We’re going to Europe

[SteelmaninOZ]

 

[joewarkfanclub]

I could watch that over and over again!

What a manager! What a team!

🧡❤️🧡

[dennyc]

For those interested in our position seeding wise etc.

Search "Bert Kassies Conference League" on Google and follow the 26/27 link. Great to see our name listed in the second qualifying round 88 Clubs section if you scroll down.

Kassies sets this out each season for each Euro competition. Fills it in as teams qualify and games completed. He also sets out the draw groupings as soon as known. An excellent info link.

Whether we are seeded or not will depend on who qualifies over the next week or so. At the moment we are 'mid table' so could go either way. Once completed we will get an early idea of who we might get.

[scoojy]

Was just having a look at the latest update and, as it goes on, it's looking more and more likely we'll be unseeded. And there's some big name seeded teams in there - Copenhagen and Panathanaikos, with Ajax in the play-off final against Utrecht. Our old friends Katowice are currently poised to be in there too.

I suppose the question is do we want to be unseeded and get a draw against the likes of Ajax, or sneak in to the seeds and end up in the likes of Azerbaijan or Kosovo (or Ireland again!)?

[numpty]

Seeded for me. Fun as a glamour tie would be, I'm more interested to see how this team fares against the sort of opposition that usually paps us out of Europe at a canter first.

[Spiderpig]

18 minutes ago, scoojy said:

.

I suppose the question is do we want to be unseeded and get a draw against the likes of Ajax, or sneak in to the seeds and end up in the likes of Azerbaijan or Kosovo (or Ireland again!)?

Its always better to be seeded and play a lower ranked team, its a cup comprtition so for me progression is the main objective, and not a one off glamour tie.

Reaching the group stages for Motherwell would be brilliant, so anything that eases our path is welcome.

[joewarkfanclub]

18 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:

Its always better to be seeded and play a lower ranked team, its a cup comprtition so for me progression is the main objective, and not a one off glamour tie.

Reaching the group stages for Motherwell would be brilliant, so anything that eases our path is welcome.

Absolutely this ^^^

[dennyc]

As seedings and matches for early rounds are preset early, a non seed beating a seed simply replaces that beaten seed in the next round. No reseeding takes place. I think up to round 3 but it may last longer than that. So we could end up being non seeded and play another non seed depending on earlier results. Whatever, it should be fun watching how it plays out.

[Spiderpig]

29 minutes ago, dennyc said:

As seedings and matches for early rounds are preset early, a non seed beating a seed simply replaces that beaten seed in the next round. No reseeding takes place. I think up to round 3 but it may last longer than that. So we could end up being non seeded and play another non seed depending on earlier results. Whatever, it should be fun watching how it plays out.

Its organised by UEFA so the draw process will be an incomprehensible shambles, as you say it should be fun to watch.

[SteelmaninOZ]

58 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:

Its organised by UEFA so the draw process will be an incomprehensible shambles, as you say it should be fun to watch.

And with VAR 

[MJC]

2 hours ago, numpty said:

Seeded for me. Fun as a glamour tie would be, I'm more interested to see how this team fares against the sort of opposition that usually paps us out of Europe at a canter first.

We’re going to get papped out of Europe at a canter no matter who we face. 
 

Europe is a big thing for the club on paper and we have deserved the qualification spot, but for me the reward was how good we were when we were at our best this season and the big results that went with it. Our ‘Euro tour’ will be the usual anti climax or potential humiliation as it always is for us. 
 

The big bonus from European qualification for me is a seeded spot in the last 16 of the league cup where hopefully (though it quite often doesn’t go this way for us admittedly) we can get a more favourable draw.

[MFCL84]

3 minutes ago, MJC said:

We’re going to get papped out of Europe at a canter no matter who we face. 

In previous years I would probably have agreed with you, but not this time. Provided we retain the core of the team and add suitable replacements for those moving on, we should be capable of taking on the non-seeded teams. We'll also be able to compete against some of those that are seeded. 

A lot will depend on finding a good replacement for JBA as early as possible to allow familiarisation and coaching in what will undoubtedly be a bit of a different approach to the game from JBA.

I'm hoping that we are seeded and get a favourable draw that allows the tour to be more than one trip to Wales or Ireland.