Home > Football > An Albanian mountain to climb as Motherwell's Euro adventure gains momentum
by george dymock on 16 July 2009
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Jim Gannon takes his Motherwell team into unchartered territory when they come up against KS Flamurtari in Albania tonight in the new, re-named Europa League.
The Fir Park side go into the game on the back of an impressive 3-0 win against Llanelli, which should give them the confidence they need to obtain the desired result.
However, it won’t be easy given the climate and technically gifted players they will be facing.
KS Flamurtari may not have had the best of season’s last year, but they finished sixth in the Albanian Superliga and should provide an awkward test for Gannon's men.
Motherwell captain Stephen Craigan has expressed confidence in his team and is looking forward to the match. His interview with Brian McLauchlin of BBC Scotland confirmed that the team are excited and ready for the challenge and are eager to improve further, given the initial setback they received against Llanelli in the first leg of the first-round qualifier.
Gannon has recognised very early the need to strengthen the Motherwell team, given the instability from the harsh economic climate and external influences which has resulted in numerous key players leaving the club.
The arrival of Steve Jennings, Gannon’s first signing for the club on a one-year deal, and now Chris Humphrey from Shrewsbury Town, may add much-needed cover and quality that can help the club improve in the immediate future.
Only time will tell if these additions will provide dividends as they, along with other new players such as Steven Saunders and Paul Slane, will need time to adapt to the Scottish game and to establish effective partnerships with the regular experienced players that remain at the club.
In the meantime, Motherwell will be looking towards obtaining a win or a scoring draw in Albania in order to set things up nicely for the return match against Flamurtari at Airdrie’s Excelsior Stadium next Thursday.
The small number of Motherwell fans who will travel to Albania are sure to experience an interesting game and hopefully set their sights on further European ventures. Let's hope so for the benefit of Scottish football.
Comments (3)
by arben klossi on November 30, 2009
September 21, 2002 KOSOVO The Cruelest Cleansings The UN police get tougher with Albanian war criminals in Kosovo. New unrest possible, because for many these criminals are still heroes A strange grave lies in the midst of a large meadow in the village of Crni Luk. There are no names on the four gravestones, and the inhabitants of village of 3,000 react with distrust to questions about the dead. "This is where we buried the charred remains of the Krasniqi clan," says a young Albanian man and adds immediately with a wave of his hand: "But I do not know more than that." Twenty-four Albanians were shot, among them 13 children, and their houses were burned down. But the victims are not buried in the heroes cemetery at the end of the village, where under a sea of Albanian flags rest its former inhabitants killed in clashes with the Serbs. They are not buried there because, according to protected testimony by eyewitnesses, the Krasniqis were apparently executed by their compatriots only after the arrival of KFOR international peacekeeping forces in the Yugoslav province of Kosovo. The four Krasniqi brothers were considered "loyalists to the Serbian regime" and worked in Serbian companies; one of them was even as a journalist for the Serbian language newspaper "Jedinstvo". Under the Milosevic regime they enjoyed privileges; afterwards, this was their death sentence. The extermination of this family, like other Albanian crimes, could have been quickly hushed up. For since the United Nations made the Kosovo their protectorate in July 1999, they had proceeded against presumed war criminals from the numbers of the Kosovo Albanians only with velvet gloves. But now, more than three years after the NATO takeover, the international community finally dares to also confront its recent allies. Its investigators have even arrested some leaders of the former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) who are suspected of committing murder.
by THE_REAL_FACTs TRUTH on November 30, 2009
HISTORY OF CROATS AND ALBANIANS! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> NAZI HISTORY AND MODERN ISLAM TERRORISM IN BALKAN! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Jasenovac-the cruelest death camp of all times! HISTORY OF CROATS! http://www.topix.com/forum/world/serbia/TOMOS KQ4SE8OGOOI4 Who is Hashim Thaci? Prime Minister of Kosovo! HISTORY OF ALBANIANS! http://www.topix.com/forum/world/serbia/T3 V2CC8IHDGS6RE2I Who is Ramush Haradinaj? War Crimes in Kosovo! HISTORY OF ALBANIANS! http://www.topix.com/forum/world/serbia/T3 TP7CGE24MPEV46P Al Qaeda and Albanian KLA Connection http://www.topix.com/forum/world/serbia/T9 HQANST5RGGCH63A ALBANIAN NAZI HISTORY-SS Skanderbeg Division! http://www.topix.com/forum/world/serbia/T4P 4JAEH5OHRG1DT9 Albania - The Poorest Country of Europe !!! http://www.topix.com/forum/world/serbia/T08AS5BCP CKN4OFB3 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> Thruth belongs to all of us!
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