of stability this term they might be able to sustain their challenge further into the New Year than they managed in the last campaign.

Edinburgh rivals Hibs have developed a nasty habit of having to sell on their best players. Garry O?Connor, Derek Riordan and Gary Caldwell have all left Easter Road this calendar year. More young players are sure to come through the ranks this season but it won?t be enough to mount any kind of charge on the title.

It?s hard to get excited about the middle of the SPL. Teams like Motherwell, Aberdeen and Dundee United shouldn?t be fighting relegation, but there?s no real chance of them topping the table either.

The top six breakaway is one of the silliest things to happen to the Scottish game. After everyone has played each other three times the league then breaks in two for the last five matches. It provides the mediocre some kind of target to gibber about in post match interviews. We?re forced to listen all season to managers of mid table sides saying they?re aiming for a ?top six place?. Ultimately all finishing in ?the top six? means is that you get an extra game against both Rangers and Celtic. But perhaps I?ll rant more about that some other time.

St Mirren are the new boys this season and there?s no reason to think they won?t go straight back down to the First Division. Falkirk and Dunfermline will probably be the teams to overhaul if they?re going to stay up.

The likely candidates to replace them next year are Gretna. Having romped the Second Division in record time last year, adding to the Third Division title the season before that, a hat trick of league titles is not unthinkable. As Scottish Cup runners up to the Champion?s League bound Hearts, they are also in the UEFA Cup.

Predicting who will win the SPL title is a bit like tossing a coin and shouting heads or tails. Tip Rangers or Celtic it makes little difference. This season however, we can opt for predicting that the coin will land on its side. Just like Hearts lifting the trophy it?ll never happen, but would be lovely if it did.

As for the national team we?ve become a lot more optimistic under Walter Smith than we ever dared dream under Berti Vogts. Smith?s side look confident and capable of playing good attacking football. Like Craig Brown before him Vogts was a master of sending the team out to defend badly then hailing the resultant heavy defeat as ?a good lesson learned?.

The fans? enthusiasm has been dampened slightly due to a European Championship qualifying group that includes World Cup winners Italy, runners up France and quarter finalists Ukraine. I can?t remember a qualifying section when I realised from the outset that we?ll never get through. No bad thing as optimism is the Scottish national supporter?s worst enemy.

The group guarantees to serve up some exciting games with France visiting Hampden in October. The campaign kicks off against the Faroe Islands at Celtic Park on September 2nd.

Down here in the dank basement from which I?ve been viewing the ongoing pre-season nothingness whilst trying to avoid the sweltering heat, a few things have caught my (red)eyes since my last address to you, the dear reader.

We?ve Got Another One!

In my rant about Liverpool?s signing of Craig Bellamy a few weeks ago, I alluded to the imminent arrival of another well-known footballing rapscallion, a certain Master Jermaine Pennant. And so, as Sun article condemning a footballer to hell follows Sun article hailing self same footballer to the heavens, Liverpool follow up one controversial signing with another.

As a footballer, Pennant is of high quality. High enough quality to make a sustained impact on a top team, I await to be convinced of. Certainly the wonderful Actim stats hail Pennant as having made more crosses (227) last season than any other player, the fact Birmingham only scored 28 goals (with Pennant claiming two himself and four assists) is perhaps more telling. Certainly, Liverpool?s forward line of Crouch, Bellamy and Fowler should be more potent with such deliveries than Birmingham?s Emile Heskey and a crocked Chris Sutton and Mikael Forssell were, and this is where the excitement lies.

I?ve had an interest in Pennant since his ?2 million move from Notts County to Arsenal when he was just shy of his sixteenth birthday. Indeed his early appearances for Arsenal, though sporadic, brought some highlights, notably a hat-trick against Southampton. However, this is where it started to go wrong. Jermaine Pennant became synonymous with the front page rather than the back, his litany of brushes with authority are well known, and this is why I would rather Liverpool didn?t sign players of this ilk.

Perhaps I?m old-fashioned, but footballers should be known only to football fans, and preferably happily married teetotalers who do lots of work for charity!

A Dangerous European Draw

Dangerous not in the traditional footballing sense of ?potential banana skin?, but dangerous as in bombs and missiles flying about.

Liverpool have been drawn with Maccabi Haifa in the Champions [sic] League Third Qualifying Round. Rafa Benitez and the chairman of the Liverpool International Supporters? club, Les Lawson, have already gone on record as decrying UEFA?s inaction over potentially placing our club in what is currently a war zone? and I agree with them wholeheartedly. The very thought of the Liverpool team, fans, hotel, or venue (be that Haifa or the more likely Tel Aviv) being targeted by suicide bombers, kidnappers or a stray missile fills me with nothing but dread. The match should surely be played at a ?neutral? venue, as Rafa?s Valencia side did in Cyprus against Maccabi Haifa a few years ago.

