Greetings one and all and welcome to this week's TLFG.
As I mentioned in the last edition, I'm currently 4,000km away in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, not far from the Syrian border.
It's been 40C most days and doing any daytime sightseeing has been tough, which is a shame as it's absolutely stacked with interesting things to see.
As one of the oldest cities in the world, it is definitely worth a visit if you're into history and archaeology.
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| Welcome to Gaziantep! |
Gaziantep is also the culinary heart of Turkey or Türkiye as the government now prefers it to be called.
With a wife whose family hails from the Arab world, I thought I'd tried the best baklava many times over but the stuff they make here is like nothing I've ever tasted.
The meat and chicken is also the softest I've ever had too - it just melts in your mouth!
I would love to say I'd sampled one of the local football teams too but alas no.
Gaziantep FK played their first game of the season on Saturday but they were away to Sivasspor, around 400km north.
It ended 1-1 with former Premier League player Max Gradel scoring for their opponents.
The local women's team ALG recently became national champions but they flew off the other day to prepare for their Champions League match against Brann in Norway.
As a result, the most I have to look forward to is a visit to Gaziantep's official club shop in a local shopping mall - the stadium itself is modern and looks impressive but is a long way out of town in one of the northern suburbs, pretty much surrounded by desert.
Whether it was the heat, the water or something else - my eldest daughter has been pretty ill today so this week's blog won't have a 'Daily Digest', just match maps.
I'm set to fly back on Thursday so hope to catch a game at the weekend.
Have a great week.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The highlights of the next few days include a few games in the Premier League and EFL, the opening round of the EFL Cup, some FA Cup replays and lots of other non-league and women's games too.
As always, please make sure you check with clubs before you travel just in case a game has been called off or the venue or kick-off time has changed - this is highly possible for some of the lower non-league clubs. Also, please let me know if anything is wrong or missing.
Details on all of this week's games can be found on the following match maps. If you've never used them before, please note that when there is more than one match at a specific ground you'll only be able to see individual match pins if you zoom right in. If you don't, the pins obscure each other and you might miss them. To avoid this, you can also scroll down the list of games on the drop down menu at the top of the map page to make sure you get all the information. Games are listed from top to bottom in date order so Monday's games (yellow pin) will appear first and Sunday's (orange pin) last. Games are also ranked in terms of status so the higher the division, the higher up the list they will appear on each day.
Also if you're unfamiliar with the English league structure I indicate the level at which an individual league sits in the national 'pyramid' with the Premier League at the top (Level 1) and various minor leagues at the bottom (Level 10). Typically a top level game will see crowds of anywhere between 20,000-60,000. These figures will gradually decline as you go down the leagues until you get to Levels 8-10 where attendances of 150 or less are most common.
It should also be noted that the top four levels are for fully professional teams. Level 5 has a mixture of professional and semi-professional teams, while Levels 6-10 will see most players paid but it will vary from no more than travel expenses at the bottom, right up to several hundred pounds a week at the top.
MIDWEEK MATCH MAP
Monday fixtures - yellow pin
Tuesday fixtures - green pin
Wednesday fixtures - turquoise pin
Friday fixtures - black pin
WEEKEND MATCH MAP
Saturday fixtures - blue pin
Sunday fixtures - orange pin
If you're going to see a game, whether you're a local or a visitor, please let me know what you've been up to. If you're interested in reviewing a ground in the London area for this blog then get in touch. I also very much welcome photos of your football travels.
Got any questions about visiting London? Don't hesitate to ask - be they football or more general travel/touristy queries. I do not charge for this advice like some other sites so don't hold back!
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