Europa league/conference 22/23 - Zurich v Hearts

[Don Dan]

36 minutes ago, JimmyCant said:

Looks like Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are destined for the Europa league group stages.

 

imagine 6000 jambos at OT 😌

Just 6000 ? I think we’d take more Than that if it transpires that way 

[Heartsmad1874]

Koln have qualified for Conference League. Seems they are excited about potentially playing Hearts next season.

 

 

[Jambo in Yorkshire]

This should clear up the various questions about access to the European competitions.

 

 

[FarmerTweedy]

1 hour ago, Jambo in Yorkshire said:

This should clear up the various questions about access to the European competitions.

 

 

As far as I can see, it still leaves a slight question mark (not in Hamilton!) over how rangers' CL-Q3 place will be filled if they win the Europa League final!

[JimmyCant]

8 hours ago, Imaman said:

Just 6000 ? I think we’d take more Than that if it transpires that way 

I wouldn’t think we’d get more than 6000 tickets

[Super_Hans]

13 hours ago, Heartsmad1874 said:

Koln have qualified for Conference League. Seems they are excited about potentially playing Hearts next season.

 

 

Potential reaquaintance with Kevin McKenna.

[Jambo in Yorkshire]

9 hours ago, FarmerTweedy said:

As far as I can see, it still leaves a slight question mark (not in Hamilton!) over how rangers' CL-Q3 place will be filled if they win the Europa League final!

The point you make highlights a situation that UEFA could review. If Rangers win the EL then teams from other countries will benefit, one will move up from Q2 to Q3 and so on through the other rounds.

 

Some might say other teams from the same country should benefit. The counter argument in this case is that the other (Scottish) teams are in a different competition.

[The Real Maroonblood]

13 hours ago, Heartsmad1874 said:

Koln have qualified for Conference League. Seems they are excited about potentially playing Hearts next season.

 

 

According to the league table they haven’t qualified.

 

[jvm32]

8 minutes ago, The Real Maroonblood said:

According to the league table they haven’t qualified.

 

The two teams in the German cup final have already qualified for europe, so I'm guessing that the place then drops to the league which would mean Koln get that spot.

[KyleLafferty]

22 hours ago, Tom Hardy’s Dug said:

And we’ll be under VAR as well I presume. Good that we get used to it before the rest of the league below us I guess.

No you they only use VAR after the group stages in the europa league and conference.

[The Real Maroonblood]

15 minutes ago, jvm32 said:

The two teams in the German cup final have already qualified for europe, so I'm guessing that the place then drops to the league which would mean Koln get that spot.

That sounds right.

👍

[Heartsmad1874]

1 hour ago, Jambo in Yorkshire said:

The point you make highlights a situation that UEFA could review. If Rangers win the EL then teams from other countries will benefit, one will move up from Q2 to Q3 and so on through the other rounds.

 

Some might say other teams from the same country should benefit. The counter argument in this case is that the other (Scottish) teams are in a different competition.

Four teams that could potentially get boosted up are

 

Dynamo Kyiv

2nd 🇩🇰
2nd 🇹🇷
2nd 🇨🇾
 

Question still remains over Dynamo Kyiv and all Ukrainian  teams ability to participate next season so if they couldn't and Rangers did win Europa you'd have to think 2nd in 🇹🇷 would get boosted to QR3 leaving just one game between 🇩🇰 and 🇨🇾 2nd placed teams.

 

Not sure what they would do if Ukrainian teams can play next season though.

 

[Sooks]

On 06/05/2022 at 23:40, Restonbabe said:

Aim to play in europa attracts better players 

It also improves current players

[Tom Hardy’s Dug]

20 minutes ago, Sooks said:

It also improves current players

Or destroys them 😬

[Sooks]

4 minutes ago, Tom Hardy’s Dug said:

Or destroys them 😬

I am probably forgetting an obvious one but I can not think who you mean ………. Sammon or some one

 

I think guys like Pressley, Hartley and Cameron improved massively through playing in Europe

[Tom Hardy’s Dug]

2 minutes ago, Sooks said:

I am probably forgetting an obvious one but I can not think who you mean ………. Sammon or some one

 

I think guys like Pressley, Hartley and Cameron improved massively through playing in Europe

Just thinking we could be on the end of some thumpings in the Europa league.

