Europa Conference League

[David]

I know we won't have much chance of going through, but we don't try every year to qualify for Europe so we can get papped out by some team in Israel or Kazakhstan or wherever, do we?

Surely if we're going to get eliminated we'd rather play a team that we at least recognise? Sparta Prague have a decent European calibre, having beaten Rangers and also hammered Celtic a few times.

I'd rather we played teams like Dortmund, Nancy, Steaua Bucharest, Panathinaikos and Prague than some no-name outfit from a corner of the world it's near impossible to get to. Both of the sides we can get provide a fairly easy journey for fans to attend the away game, which is what it's all about. That's where the memories are made.

[Spiderpig]

11 minutes ago, David said:

I know we won't have much chance of going through, but we don't try every year to qualify for Europe so we can get papped out by some team in Israel or Kazakhstan or wherever, do we?

Surely if we're going to get eliminated we'd rather play a team that we at least recognise? Sparta Prague have a decent European calibre, having beaten Rangers and also hammered Celtic a few times.

I'd rather we played teams like Dortmund, Nancy, Steaua Bucharest, Panathinaikos and Prague than some no-name outfit from a corner of the world it's near impossible to get to. Both of the sides we can get provide a fairly easy journey for fans to attend the away game, which is what it's all about. That's where the memories are made.

Good post but we also need to be winning games and going a bit deeper into European competitions as do all the Scottish clubs to improve our coefficient etc, so that we don't need to start at Q2 in July against the Diddy teams.

Making the group stages would be massive for Motherwell but the way UEFA are operating its getting harder each year for smaller clubs to get there. Pandering to the big clubs greed for more money needs to stop, take The blue uglies as an example lose in champions league Q3  or get through and lose in the playoff round and you drop into the Europa league group stages its feckin nonsense, if your out you should be out of all tournaments.

[walking down the Fir Park]

Is the east stand sold out, just been told online there is no option to buy a ticket with only cooper and main stand available? 

[texanwellfan]

Will Sligo  game at Fir Park be live on Motherwell tv in the states?

[joewarkfanclub]

1 hour ago, walking down the Fir Park said:

Is the east stand sold out, just been told online there is no option to buy a ticket with only cooper and main stand available? 

I think there may be more tickets released tomorrow when the uptake from season ticket holders is known. I didnt know you had to book your own seat to secure the discount so Ive booked a block elsewhere to sit with a mate and his boys. Others may have done the same. I called Fir Park to ask about it and they confirmed no discount but season ticket seats will he released from midnight.

[weeyin]

3 hours ago, texanwellfan said:

Will Sligo  game at Fir Park be live on Motherwell tv in the states?

That's a good question. Last time The Euro game at Fir Park was available, but if I'm remembering correctly, we had to pay for it. It wasn't part of our overseas sub.

However, that was covid times when all the streaming rules were different.

I don't see it listed on MFC TV or the PPV site yet, but I hope it's available on one of them.

[Ya Bezzer!]

Think everyone needs to calm down and concentrate on beating Sligo first!

[spudmfc]

8 hours ago, Spiderpig said:

Likewise for me, if I remember correctly Dortmund went all the way to the semi final that year and we had the best result of all the teams that  played in the wesfalen stadium that year in the UEFA cup. IF rab Shannon ever plays again he still has a uefa ban to serve for getting  sent off at Fir park 

Then they poach paul Lambert n go on n win champions league 2 years later

[spudmfc]

7 hours ago, David said:

I know we won't have much chance of going through, but we don't try every year to qualify for Europe so we can get papped out by some team in Israel or Kazakhstan or wherever, do we?

Surely if we're going to get eliminated we'd rather play a team that we at least recognise? Sparta Prague have a decent European calibre, having beaten Rangers and also hammered Celtic a few times.

I'd rather we played teams like Dortmund, Nancy, Steaua Bucharest, Panathinaikos and Prague than some no-name outfit from a corner of the world it's near impossible to get to. Both of the sides we can get provide a fairly easy journey for fans to attend the away game, which is what it's all about. That's where the memories are made.

Mypa 47 anyone lol

[wellsince75]

9 hours ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

Think everyone needs to calm down and concentrate on beating Sligo first!

Suspect this will be tougher than we’d like this to be .  

[David]

10 hours ago, weeyin said:

That's a good question. Last time The Euro game at Fir Park was available, but if I'm remembering correctly, we had to pay for it. It wasn't part of our overseas sub.

However, that was covid times when all the streaming rules were different.

