LOI in Europe 2022

[placid casual]

The only one to emerge from that was the keeper Anang. Pats had an extra man for about 50 mins(?) but looked lethargic.
Barry Cotters peno was waddle-esque.
3 teams playing in Europe in August.
F*** the begrudgers.

[CuanaD]

Good night for the coefficient too - I think that puts us up to 1.625 with still *at least* 8 games to play

[CorribsideSteve]

Sligo did amazingly well! The atmosphere in the showgrounds was as good as I've seen it since 2010. They had to dig deep tonight at different points but you could see from early on that they wanted it more. What a free kick! One of the best LOI goals in Europe that I've seen in years, maybe as far back as Benson vs Legia. A perfect start that set the platform for them. Motherwell loudly booed. Disaster for them. Imagine what they are thinking; beaten by a LOI team, and even 3 teams from Malta went through. Well done to Pats too. Sounds like they made hard work of it but they're in the next round with Sligo and that's all that matters. A great week for the LOI.

[pineapple stu]

Up to 38th in the rankings now after tonight's results, this is turning into a grand ol' European run for our teams this year, pity Derry weren't up to it.
Don't think that's right?

Rankings aren't updated yet but a win and a draw can only get us up to 40th, depending on how Armenia and the Faroes got on?

Edit - both got a draw, which has us ahead of the Faroes and level with Armenia in 40th I think

[Straightstory]

Great stuff! Watched the Pats game. Slightly lucky on the night, but delighted for them (and Sligo).

[legendz]

Sligo away in Norway next week and Pat's travelling to Sofia.

[dong]

I'm here for the coefficient talk. What a night!

[pineapple stu]

I'm here for the coefficient talk. What a night!

Should you not be down the pub unable to type straight? :p

[pineapple stu]

Also Crusaders drawing with Basel after barely scraping by Bruno's Magpies deserves credit. Even if they lost 2-0 away to ten men

[Nesta99]

When Cotter stepped up my initial reaction was 'oh no'. The 2nd missed St Pats peno wasnt a bad penalty, the keeper got a hell of a reach and strong hand to the ball - some of the players thought it was in as soon as it left the boot so I think it could go down as a good save than a bad penalty. Mura keeper was alwyas going to big toe it down the middle. Even as a neutral it was fun to see their keeper try every trick in the book to distract Pats players and keeper and made no difference. Some very composed penalties.

You tend to think the worst about what was said that the players were bringing to the refs and linos attention. Atakayi had some issue with their support after his peno - I thought maube the Pats fans were off camera in that stand but I dont think so. Was there issues with the crowd chants during the game? Those Black 'Gringos' looked pretty mean and pished off. Dont know much about Slovenian footy or fans but just in case I hope all the travelling support will be safe and well and can enjoy a few beers in peace tonight. If clubs are going to build half or bits of grounds in phases in Ireland well let it be a bit like that ground tonight!

[pineapple stu]

Up to joint 40th so (with the usual caveat that this doesn't matter as much as it used to)

Malta the only other league below Romania in 27th with three clubs left.

But the third round is obviously going to be a lot harder to get a result in, and with the champions getting so many safety nets and smaller countries getting into the groups, there's a ways to go yet this season

[culloty82]

SPL heads already moaning about being knocked out by a "pub league" team!

[Philosophizer]

Let them moan and name-call all they like...

[DCWA]

Up to 38th in the rankings now after tonight's results, this is turning into a grand ol' European run for our teams this year, pity Derry weren't up to it.

In hindsight what most Derry fans thought was maybe a 50/50 draw now looks a stinker of a draw with Riga progressing through this round against Slovakian opposition at a canter as well. I don’t think we ever had much of a chance.

However it is not about us - two fantastic results this evening following up from a very good one leg result for Rovers the other night.

To me Pat’s the most impressive of the lot but congrats to all, and hopefully we can turn a very decent year into a cracking one.

[TonyD]

The only one to emerge from that was the keeper Anang. Pats had an extra man for about 50 mins(?) but looked lethargic.
Barry Cotters peno was waddle-esque.
3 teams playing in Europe in August.
F*** the begrudgers.

Funny, you sounded a bit like one yourself there for a minute. ;)

Delighted with that. Yeah, we got the breaks, but so what ? Plenty of times the boot has been on the other foot.

Don’t agree that Anyang was the only one to emerge with any credit either. Pats back three were great, Adam O’Reilly brilliant in midfield, and Forrestor with some pieces of class too. We did tire badly though, possibly due to the heat, but we had a lot of possession and were generally very good on the ball, which is great to see from an Irish team.

[DCWA]

SPL heads already moaning about being knocked out by a "pub league" team!

Scottish press took this attitude as well, very pretentious, including the Premier Sports commentators I thought constantly referring to how big a result it was for Sligo, as if it was Leciester winning the Premier League.

Motherwell needed penalties to beat Coleraine the year before last ffs - it was a super result for Sligo but not a massive shock.

