Groundhopping24

 With Christmas leaving just as quickly as it arrived, we now encompass that nether zone in which nobody knows what the actual day of the week it is. As such, it's essentially the last chance to get a taste of some football before an empty January fixture calendar rears its welcome head, as far as saving money goes at least.  Though Czech and Slovak football does make a return around the end of January, I've nothing pencilled in until a long weekend in Liege for a mid-February week off. Of course I'll be watching Standard Liege against Union Saint Gilloise in what will be my first taste of Belgian football, and indeed Belgium. As well as this, I'm hoping to visit Plovdiv over the Easter break, and ultimately, get out to one or two countries in Central Asia in the summer.  I'll save the reflections on 2025 for the actual final blog of the calendar year (or more likely the first blog of 2026) which will follow my trip to Cardiff tomorrow, but it's always nice to l...