The Swans are top of the Barclays Fair Play league. Barring some stupidity by players, club officials or fans over the run in we should be seeing some Europa League Qualifiers at the Liberty next year. Good thing or bad thing?
Unfortunately not. For your nation's "most fairest playingest club(s)" to gain entry via the fair play route, your league has to be in the top 3 in Europe overall, and last time I checked the PL was way down in the doldrums this year
The Premier League is in 9th place so no fair play place for anyone largely down to the likes of Suarez and Terry and their antics.
i heard it all now ...a fan dont want us to play in europe.. the club and players would give their right arm to play in europe, this is what football is all about.....im lucky enough to have seen the swans play in europe and would love to see them play there again....
The Europa League would be a massive load on our squad and a major distraction from the PL. I for one am relieved we won't be involved. Dai I watched the European adventures in the late 70s and early 80s and they were almost all disastrous. Unless you count besting sliema wanderers (from malta) 17-1 on aggregate (honest!!!). Its the PL that counts now though. Lets keep our powder dry next season so we can have a crack at qualifying for the Champions league
what has that got to do with us playing in europe, it is what teams aim for and the pinnacle of any players career. try telling any manager and player that you dont want them to play in europe.....they would firstly laugh at you ...secondly ask if you were mad and thirdly ask if you were a fan.... of course if we had the opportunity to qualify the club would be chuffed.......even if they had to cut short their holiday....
And what about the prospect of playing an extra 20 games in a season. Do you think that might have a slightly negative effect on our league form, Dai?
I'm dead against playing in Europe, for now. I we were to qualify for Europe, we would be in our second season in the PL, another season that will be vital to us, ensuring we stay up for that magical second season. The extra load on our players imo would see us struggle as we had done toward the end of this season and then we would get releagted. Our boys just aren't up to a full season with added in European game, not yet.
I would love to be back in Europe playing, it will do wonders for our profile. However going the fair play route means that we have a huge number of games before we even start the season, more games mean increased injuries, player tiredness and no break in our season. For now no thanks.
extra games ????? they play 38 games all season plus any cup games as long as they are in them so whats the problem? there are enough players in the squad to play any competition that arises during the season, all this namby pamby the players are tired rubbish comes from the fans, the players would play everyday if they could, ....european football is what we aim for and you only have to watch the stoke,fulham's of this world to see how much they love the idea, and the rewards financially are huge.....
You mean the Premier League won't qualify, right? Come on now, if a fan of another club had typed that you'd have started a bitch-fest there!
same thing innit, english league, prem league, bpl - had a tuff week dude, one more day then off to bali so pls forgive my previous comment
Please forgive my pedantic nature, but NO, it is not the same thing. Teams from Wales play in the league, and it's not called the English league. We've had so much **** off English footie "fans" I'd have thought a fan of our team would make sure to stay clear of that minefield! Slip of the tongue I guess but still, it gets my back up a bit.
Dai you're wrong in every front. If we got to europe we'd be playing mostly first teamers, so they'd end up playing 60 games. There's no way they'd maintain standards. And the rewards are minuscule (a couple of million) compared to what we'd risk losing if we bombed out of the PL!
I used to be like Dai (no, no, wait for it!!!!) in that I thought the kudos of Europe would be a good thing for us. I remember Panathanaikos and their red flares - no not of the trouser variety - down the Vetch. A real experience. But it definitely had an effect on Stoke this season and they're an experienced side in the Prem. We haven't got the strength in depth just yet imo and Prem survival is everything. Easy to say 'namby pamby players' but the pace of the game at this level is frightening and we've seen recently that medical problems previously unheard of are becoming more prevalent. We're not ready imo. But as Musty says it's irrelevant this season as it won't apply to Prem League clubs.