WHILE most Newcastle players will be taking a step into the unknown when they run out at Sporting Lisbon's eye-catching Jose Alvalade Stadium tonight, for three members of the club's coaching staff, this week's trip to Lisbon represents something of a return home.

At the very least, it is a return to a city they lived in for more than two years and an opportunity to reflect on an era in which they helped to restore one of Europe's biggest clubs to something approaching its former glory.

In October 1997, Graeme Souness was an out-of-work manager who had just been fired by Torino less than four months after joining the Italian side.

The Scot could point to a catalogue of European successes during his halcyon days but, at the time, his future looked far less bright.

Portuguese side Benfica were in an almost identical situation. The lustre of their past triumphs was fading fast as rivals Sporting and Porto dominated the domestic league and effectively barred them from further continental competition.

On paper at least, Souness and Benfica were a match made in heaven. The Scot appointed long-time right-hand man Alan Murray as his assistant, brought in a host of English players, including current Newcastle coach Dean Saunders, and guided his side to a creditable third-place finish in his first season at the club.

"Starting out in Lisbon was fantastic," remembered Murray, who will be alongside Souness again this evening as Newcastle look to progress to the last four of the UEFA Cup. "It was blue skies all the time - from morning to night - and it was a great place to live and work.

"The Portuguese are a very loving people. They're incredibly family-orientated, they spend a lot of time with their family, and it was a great culture to embrace.

"It was fantastic to immerse yourself in that lifestyle. I was fortunate enough to be there for two and a bit years and I picked up enough of the language to be able to converse in everyday situations. I really enjoyed it.

"It also helped that we were managing Benfica. When I was playing, Benfica were the top team in Europe.

"You knew all about the club and it was a fantastic opportunity to go and work with top-class continental players in a fantastic environment."

That environment, though, remained particularly Portuguese and, while he may claim to have softened in recent years, Souness' managerial style has always been belligerently British.

Working alongside Murray, the Scot packed his side with British players who he trusted and related to. The likes of Steve Harkness, Michael Thomas and Mark Pembridge arrived at the Stadium of Light while, famously, current Portuguese sensation Deco was passed over and allowed to leave.

Gradually, though, Murray and Souness became accustomed to dealing with their home-grown stars, adopting a more measured approach that has no doubt stood them in good stead since their September move to Tyneside.

"The main difference we noticed straight away was the mentality of the players," Murray explained. "Portuguese players have a Latin temperament and that's a big difference to what we were used to at home.

"The players are quite fragile at times. You have to have a different outlook when you're managing them and dealing with them.

"They are temperamental - there's no doubt about that. When things are going well they're fantastic but when they're not going well they have a tendency to be a bit fragile.

"The fans were great though. I think the Portuguese fans are used to having foreign coaches. The Portuguese clubs change their managers like we would change socks.

"They have a very short life span. If you're not successful, they'll have no problems with changing their managers overnight. So, in that sense, I think we must have done a good job to have lasted as long as we did."

They lasted a little under two years before, in April 1999, Souness was fired despite his side trailing league leaders Porto by just a point.

"We were sitting at the top of the league before we lost one game at home to Boavista," said Murray.

"We were still just a point behind with seven or eight matches to go when, suddenly, the walls just caved in. I don't think either of us could quite understand it, but that was the mentality over there and we just had to live with it.

"Things went downhill from there, but we had a great time and I don't think either of us will have any regrets about what we did."

Nor, it seems, do Benfica. The pair have been besieged by the Portuguese media since touching down in Lisbon on Tuesday and are expected to receive a rough ride in Sporting's backyard tonight - a sure sign of a successful spell at the Stadium of Light.

Ultimately, though, they were forced to leave Portugal without a tangible reward for their efforts. A win tonight would at least ensure their latest spell in the sun does not end without something to show for it.

Read more about Newcastle United FC here.