 

We’ll be playing teams generally much better than Rangers and Celtic at that level.

[Sooks]

1 minute ago, Tom Hardy’s Dug said:

Just thinking we could be on the end of some thumpings in the Europa league.

 

We’ll be playing teams generally much better than Rangers and Celtic at that level.

I was thinking about this yester day actually and looking at the list of our potential opponents I would reckon Celtic and Rangers are better than most of them ………….. I do think players come on leaps and bounds through playing in Europe though and even losing will be a useful experience 

[davemclaren]

2 minutes ago, Tom Hardy’s Dug said:

Just thinking we could be on the end of some thumpings in the Europa league.

 

We’ll be playing teams generally much better than Rangers and Celtic at that level.

We have to aspire to play at the highest level we can imo. If that means some thumpings then, disappointing as it will be, we’ll just have to get on with it. 

[LarrysRightFoot]

15 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

We have to aspire to play at the highest level we can imo. If that means some thumpings then, disappointing as it will be, we’ll just have to get on with it. 

Playing at that level should improve our management team and players. Those who don’t learn from it need to be moved on as we build.
 

We need to be building a team who can compete - it’ll be hard but look at teams such as Bodo Glimt, it can be achieved. 

[Dayman]

55 minutes ago, Tom Hardy’s Dug said:

Just thinking we could be on the end of some thumpings in the Europa league.

 

We’ll be playing teams generally much better than Rangers and Celtic at that level.

The teams circled are the teams we should either be able to compete with or aspire to be able to compete with in a few years. Similar sized clubs/ranked leagues.

 

We’d maybe get pumped off most of them with our current squad, but no reason we can’t compete at some point. 

[Lfhearts]

2 hours ago, Dayman said:

The teams circled are the teams we should either be able to compete with or aspire to be able to compete with in a few years. Similar sized clubs/ranked leagues.

 

We’d maybe get pumped off most of them with our current squad, but no reason we can’t compete at some point. 

You been drinking this early on a Sunday?

[Dayman]

51 minutes ago, Lfhearts said:

You been drinking this early on a Sunday?

Who are much bigger than us? Who has a much bigger fan base? Who ha has a much better stadium than us? Who’s from a much better/bigger city? Who’s playing in a much better league?

 

Excited for your detailed response 

 

Edit: obviously Celtic and rangers were a joke, and one or two may have been hopeful thinking (red star for example, but their attendance is worse than ours and in a worse league)

Edited May 8, 2022 by Dayman

[Jambo_jim2001]

4 hours ago, davemclaren said:

We have to aspire to play at the highest level we can imo. If that means some thumpings then, disappointing as it will be, we’ll just have to get on with it. 

If rangers win this, the pot allegedly is worth 90 odd million😳 imagine what we could do with that in our biscuit tin❤️❤️

[Lfhearts]

46 minutes ago, Dayman said:

Who are much bigger than us? Who has a much bigger fan base? Who ha has a much better stadium than us? Who’s from a much better/bigger city? Who’s playing in a much better league?

 

Excited for your detailed response 

 

Edit: obviously Celtic and rangers were a joke, and one or two may have been hopeful thinking (red star for example, but their attendance is worse than ours and in a worse league)

Lok Moscow are not in it for a start.

[Jamboross]

3 hours ago, Dayman said:

The teams circled are the teams we should either be able to compete with or aspire to be able to compete with in a few years. Similar sized clubs/ranked leagues.

 

We’d maybe get pumped off most of them with our current squad, but no reason we can’t compete at some point. 

 

I agree up to a point but most of those clubs are in Europe every season and many of them are regularly making up the numbers in the Champions League. They might be similarly sized or smaller clubs in terms of fan base but financially most can blow us out the water. If we can sustain European group stage football over 5-10 years then maybe we can start talking about competing with them on a more even footing but historically we haven't been great at maintaining a presence in Europe so let's be ambitious but maybe not set expectations too high just yet. 