At the back of mind also is much sympathy with the Israeli footballing support. In the 1970s football was nearly destroyed in Northern Ireland as we were unable to play any internationals in Belfast due to ?civil unrest? over a three year period, putting severe financial pressures on the Irish FA. If it had not been for a brave Yugoslavian side agreeing to come to Belfast for an international match in 1975, goodness only knows what the long-term future of the local game could have been.

Still, it is only right that Liverpool?s players and official should not have to risk their lives for football, and highly unfortunate that politics, once again, gets in the way of sport. I can only wish a speedy resolution to the current situation in the Middle-East, and that the minimum possible damage is done, not only to football, but to the lives of those in both Israel and Lebanon.

Pre-Season Friendlies

I haven?t actually seen either of Liverpool?s friendlies to date (2-0 win at Wrexham and 1-0 at Crewe), and you can go find the match reports elsewhere if you are so inclined. I have however been pleased to see the goalscorers, Bellamy getting off the mark early, plus goals from two of lasts seasons FA Youth Cup winning side, Paul Anderson and Craig Lindfield. This can only bode well for the season ahead, and indeed the years to come.

Pre-season begins in earnest tomorrow with the first game of Liverpool?s pre-season European tour, against Kaiserslautern in Liechtenstein, and the return to the team of our Spanish contingent after World Cup duty. The England players will not be match ready for a few days yet, but some if not all should feature in the games with Grasshopper Zurich and FSV Mainz.

I?m assuming there?s good money to be made from this European tour, as I would have thought we?d end up in the Far-East or possibly North America in an attempt to establish the Liverpool ?brand? (ahem). It is pleasing that the effects from traveling to central-Europe should be less than if the team had trekked half-way round the world.

Captain Fantastic

On a much lighter note, allegations have appeared on some message boards that our vice-captain?s brother had a fling with the mother of the captain of one of our biggest Premiership rivals (and the biggest rival to Gerrard for the England armband) during the World Cup. Obviously I can?t name names until the SotG legal department looks at this in more details.

All I will say is I can?t wait for the tasteless terrace chants next time the Rentboys come to Anfield!

Kits Out

Just to say I think it looks class. Retro-Chic!

In Rafa we trust!

I realise that the British Justice System can often be a misnomer and that we can’t honestly expect the courts to provide an adequate punishment for spoilt brat, “bad boy” footballers who throw the toys out of their pram on the pitch but who really made the decision for the Crown Prosecution Service to take Lee Bowyer to court?

Surely having the knowledge that the former Newcastle United thug would get a financial slap on the wrist from the courts (?600 plus ?1000 court costs) would be enough of a reason not to bother taking this case but no, the CPS knew best and have both wasted the courts’ time, taxpayer’s money and resources and ended up with Bowyer virtually walking free after committing no more of a crime than countless rugby, ice hockey and Gaelic football players are “guilty” of every week.

I’m not defending players who have a punch up on the field of play (especially teammates like Bowyer and Kieron Dyer) but having already been fined around ?250,000 by his then club Newcastle and the Football Association and banned for seven games does anyone think an extra ?1600 (which he probably paid straight out of his overstuffed wallet) will make Bowyer think twice about his actions in future? Hardly.

What a waste of time and effort. Justice? Don’t make me laugh.

News reports from Turin are saying that Juventus’ sports director, former Juve and Italy star Gianluca Pessotto, has fallen from a window at the club’s HQ and is in a serious, thought to be life threatening, condition in hospital.

ROME (Reuters) - Former Juventus player Gianluca Pessotto was in a serious condition after falling from a window at the club’s headquarters, the Juventus press office said on Tuesday.

Pessotto, who took up the post of Juventus’s sports director at the end of last season after 11 years with the team, was taken to hospital in Turin.

The defender, who made 22 appearances for Italy, was a regular starter during one of the most successful periods in Juventus’s history, winning six Serie A titles and the 1996 Champions League.

Italy captain and Juventus defender Fabio Cannavaro walked out of a news conference at the Azzurri’s World Cup training camp when he heard the news of Pessotto’s fall.

I understand that the whole Italian World Cup squad are now demanding to be returned to Italy to visit Pessotto and to find out exactly what the circumstances are regarding this tragedy.

With the continued threat of relegation and heavy punishment hanging over Juventus for their part in the match fixing scandal, the real reasons for Pessotto’s fall seem unclear although there are sure to be many conspiracy theories launched by fans until the actual details emerge.

The big question is: just how badly do some people at Juventus want to distance themselves from punishment for their part in the match fixing scandal?