Europe Awaits

I think the Netherlands trip (Holland is not a country) is the friendlies against Feyernoord and Groningen. I hope they still happen.

 

I'm off to Latvia at lunchtime

 

.... and even some teams in Poland, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, etc. Quite a lot of Europe north of us !

 

I didn't mean it like that. I would never tempt fate in that way. I don't even like looking at a calendar ahead of time. No, I meant that virtually every team in Europe seems to be in it as of now.

And, talking of calendars, I've just turned over to June and who should appear but Morgan. Now, you want to talk fate...........

 

Scotland of course...

 

Right, I'm off to the airport. My trip had originally been about plastics, but now it will be about how long from the airport to the City centre/ground and what hotels/bars fit the bill for an away tie.

Hashtag: lookingformarians

 

Are we going to have to do another kit with a one colour back again? Last time we could not have stripes on the back.

 

Not been able to find if that rule still exists, Madrid and Bilbao have red colour blocks on the back of their shirts though.

Did find out about the squad lists for the Europa league and the locally trained.

The squad size is 25 players

17 of those players are "Free" players and can come from anywhere you wish

The remaining 8 have to be a mixture of locally trained and association trained, with a minimum of four players having to be locally trained if you're allowed the full allocation.
To qualify the player would have to have been registered for 36 months to the FA between the ages of 15-21.

Saints Squad

1. K. Davis - Association Trained
2. N. Clyne - Association Trained
3. M.Yoshida - Free
4. M.Schneiderlin - Free
5. F.Gardos - Free
6. J.Fonte - Free
7. S. Long - Free
8. S.Davis - Association Trained
9. J.Rodriguez - AT
10. S.Mane - Free
11. D.Tadic - Free
12. V.Wanyama - Free
13. J. Ward-Prowse - Locally Trained
14. G. Pelle - Free
15. R.Bertrand - AT
16. F.Forster - AT
17. E.Mayuka - Free
18. P. Gazzaniga - AT
19. L.Isgrove - LT
20, H.Reed - LT
21. J.McCarthy - LT
22. M.Targett - LT
23. S.McQueen - LT
24. S.Gallagher - LT
25. R. Seager - LT

Kept Morgan Free as he was 18 when he signed and might not qualify and is going anyway

Remember seeing an article saying we might struggle to qualify for a full 25 man squad and that's why we retained Lloyd Isgrove, but thats clearly nonsense. Only 10 free players out of possible 17. Plenty of wriggle room

 

Do the likes of Seager, McCarthy etc count if they're Under-21?

 

I was wondering about this - good opportunity for the club to make more money, hopefully they wouldn't make us pay £50 for the European kit??

 

I did have a panic the other day thinking that my passport was out of date - paranoia struck I think, its still valid till 2019!

 

From my brief reading of the UEFA rules, they don't make a distinction on age when it comes to the squad selection, unlike the premier league

 

I do that every holiday, even though I renewed it only a few years ago. The one that really sneaks up on you is your driving licence...the expiry date is nicely hidden.

 

There will be a special kit...I don't share your optimism that the club won't charge the same as the other kit....after all, most people will only buy one and the club won't want to give a cheap option.

 

They sent you a warning about that one ...

*knows as otherwise I would have forgotten to renew mine couple of months back*

 

That must be a new thing...I think people were getting caught out. helps if you remember to tell them if you've moved...another thing people forget. And when you are 70 (no, not yet) you have to make a declaration about fitness to drive.

 

Koeman the Magician

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32966172

 

Conformation of teams of teams that await in the EL

 

And here's an useful excel table with club coefficients. It seem we'll be seeded in third and fourth qualifying round. Possible opponents don't seem to be that strong, If we approach the competition seriously we should have no problem entering the group stage.

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=4FE4712A1E3EA4FA!175&ithint=file,xlsx&app=Excel&authkey=!AOXC9yi0-hN17Z8 (at the bottom left select EL option)

 

I think I'll give Zorya Luhansk away a miss.
https://news.pn/en/criminal/110029