Tough groups / travels for Man Utd and Soton in the Europa.
But at least Soton get to play Inter Milan (Bale link

.
And that should be a good enough reason for clubs to want to compete in the Europa.
Ok, we're a little bit jaded from being in it so many times and never looking like winning it, but that's not true of many other sides.
How often do fans from clubs other than about seven of the regulars in Europe get to see these sides at their grounds?
Man Utd supporters won't be that bothered, but they've got two decent sized clubs and one total unknown.
Makes it a bit more interesting and the van Persie link could spice it up even more.
Good chance of progress if they take it vaguely seriously and I think that Mourinho will.
Southampton have one big name, one medium European regular and an unusual Israeli side.
There's a generation of Saints fans that have never experienced this sort of thing and they've got a good chance of getting through.
I don't know anything about their manager though, so I have no idea how he'll approach it.
Astra Giurgiu ended up in a group with Roma, by the way.
I think that'd be a big enough draw for the fans.