Zurich is famous for its clocks and banks, so it was perhaps inevitable that the Middlesbrough press pack would arrive in the city yesterday both late and skint.

The tardy timekeeping was particularly unacceptable given Zurich's clock-making heritage and status as the world's leading centre for precision watches.

Even the shortest of strolls through the city's streets seems to suggest that the clock face is Zurich's number one symbol.

The city's oldest church, St Peterhofstatt, boasts the largest clock face in Europe, while the Bucherer department store is the continent's biggest emporium for watches and jewellery.

Not that any of its products could have speeded the arrival of the Middlesbrough squad yesterday though. The morning flight from Durham Tees Valley Airport was delayed thanks to a mid-flight buffeting that saw the 'fasten seatbelt' signs spring into life.

Given the furore that still surrounds Abel Xavier's failed drugs test, it was fitting that the flight was as turbulent as Middlesbrough's week.

The general lack of money that accompanied our arrival, though, was rather less forgivable.

Zurich's main street, the Bahnhofstrasse, is one of the most influential banking centres in the world, with numerous high-profile Swiss accounts swelling its vast coffers.

The city's financial wealth was already well-established by the start of the 18th century and, thanks to the patronage of a succession of wealthy backers, it has grown in strength ever since.

But, thanks to Switzerland's position outside of the European Union, its banks do not issue Euros.

The Swiss currency is the Swiss Franc - something that more than one journalist learnt to his cost as he attempted to buy a beer last night.

Football has to compete with a host of winter sports in Switzerland and, with the skiing season approaching, attention is already switching to more alpine pursuits.

Zurich's position in the east of Switzerland means it drops off the radar of most English tourists who visit just to sample the Alps, but its calendar is still dominated by its mountainous setting.

In times gone by, winter was deemed to begin with the Metzgete festival at the end of October. Stemming from the Middle Ages, Metzgete saw the slaughter of all livestock that could not be kept until the following spring.

Today, restaurant proprietors still celebrate the festival by dishing up a range of pork and beef specialities and every window in Zurich seems to be advertising a Metzgete speciality next week.

I don't speak any Romansch - a Romany language that is still spoken today - but I am reliably informed that one had been defaced by some graffiti suggesting that Middlesbrough would be put to the slaughter tonight.

They might be the most successful club in Switzerland but mystery continues to surround the origin of the name Grasshoppers.

It is in English, because an English student formed the club in the latter stages of the 19th century, but nobody really knows why the grasshopper was chosen to represents Zurich's oldest team.

A much-loved tale suggests early fans, more used to the stylish form of Switzerland's skiers, could not get used to the way the club's footballers hopped around on the grass.

Fans of city rivals, FC Zurich, disagree though. They like to suggest that Grasshoppers are grasshoppers because they are worthless bugs!