Europe.

Some decent team in there. Luckily we're seeded
 

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I'll take it! Efter a disappointing season. Are we at the same stage as Motherwell, in 4th? So looks like 4th in SPL disnie get Europa now that Celtic won the cup?
 
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Hibs tweeted something about this being first time in 50 years that we have qualified for Europe twice on the bounce.🤔

I guess they are rightly ignoring the nonsense of the Inter- toto Cup 🥤 thingy that always seemed a bit of a laugh but let's make the most of it as Scotland is moving into the wilderness years as of 27/28 given the coefficient has plummeted.😢
 
Some decent team in there. Luckily we're seeded
I don't want to pish in anyone's cornflakes, but I'm fairly sure we're not guaranteed to be seeded just yet.
That seeded/unseeded list is only a projection, made prior to last weekend's games. Quite a few possible qualifiers from cup finals and last day league fixtures had not been decided.
Then there's the question of who gets through from Round One.
There are a fair few diddies in that with higher coefficients than us, because they qualify every year.
I'm going to work things out properly. I've already worked out that a lot of results would have to go against us - in Albanian League games and various cup finals this weekend, as well as in Round One of the qualifiers - for us not to be seeded, but it's not like it has to be 6 or 8 results go wrong in 6 or 8 games for us to be unseeded. It looks to be around low 20s might have to go wrong from a high 20s number of fixtures - most of which are likely to be around 50/50 calls with the bookies.
 
It's good that we've got at least 2 games to look forward to,because like GM that was the only real enjoyment of the season.

But I don't think qualifying because of Celtic is an accomplishment. Had we beaten Motherwell and taken their spot, then we qualify off our own back.
We didn't even turn up, we've relied on Celtic to make this season bearable twice now.

Hopefully we have good night's again, we've shown we can compete and cause problems when we want to.
But it doesn't change that we needed to be better this season.
 
It's good that we've got at least 2 games to look forward to,because like GM that was the only real enjoyment of the season.

But I don't think qualifying because of Celtic is an accomplishment. Had we beaten Motherwell and taken their spot, then we qualify off our own back.
We didn't even turn up, we've relied on Celtic to make this season bearable twice now.

Hopefully we have good night's again, we've shown we can compete and cause problems when we want to.
But it doesn't change that we needed to be better this season.

They fucked us up last year so what goes around etc etc
 
Some mouthwatering potential ties there eh?
I'd rather we'd missed out and had a clear run at getting some points on the board early in the League - like the hunts did..
Thats not a confirmed list though.
Ajax are far from certain of being in it still...for a start.
 
So. Thanks to the soon-to-be St. Martin of Kilrea, Patron Saint of lost causes and soap dodgers, we are, indeed, back in Europe! 🙂🥳.
...and "Baws!" to this "back door" and "technicality" shite!
Scotland gets five UEFA places. We were the fifth best team in Scotland. We're in on merit.
It's a "technicality" if some wee chancers "luck out" and qualify by winning the Scottish Cup.

First thing to point out is that this is the last season for a while where Scotland gets five UEFA places. The stockpile of coefficient points freakishly accumulated by the Huns is rapidly coming off Scotland's tally😕, so we're down to four UEFA berths for 27/28... Meaning the 4th placed team in the Premiership next May won't qualify for Europe on a "technicality", should a wee team win the Scottish Cup.

For next season, we're in!🥂
As has been said, we come in at the 2nd Qualifying Round.
First leg July 23rd.
Second leg July 30th.
Draw to be made on June 17th.
There will 86 clubs in our "Main Path" bit of that draw. So 43 ties.
43 clubs will be seeded.
43 will be unseeded.
We will be seeded😊.
Being seeded does not give us "2nd leg home advantage."

We cannot play dropouts from the Champions' League until the Group Stage. Champions of the Faroes, Norn Iron, Andorra, San Marino, Lilliput, Knotty Ash, etc. have their own "Champions Path."
So, no chance of drawing Shamrock Rovers or Larne.
However, we can play cup-winners or 2nd/3rd place teams from Diddy Leagues... So Bohemians & St.Pat's are possible at some stage😊... as are Coleraine & Glentoran😕... and Derry😟... and Linfield🤬, though most of those have to negotiate the 1st Qualifying Round.

