Europe 23/24

[Davy Vandenbroucke 26,177]

Here’s all the details about the upcoming CL qualifiers (I’ve shamelessly plagiarised this thread format from @psb07158).

As it stands, Russian teams are still booted out. 

We will enter in QR3 - meaning if we lose we are guaranteed Europa League group stage football. 

We’re seeded in both rounds, being seeded means we avoid Braga.

https://kassiesa.net/uefa/AccessList2023.html

Key dates:

24 July 2023 - Draw for 3rd qualifying round
7 August 2023 - Draw for play-off round 

3rd round dates:
1st leg - 8–9 August 2023
2nd leg - 15 August 2023

Playoff round dates:
1st leg - 22–23 August 2023
2nd leg - 29–30 August 2023

Potential opponents update:

3rd round

Sturm Graz (AUT)

Backa Topola (SRB)

Dnipro-1 (UKR) or Panathinaikos (GRE)

Genk (BEL) or Servette (SUI)

Play-off round (assuming highest seed progresses)

PSV Eindhoven (NED)

Marseille (FRA)

Teams are confirmed based on final league positions.

[The Specky Forum Organiser 64,805]

Fuck the Champions League

[Davy Vandenbroucke 26,177]

3 minutes ago, The Specky Liar said:

Fuck the Champions League

Tbh I’m far more keen on the away trips than the actual games 

[falkirkNS 6,298]

1 minute ago, The Specky Liar said:

Fuck the Champions League

Europa leagues our level.

Correct.

[VanVeenRangers 2,536]

I only want to win the league. Europe helps budgets but we are starved domestically and it's sickening 

[Rum Ham 2,059]

2 hours ago, falkirkNS said:

Europa leagues our level.

Correct.

Europa leagues not our level this season, but to write off wanting CL is a fickle and defeatist mindset.

Ridiculous.

[five stars 1,621]

Europa league after finishing 3rd in a Champions League group will do nicely for now.

[JimmyCR1 1,503]

Would rather play in europa league and be competitive, our confidence took an enormous battering and that carried over into our league form. We get through a few rounds in the europa we end up with the same kind of money anyway.

As said above, fuck the champions league and the elitism.

[Prso's headband 35,462]

Good to know we’ll be seeded actually, we’ve got some amount of redeeming to do in the CL. To go from EL finalists to complete whipping boys in 6 months is shocking.
 

Beale should be demanding exactly what he needs at least 2-3 weeks before the first games of the season. If it’s the same old story signing players with a day to go, as usual that’ll set us on the back foot. 

[SeparateEntityMyArse 53,729]

Europe is huge financially for us  but the squad we build has to be capable first and foremost of winning back the league trophy. 

[ShanksRFC 3,869]

The absolute tankings in Europe didn't help us much in the league this year.

[left winger 14,202]

Another six tankings in the CL won’t do us any favours. A narrow defeat to a top team in the play offs, then qualifying from our EL group and hopefully making the last 16 would be okay for next season.

[TheMightyGer 46]

Would rather play Europa league tbh and have a chance of being competitive. Unfortunately the fact is if we're going to compete with the scum financially we need CL.

[NixonRFC 1,335]

The Europa League is our level and I think winning games regularly in that competition helps us maintain our form in the League, getting spanked in the Champions League does nothing for us as a club, it demoralises the players and the fans.

 

The money is a factor though, we can't be letting the tims get double the European money than us just by being in a different competition, it's not just the prize money, the TV share and the 10yr coefficient is also huge and that would all go to them if we don't make it.

[Laudrupsleftfoot 10,893]

Can't believe there are so many not wanting us to make the CL groups.

 

[King Jela 20,364]

Good thread, op. We need the Champions league money, especially while the scum are getting it.

I take it Braga or USG are the stick ons who we're guaranteed to get if we get into the play off? 

[PromDeAnglais 5,478]

31 minutes ago, Laudrupsleftfoot said:

Can't believe there are so many not wanting us to make the CL groups.

 

Financially I do. 

But we're so far from that level of football. This seasons performance was embarrassing. Fuck going through that again. 

[Davy Vandenbroucke 26,177]

28 minutes ago, Laudrupsleftfoot said:

Can't believe there are so many not wanting us to make the CL groups.

The CL feels like a bit of a vicious cycle, in that we need the money from it to compete for the league, while at the same time playing in it seems to fuck up our league season.

At this point I wouldn’t be overly gutted if we didn’t make the groups, it’d be annoying from a financial perspective but I can see it wreaking havoc with us domestically like it did this year.

Making the playoffs would probably soften the blow as we get a decent chunk from that.

[G.E.C. 18,793]

1 minute ago, The FF Snitch said:

The CL feels like a bit of a vicious cycle, in that we need the money from it to compete for the league, while at the same time playing in it seems to fuck up our league season.

At this point I wouldn’t be overly gutted if we didn’t make the groups, it’d be annoying from a financial perspective but I can see it wreaking havoc with us domestically like it did this year.

Making the playoffs would probably soften the blow as we get a decent chunk from that.

Who the fucks your avatar?!

[chris182 6,299]

2 hours ago, left winger said:

Another six tankings in the CL won’t do us any favours. A narrow defeat to a top team in the play offs, then qualifying from our EL group and hopefully making the last 16 would be okay for next season.

Last year was an anomaly for me. With additions, a squad not bereft of injuries and a full preseason under our belt, I predict we'll perform much better if we qualify.

[Davy Vandenbroucke 26,177]

14 minutes ago, King Jela said:

Good thread, op. We need the Champions league money, especially while the scum are getting it.

I take it Braga or USG are the stick ons who we're guaranteed to get if we get into the play off? 

If the league positions stay as they currently are, yes. Though I believe we could get Genk, Antwerp, Porto, Ajax or Partizan if positions change.

Getting to the playoff appears relatively hassle-free, which is a plus as just reaching that round gets us £5 million or thereabouts.

[Davy Vandenbroucke 26,177]

3 minutes ago, G.E.C. said:

Who the fucks your avatar?!

Hi there, my name’s Scott, welcome to Planes, Trains, Everything

[Laudrupsleftfoot 10,893]

18 minutes ago, The FF Snitch said:

The CL feels like a bit of a vicious cycle, in that we need the money from it to compete for the league, while at the same time playing in it seems to fuck up our league season.

At this point I wouldn’t be overly gutted if we didn’t make the groups, it’d be annoying from a financial perspective but I can see it wreaking havoc with us domestically like it did this year.

Making the playoffs would probably soften the blow as we get a decent chunk from that.

I get that we've been burnt this season with it, but the financial perspective is hugely significant.

So is being able to attract and keep players who want to play in it.

Finishing third in the CL group and making the EL would be my preferred outcome.

[The Specky Forum Organiser 64,805]

1 minute ago, Laudrupsleftfoot said:

I get that we've been burnt this season with it, but the financial perspective is hugely significant.

So is being able to attract and keep players who want to play in it.

Finishing third in the CL group and making the EL would be my preferred outcome.

Robertson told us it was only worth an extra £3m

[sRcFoCt 7,662]

Fuck sake talking about the champions league and we can't even win our back water of a league