England gain extra Euro place So it's confirmed. If Spurs finish 5th, us and Blackpool would be in contention for that Fair Play league spot. I'm not entirely convinced it's a good thing, but at least this year I have the money for an overseas trip!
CMON LADS!!!!! Serious excitement. Why would it be a bad thing? Players will get less rest, e.t.c, but it will be easier to attract players due to European football, and its not as if were looking to qualify for the champions league, or that we are relegation contenders (i hope)
Europa League via Fairplay is a Double edged sword. Players have to come back early from a rest and maybe a lucrative pre-season tour is shelved. Priemier league form can suffer near the end of the season with a small squad, so you need to get off to a good start. A lot of the teams that you play against in the pre-lims are half way through their season, so can be tough to beat. Need to progress into Group stages. Problems with Playing on a Thursday then on Sunday. On the other side Fulham get a higher profile in Europe. As fans we want to see our team get into these sort of Competitions and progress, it gives us a boost. Getting to the group stages attracts more players in the transfer market. The players get more experience of playing different styles of football. The coaches can pick up different tactics to use in the Premier. In the later stages we get to play against some of Europes top teams. I'm not convinced Hughes or the players want to get to the Europa via Fairplay, with the pre season problems it causes, I'd think they'd be far happier putting in an effort to progress to a final in the domestic cups.
I think Europa League is an early start whether you are in through the Fair Play places or the more conventional route. We might start a round, maybe two, earlier, but it would still have an effect - I recall us starting last season early as an unseeded team who were there as of right. This is good news, as is Spurs' victory over Liverpool. The Europa League is an irritation and an hazard for clubs with Champions League pretensions; for a team like ours it's the jam on our bread - the occasional treat to be savoured whenever we get the chance.
How can it be other than a good thing? Let's ask some honest questions: is it likely that Fulham can ever finish much higher than 7th in the Premiership, given the size of the clubs in the top 6? Answer is clearly no, possible, but unlikely. Do we have a chance of qualifying for Europe in a cup competition? Yes, but remember we have only reached one domestic final in our history, so once again our customary odds of around 50/1 will be a fair reflection of our chances. Are we really only interested in the Premier League and holding our heads up as a top 10 side, or do we have a bit of adventure in our soul? The chance to play in Europe will not come to Fulham every year, we can't just say, rather not now, can we have a gap year? The answer must be YES YES YES, let's take our opportunity!
Rocky & the Captain both make excellent points. We have had a good record for reasonable expectation in the past decade (once the initial MAF "Man Utd of the south" verbage wore off) and I think we should maintain that. 8th place and a Europa League spot... throw in a cup run and this would have been a great season and considering BZ's injury what we have is still an achievement. I'm going to reserve any excitement to see if we actually do win the fairplay spot, but if we do... I will certainly be researching the possibility of a trip abroad and how is that not exciting for a club like Fulham?
I seem to remember similar discussions two years ago when we finished 7th about whether the Europa League was a good thing. No one was questioning it when Zoltan Gera turned on a sixpence and put us into the final. Ok, so we might finish 12th or 13th instead of 7th or 8th, but there were far more memorable nights at Craven Cottage last season than there have been this one. Bring it on!
It's really good to see all the positive comments. If we drop a few places because of making good progress in the EL then certainly a price worth paying. I was concerned about getting 5 yellow cards yesterday, but am encouraged by hearing Mark Hughes talking up the benefits today. And I would love a trip somewhere.
Fulhamish you have hit the nail right on the head for me. I read in the Standard tonight, Brede saying that Europa League need to look at the timings of the first rounds. He has a point but for me these guys are professionals, and yes they may need to rest during the summer, but as a gardener who plays footie twice a week, a 2 week break in the middle of summer would do me just great, 6/8 weeks is a luxury. I personally can wait for another European tour, hopefully, and hope we get it.
Take your point froggie although in the case of an athlete I think recovery time can be very important.
The biggest benefits of the europa league will be both the attraction it may bring to new players and the encouragement for some of our fringe players to stay. I was at the game yesterday andsome of the lads who hadn't been playing as much lately, greening, senderos and AJ for example, all looked excellent and they will be more likely to play in the early rounds of the europa and possibly get more playing time in the league as well. And the chance to bring on younger players and new talent will all be enhanced by this. Really get fed up of talk of the likes of spurs and the scousers trying to avoid the europa, which is reflected through the way the media make it out to be a mickey mouse cup. Lets be honest, these clubs are hardly title winning material and the europa could be their best chance for a trophy, plus a justification for greater squad rotation. The ONLY negative is playing thursdays and sundays. I will struggle to make it down to the cottage on regularly on either of these days, but this is just a personal problem with being in Europe.I think for the club as a whole, it is highly beneficiary.
Yes I agree, overall SQUAD quality should improve. It did under Roy, even if we now think some of those are going to or should be moved on. Riise, EJ and (in a different category) Zolly. Think if the "fringe" players were Aj, Gudjohnsen, Salcido - this would be progress over 3 years.
