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Official First Qualifying Round Thread


GazzyB
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With the draw merely 2 days away, I thought I'd start a thread for all the chat of the 1st Qualifying Round. There's been quite a bit to get depressed about regarding MFC at the moment, what with not having a manager, players allegedly being sold etc, but personally, I'm excited as fuck about our European tour! What with us being seeded, I estimate we'll get to the 3rd Qualifying Round as a minimum. Anything better than that I'd see as a massive financial boost for the club.

 

The list of teams we can get are as follows....

 

Renova - Macedonia

Inter Baku - Azerbaijan

Simurq Zaqatala - Azerbaijan

Trans - Estonia

Kalju - Estonia

Vllaznia - Albania

Dinamo Tirana - Albania

Irtysh - Kazakhstan

Okzhetpes - Kazakhstan

Mika Yerevan - Armenia

Banants - Yerevan - Armenia

Llanelli - Wales

The New Saints - Wales

Linfield - Northern Ireland

Lisburn Distillery - Northern Ireland

B36 Tórshavn - Faroe Islands

NSÍ Runavík - Faroe Islands

UN Kaerjeng 97 - Luxembourg

CS Grevenmacher - Luxembourg

Buducnost - Montenegro

Sutjeska Niksic - Montenegro

Valletta - Malta

Birkirkara - Malta

 

As you can see, some downright horrible destinations, along with a few mouth watering and a few 'maybes'.

 

Can't wait 'til the draw, Monday's gonna be a hectic day!

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With the draw merely 2 days away, I thought I'd start a thread for all the chat of the 1st Qualifying Round. There's been quite a bit to get depressed about regarding MFC at the moment, what with not having a manager, players allegedly being sold etc, but personally, I'm excited as fuck about our European tour! What with us being seeded, I estimate we'll get to the 3rd Qualifying Round as a minimum. Anything better than that I'd see as a massive financial boost for the club.

 

The list of teams we can get are as follows....

 

Renova - Macedonia

Inter Baku - Azerbaijan

Simurq Zaqatala - Azerbaijan

Trans - Estonia

Kalju - Estonia

Vllaznia - Albania

Dinamo Tirana - Albania

Irtysh - Kazakhstan

Okzhetpes - Kazakhstan

Mika Yerevan - Armenia

Banants - Yerevan - Armenia

Llanelli - Wales

The New Saints - Wales

Linfield - Northern Ireland

Lisburn Distillery - Northern Ireland

B36 Tórshavn - Faroe Islands

NSÍ Runavík - Faroe Islands

UN Kaerjeng 97 - Luxembourg

CS Grevenmacher - Luxembourg

Buducnost - Montenegro

Sutjeska Niksic - Montenegro

Valletta - Malta

Birkirkara - Malta

 

As you can see, some downright horrible destinations, along with a few mouth watering and a few 'maybes'.

 

Can't wait 'til the draw, Monday's gonna be a hectic day!

 

Any of those 8 will do

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Daily Record

 

Motherwell fans could be heading to some weird and wonderful places in Europa League draw

Jun 20 2009 Neil Cameron

 

ATTENTION Motherwell's players and fans - fancy a 6213-mile round trip to the remote Kazakhstan town of Pavlodar right next to the Russian border?

 

How about a visit to the Armenian capital of Yerevan where at this time of year temperatures are expected to rise above 90 degrees?

 

Then there is Baku in Azerbaijan, a 5200-mile trip to a place with an average heat of around 88 degrees. Or the Loro-Borici Stadium in Shkoder, Albania, where fans can be downright hostile to visitors.

 

But for the less adventurousthere is always a 20-minute flight to Belfast.

 

On Monday, Motherwell will go into the first qualifying round for the Europa League and they are either going to the outer reaches of Europe, a short hop across the Irish sea or to a range of interesting places in between.

 

The two legs take place on July 2 and 9 and could be memorable.

 

Falkirk are in the second qualifying draw which takes place in Geneva and they could also find themselves in places they might struggle to pinpoint on a map.

 

The Fir Park side are seeded and will avoid some of the stronger teams such as Rosenborg, Dinamo Minsk and Helsingborg where Henrik Larsson is still banging in the goals. But that means the minnows they may play could come from anywhere.

 

Kazakhstan is the one that grabs the attention and, as Record Sport revealed yesterday, that trip could cost almost £200,000.

 

There are two teams from the country in the draw. One is FC Irtysh from Pavlodar. It's a 10-hour flight to the town which would be in Asia were it just another couple of hundred miles north.

 

Then there is FC Okzhetpes from just down the road.

 

They finished ninth in their league but qualified because seven teams who finished above them either didn't hold a UEFA club licence or didn't have the money to even consider travelling.

