The town is the home today for the likes of tennis stars Richard Gasquet, Gilles Simon and Florent Serra as well as Roberto Milani (aka Robert Miles) who wrote such 90′s Electronic classics as Fable and Dreams. But today they had batterned down the hatches or simply left town. Today was not a day to be “sitting, chillin’ and having a coffee”.
Xamax have hit the headlines for off the pitch activities in recent times. In May there were acquired by powerful Chechen businessman Bulat Chagaev. The takeover caught Swiss politicians and soccer fans by surprise. And since his purchase of the club, Mr. Chagaev has kept his new employees on their toes by orchestrating a fast-paced game of musical chairs, ousting about 30 staff members and replacing the coach three times. His spell so far has seen numerous people coming and going from the club as well as a reported incident where Mr. Chagaev, along with his bodyguards, entered the players changing room to lambaste the coach, prompting media speculation that another coaching change was imminent. Instead, it was the turn of the clubs recently appointed director general, Marc Imwinkelried, who received his marching orders. You can read more of the story here.
As my train trundled along the edge of Lake Neuchâtel you knew how Wordsworth felt when he penned “As I wandered lonely as a cloud”. The afternoon sun was reflecting off the mill pond surface of the lake and what could make the afternoon any better? Well how about a few Swiss beers and some football? Don’t mind if I do.
The train rolled into Neuchâtel. It was a bit hilly. Despite Uncle Google saying it was only a 12 minute walk to the stadium I could see that I was high above the floodlights. Twelve minutes there, twelve hours back!
The stadium is unusual to say the least. It is smart, functional and very red. The grass looked a little too green and I dared to put my foot on the pitch. It was not real. No real issue there, apart from the fact they were heavily watering it. I am sure someone with a degree in Physics will tell me the reason for this but for now I am completely at a loss.
Neuchâtel Xamax 3 FC Zürich 1 - Stade de la Maladière – Sunday 6th November 2011
At the back for Xamax was David Navarro. That is David Navarro who was involved in THIS incident a few years ago whilst playing for Valencia against Inter Milan and saw him banned from football for six months.
The game was open enough with both teams playing with a 4-3-2-1 formation (STOP IT NOW)…The one surprise was that we had to wait until the 24th minute for the first goal, although it was certainly worth the wait. Uche Kalu picked the ball up on the edge of the area, danced his way inside two defenders and slotted the ball home to give Xamax the lead.
Four minutes later it was 2-1 to the home side. A well work free-kick was sent into the area and centre-forward Arizmendi Angel Javier rose the highest to head home. A breathless half came to an end and I tucked into my Oat Crunch biscuits (thank you BA Executive Lounge).
We had more of the same in the second half with both teams trying to create chances. Tackles were flying in and it was no surprise that the referee brandished five yellows in the second period. One disappointment was the crowd – just 3,606 which was thousands less that Luton Town versus Fleetwood in the Conference Premier yesterday. My last two Swiss Super Liga games has seen crowds sub 4,000. How do these clubs actually survive?
All that was left for me was the hike uphill to the station. I tried to recruit a Ghurka to help me but they were busy with Joanna Lumley – Good job they provided free oxygen at the top – and get back on my train to Zürich, which with typical Swiss efficiency rolled into the Hauptbhanhof on the dot. Well, for £80 return you expect punctuality.
More pictures from the afternoon by the lake can be found here.