[Asterix]

All 3 home games in the next round in Tallaght? What are the other grounds in the league that are able to host at this stage?

[Philosophizer]

Just saw a stat that LOI teams have won the last 3 ties against spl opposition 😂

[pineapple stu]

Not true - Gretna were newly promoted to the second tier

[CuanaD]

40th in the coefficients and the two countries directly ahead of us only have one team(each) left in competition. Never counting chickens at this level, but statistically there is a great chance to move up another couple of places

[Buller]

Great results tonight! Watched the Sligo one, what a show and stellar atmosphere.

Wiki Europa Conference League 2021/22 Prizemoney.
First qualifying round elimination: €150,000
Second qualifying round elimination: €350,000
Third qualifying round elimination: €550,000
Play-off round elimination: €750,000
Qualified to Group Stage: €2,950,000

Looks like 200k per round progressed, are these numbers out of date? Heard different figures branded about everywhere about earnings.

[Philosophizer]

Not true - Gretna were newly promoted to the second tier
Your facts aren't welcome here Stu. Let me have my fun just for one night.

[placid casual]

Funny, you sounded a bit like one yourself there for a minute. ;)

Delighted with that. Yeah, we got the breaks, but so what ? Plenty of times the boot has been on the other foot.

Don’t agree that Anyang was the only one to emerge with any credit either. Pats back three were great, Adam O’Reilly brilliant in midfield, and Forrestor with some pieces of class too. We did tire badly though, possibly due to the heat, but we had a lot of possession and were generally very good on the ball, which is great to see from an Irish team.
Nah I'm delighted for youse, honest.
Only saw from the he 2nd half onwards but felt that whilst Pat's passed it around nicely there wasn't an emphasis on pushing forward, especially after they were reduced to 10 men. Cotters peno aside the other ones taken were professional and calm so fully deserved to go through. The young fellah ataki(?) looks to have a bit about him. O'Reilly has potential but once or twice overplayed it a hit and almost landed youse in trouble. Enjoy Norway next week anyway.

[pineapple stu]

Your facts aren't welcome here Stu. Let me have my fun just for one night.

You can still have your fun by digging up the SuperGretna thread :)

[D24Saint]

To say that was sweet is an understatement.

[joey B]

Are we looking at the possibility of all 3 teams having to play their next round in Tallaght?
I know Sligo would have to put a temporary stand in to host the next round but not sure if it’s feasible…

[yurt]

Delighted there's still so many games still left to look forward to.

Things were looking fairly bleak just a couple weeks ago. Both Pat's and Sligo are in bonus territory now. Like last year it's great to see Irish sides get so far but unless Shamrock Rovers so and qualify for the Group stages it's going to be a disappointing year.

Losing the run of ourselves with the recent great results but would be huge to have multiple teams competing in a playoff for group stage football.

[paul_oshea]

Anyone seen geysir?

[ontheotherhand]

I don't buy that. No business can make progress by naval gazing at itself. External benchmarking is key for a sense of perspective. Yes, there'll be some freak results like Sheriff changing their entire squad in the space of 12 months, but over the last five years of the coefficients, that'll balance itself out, and other teams will face similar teams.

Flora reached the groups by beating Hibs of Malta and Rovers. That's all. They lost two other matches. They picked up some results in the groups, sure - but we can't be making excuses for losing badly to a team from a country with a population a quarter of ours and league attendances about a fifth of the LoI's. Instead of making excuses about losing to them, or saying "If the LoI had achieved those results...", we should be aiming towards regular results like that, or better. And by and large, we're not getting them.

Willing to reopen this one now stu.....

[Jack B]

Congrats to Sligo as well.

Up the minnows.

[Shinkicker]

Congrats to Sligo as well.

Up the minnows.
To say Sligo were minnows is a bit harsh. You must remember the standard of LOI football has improved greatly and has caught up with its Scottish counterparts. Except Celtic and Rangers LOI teams could compete with everyone else in the SPL. Therefore this was not an unexpected result for me. One of the greatest ever was Bohs 3 v Rangers 2 back in 1984. I was at it and Bohs were by far the better team. LOI has come on leaps and bounds and results like last night are to be expected now. How far will Sligo and Pat's go?? Who knows, but it won't be long until we have teams in the group stages on a regular basis.

[Jd2793]

To say Sligo were minnows is a bit harsh. You must remember the standard of LOI football has improved greatly and has caught up with its Scottish counterparts. Except Celtic and Rangers LOI teams could compete with everyone else in the SPL. Therefore this was not an unexpected result for me. One of the greatest ever was Bohs 3 v Rangers 2 back in 1984. I was at it and Bohs were by far the better team. LOI has come on leaps and bounds and results like last night are to be expected now. How far will Sligo and Pat's go?? Who knows, but it won't be long until we have teams in the group stages on a regular basis.

it got sligo wound up which i suppose is all that matters. fact is sligo have been average by LOI standards for a good while now, this season they have been worse than last. SPL still has better players imo there should be no way sligo can beat motherwell this comfortably over 2 legs after losing the key players theyve lost over the last 8 months. Huge embarrassment for Motherwell whatever way you look at it. Big boost for sligo especially with next year in mind, when dundalk should be back in europe so will have more cash. Helps them stay in touch with that group of teams.

