Europa Conference League 2021-22: the Road to Tirana, Albania

[stormfly]

If Mason goes back to the academy, I would go as far as just letting him and our kids use this for experience.

This is the equivalent of the papa johns trophy and our first team should be nowhere near it.

I bet we would get fined heavily for doing that.

 

[LSUY]

 

[Tucker]

I bet we would get fined heavily for doing that.

I’m not so sure. We can play who we want at the end of the day.

 

[Amo]

Seriously what are Uefa thinking when creating this competition...

What's wrong with it, the fact we fell in?

It's a fantastic competition for teams without a hope for European games. The fact we're shit enough to fall into it doesn't make the competition itself less worthy.

 

[tommo84]

I didn’t want to be in the Europa Conference League but, now we are, I want us to win it.

If Man Utd were in it, they’d want to win it. That’s the mentality that we lack as a club - including the fans. We may not need to go all out in the early stages of it but we absolutely should take it seriously and can do that whilst still giving the likes of Dane Scarlett minutes in the group stage.

I still feel pretty disillusioned with the club and football as a whole but I’d feel even more so if we somehow think we’re too big for any trophy having won so little in my lifetime.

 

[CantSmileWithoutYou]

Can't wait to play the likes of Sumgayit and Inter Yermum...

 

[Amo]

This was an Arsenal meme, once.

 

[Saoirse]

So in terms of the entrants from big leagues it could yet be:

England: Spurs
Spain: Nobody, if Villarreal win the Europa
Germany: Union Berlin
Italy: Sassuolo
France: RC Lennes

Biggest other teams being Basel, Copenhagen, Viktoria Plzen and Feyenoord.

This is a big oppourtunity.

 

[Gedi]

I’m somewhere between 2 & 3. I definitely want us to win it. A group game win alone is worth co-efficient points that could be vital in the seasons to come, so whilst I definitely want to see the kids get more of a run out, we should still pepper the side with our seasoned first team squad.

 

[Marty]

I bet we would get fined heavily for doing that.

We can submit any 25 man squad we want, if we were to drop 11 of our 25 man PL squad and register U23s and U18s instead that would be our prerogative.

I wouldn't agree with the decision as I think we should treat it exactly the same as the EL and essentially play our 12-22 and some youth in the group stage and then gear up for the knockouts and try to win the thing, but I doubt UEFA could sanction us if we did the above.

 

[Marty]

So in terms of the entrants from big leagues it could yet be:

England: Spurs
Spain: Nobody, if Villarreal win the Europa
Germany: Union Berlin
Italy: Sassuolo
France: RC Lennes

Biggest other teams being Basel, Copenhagen, Viktoria Plzen and Feyenoord.

This is a big oppourtunity.

I thought every nation had to send one team to this tournament so if Villarreal win the EL wouldn't that mean Betis get bumped down to ECL?

 

[gavspur]

Nah, apart from giving the kids a game, what’s the point in this? It’s a very poor competition for a very poor season, which is what we deserve. The only up is that both Leicester and Chelski won the league when they had no European games, compared to everyone else. Use the kids and do as well as poss, but focus has to be the league, not distracted by this new Intertoto Cup nonsense.

 

[KingKay]

As soon as this competition was conceived we were destined to be in its inaugural season ???‍ Might as well win the thing.

 

[Saoirse]

I thought every nation had to send one team to this tournament so if Villarreal win the EL wouldn't that mean Betis get bumped down to ECL?

Nope. When a spot is vacated, teams are moved up through qualifying rounds. (So one team is promoted from Q3 to the Playoff, 1 from Q2 to Q3, and 2 from Q1 to Q2.)

 

[GiveMeMoura]

#

That could happen, but for now it's just speculation. Given they'll want to sort TV rights etc in plenty of time I personally don't think they'll change what's been agreed after very lengthy negotiations.

Given that the planned changes don’t happen until 2024, 3 years, and the distaste again for not qualifying through merit, I disagree, doesn’t feel right to me.

Im pretty sure the changes are more or less confirmed but I’d have to try dig up where I read this.

 

[Marty]

What's wrong with it, the fact we fell in?

It's a fantastic competition for teams without a hope for European games. The fact we're shit enough to fall into it doesn't make the competition itself less worthy.

Exactly.

This competition gives a European spot to 16 teams who wouldn't make the EL group stage in the previous format. That means the best teams from countries like Norway, Sweden and Poland get a group stage and six European games they haven't usually previously been able to reach.

Those teams like Honka and Bala and the Gibraltar lot will probably lose in the qualifiers for this tournament too. We won't play the dregs of Europe, we'll play proper professional football teams, just not as good as the ones we'd like to compete against.

It's pathetic small time mentality to not take it seriously and try to win it.

 

[Amo]

Exactly.

This competition gives a European spot to 16 teams who wouldn't make the EL group stage in the previous format. That means the best teams from countries like Norway, Sweden and Poland get a group stage and six European games they haven't usually previously been able to reach.

Those teams like Honka and Bala and the Gibraltar lot will probably lose in the qualifiers for this tournament too. We won't play the dregs of Europe, we'll play proper professional football teams, just not as good as the ones we'd like to compete against.

It's pathetic small time mentality to not take it seriously and try to win it.

Also, it ain't a practical joke at our expense that'll never be replicated. The other teams will fall into it sooner or later. Arsenal were too shit to even get into this.

 

[tototoner]

So are the games on a Thursday and at same time as Europa League?

Also does BT Sport TV contract cover this tournament?

 

[sammyj]

While we will be playing in this competition remember Harry will be wearing a Man City kit playing in the champions league ?????

 

[SUIYHA]

If any of you think the fact that we haven't won anything in ages means we should give this competition any respect at all then you're insane. This is not a trophy, this is a joke competition.

You think winning this would end our drought and get rival fans off our backs? It would make us into a meme - "Haha, Conference League!" they'll laugh at us. This is a loser competition for loser clubs and winning it just spotlights your position as a loser club. There is zero prestige or financial reward from winning the Conference League and I doubt our players will be arsed at all. It's not even like there are less games to play, there are 15 games that we'd need to get through to win it, risking injuries, fatigue and distractions from real competitions.

If there is a way we can decline our position or forfeit then we should do it. If not then only kids, reserves and players that need match fitness should be making the match day squads - first teamers should not be used at all, even in the latter stages, unless we're languishing in the bottom half and don't have any other prospect of qualifying for Europe. I'd even prefer our manager not to travel to away games and let someone else take charge if regulations allow it.

There's nothing to gain but plenty to lose from trying in this competition. Hope the club doesn't fall for it