I don't see it listed on MFC TV or the PPV site yet, but I hope it's available on one of them.

The away game is being shown live on Premier Sports here in the UK. The home fixture I don't know. 

[Welldaft Mk1]

41 minutes ago, wellsince75 said:

Suspect this will be tougher than we’d like this to be .  

Knowing us most probably.  My principal fear is they are midway through their season and we have played effectively two bounce games. 

All that said Bala Town are in pre season and should probably have won over the two legs.  Sligo also lost to the bottom team 2-0 at home and whilst they may have rotated the squad a little their fans were / are far from happy. Bearing in mind UCD had won only 1 game out of 22 prior to beating Sligo.  So morale cannot be high at this moment in time. We need to start on the front foot and let Sligo know they are in for a tough night. 

Losing to Mypa and Stjarnan was poor form although both games were very close. The reality is losing to Sligo over two legs would be the worst Euro result in our history. If we are calm and composed and play anywhere near our potential we should be too strong for them. 
 

[Kmcalpin]

1 hour ago, Welldaft Mk1 said:

Knowing us most probably.  My principal fear is they are midway through their season and we have played effectively two bounce games.

Thats my fear too Iain. GA commented that it was hard to arrange friendlies this year, but just 2 bounce games?

On paper we look far strong for Sligo but that counts for nothing on the night as we know only too well.  We could struggle for goals if Van Veen isn't fit.

Still, it should be a good night with a large home support.

 

[parko66]

15 hours ago, texanwellfan said:

Will Sligo  game at Fir Park be live on Motherwell tv in the states?

Just seen this on the Motherwell website 

HOW TO FOLLOW THE GAME ONLINE

The match will be available to stream online with more details to follow.

There will be live radio coverage on BBC Scotland. This can be found on FM at 92.5–94.7 and MHz AM at 810 kHz.

 

Looking promising :)

[Well Well]

on Premier Sports

[Kat]

I was reading an article about the Sligo keeper a few days back, born and bred in Motherwell and supports Celtic, I know thats not a generally surprising thing tbf but I hope we pop plenty past him. He is literally on the verge of moving to an English League One club, this tie will be likely his last for them. 

Looking forward to the competitive football being back, a European run would be nice, hopefully we can take a decent scoreline over to Ireland with us.

 

[Stuwell2]

13 minutes ago, Kat said:

I was reading an article about the Sligo keeper a few days back, born and bred in Motherwell and supports Celtic, I know thats not a generally surprising thing tbf but I hope we pop plenty past him. He is literally on the verge of moving to an English League One club, this tie will be likely his last for them. 

Looking forward to the competitive football being back, a European run would be nice, hopefully we can take a decent scoreline over to Ireland with us.

 

The guy looked good last week. Might be difficult to put a few past him. 

[Ya Bezzer!]

2 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:

On paper we look far strong for Sligo but that counts for nothing on the night as we know only too well.  We could struggle for goals if Van Veen isn't fit.

Far stronger? 

If you transferred all our players to various Irish League sides how many of them do you think would be stand out players in the League of Ireland?

Probably not very many of them.

I'd love to be proved wrong about this tie but I think we have to be very wary and not under estimate them but perhaps most importantly not overestimate ourselves.

Scottish clubs in Europe, outside the Old Firm, have generally had an atrocious record.   Our own recent record against Stjarnan, Glentoran, Coleraine and Hapoel Beer Sheva doesn't give great confidence, especially since we had better players in those campaigns than we do now.

I just have a fear that Scottish football fans being what they are, we'll turn up on the night expecting to roll this team over easily, and if we don't score early, and discover the gap between us and them isn't as big as they though, the crowd will get on the teams back.

I was Instagram the other day and some of the abuse the manager and players are getting on there before the season has even started is ridiculous.  

I don't want sound like a prophet of doom cos I think we are 65 - 70% shots to win this tie but it's very possible it could be a close run thing and it's certainly not impossible for us to lose it. 

We need to manage our expectations but I suspect the majority of our supporters won't.  They didn't last season so why would that change?

[mfc]

4 minutes ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

Far stronger? 

If you transferred all our players to various Irish League sides how many of them do you think would be stand out players in the League of Ireland?

Probably not very many of them.

I'd love to be proved wrong about this tie but I think we have to be very wary and not under estimate them but perhaps most importantly not overestimate ourselves.

Scottish clubs in Europe, outside the Old Firm, have generally had an atrocious record.   Our own recent record against Stjarnan, Glentoran, Coleraine and Hapoel Beer Sheva doesn't give great confidence, especially since we had better players in those campaigns than we do now.

