UEFA Europa League

[BRY]

Looks like the UEFA Cup is changing format next season...

 

http://www.uefa.com/uefa/keytopics/kind=64/newsid=754085.html

[madoubleca]

hopefully we will be there next season! fingers crossed, miss the euro matches. think the new format will be good, needed changing really. could get some cracking games at tynie, if they are played there that is.

[loveofthegame]

Quite exciting, just sounds like the Champs league but slightly bigger. Love the sound of playing teams home and away. Ridiculous format currently. Here's hoping we're there for it next season

[Mr Romanov Saviour of HMFC]

48 teams?

 

Just can't see it being any good to be honest. It's absolutely dwarfed by the Champions League.

 

The current structure is absolutely gash though.

[Jambo Ell]

Don't want toi jump the gun (!) but if we qualify for europe next season are we allowed hold home games in europe at tynie again?

[Charlie-Brown]

Don't want toi jump the gun (!) but if we qualify for europe next season are we allowed hold home games in europe at tynie again?

 

I don't know whether we are 'allowed' or not but tynecastle is simply too small for the recent level of attendances we have had for european matches since we started playing them at murrayfield in the robinson era - every game there including friendlies has drawn a crowd larger than tynecastle capacity.

[Mr Romanov Saviour of HMFC]

I don't know whether we are 'allowed' or not but tynecastle is simply too small for the recent level of attendances we have had for european matches since we started playing them at murrayfield in the robinson era - every game there including friendlies has drawn a crowd larger than tynecastle capacity.

 

They have also led to poor performances.

 

I think a few thousand tickets being sacrificied is worth it if we can be competitive in Europe.

 

Tynecastle is (usually) brilliant on a European night.

 

Murrayfield is absolutely brutal.

[Chad Sexington]

I don't know whether we are 'allowed' or not but tynecastle is simply too small for the recent level of attendances we have had for european matches since we started playing them at murrayfield in the robinson era - every game there including friendlies has drawn a crowd larger than tynecastle capacity.

 

But the Braga game apart, the atmosphere has been totally guff.

 

I'd much rather have the reduced capacity at Tynie and have an intimidating atmosphere.

[Jambo Ell]

Yeah if at all possible it would be better to have a reduced capacity at tynie (say just season ticket holders in attendance) and away fans than a half full muddyfield. Would the first few rows have to be sacrificed like they are in the champions league does anyone know?

[Charlie-Brown]

I understand what people are saying regards atmosphere at tynie v murrayfield ... I suppose it depends how much additional money versus the rental cost playing at murrayfield brings in - some european matches got 25K+ attendances .... which means an extra 8K+ fans got to see the game ... I don't think Hearts can afford to turn down extra money or turn fans away if truth be told.

[rossthejambo]

I understand what people are saying regards atmosphere at tynie v murrayfield ... I suppose it depends how much additional money versus the rental cost playing at murrayfield brings in - some european matches got 25K+ attendances .... which means an extra 8K+ fans got to see the game ... I don't think Hearts can afford to turn down extra money or turn fans away if truth be told.

 

maybe not but surely the prize money that we could end up getting for qualifying for the next stage will cancel that out? playing at tynecastle will always increase our chances of qualification compared to murrayfield IMO.

[JamboPete]

After reading the changes for the UEFA cup competition, that are being put in place for next season, I think it is absolutely crucial that Hearts are a part of this.

 

If you get into the group stages, that will guarantee you at least 8 matches as I am presuming there will still be a 1st round proper before the actual groups.

 

Also the TV rights are being centralised, which will also bring in more money for the participants.

 

Hopefully we will still be around 3rd or 4th in the league come January, so that Vlad can maybe allow Csaba 2 or 3 quality signings to allow us to push on and get 3rd or 4th place.

 

Come on Vlad, you know it makes sense!!!

[rossthejambo]

After reading the changes for the UEFA cup competition, that are being put in place for next season, I think it is absolutely crucial that Hearts are a part of this.

 

If you get into the group stages, that will guarantee you at least 8 matches as I am presuming there will still be a 1st round proper before the actual groups.

 

Also the TV rights are being centralised, which will also bring in more money for the participants.

 

Hopefully we will still be around 3rd or 4th in the league come January, so that Vlad can maybe allow Csaba 2 or 3 quality signings to allow us to push on and get 3rd or 4th place.

 

Come on Vlad, you know it makes sense!!!

 

 

im under the impression that its more or less identical to the champions league and that there won't be a first round. or am i reading it completely wrong?

[Carl Weathers]

The atmosphere at Tynie against Stuttgart was amazing and we almost sneaked through.

 

Much better than Murrayfield.

 

I also like the look of this new format. It gives the smaller clubs in Europe a chance to play a few games.

[spacerjoe]

48 teams?

 

Just can't see it being any good to be honest. It's absolutely dwarfed by the Champions League.

 

The current structure is absolutely gash though.

 

Totally agree.

 

As much as I enjoy the Champions League, the old format was the still the best.

 

Champions in the European Cup

Cup Winners in the Cup Winners Cup

Best of the rest in the UEFA

 

All knock out formats, none of this league guff.

