With no space to fill with Euro 2008 stories, the English media concentrates on making space for transfer speculation. We all know it's silly season now but it's a fact recognised by the swiss media too.

Back at work this afternoon at the accreditation centre. Wednesday was very quiet although we did see someof the hostesses come in for their passes. I've alos put up a photo of the volunteers in full uniform...

I see The Guardian has decided (probably quite rightly) that Switzerland has little chance of performing well at Euro 2008. Most of the swiss people I know are relatively realistic about their team's chances with progression through the group stage seen as success. Anymore more than that is just wishful thinking.

This hasn't stopped the Swiss media being full of adverts that all have to mention football in some way or another. SBB have a wonderful use of Phillipe Senderos to advertise the fact that the Swiss are European champions of train travel!!!

There is an article claiming that the best football in the world is now played in the Premier League (the swiss obviously didn't see Derby at all last season) even if the national team didn't make it the championships. Of course there are more and more stories regarding Euro 2008 as the finals approach but the headline "Austria will be European Champions" was a little surprising considering their recent form!

Sorry still no photo of me in the rather dashing (!!) Euro 2008 volunteers uniform but today was my first working day in the Accreditation Centre and it went pretty well. The rush of people has not yet started but with Basel hosting the Opening Ceremony as well as the first game we expect to be very busy in the next 2 weeks. The first football "celebrity" appeared today in the shape of FC Basel manager, Christian Gross, but we learnt that the team accreditation is completed at team hotels :-(.

Anyway there has been little in the swiss press today but the good thing, as an Arsenal fan, is the lack of tabloid rumour and gossip for the next 92 days! The Swiss press also have Roger Federer on their mind as the French Open started yesterday. The 2 main football stories concern the sex scandal at FC Thun and the plight of former great, Paul Gascoigne, who has yet again been referred to a clinic following further worrying behaviour.

Very quick post as I've been busy with visitors all weekend. Tomorrow is my first day working at the Accreditation centre and a I received a text from a german colleague who worked there today - she said it was very quiet so here's to a quiet one tomorrow because the wine has been flowing tonight!!

So yesterday was good fun, if a little slow to start. There were around 60 of us in the St Jakob Arena (where the local Basel Ice Hockey team play) for a training session to prepare us for work in the Accreditation Centre. There was one small difficulty - the training was all in German and, at least, it was in high-german and not schweiz-deutsch! With help from a colleague, Eva, as my translator it wasn't too bad.

The day consisted of Ambassador Skills (How to be a good volunteer), Specific training on the accreditation process & IT system, a tour of St Jakobs Stadium and finally we got a huge Adidas bag with all of our Torqouise volunteer uniforms (Polo shirt, T-shirts, rain jacket, shorts, trousers & trainers). I will try and post a picture of me in full regalia at some point!

Not much else in the swiss press this morning - SF2 (Swiss national TV - in deutsch) recorded just under 500,000 for the CL final. Also the swiss manager is in conflict with the Lyon manager over one of his players (Patrick Muller)coming back for pre-tournament build-up. Apparently Lyon want him for the French cup final this weekend.

Living just outside Basel as the European Championships approach has been an interesting experience. You assume the Swiss are a fairly reserved group but when there is an opportunity to really party, they grasp it with both hands. I first saw this on August 1st here - Swiss National Day, where the fireworks and drinking comnbination was quite wild. That's not ot forget Fasnacht!

Anyway the stories around Euro2008 are everywhere in all the papers now with around 2 weeks to go. Yesterday's paper saw pictures of what to expect in the Basel Fan zones (Munsterplatz, Mittelbrucke & Marktplatz). The swiss have even conducted car crash tests with "fans" in celebrating mode (I.e. fans hanging flags out of sunroofs or sitting up in convertibles)!

Yesterday evening like many Arsenal fans I wasn't at all bothered too much about watching a contest between two evil entities. However, when you're part of the old expat community (which is made of many nationalities here in Basel) I was required to have a few drinks and share the pain of two good friends out here who both happen to be mad Chelsea fans.

There are 3 Irish/English type bars in Basel and my regular haunt McGuinnesses' was packed with the ManU supporting swiss types as well as the expats. It's very odd how many of the locals really seem to have a poor understanding of the game - I'm sure at one point they cheered a clearing header over the bar thinking the team were attacking the other way!

In other swiss news the press over here are pleased that one of their players (Phillip Degen) has joined Liverpool. Much of the other news seems to focus on the CL final with a particular emphasis on Michael Ballack for some reason.

Anyway tomorrow I start my Euro2008 work with a training day at the accreditation centre and I get my volunteer uniform - maybe I'll show it off on here sometime soon. I'll also try and find some pictures of the work going in Basel as it gets ready for the European Championships.

Hi All,

Welcome to my world (I'm sure you may have heard that saying somewhere before!). This is the world of an Arsenal STH living in Basel, Switzerland and trying to grasp the local's view on the footie world and, in particular, the Arsenal world. Inspired by the almighty Arseblog I decided to try and give a view of the world from a neutral central european perspective. I've been a Season Ticket Holder at Arsenal for 25 years and this is my first year away from the boys - still managing to get back for 10 or so games last season.

So what will you see on this blog (if anyone reads these things - how do I get people to read it - Arseblogger uses words such as c##t and f##k a lot that might work) are my thoughts on:

• The Arse from a Swiss perspective
• Some other footie stuff the Swiss find quite interesting
• A bit of light reading on the Axpo League (zzzz - but hey FCB are the champions)
• Euro2008 - where I shall be working as with the accreditation team for 6 weeks...

Hopefully some of this you may find of interest, if not, it will keep me busy each morning doing the stuff I already do on the net..

All I need now issome sort of slogan/byline or other that will be memorable - I'll work on that I will.

Basel Gooner