Champions League - Europa League - Conference League

[The reds]

It won’t be an easy tournament that’s for sure. Chelsea just made it look easy with their 1 billion pound squad.

[Trailer Park Tom]

We are in it to win it that's for sure although I agree with the league cup and semi final comparison. 

I don't think there should be a third tier European competition although we should definitely be targeting a semi final minimum achievement.

Without knowing how the league will unfold this could be our way into the Europa League the following year.

[wassy04]

1 It's our best route into Europe next season
2 It's theoretically the competition where we have the best chance to win next season as there's no Liverpool, Man City etc.
3 The League phase might actually be fun and a good opportunity to bring through some younger players and build a bigger squad for the league which obviously we lacked this year.

Obviously, still gutted we didn't make it through to at least Europa or better. I have regular flashbacks of Chris Wood missing that late chance.

Hopefully we make an early statement signing to make everyone feel more confident for next season.

[Paplane]

Well Chelsea look happy enough to have won the Micky Mouse trophy. Doesn’t look a bad night out.

But did they all look that happy when they played Noah? (where the f**k is that?) 

This competition is like the league cup, no one's interested in it until the semi-final.

Shall we withdraw from the League cup then?

By the way Pap I am still hugely disappointed at what we threw away at then end and slightly angry about it too. Im still not at the “we’ve had a great season and done ourselves proud” point. However I am determined to make the best of what we have and enjoy next season.

I'm going on a similar journey Salv (and I think many of our fans are from what I've read on the various socials). Atm I'm still mourning the loss of the glory of a champions league finish rather than embracing what we've actally achieved. I'm fully aware that we've had a brilliant season, that's been beyond all our expectations. It's just that I still cant move on from what could have been, no, what should have been. What we threw away. I'll get there, but it's going to be a few weeks yet I'm certain.

Re your league cup point, I'm pretty sure many clubs in the prem play 2nd strings in it because they aren't worried about going out. If they win a tie, fine, young players get the experience. But if they lose, then no hardship as they consider they don't have a realistic chance of winning the thing anyway as they can't compete with the big 6. So club's don't withdraw, they just dont extend themselves to win it. It breeds a sense of lethargy about the whole competition until the semi-final stage when first teamers get selected. That sense of lethargy for the Conf League is replicated due to the low quality of the teams involved, hence Chelsea putting our their 2nd string early on. But they wanted to win last night obviously, having got to the final. And they looked pretty pleased to have won too.

[Paplane]

It won’t be an easy tournament that’s for sure. Chelsea just made it look easy with their 1 billion pound squad.

I was thinking last night, would we have had the minerals to beat Betis? They looked pretty good in the first half and then Chelsea blew them away 2nd.

[Paplane]

We are in it to win it that's for sure although I agree with the league cup and semi final comparison. 

I don't think there should be a third tier European competition although we should definitely be targeting a semi final minimum achievement.

Without knowing how the league will unfold this could be our way into the Europa League the following year.

I was discussing this earlier here. You might say that the easier pathway to a follow up european campaign next season will be to actually win the conference. On the basis that it's probably easier to do that than to out-place the big 6, Villa & Newcastle, and also the plucky clubs like Brighton and Fulham.

[The reds]

It won’t be an easy tournament that’s for sure. Chelsea just made it look easy with their 1 billion pound squad.

I was thinking last night, would we have had the minerals to beat Betis? They looked pretty good in the first half and then Chelsea blew them away 2nd.

We won't know until we play in it next season

Premier League - Forest
La Liga - Rayo Vallecano
Ligue 1 - Strasbourg
Serie A - Fiorentina
Bundesliga - Mainz

These are the Top 5 League representatives.

[Paplane]

It won’t be an easy tournament that’s for sure. Chelsea just made it look easy with their 1 billion pound squad.

I was thinking last night, would we have had the minerals to beat Betis? They looked pretty good in the first half and then Chelsea blew them away 2nd.

We won't know until we play in it next season

Premier League - Forest
La Liga - Rayo Vallecano
Ligue 1 - Strasbourg
Serie A - Fiorentina
Bundesliga - Mainz

These are the Top 5 League representatives.

