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Probably 75% of the teams who qualify for Europe know they will " do nothing of note" as you put it, we are in that position, we will never win a euro trophy but qualifying for the group stages would be the next best thing. Euro qualification is a wee bonus for having done so well in the previous season, when we ended up as the 4th best team in the country. We are a small provincial club but weve had quite a few euro adventures over the years, seeing how far we can get and having a great time in the process, and giving me some of my proudest moments as a well fan, ie champions league in the olympic stadium in Athens. So however we end up in this years ECL we have earned the right to be there and give it our best shot. So why dont we all get right behind AJ and the team and see where the adventure takes us the experience is worth it.

There is a big difference between playing Scandinavian teams at this stage in the season and other teams who are just starting their seasons too. Summer season clubs have a pretty big advantage in being at full competitive fitness. Even if you look at the League Cup group stages there are way more 'shock' results than happen in the Scottish Cup and that's pro teams playing semi professional or part time teams with no fitness advantage, they are just starting on a sort of level fitness field. Steaua, Panathinaikos, Levante and Kuban are/were all different level clubs. Big ask to get anything from them.

Gannon and Brown oversaw some good results in the early qualifying stages including the aforementioned 8-1 win. Even scoring at Airdrie against Steaua Bucharest was a great moment. However our efforts under McCall were pathetic and we went into the games against PAO, Levante and Kuban beaten before a ball was kicked and failed to score against any of them IIRC. And then we had Stjarnan.

Some of the runs we went on under Gannon, Brown and McCall(?) were good. Especially the season under Brown when we beat Breadablik and Aalesunds but aye, you're right there. Managing to beat one of those higher ranked teams and give us something to shout about is the next step we need to take. Even St Johnstone have managed to do it.

It’s just a non event for me. We know we’re never going to do anything of note in the competition but apart from the novelty factor of playing a big name like Borussia Dortmund and then playing PAO in the CL prelims, I can’t remember much, if anything, for us to shout about especially in games at Fir Park in Europe. Obviously Flamurtari 8-1 was great but that was the exception…and it was at Airdrie. But in our last seven European matches at Fir Park we have one win to our name and that was behind closed doors during the lockdown season. Outwith that one our record is played six, won zero and scored two goals. Us playing in Europe is like Scotland at a major tournament. The team do nothing apart from occasionally embarrass themselves. But hey, what does that matter? The fans had such a wonderful time, the locals loved them and it was a great trip! Big leap to the left! YAAAASSS! Big leap to the right! YAAAASSS! Who cares about the result we drank the pubs dry! YAAAASSS!

That was a hangover from the previous season though, not from a standing start, and had been building from about March. He should really have been dealt with as soon season as the previous season had ended rather than prolong the agony. As shite as Ricki Lamie was the worst thing he ever did was score that goal v Livi or Alexander would never have made it to the Sligo game.

I read Weeyin make a comment on this thread or possibly one of the other threads that he does not form an opinion on the team until September and I understand the reasoning behind this but unfortunately in modern football September is a long way away. Russell Martin at Rangers had effectively lost his job by then last season. He had certainly lost a dressing room and support. Likewise Alexander was out of a job by the end of July after the Sligo fiasco. I think one of Askou's qualities was that his messaging was very clear and concise from the beginning. The plan was very clear. This season does not have that vibe about it although I don't think that is necessarily Johansson's fault. He has a significant rebuild on his hands. Askou had the luxury of easing himself in with the League Cup group stage. If we remember those first few games, would last year's team have made it past the first round of a European tie against a half decent side? There is no guarantee. I always felt that Stuart McCall never recovered from losing to Starnaan. I really worry that if Motherwell go out to HB, the knock on effect could be significant. I would like to think that as a support we will give AJ the first round of fixtures to stamp his mark but modern life does not really lend itself to that kind of patience.

Yup defo a concern bud. Thor no game time was baffling but apart from that all our first team regulars featured. The amount unavailable is frightening. I assume reich will be available next week also

We tried to play the same, given the limitations of the team selection,, but until we can field our strongest 1st choice 11, with the new signings up to speed etc its hard to compare.

Wasn't at the game but he corrected the interviewer in the post match game saying we weren't changing the system we were consolidating it. Think that spells out his position pretty clearly.