I just have a fear that Scottish football fans being what they are, we'll turn up on the night expecting to roll this team over easily, and if we don't score early, and discover the gap between us and them isn't as big as they though, the crowd will get on the teams back.

I was Instagram the other day and some of the abuse the manager and players are getting on there before the season has even started is ridiculous.  

I don't want sound like a prophet of doom cos I think we are 65 - 70% shots to win this tie but it's very possible it could be a close run thing and it's certainly not impossible for us to lose it. 

We need to manage our expectations but I suspect the majority of our supporters won't.  They didn't last season so why would that change?

I'm with you there,I would like to think we will have a bit to much for sligo over the two legs but I'm very wary at the same time.our fitness levels won't be where they need to be right now which could be a factor.our performances at this stage last season in the league cup were awful,if we turn up in that frame of mind again then we could easily be in trouble here.im hoping we come out and go for it from the start on thursday and look for goals and it's not just sit back at a slow pace and hope something happens.

[GazzyB]

I get what you’re saying YB and I agree, but at the end of the day what the fans think will happen doesn’t change a thing. I trust Alexander to take this as seriously as possible out of all the managers we have had recently.

 

An Albion Rovers or the Iceland debacle might have happened due to the relaxed nature of McGhee, McCall or Robinson, but I just can’t see Alexander being anything other than fully focused on the task at hand.

 

I fully expect us to win this comfortably.

[Spit_It_Out]

Doom Doom Doom we are going to beat Sligo get through .Such a negative fan base but let's be honest lots of supporters   would love Alexander to fail it's embarrassing.When we win just make up another excuse.

I couldn't believe last season when I was reading things like I hope we get beat and Alexander doest finish top half and hope we get beat don't get into Europe.

Imagine coming in saving us yes saving us from certain relegation with the mess  Robbo left us in and next season top 6 and Europe and fans are still greeting.

 

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[weeyin]

As this is our first competitive outing of the season, I expect us to be strong and fit but not necessarily up to match speed (unlike Sligo, who are fully match fit).

I expect we'll actually be a bit sharper and better in the 2nd leg, so any win in the 1st leg will be a good result.

[Ya Bezzer!]

6 minutes ago, Spit_It_Out said:

Doom Doom Doom we are going to beat Sligo get through .Such a negative fan base but let's be honest lots of supporters   would love Alexander to fail it's embarrassing.When we win just make up another excuse.

I couldn't believe last season when I was reading things like I hope we get beat and Alexander doest finish top half and hope we get beat don't get into Europe.

Imagine coming in saving us yes saving us from certain relegation with the mess  Robbo left us in and next season top 6 and Europe and fans are still greeting.

There are guys out there that are 20 minutes at 0-0 away from losing the plot - at the manager in particular.  Like I said some of the vitriolic abuse online before the season has even started is genuinely dispiriting.

Last season on this very forum against Livingston we had posters saying they hoped we lost a match that had the potential to get us Top 6.  Crazy.

Even before that we had the extraordinary scenes at Fir Park when fans applauded Stevie Robinson, who left us in a terrible state and on the brink of relegation, and at the same time booed and screamed abuse at the current Motherwell manager that had just horsed Robinson and his St Mirren side.  You couldn't make it up.

I know society in general is going to hell in a hand basket but it seems like our a significant section of our support is part of the vanguard.  

We are a small self financed club with no outstanding talents on the roster.   Like I said we need to manage our expectations.  That's not to say we shouldn't try to win or try to play good football but there has to be some kind of realistic expectation of where we are.  

[StirlingDosser]

Not expecting this to be comfortable at all. We have no right for it to be either. I actually think Thursdays game will be challenging and we may even concede, eventually settling into the tie. Just pure speculation as I don't know the first thing about their squad. Then I query which Motherwell squad will turn up - the one who ground out a result against Hearts or the one which dragged its feet through January and February.

Any word on how ticket sales are going by the way?

[wellsince75]

I don't believe it's doom doom doom to say this will be tough nor is it wish for GA to get the hoof.

It's more t hereality of where SPL sits in the overall quality of European football.   The Irish leagues at one stage where not close to be level with SPL , over the years that gap has reduced. Suspect most of Europe now consider us to be the 'Diddy' teams.

I wish us well, want us to win, would prefer it to be comfortable. Equally there's not been many games against any level of competition in recent years that fell into this category.