So maybe 1 in 4 or 5 chance of winning it maybe? Certainly a semi-final at the least is a realistic ambition.

I'm just concerned that we're going to find the league a whole different animal next season and chuck this european campaigne in the mix and we could potentially be struggling. But I'm sure EM is aware and wants to get some numbers in to help.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

From day one though the words Conference League were in the thread title.

I think it was always a realistic possibility.

[The reds]

It won’t be an easy tournament that’s for sure. Chelsea just made it look easy with their 1 billion pound squad.

I was thinking last night, would we have had the minerals to beat Betis? They looked pretty good in the first half and then Chelsea blew them away 2nd.

We won't know until we play in it next season

Premier League - Forest
La Liga - Rayo Vallecano
Ligue 1 - Strasbourg
Serie A - Fiorentina
Bundesliga - Mainz

These are the Top 5 League representatives.

So maybe 1 in 4 or 5 chance of winning it maybe? Certainly a semi-final at the least is a realistic ambition.

I'm just concerned that we're going to find the league a whole different animal next season and chuck this european campaigne in the mix and we could potentially be struggling. But I'm sure EM is aware and wants to get some numbers in to help.

There will still be other good teams. AZ Alkmaar, Sparta Prague and AEK Athens are in Conference League 2nd Qualifying Round.
Shakhtar Donetsk, Legia Warsaw who are in Europa League 1st Qualifying Round could easily get knocked down to Conference League Qualifying.
All of them teams have European Experience.

On the Premier League, We will be able to push deals over the line that we struggled with in the last Summer Window. So I am still confident.

[wassy04]

It won’t be an easy tournament that’s for sure. Chelsea just made it look easy with their 1 billion pound squad.

I was thinking last night, would we have had the minerals to beat Betis? They looked pretty good in the first half and then Chelsea blew them away 2nd.

We won't know until we play in it next season

Premier League - Forest
La Liga - Rayo Vallecano
Ligue 1 - Strasbourg
Serie A - Fiorentina
Bundesliga - Mainz

These are the Top 5 League representatives.

So maybe 1 in 4 or 5 chance of winning it maybe? Certainly a semi-final at the least is a realistic ambition.

I'm just concerned that we're going to find the league a whole different animal next season and chuck this european campaigne in the mix and we could potentially be struggling. But I'm sure EM is aware and wants to get some numbers in to help.

There will still be other good teams. AZ Alkmaar, Sparta Prague and AEK Athens are in Conference League 2nd Qualifying Round.
Shakhtar Donetsk, Legia Warsaw who are in Europa League 1st Qualifying Round could easily get knocked down to Conference League Qualifying.
All of them teams have European Experience.

On the Premier League, We will be able to push deals over the line that we struggled with in the last Summer Window. So I am still confident.

If we could get a big deal over the line early, that would help get over the pain.

[Paplane]

I was thinking last night, would we have had the minerals to beat Betis? They looked pretty good in the first half and then Chelsea blew them away 2nd.

We won't know until we play in it next season

Premier League - Forest
La Liga - Rayo Vallecano
Ligue 1 - Strasbourg
Serie A - Fiorentina
Bundesliga - Mainz

These are the Top 5 League representatives.

So maybe 1 in 4 or 5 chance of winning it maybe? Certainly a semi-final at the least is a realistic ambition.

I'm just concerned that we're going to find the league a whole different animal next season and chuck this european campaigne in the mix and we could potentially be struggling. But I'm sure EM is aware and wants to get some numbers in to help.

There will still be other good teams. AZ Alkmaar, Sparta Prague and AEK Athens are in Conference League 2nd Qualifying Round.
Shakhtar Donetsk, Legia Warsaw who are in Europa League 1st Qualifying Round could easily get knocked down to Conference League Qualifying.
All of them teams have European Experience.

On the Premier League, We will be able to push deals over the line that we struggled with in the last Summer Window. So I am still confident.

If we could get a big deal over the line early, that would help get over the pain.

Yeah, it would, I agree. I'd also like to hear from EM, to see if a positive message from him can rouse the fan base out of it's stupor.