 

Bring back the CUP WINNERS CUP!

[The People's Chimp]

I don't know whether we are 'allowed' or not but tynecastle is simply too small for the recent level of attendances we have had for european matches since we started playing them at murrayfield in the robinson era - every game there including friendlies has drawn a crowd larger than tynecastle capacity.

I'd say so what?

 

Frankly, I couldn't care about satisfying demand from fans who only want to come along for a bit of glory. What I do care about is getting a result. We've been shocking at Murrayfield, the atmosphere has been akin to that on the moon, and wonderful chances to progress have been thrown away.

 

Short term gain in terms of attendance figures are a nonsense when you look at the money to be made if we actually go through to the later stages. We're never going to go through to the next stage playing at Murrayfield. I think that is plain to see for anyone who looks at it realistically. However, at a packed Tynie on a European night, we can be a significant threat to quite a number of good European sides.

 

Not only that, but for the fans, the ones who are there every week, a European night AT TYNECASTLE should be the reward for their loyalty and support; not the chance to rattle about in an empty stadium, rank hamburgers everywhere, no atmosphere and yet another great opportunity thrown away.

[Chad Sexington]

I'd say so what?

 

Frankly, I couldn't care about satisfying demand from fans who only want to come along for a bit of glory. What I do care about is getting a result. We've been shocking at Murrayfield, the atmosphere has been akin to that on the moon, and wonderful chances to progress have been thrown away.

 

Short term gain in terms of attendance figures are a nonsense when you look at the money to be made if we actually go through to the later stages. We're never going to go through to the next stage playing at Murrayfield. I think that is plain to see for anyone who looks at it realistically. However, at a packed Tynie on a European night, we can be a significant threat to quite a number of good European sides.

 

Not only that, but for the fans, the ones who are there every week, a European night AT TYNECASTLE should be the reward for their loyalty and support; not the chance to rattle about in an empty stadium, rank hamburgers everywhere, no atmosphere and yet another great opportunity thrown away.

 

Absolutely spot on.

[Mr Romanov Saviour of HMFC]

I'd say so what?

 

Frankly, I couldn't care about satisfying demand from fans who only want to come along for a bit of glory. What I do care about is getting a result. We've been shocking at Murrayfield, the atmosphere has been akin to that on the moon, and wonderful chances to progress have been thrown away.

 

Short term gain in terms of attendance figures are a nonsense when you look at the money to be made if we actually go through to the later stages. We're never going to go through to the next stage playing at Murrayfield. I think that is plain to see for anyone who looks at it realistically. However, at a packed Tynie on a European night, we can be a significant threat to quite a number of good European sides.

 

Not only that, but for the fans, the ones who are there every week, a European night AT TYNECASTLE should be the reward for their loyalty and support; not the chance to rattle about in an empty stadium, rank hamburgers everywhere, no atmosphere and yet another great opportunity thrown away.

 

Good post.

 

I still have nightmares about Murrayfield.

 

That Sparta Prague match was one of the worst in history. It was also very winable.

 

Only Murrayfield could make a game against Barcelona boring.

[portobellojambo1]

I believe that Tynecastle as it stands is compliant for fixtures played within the UEFA Cup (as was) but not fixtures within the UEFA Champions League (something to do with the pitch size + run off areas, or some kack like that).

 

I would much prefer HMFC to play their ties at Tynecastle, more chance of progressing through, and progressing means additional gates/TV revenue etc., = more than balances out moving to Murrayfield and possibly going out at the group stages.

 

It is all about planning long term, and not thinking of short term gain. I am not honestly convinced the additional fans who did go to Murrayfield would actually know how to get to Tynecastle, but that is a whole different kettle of fish.

[Gibbo]

It was stated when we were last in Europe that we could have played at Tynecastle in the UEFA but not in the Champions League. However, it was decided to play all the games at Murrayfield because of the greater capacity.

 

I think that we're allowed to use Tynecastle for qualifying games and then switch to Murrayfield for the group games. However, all the group games must be at the same stadium.

 

The final word should be with Ralf Rangnick, who managed both Stuttgart and Schalke when they played us in the UEFA Cup. He couldn't believe that the game with Schalke wasn't at Tynecastle.

[Flimsy]

Main changes are -

 

48 teams in group stage (12 groups of 4) instead of the current 40

 

prize money pool

 

cup runners-up no longer qualify for Europe

 

results in qualifying rounds will now count towards club co-efficients (good news for the likes of Kaunas)

 

Impact on Scotland - we will have 3 representatives in the Europa League next season who will have to play 1, 2 and 3 qualifying rounds to the group stage respectively. Intertoto is scrapped. Unless the SFA decide to include the League Cup winners, 4th place in the league is guaranteed a place in the Europa League.

 

 

I agree that it is absolutely vital that Hearts aim to get into the Europa League on a regular basis, it is a realistic and potentially lucrative target. Unfortunately, failure to qualify for Europe for the last two seasons has ended our chances of being seeded to reach the Europe League if we qualify next season, undoing all the good work of Craig Levein's side in making us a mid ranked European club. It cannot be underestimated the damage that has been done to the standing of our club in the last 2 years. Forget Champions League, this is an exciting opportunity for Hearts and Romanov had better realise it.

