Reds All Over Europe: Kosice - UEFA Cup 15th Sept '98.

FC Kosice. Kosice is a city of approximately 230,000 people in eastern Slovakia. FC Kosice were last season's Slovakian champions but were denied a place in the Champion's League by Brondby of Denmark who knocked them out in a qualifier last week (Aug 26th). They've won the last 2 Slovakian titles and so played in last year's Champions' League losing all six games, including both their ties with ManU by the same 3-0 scoreline. Which makes them even crapper than Monaco. The club (Known to their fans as 'The Orange Tigers') were only formed in 1992 but have still won more than Newcastle have since they last did anything in this competition back in 1969 ... but don't get me started on that (I've just heard their imbecile fans on the radio slagging off King Kenny and raving about their rich tradition of attacking football).

Tell me more about Kosice and Slovakia then, Dr John...

Anyone interested in Kosice trivia can visit their fan's own FC Kosice web site - the best thing on the web site is the English translation of their club song.

Town's Travel in Liverpool are planning a 2 night stay priced at around £360. The trip is a hell of a journey, flying (from Manchester we think) in and out of Prague in the Czech Republic and staying both nights in a hotel on the Czech/Slovak border (Brno?). So you don't even get a night in Kosice! The internal transfers are all by coach. You do get about 6 hours in Prague on the way home though. It leaves from Manchester on Monday morning and gets you back late on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. Neither of these excursions is definite yet - we'll keep you posted.

Contact Town's Travel (ABTA bonded and all that) on (0151) 426 5133 or (0151) 525 1768. When you phone please mention that you read about the trips on the RAOTL fanzine web site.

Also contact the Slovak tourist board on (0171) 794 3263, but there is a free phone advice line on 0800 026 7943. E-mail them on cztc@cztc.demon.co.uk . Their fax number is (0171) 794 3263. They also have a website on www.czech-slovak-tourist.co.uk but there's little of relevance on it apart from phone numvbers etc. From the little we've gleamed so far they can do flights to Prague from Manchester and arrange internal flights to Kosice and hotels etc. for less than the price that Towns are charging. Could be a go-er ...

We're still looking for accomodation details but we already have some hotel phone and fax numbers in the area if anyone is interested.