I take your point re the academy players, but we are 5 days away from the Euro qualifiers, and two weeks tomorrow the Premiership campaign starts, so last night should have been about getting our 1st choice 11 up to speed etc but it was a shambles. It was a decent enough performance against a good team but, we were all over the place, 3 goals gifted to Genk by shocking defending, the new signings did not look fit especially Vogts,he looked like a competition winner getting his chance to play with the 1st team. When you add to this the ever expanding injury list and the ongoing uncertainty over players leaving or not we are heading into the season in a pretty unprepared state. I really hope it all comes together this week and we can concentrate on getting past Havnar and into Q3, that will give us the boost we need to get off to a good start in the league, hopefully with the injury list reducing quickly.

I was hoping to see him play last night, he’s the one youngster I think has a huge chance.

Just in case you missed this

I general, no. Likewise it won't bother me if we lose Just and TJ - we all know that they will move on. We've seen our best players move on for decades and we're still here. It does mean that our recruitment strategy is doing well. My concern is with the timing. A long and growing injury list and a Conference League tie coming up in a matter of days. Its not the time to be shipping players out and certainly not without oven ready replacements.

No Zander McAllister last night? Please don't tell me he's injured as well.

Agree to an extent. Intention yes but naivety in that if good bids and offers to players came in that we would be in a position (not just contractual) to resist. I think most of us are/were realistic about that prospect. Stating the obvious but hindsight is the real issue. Would any of us be worried about losing Watt for £1.5m when he came in from a recent relegation campaign? If we’re in the same place next season with Moorman then that will have meant he (and team hopefully) have had a great season.

Financially we are doing very well, no argument from me on that score. You can also add on a modest 5/6 figure fee for the Ox. We also have the relocation of the stadium / replacement of the POD stand to factor in. However, healthy balance sheets don't increase attendances. On the playing side, I was not surprised that JBA left at the end of the season. Despite his positive words I never thought he'd stay with us very long. I'm sure the directors would also have been well aware of his intention to move months ago. Kyrk Macmillan is doing a good job as far as I can tell, but it was a mistake to tell the fans that everything was ticking over nicely during the search for a new manager when it clearly wasn't. It was also naive of the directors to tell the fans that all our best assets wouldn't be sold at the same time. That raised unrealistic expectations.

We don't always though do we? Aside from Sligo last time and Stjarnan we pretty much always do as well as we should be expected and gone out against the much higher ranked seeded team. Other than those too instances you need to go all the way back to Mypa to fill your misery quota. It's frustrating we've not yet taken that extra step and gone beyond that extra step - Odense was the one that got away there and would have put us into the group phase. I'll have missed some but going out to Nancy, Panathinaikos, Levante, Steuea Bucharest, Odense, Krasnador or the Israeli mob isn't exactly a rid neck. There are some games in there we possibly could have done better in (namely Odense and possibly he Israelis if Gallagher hadn't made a cunt of himself) but it's not an embarrassment by a long stretch. All of these teams had much bigger budgets than us and/or are regulars in European competition.

Fucking hell man.

Agree Ngandu looked like a football player in terms of touch and composure but physique requires a bit of work. At 16 though he could just be in that classic growth phase. My 193cm 19yo went through a fair few tumphy phases. only signed in July - Him and Thompson defence of the future - while the manager still under 40 😆

Any idea of how we played v Ghent? Same as under JBA or any tactical change?

And last night confirmed it.

Has MJC swapped glasses with you? 🤣🤣. Lets give Vogt time and see how he is. Yup young Samuel that came on is a unit. Giving these young lads game time can only benefit them. Judging by injury list and probable sales we are going to need a few of them to be ready

I’ll not bring it up again as I’m not going to bully this guy but he’s not a football player. He had no idea what he was meant to do, his movement was awful and what tipped it for me was when Eli took his penalty, he stood 25yrds out looking at the east stand. He’s a striker supposedly, he should be on the edge of the box.I honestly thought we’d been duped by George Weah’s cousin. Anyway… on another minor point, the big lad who came on in the 2nd half? Nagunda? Or something? He’s 16yrs old!!!! 16!!!!!! I thought he was a coach when I saw him warm up at the start of the game. He actually looks like he can play but he desperately needs to shed some timber.