[Rick Sanchez]

51 minutes ago, Dayman said:

Who are much bigger than us? Who has a much bigger fan base? Who ha has a much better stadium than us? Who’s from a much better/bigger city? Who’s playing in a much better league?

 

Excited for your detailed response 

 

Edit: obviously Celtic and rangers were a joke, and one or two may have been hopeful thinking (red star for example, but their attendance is worse than ours and in a worse league)

 

I agree with you to an extent but some of those teams have cash. Is that not the same Sheriff that won at the Bernabeu?

 

I'd like to see some of the TV deals as well.

 

If we're to achieve that we'll need Savage and his team around for about 5 years minimum.

[Dayman]

24 minutes ago, Lfhearts said:

Lok Moscow are not in it for a start.

Yeah I don’t think I meant that one. Any comment on the other 95%?

 

20 minutes ago, Jamboross said:

 

I agree up to a point but most of those clubs are in Europe every season and many of them are regularly making up the numbers in the Champions League. They might be similarly sized or smaller clubs in terms of fan base but financially most can blow us out the water. If we can sustain European group stage football over 5-10 years then maybe we can start talking about competing with them on a more even footing but historically we haven't been great at maintaining a presence in Europe so let's be ambitious but maybe not set expectations too high just yet. 

Yeah they’d all most likely pump us right now, but in a few years of consistent European group stages there isn’t any reason why we shouldn’t be at their calibre on a European scale. Some of them will have an average attendance of half ours, but are outperforming us in Europe with ease. 

 

It’s probably partially down to how badly our league is ran too tbh. 
 

 

18 minutes ago, Rick Sanchez said:

 

I agree with you to an extent but some of those teams have cash. Is that not the same Sheriff that won at the Bernabeu?

 

I'd like to see some of the TV deals as well.

 

If we're to achieve that we'll need Savage and his team around for about 5 years minimum.

Yeah, definitely a few with cash in that lot, and in leagues ran better than ours.

 

3-5 years of European group stages would leave us with a vast amount more in revenue from tickets, tv, and sponsorships and there’s no reason we couldn’t be on par with most of them.

 

Sherif are a bit of an anomaly. I’m assuming they have a lot of cash from somewhere. It just felt wrong to not aspire to be as big as a team from the poorest country in Europe, and one of the worst leagues. They’ll probably have their own vlad figure in charge though…

[Dayman]

From a quick(badly translated) look at ludogrets, Sparta Prague and Legia warsaws financials, it seems their turnover is around 15-18 million a year. Isn’t ours usually 12-15?

 

Not too far off…

[GYL]

21 hours ago, Heartsmad1874 said:

Koln have qualified for Conference League. Seems they are excited about potentially playing Hearts next season.

 

 

Hearts v Cologne would be a dream for me beautiful city and great beer 🥰

[Sooks]

Some Hearts fans love talking us down

[Heartsmad1874]

4 minutes ago, Sooks said:

Some Hearts fans love talking us down

We'll prove them wrong in Budapest next May.

[Sooks]

Just now, Heartsmad1874 said:

We'll prove them wrong in Budapest next May.

Feels like this group of players has something a bout them

[Fxxx the SPFL]

I see Eufa are increasing the number if clubs in Champions league and Europa league from 2024 on bbc website 

[Watt-Zeefuik]

On 08/05/2022 at 12:43, Sooks said:

Feels like this group of players has something a bout them

And we get to keep almost all of them for a couple of years. If we do our business right this summer and Robbie gets some really good new signings integrated into the squad, it could easily be our best squad since 05/06, and in terms of performances, could surpass that one.

[VALDOS']

UEFA have taken a bit of a pounding over the years, but I think bringing the conference league on board has been a brilliant idea, I'd actually say these competitions are now being taken seriously, it's not all about the Champions League.

