WITH Basle inundated with jewellery salesmen, the travelling press pack decided to spend yesterday in Zurich.

A swift tour of the city was followed by a lunch-time stop off at FIFA headquarters, one of Switzerland's most opulent buildings.

Sepp Blatter might claim football's governing body is in touch with the common fan, but yesterday's trip seemed to prove otherwise.

Not content with just dishing up mashed potato in their canteen-cum-five star restaurant, FIFA chefs added the finest French truffles to their vegetable mix.

Not so much the gravy train then - more of a redcurrant jus train with seared scallops on the side.

Once they finally made it into Basle ahead of last night's game, Middlesbrough's fans were able to see something Newcastle supporters have witnessed this season - Michael Owen with a smile on his face.

The England international hadn't popped over to watch a bit of UEFA Cup football at first hand, but his beaming grin still dominated the area around St Jakob Park.

As one of the faces of Tissot watches, Owen was a permanent fixture on the huge billboards that have sprung up all over Basle to promote the city's huge jewellery and watch fair.

Tissot can hardly have wished for a better figure to advertise their wares. After all, Owen has certainly had plenty of time on his hands this season.

With Basle playing in their distinctive red and blue halves, Boro fans could have been forgiven for thinking their side was playing against Barcelona last night.

The similarity between the two clubs' strips is striking and anything but co-incidental.

Switzerland is one of the cradles of football - St Gallen were the first club to be formed on the European mainland in 1879 - and Swiss enthusiasts were prominent in spreading the sport's popularity across the continent in the late 19th century.

One of Basle's most famous ambassadors, Hans Gamper, travelled to Spain and set up a number of clubs there, the most famous of which was based in the city of Barcelona.

In homage to his homeland, he dressed his players in red and blue - colours that have since become synonymous with one of the most famous club sides in the world.

English builders gave themselves one year to build Wembley and have ended up horribly over-budget and dreadfully delayed.

Swiss builders at St Jakob Park have given themselves two years to rebuild the ground ahead of 2008's European Championships and are currently both on budget and on time.

Surely there is a lesson there for London's planners ahead of the 2012 Olympics. Get the hard hats on now boys, otherwise it might well be too late.

academy manager Dave Parnaby has run up quite a telephone bill during his stay in Switzerland, but he insists it has been worth it.

Parnaby's son, Ian, is a professional golfer competing on the Challenger circuit and this week he is in action at The Wynyard Club.

A series of early-morning phone calls kept his dad up to date with his second round yesterday and, by mid-afternoon, it was apparent that his two-under-par-score was going to be good enough to make the cut.

With Boro's youth sides in action this weekend, that means more phone calls will be needed during the final two days of the tournament.