According to the Bert Kassies site yesterday morning... and Wikipedia... and the UEFA site... Both of which are less reliable than Bert... 29 spots in #Q2 were certain to be taken by clubs that are guaranteed to be seeded. A few more clubs with coefficients high enough to guarantee a seeding were likely to qualify yesterday or today, either through cup finals or final day league fixtures. Results yesterday meant 9 more seeded spots were confirmed. Some have gone to known clubs, others to clubs to be confirmed after games being played today.

As things stood yesterday morning, the lowest ranked club of the 29 guaranteed to be in #Q2 and guaranteed to be seeded was Tobol Kastanay, trying to Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. They are ranked #208 on UEFA's club coefficient table, with a ranking points tally of 8.000.
We are ranked #223, with a points tally of 7.000.
With the gap that narrow, it was going to take a very nasty string of results to prevent us joining the goat slaughterers and the clubs above them in the seeded bag.
Fortunately, enough clubs with lower coefficients than us qualified for #Q2 yesterday to guarantee us a seeded place.

None of the very top seeds moved up to the Europa League as a result of yesterday's games.
That can happen in UEFA tournaments these days, but I don't think the top seeds remaining in the Conference League - FC Copenhagen - can move up to the Europa League, no matter what happens today.
As an example, I believe that if Liverpool win today & Villa lose, Villa will finish 5th in the Premier League and will qualify for the Champions League on different criteria than if they finish 4th. One knock-on from this is that the Gunts' two highest ranked prospective opponents (Bodo/Glimt & Olympiacos, I think) will get byes to the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League, so would not be playing the Gunts, which would make things marginally less difficult for the Gunts to qualify.
I digress.

Anyway, UEFA always organises the draw in "sort of" regional pots. We should be in a North pot. So we should play a British Isles, Atlantic, Scandinavian or Baltic team.
The trouble with the regional pot plan is that it leads to an unbalanced draw in terms of strength.
Most Leagues in the North pot are shite.
The Baltics prefer basketball.
Finland & Sweden prefer ice hockey.
The Faroese and Icelanders prefer slaughtering whales.
Norn Iron will only need someone to set a date for a unification referendum to return to their traditional preference for slaughtering each other.

This is in marked contrast to the Southeast pot, where all the ex-Yugoslav nations are pretty good at football... and have never been known to slaughter each other.
I have this "far right" acquaintance who disgracefully believes that our Balkan friends are prone to slaughtering each other, unless a creature named "Tito" - possibly a large dog of some sort🤔 - growls menacingly at them, in which case they behave impeccably. This "Tito" beast could apparently calm down starlings as well, which is impressive.
Where was I?
Ehhhh... Aye, so, to balance things up, we can expect clubs from North Macedonia or Bosnia- Herzegovina to be airlifted into the North pot, together with those from Kosovo, who aren't welcome in some Balkan states.
Maybe Polish or Swiss clubs might be moved instead, but we are likely to draw a fellow North opponent.
By tradition, by far most frightening of the unseeded North pot clubs is IFK Göteborg, but they've qualified for Europe via their League position for the first time in 10 years😳, so have "nul pwa" - their only coefficient points coming from the Allsvenskan's League ranking.
The 1980s days of Sven-Göran Eriksson, pasting Hamburg in one UEFA Cup final, beating the mighty Dundee United in another, as well as losing a European Cup s-f on pens to Barcelona, won't be coming back.
We should beat most of the North pot teams in that unseeded list.
Here are the seeded, unseeded and "seeding to be confirmed" lists from the Bert Kassies site

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Oh... For those who've not made Europe, the League Cup draw is live on Wednesday.
Hopefully someone will turn on the microphones this year.
Hats / bags / pots...

1 - Aberdeen, Dundee, Dundee U, Falkirk, Kilmarnock, Livingston, St.Johnstone, St.Mirren.

2 - Airdrie, Arbroath, Ayr, Dunfermline, Morton, Partick, Queen's Park, Raith.

3 - Alloa, Cove, ICT, Montrose, Peterhead, QoS, Ross Co, Stenhousemuir.

4 - Clyde, East Fife, E.Kilbride, Forfar, Hamilton, Kelty, Spartans, Stranraer.

5 - Annan, Brechin, Brora, Dumbarton, Embra C, Elgin, Linlithgow, Stirling.

No idea why Brechin are in ahead of Clydebank. It should be the Lowland League's turn for two berths.
Maybe a Bankies spy was seen pointing a phone over the hedge🤔
 
I'm on holiday missing both dates of the 2nd qualifying round, fucking disaster. Praying we get through so i can see another european night at ER and tbh don't want to get ahead of myself but I'd fancy our chances against most potential opponents. Just hope it's not that Israeli bunch, fuck that
 
Oh... For those who've not made Europe, the League Cup draw is live on Wednesday.
Hopefully someone will turn on the microphones this year.
Hats / bags / pots...