[OTT]

15 minutes ago, VALDOS' said:

UEFA have taken a bit of a pounding over the years, but I think bringing the conference league on board has been a brilliant idea, I'd actually say these competitions are now being taken seriously, it's not all about the Champions League.

 

I think so too. I've no interest in the Champions League, its a tourist sideshow ruined by so called 'superclubs' playing pass the trophy.

 

With these alternative cups, you genuinely can't call the winner, or even who will be in the final. With the likes of the Champions League you can pretty much call the final 4 teams most seasons and its ****ing boring. It gives decent clubs a platform to maybe win something and make some cash too. 

[Mikey1874]

On 07/05/2022 at 18:13, JimmyCant said:

Looks like Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are destined for the Europa league group stages.

 

imagine 6000 jambos at OT 😌

 

Man Utd looking more likely for the Conference 

[Mikey1874]

On 08/05/2022 at 17:41, Heartsmad1874 said:

We'll prove them wrong in Budapest next May.

 

Or here

 

 

 

[Sooks]

16 hours ago, Led Tasso said:

And we get to keep almost all of them for a couple of years. If we do our business right this summer and Robbie gets some really good new signings integrated into the squad, it could easily be our best squad since 05/06, and in terms of performances, could surpass that one.

 

It could well do in my life time as a supporter I do not remember us ever having stable finances and that is the main difference now

[daavojaay]

On 08/05/2022 at 11:49, Sooks said:

I was thinking about this yester day actually and looking at the list of our potential opponents I would reckon Celtic and Rangers are better than most of them ………….. I do think players come on leaps and bounds through playing in Europe though and even losing will be a useful experience 

Rangers are in the final. We generally compete with rangers when we play them unless we have a bad day. As long as our best players are available I think we will do surprisingly well. We have a style of play that usually does pretty well in Europe as well

[Sooks]

1 minute ago, daavojaay said:

Rangers are in the final. We generally compete with rangers when we play them unless we have a bad day. As long as our best players are available I think we will do surprisingly well. We have a style of play that usually does pretty well in Europe as well

 

I am cautiously of the same feeling as you on this

[daavojaay]

We have to keep Simms though very important player he could be and.you would think he would prefer another season playing in Europe than going back to Everton. 

[indianajones]

Cant wait to watch the mighty Jambos in Europe. 

 

What a buzz!

[Watt-Zeefuik]

9 hours ago, daavojaay said:

Rangers are in the final. We generally compete with rangers when we play them unless we have a bad day. As long as our best players are available I think we will do surprisingly well. We have a style of play that usually does pretty well in Europe as well

 

As much as the OF and the set up of the league are to blame for the duopoly, it also does my head in every year as Scottish clubs faceplant in Europe even when they get decent draws. Aberdeen and St. Johnstone have gotten a handful of decent results recently but for so many years we watched Motherwell qualify and then get spanked out in the first round by relatively small clubs. That made the Birkirkara result that much harder to take as we'd done it all over again.

 

I think it will be an immense help that we'll be fully up and running by the time the games start in earnest. Even if we don't qualify for anything just yet I do hope we get a handful of results to build on.

[Tom Hardy’s Dug]

On 08/05/2022 at 17:24, Dayman said:

From a quick(badly translated) look at ludogrets, Sparta Prague and Legia warsaws financials, it seems their turnover is around 15-18 million a year. Isn’t ours usually 12-15?

 

Not too far off…

Although their homegrown players are usually   technically superior….

[sprinbox98]

Ideally you would like to get into the europa league group stages.

 

Get a glamour tie (Man Utd / Roma).

and get 2 teams that we could compete with (genk, Sparta Prague)…if we played very well.

 

with that you get an accessible away trip and a chance to get 3rd place in the group stage - and get parachuted into the conference league for another 2 games.

Edited May 12, 2022 by sprinbox98

[Dayman]

8 hours ago, Tom Hardy’s Dug said:

Although their homegrown players are usually   technically superior….

Yeah, I suppose so.
 

It’s probably more the fact these are the biggest teams in these leagues, so get the pick of the homegrown players. We don’t. 