[Hearts Heritage]

As I have said before Scotland IS NOT getting an extra place in the revamped UEFA Cup. The apparent extra place is simply the voluntary entry to the Intertoto made compulsory. The early rounds will be played on the same 'pre-season' dates as the IC. With the same fraught difficulty of playing teams who are 'mid season'.

[DC_92]

According to this wikipedia article, the teams will enter in the following rounds...

 

2nd QR

4th place

 

3rd QR

3rd place

 

4th QR

Scottish Cup winners

[Ben Dover]

Ok I agree that a full ( jumping ) Tynie is great and, looking at it simplistically, I would probably prefer it to say a 25-35k crowd at MF.

However I'm not sure we have what it takes to really intimidate teams there, and certainly not teams with any real pedigree. Take Bordeaux for example. IIRC they were a class above us and had us chasing shadows for most of the match

[Flimsy]

Correction to my earlier post and it's not good news. It seems that cup runners-up will still participate in the Europa League (if they lose to a CL qualifier in the cup final). This has been confirmed verbally by David Taylor and will be a blow and an embarrassment to Gordon Smith.

[topcat]

The atmosphere at Tynie against Stuttgart was amazing and we almost sneaked through.

 

Much better than Murrayfield.

 

We almost sneaked a result against AEK as well.

 

There seems to be a tendancy to blame recent European failures at home on playing at Murrayfield

 

To an extent this is because it suits some people to apportion blame to the officials who chose the venue than the players who failed to perfrom there but it's also because people remember the likes of Bayern Munich, Bolonga and Athletico Madrid being humbled in Edinburgh in front of a packed Tynecastle.

 

But those victories came in front of the old shed.

 

Since the Wheatfield stand was built Tynecastles record doesn't look so sparkling.

 

Red Star Belgrade D 1-1 (eliminated on the Away goals rule)

Lantana Tallinn W 5-0

Real Mallorca L 0-1

IBV Vestmannaeyjar W 5-0

VfB Stuttgart W 3-2 (eliminated on the Away goals rule)

Zeljeznicar Sarajevo W 2-0

FC Girondins de Bordeaux L 0-2

 

Since the move to Murrayfield the record isn't great either even considering that we've only had one game against what one might call minor opposition and even then Siroki Brijeg were more of a challenge than IBV or Lantana.

 

Braga W 3-1

Schalke 04 L 0-1

Ferencvaros L 0-1

NK Siroki Brijeg W 2-1

AEK Athens L 1-2

Sparta Prague L 1-2

 

In fact the two truly outstanding European results of both the "New Tynecastle" and "Murrayfield" eras happened far away from Roseburn in Bordeaux and Basle.

 

There may be a bit more of an edge playing in a small sold out ground, but it's easy to overstate both cases (and many people do). There may after all be an even bigger edge to be gained from playing in front of twice as many fans.

 

There is nothing special about Tynecastle that would have sent Christophe Berra's deflected Own Goal for AEK safely wide.

[BRY]

We almost sneaked a result against AEK as well.

 

There seems to be a tendancy to blame recent European failures at home on playing at Murrayfield

 

To an extent this is because it suits some people to apportion blame to the officials who chose the venue than the players who failed to perfrom there but it's also because people remember the likes of Bayern Munich, Bolonga and Athletico Madrid being humbled in Edinburgh in front of a packed Tynecastle.

 

But those victories came in front of the old shed.

 

Since the Wheatfield stand was built Tynecastles record doesn't look so sparkling.

 

Red Star Belgrade D 1-1 (eliminated on the Away goals rule)

Lantana Tallinn W 5-0

Real Mallorca L 0-1

IBV Vestmannaeyjar W 5-0

VfB Stuttgart W 3-2 (eliminated on the Away goals rule)

Zeljeznicar Sarajevo W 2-0

FC Girondins de Bordeaux L 0-2

 

Since the move to Murrayfield the record isn't great either even considering that we've only had one game against what one might call minor opposition and even then Siroki Brijeg were more of a challenge than IBV or Lantana.

 

Braga W 3-1

Schalke 04 L 0-1

Ferencvaros L 0-1

NK Siroki Brijeg W 2-1

AEK Athens L 1-2

Sparta Prague L 1-2

 

In fact the two truly outstanding European results of both the "New Tynecastle" and "Murrayfield" eras happened far away from Roseburn in Bordeaux and Basle.

 

There may be a bit more of an edge playing in a small sold out ground, but it's easy to overstate both cases (and many people do). There may after all be an even bigger edge to be gained from playing in front of twice as many fans.

 

There is nothing special about Tynecastle that would have sent Christophe Berra's deflected Own Goal for AEK safely wide.

 

very good, and balanced post Topcat.

I agree RE the own goal against AEK - our luck ran out about 10 minutes too early that night...

[rond]

Looks like the UEFA Cup is changing format next season...

 

http://www.uefa.com/uefa/keytopics/kind=64/newsid=754085.html

 

We will need to improve a lot to be even thinking about a Euro spot,we,ll

be lucky to get a top 6 spot at the moment.