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Margy announces strong squad for Euro away trip to Winterthur, Switzerland

The euro away has become something of an FC tradition over the past few years, and a season which started in Shelly, West Yorkshire last July comes to an end in Winterthur, Switzerland in a game dubbed by our hosts as "The True Spirit of Football". Craig Phillips provides this preview…

With the way the season ended with play-off heart ache (again) it’s sometimes hard to remember the positives from the last season. However, with both on and off the field success, including the start of the build of Broadhurst Park, it could have actually been one of, if not the, best season(s) in our brief history.

Manager Karl Marginson has opted to take an experienced squad with him to Switzerland, which includes centre-backs Tom Davies and Charlie Raglan, who will have one last farewell before moving onto league football with Fleetwood Town and Chesterfield respectively.

It’s fitting that the young defenders will get to enjoy a Euro away after their strong performances at the back were the foundations that our promotion push was built on.

Saturday’s opponents are FC Winterthur, who currently play in the Swiss Challenge League (the second highest league in Swiss football) out of their home Stadion Schutzenwiese in Winterthur.

Founded in 1896, FC Winterthur had success quite early in their formation winning the Swiss Super League on three occasions in 1906, 1908 and 1917.

FC Winterhur famously lost to English amateur team West Auckland FC in the final of the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, which is thought to be the first international football club competition.

In their long history the club has reached the final of the Swiss Cup twice, in 1968 and 1975, losing the final on both occasions and has also lost in both of their appearances in the Swiss League Cup, in 1972 and 1973.

In 2006, the club had one of their best cup runs in the last 25 years reaching the semi-finals of the Swiss Cup beating big names such as Grasshoppers, Lucerne and Servette, before losing to eventual winners Sion in the semi-finals.

Last season, the team finished sixth in the league with 42 points from their 36 league games, with their biggest win being a 4-1 victory away from home at Locarno in November. They made a good start to the league season winning six of their first nine games but a disappointing end to the season saw them slide down the table by picking up just one win in their last 16 games.

The Stadion Schutzenwiese has been their home since 1900 and currently has a capacity of 8,550 with the hardcore Winterthur fans positioning themselves at one end of the ground, known as the Bierkurve with the away supporters generally gathered in the opposite end of the ground.

It should be a great way of ending another historic season for our club before the rollercoaster starts over again in six weeks’ time.

Full squad travelling to Winterthur:

Tom Davies
Liam Brownhill
Charlie Raglan
Jerome Wright
Michael Norton
Thomas Greaves
Joseph Fox
David Carnell
Callum Byrne
Dean Stott
Nick Culkin
Astley Mulholland
Matthew Walwyn
Matthew Wolfenden
Lewis Lacy
Greg Daniels
Rhodri Giggs
David Birch
Jacob Hazel



First Posted ~ 10:34 Wed 21 May 2014
News ID ~ 5539
Last Updated ~ 21:49 Thu 18 Feb 2021