So put your hand up if you think there is any truth in Newcastle seriously trying to sign this player?

Oh well, at least we’ve now reached June, only another three months of this nonsense to put up with…

The one thing we can rely on is that there are Russian clubs, including Anzhi, who have the financial muscle to afford any player.

In a curious twist, a long-term Newcastle United defensive target has turned down the chance to sign for our Europa opponents Anzhi.

Newcastle have a great opportunity to both go through and knock out one of the fancied teams, if we do then you can be sure the odds on Newcastle would really crumble.

Due to the unstable political situation in the Republic of Dagestan, the match has been moved to the home of Spartak Moscow, the Luzhniki Stadium, with a kick-off of 5pm BST. Final confirmation that this will be the venue/time are expected very shortly.

The teams were split into two groups of sixteen, unseeded and seeded, and we ended up unseeded with Liverpool and Chelsea ruled out as opponents in this round as well as Bordeaux.