1 - Aberdeen, Dundee, Dundee U, Falkirk, Kilmarnock, Livingston, St.Johnstone, St.Mirren.

2 - Airdrie, Arbroath, Ayr, Dunfermline, Morton, Partick, Queen's Park, Raith.

3 - Alloa, Cove, ICT, Montrose, Peterhead, QoS, Ross Co, Stenhousemuir.

4 - Clyde, East Fife, E.Kilbride, Forfar, Hamilton, Kelty, Spartans, Stranraer.

5 - Annan, Brechin, Brora, Dumbarton, Embra C, Elgin, Linlithgow, Stirling.

No idea why Brechin are in ahead of Clydebank. It should be the Lowland League's turn for two berths.
Maybe a Bankies spy was seen pointing a phone over the hedge🤔
Brrechin have chosen to perform in the Lowland League rather than stay in the HFL.
 
It's good that we've got at least 2 games to look forward to,because like GM that was the only real enjoyment of the season.

But I don't think qualifying because of Celtic is an accomplishment. Had we beaten Motherwell and taken their spot, then we qualify off our own back.
We didn't even turn up, we've relied on Celtic to make this season bearable twice now.

Hopefully we have good night's again, we've shown we can compete and cause problems when we want to.
But it doesn't change that we needed to be better this season.
Yip. I'm actually uncomfortable with the spin put on this season. The consecutive top six finishes and the back to back European competition... By all means take, use and spin it all for our advantage but we all know we are miles off where we should be with our financial investment and although folk will point to the end of season points tally of us, Motherwell & Falkirk but let's be honest we were in many ways behind them. There's the nucleus of a good team but we need 3 or 4 additions and a conplete tactical reset.
 
Oh... For those who've not made Europe, the League Cup draw is live on Wednesday.
Hopefully someone will turn on the microphones this year.
Hats / bags / pots...

1 - Aberdeen, Dundee, Dundee U, Falkirk, Kilmarnock, Livingston, St.Johnstone, St.Mirren.

2 - Airdrie, Arbroath, Ayr, Dunfermline, Morton, Partick, Queen's Park, Raith.

3 - Alloa, Cove, ICT, Montrose, Peterhead, QoS, Ross Co, Stenhousemuir.

4 - Clyde, East Fife, E.Kilbride, Forfar, Hamilton, Kelty, Spartans, Stranraer.

5 - Annan, Brechin, Brora, Dumbarton, Embra C, Elgin, Linlithgow, Stirling.

No idea why Brechin are in ahead of Clydebank. It should be the Lowland League's turn for two berths.
Maybe a Bankies spy was seen pointing a phone over the hedge🤔
Thanks for all that…I think! I reckon I shall just turn up and see what happens.
 
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Yip. I'm actually uncomfortable with the spin put on this season. The consecutive top six finishes and the back to back European competition... By all means take, use and spin it all for our advantage but we all know we are miles off where we should be with our financial investment and although folk will point to the end of season points tally of us, Motherwell & Falkirk but let's be honest we were in many ways behind them. There's the nucleus of a good team but we need 3 or 4 additions and a conplete tactical reset.

We were above Falkirk dude. As investment we don't have that anymore but I do agree we're 4 playes off a really good side. Get Jason Kerr in and add a big striker, defensive midfielder and a left back and I think we're all good for next season.
 
Ajax qualified today, beating Utrecht in the play-off final.

Attendance... ehhh.... 6,000 or so😯.

Why?

Well, maybe arrogance on Ajax's part or maybe outside interests own a piece of the stadium, but they'd rented the Johan Cruyff Ajax/Amsterdam Arena out for SEVEN😳 Harry Styles gigs this week😂, so had to play the SF and Final in Volendam

That's no more than 10 miles outside Amsterdam, but it holds less than 7,000. I guess there was nowhere else practical available at short notice🤔.
I doubt Ajax considered it likely they'd be slumming it in the play-offs for a Conference League slot. (F**kin' awful idea! Do not let Doncaster get wind of it!)

As a further indignity, the Ajax v Utrecht game was only a warm-up in a double header with Volendam's relegation play-off v Willem II. Volendam lost that on pens, so they're down and Willem II are up.