 

Visitors can expect to eat steamed dumplings full of meat and onions, washed down with fermented camel's milk - a local speciality.

 

Proper drink is cheap. Alcohol can be brought 24/7 from corner shops and cognac and vodka, cheaper than bottled water, is a favourite.

 

Motherwell's playing staff won't fancy that or Armenian sides FC Banants or FC Mika, who both play inYerevan, the capital. A lovely city-buit won't be far off 100 degrees. Mark Reynolds risks peeling to death.

 

There is also the small matter of last year's disputed election when there were angry protests against the result. There were reports of 10 deaths during a 20-day state of emergency.

 

End up there and the Motherwell supporters will be tucking into Lamejuhns - pizzas to you and me.

 

A bottle of the local wine costs about £1 and is apparently lovely.

 

And Yerevan also "boasts" an incredible amount of strip bars. Some say they outnumber normal cafes.

 

Azerbaijan also has two clubs in the hat, FC Inter Baku and Simurq Zaqatala. Again, the Well party could expect the mercury level to rise above 90 for the away leg.

 

You need a visa to get there and anyone who has paid a visit to the separatist republic of Nagorna Karabakh is out of luck. Nobody gets in with that stamp on their passport.

 

Albania is much changed from the days when Celtic went there in 1995 and took their own food and water. It's now very much Italian influenced and this is the time of year to go.

 

Any time near the winter months and, without warning, there is a three-hour blackout most days.

 

Fc Vllaznia and Dinamo Tirana lie in store and Vllanzia's ground of Loro-Borici has a fierce reputation.

 

However,the self-styled ultras of Malta's Birkirkara won't cause any travelling fans from Scotland too many sleepless nights. There are, after all, only 50 of them.

 

Compared with some of the far-flung places Motherwell could be sent to, other possibilities such as Macedonia, Estonia, the Faroe Islands, Luxembourg and Montenegro seem almost dull.

 

However, in terms of saving the club a heap of money and hassle, a match against one of the two Northern Irish teams, Linfield and Lisburn Distillery, or Welsh pair Llanelli or TNS would be ideal. But how many times do you get to watch your team play a match in northern Kazakhstan?

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They are, as of 1st January 2008.

That's the only drawback if only it was 80p a pint it would be absolutely perfect. Which reminds me if we get into the next round, which we should we don't want a trip to Dublin. I was there recently and i paid as much as 6 euros 50 a pint and 5 euros 70 was the average. And 10 quid for a kebab as well. :lol:

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En route to Nancy I got the overnight bus from Inverness to London. I swore to myself I would NEVER do it again, but due to being a bit short for cash it looks like I'll have to do it again if we're flying anywhere; generally much cheaper flying from London than Glasgow. Avoid it if you can is all I can say.

 

Sitting pricing flights to Estonia etc just now, can't wait :whistling:

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If it's TNS the mega bus to Manchester and then its about an 2 hours on the train from there. The cheap as chips option , when a wen to Aberystwyth Uni a watched alot of Welsh Football and its much like the Highland league up here. We would surely win that tie!!

 

Well my only worry is TNS have never won a match in Europe. And with Motherwell always happy to oblige in those circumstances... :whistling:

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I'm hoping for TNS. Looks like it's not too far from Liverpool (I hadn't realised their ground is in England now), so we're planning to base ourselves there with our pet Scousers if we draw TNS. It's the cheap option so it's the preferred option. It'd be a messy few days if we get to hook up with those reprobates whilst on Motherwell duty.smiley-eatdrink007.gif

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Have a wee look here then Traffic's Unheard of Football Clubs

 

Inter Baku's ground looks tidy, and there's a suburb of the city which should interest Flow :whistling:

 

Looking throught their website:

 

 

"On June, 19th within the limits of gathering in Turkey "İnter" has held the second control meeting with a Turkish command "Tekirova Belediyyesi". The match has ended with the account 5:2 in advantage "İnter." Balls were hammered by Walter Guglielmone,"

 

 

Wee bit worried for the boys around this Walter Guglielmone fellow..

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I'm not sure whether I'm looking forward to this or not.

 

TITP starts day after the first round second leg, so depending on where it is would depend if I could go.

 

I'm then in Blackpool with the family the following week, so would miss the second round first leg.

 

From a purely selfish point of view I'd like both those legs to be home games, as I can go to Fir Park and watch football most weekends, but I can't go abroad and watch them. :nod:

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I'm pretty sure that if it comes out something like....

 

Llanelli----------VS-----------AN Other

or-----------------------------------or

Motherwell-------------------AN Other

 

Then we'd be away first for the first round, but home first for the 2nd round.

 

EDIT - That looks ridiculous, but you get ma drift!

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