NEWCASTLE can expect a red-hot atmosphere when they face Panionios in Athens tomorrow, but the reception is unlikely to be as warm as the one given to North-East journeyman Marco Gabbiadini when he made his debut for the Greek side seven years ago.

Gabbiadini, who played for Sunderland, Darlington and Hartlepool during a well-travelled career, moved to the Greek capital in July 1997 after coming to the end of his contract at Derby County.

Greek football's profile has risen immeasurably thanks to the national side's success in Portugal this summer, but back then the Greek game was still something of an unknown quantity to the rest of Europe.

By joining Panionios, Gabbiadini had jumped out of the frying pan after gradually being nudged out of the first-team picture at Pride Park.

But, as he made his debut against Greek giants Panathinaikos, the Nottingham-born striker realised he had leapt into the fire in more ways than one.

"I was expecting things to be lively, but I wasn't really expecting it to be quite as lively as it was," said Gabbiadini, who scored 273 goals for ten different English clubs during his 19-year career.

"Even though we were the home side, they had about 8,000 fans inside our little ground. There was an athletics track round the ground and I can still remember their fans sending a flare into the high jump pit behind one of the goals.

"I remember looking round during a break in play and seeing this massive fire where all of the high jump mats had set alight. That was my welcome to Greek football - it was like having Bonfire Night a few months early."

It wasn't just the atmosphere that was warm either. With the Greek season starting at the same time as the English one, Gabbiadini found himself struggling to adapt to the stifling heat.

Newcastle's UEFA Cup first round trip to Israel highlighted the testing conditions prevalent in other parts of the world, and while temperatures have dipped below their summer peak now the high humidity levels could still play a role tomorrow.

"The heat was the first thing you noticed," explained Gabbiadini. "The season started in August and for the first few months you were playing every game in 90 degree heat.

"We used to train at 8 o'clock in the morning then meet up again to do another session at 7 o'clock at night. That was the only way you could do it because it was just far too hot in the middle of the day.

"The games themselves were played at a totally different tempo to the English game.

"All of the English teams I'd played for liked to get the ball forward quickly - in Greece, the strikers weren't involved at all for the first two or three minutes of a build-up.

"But I adapted quite well and scored a few goals in my first month at the club. Then I got injured and missed a while, and I ended up playing 15 games before I moved on."

Gabbiadini made his fair share of moves during his playing days, but his Christmas Eve switch from Panionios to Stoke was the only one driven by financial necessity.

"I don't know what it's like now but, at the time, the Greeks had a bit of a reputation for not being particularly good payers," he said.

"I was warned that quite a few players had left the country because they hadn't been getting paid, and that was certainly my experience as well.

"English clubs have got over that problem, mainly because of the influence of the PFA. But the clubs held the power in Greek football when I was there, and the players suffered as a result."