[DMac-89]

I was looking at the Group results from this season. Obviously there will be a number of changes but it was more to get a sense of what is possible in a standard season for us. 

 

Looking at Europa League Groups from this season:

3rd - PSV, Sparta Prague, Celtic, Leicester, Rapid Vienna, Fenerbahce, Marseille and Midtylland

 

4th - Sturm Graz, Legia Warsaw, Genk, Brondby, Antwerp, Lokomotiv Moscow, Ludogorets and Ferencvaros.

 

If we can get to the Europs group stage, it is possible with the right draw to finish 3rd and parachute in to Conference and that would be our best option to. Looking at that list though, we would struggle against majority of the 3rd teams and mixed bag against the 4th place sides. I assume placings were fairly consistent with individual coefficient as well so realistically we would be up against it to progress. 

 

For the Conference League Groups, there were only a few clubs that are real "glamour" and then a handful of well known teams but a lot of the sides, you would expect Hearts to compete with so finishing 2nd in a Group isn't implausible.

 

Looking at one of the glamour side groups:

 

- Roma, Glimt, Zorya Luhansk and CSKA Sofia. If we replaced Zorya or CSKA, we would not get through.

 

However, if we drew a group like this:

 

- Gent, Partizan, Anorthosis and Flora, then replacing one of these sides (assume Anorthosis or Flora) we would have had a genuine chance to progress.

 

A lot comes down to luck of the draw but looking at the Conference League sides from this season, I would fancy us to be able to compete with more of the sides that qualified and so odds wise, that might be our best bet for post Christmas European football. 

 

[Tom Hardy’s Dug]

1 minute ago, Dayman said:

Yeah, I suppose so.
 

It’s probably more the fact these are the biggest teams in these leagues, so get the pick of the homegrown players. We don’t. 

Ignoring the money the Spanish teams get (which you can’t) Villareal have got to where they have with a stadium capacity of 23,000.

 

I guess the point is that I’m theory try would traditionally be viewed as an unfashionable club. Dutch equivalent AZ Alkmaar. Danish, Mjitlyand.

 

Can be done 

[Tom Hardy’s Dug]

3 minutes ago, DMac-89 said:

I was looking at the Group results from this season. Obviously there will be a number of changes but it was more to get a sense of what is possible in a standard season for us. 

 

Looking at Europa League Groups from this season:

3rd - PSV, Sparta Prague, Celtic, Leicester, Rapid Vienna, Fenerbahce, Marseille and Midtylland

 

4th - Sturm Graz, Legia Warsaw, Genk, Brondby, Antwerp, Lokomotiv Moscow, Ludogorets and Ferencvaros.

 

If we can get to the Europs group stage, it is possible with the right draw to finish 3rd and parachute in to Conference and that would be our best option to. Looking at that list though, we would struggle against majority of the 3rd teams and mixed bag against the 4th place sides. I assume placings were fairly consistent with individual coefficient as well so realistically we would be up against it to progress. 

 

For the Conference League Groups, there were only a few clubs that are real "glamour" and then a handful of well known teams but a lot of the sides, you would expect Hearts to compete with so finishing 2nd in a Group isn't implausible.

 

Looking at one of the glamour side groups:

 

- Roma, Glimt, Zorya Luhansk and CSKA Sofia. If we replaced Zorya or CSKA, we would not get through.

 

However, if we drew a group like this:

 

- Gent, Partizan, Anorthosis and Flora, then replacing one of these sides (assume Anorthosis or Flora) we would have had a genuine chance to progress.

 

A lot comes down to luck of the draw but looking at the Conference League sides from this season, I would fancy us to be able to compete with more of the sides that qualified and so odds wise, that might be our best bet for post Christmas European football. 

 

my view is that the best development for us would e conference next season, qualify again for the following season and give the Europa league a right good shot. 
 

Walk before you can run.

 

I am convinced we will earn more cash and coefficient points in the ECL next season.

 

That’s not me being pessimistic - it’s actually optimism and a best most likely case scenario for us.