European Overview

I haven't done an update on the various European teams I follow for a while and with new seasons getting ready to kick off I think now is a good time to take a trip around the continent.

Blackburn Rovers: Blackburn has certainly moved up to my "second" team after seeing them a couple of times in person.  In 2017-18 they promoted back to the Championship and last year they settled into mid-table for most of the season.  A late season dip had some fans a little worried about relegation but they turned it around and finished 15th.  In the offseason they've improved the squad and somehow kept star attacking midfielder Bradley Dack.  I think hoping for a playoff spot is a stretch but a finish just behind that (7-10th) is not out of the question.  They open the season on Saturday hosting Charlton Athletic.

Queen of the South: The Doonhamers had a rough year last season, with manager Gary Naysmith parting ways with the team before the relegation playoffs.  Yes, relegation playoffs.  Despite having one of Europe's leading scorers (Stephen Dobbie, look it up) the team suffered through a two month losing streak after the holidays.  They finished 9th but won the relegation playoff and stayed in the Championship.  Dobbie is back this season with a new manager and a rebuilt team, but the early start has not been great.  They were eliminated from the League Cup in the first group stage this month.  Their first league game is Saturday at Arborath.

CD Tenerife: The Chicharreros had a pretty typical season for them, settling in above the real relegation danger in the Spanish Segunda division but not much higher than that.  14 of the last 21 seasons have gone about the same way.  Tenerife brought in defensive reinforcements this offseason, including former Barcelona keeper Adrian Ortola to deal with their 50 goals allowed last season.  They start the season at Real Zaragoza in two weeks with their big home derby against Las Palmas on Sept 8th.

TSG Hoffenheim: In Julian Nagelsmann's last season in charge of 1899 the team stumbled a bit.  a solid 9th place finish is nothing to sneeze at but it was certainly a drop from the 3rd and 4th places of the prior two years.  They also finished 4th in their group in the Champions League, which meant a direct drop out of Europe, not a shift to the Europa League.  This season the biggest change is at manager, with wunderkid Nagelsmann moving on to RB Leipzig and being replaced by former assistant Alfred Schreuder.  After finishing with the 3rd best offense in the Bundesliga last season the team has doubled-down on the attacking strategy, bringing in multiple wingers to bolster the attack.  A little good news for German football fans today, after this coming season the Bundesliga rights will move from FOX to ESPN+.  Hoffenheim start the season with an away cup match at Wurzburger on the 10th and their first league match at Eintracht on the 18th.

English Non-League: After two trips to England where I learned a bit about non-league football, and actually saw a non-league game, there are two non-league sides I'm keeping my eye on, in different but equal divisions.

In the National League North I'm watching Chester FC.  Last season was the first back in the North for the Blues after relegation the prior year and after a quick start they finished just short of the promotion playoffs in 9th place.  They had a run of bad luck with weather and cup matches rescheduling a number of games early in the season (a bad storm all but destroyed the operations center of the stadium when the roof failed, forcing many postponements) leading to a very congested fixture list and a reallocation of resources.  This season they have some new investments lined up and there is hope that they'll be pushing for promotion back to the National League.

In the National League South I'm watching Wealdstone FC, who I saw play at home in April.  That loss to Dulwich Hamlet seemed to end their playoff hopes but a great run in the last couple games, including a miracle set of 4 results on the last day got the Stones into the promotion playoff.  As the bottom seed they had a long road to promotion but their miracle run continued for a bit.  They first went to Bath and won 3-1, then went to Woking at took a 2-0 lead in the first half.  The magic ran out at halftime though, with Woking scoring 3 times in the last 15 minutes of the match and knocking Wealdstone out of the playoffs.  There's hope for a return trip this year however.

So that's the circuit, from Dumfries to Tenerife to Hoffenheim.  Who knows, maybe I'll add a Greek team soon. :D