[legendz]

SPL heads already moaning about being knocked out by a "pub league" team! Unfair comments considering LoI clubs have made the group stages of European competition.
For LoI clubs, the play-off round is like a European final. Sligo and Pat's are effectively in European qualifier semi-finals.
Having 3 clubs in round 3 and at least 1 club in the playoffs is great publicity for the league. If the league can consistently have a return like this, it will improve the standing of the league.

[pineapple stu]

Huge embarrassment for Motherwell whatever way you look at it.
Yep. If it was the other Rovers, you'd think it was a decent result but not much more than that. But I think even Sligo fans will acknowledge they're crap this year - getting past Bala on penalties, taking two points from three games against UCD...and then beating Motherwell home and away?

That's Motherwell's problem though. The next round against Viking will be interesting and might help answer the question of which is the real Sligo. If it's Bala Sligo, then Viking should win home and away handy enough. If it's Motherwell Sligo, well then you'd have to imagine an upset isn't impossible at all.

Don't think I'd hold out much hope for Pat's in Bulgaria, but feck it, it's a free shot.

[sbgawa]

dare to dream about Rovers Pats and sligo getting through the next round which would give us 1 guaranteed group stage particpant and two in play offs.
Its mad the way European hopes can swing from our league is **** to we are better than we think depending on a couple of results either way.

[Shinkicker]

it got sligo wound up which i suppose is all that matters. fact is sligo have been average by LOI standards for a good while now, this season they have been worse than last. SPL still has better players imo there should be no way sligo can beat motherwell this comfortably over 2 legs after losing the key players theyve lost over the last 8 months. Huge embarrassment for Motherwell whatever way you look at it. Big boost for sligo especially with next year in mind, when dundalk should be back in europe so will have more cash. Helps them stay in touch with that group of teams. the only teams with better players are celtic, rangers, hearts and possibly Aberdeen. All of the rest are comparable with LOI. I've watched quite a few SPL games between the lower teams and don't think I've ever watched a complete one. I believe LOI teams try to play more football rather than hoof and chase.

[legendz]

the only teams with better players are celtic, rangers, hearts and possibly Aberdeen. All of the rest are comparable with LOI. I've watched quite a few SPL games between the lower teams and don't think I've ever watched a complete one. I believe LOI teams try to play more football rather than hoof and chase.Have any of the Scottish clubs outside of the Glasgow clubs got a good track record of making the group stages?

[Kiki Balboa]

Fantastic result last night for Irish Football. SPL is ranked 9th in Europe... Thats a fair achievement (even if we all understand why its ranked so high).

Sligo is 5th, still able to play a much higher league and win twice is a great endorsement for the depth in the League (There might be a gap between Rovers and the rest, but not much from below to say Harps).

Dan McDonnell did say before the Bala game that Motherwell were there to be got. Pity Sparta lost for Sligo in a way, I would have said that away trip would have been one of the best anyone could have.

Pats result is fantastic too. Also, McDonnell did say they have a chance and they would suit European football. A bit mad the either of the teams might not be in Europe next year. Heres hoping both can do the buisness again.

Am I right in saying it was the same stage Bohs and Dundalk reached last year? Becoming a bit of a norm....

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

What a night. Have enough bad days in the showgrounds that you have to enjoy nights like that. Best atmosphere we’ve ever had in there I would say.

Great to see Pats get through as well.

[MichaelCherrito]

Have any of the Scottish clubs outside of the Glasgow clubs got a good track record of making the group stages?
I think Hearts got to the group stages more than 15 years ago.

No one else achieved GS football bar OF clubs.

[patsdad]

Great results tonight! Watched the Sligo one, what a show and stellar atmosphere.

Wiki Europa Conference League 2021/22 Prizemoney.
First qualifying round elimination: €150,000
Second qualifying round elimination: €350,000
Third qualifying round elimination: €550,000
Play-off round elimination: €750,000
Qualified to Group Stage: €2,950,000

Looks like 200k per round progressed, are these numbers out of date? Heard different figures branded about everywhere about earnings.

Those figures are correct for the prizemoney but as I understand it there is also a “participation payment” of €100,000 per round. So Sligo now have a guaranteed €850,000 and Pats (who didn’t play the first round) have a guaranteed €750,000. Winning the next round would add another €300,000. This is very serious money but bear in mind that (certainly in Pats’ case) travel costs are exhorbitant as the aviation business is in chaos, and also players and coaches generally have good European bonuses in their contracts.
Of course the Group Stage money is in a different stratosphere. And the qualification process is specifically designed to give league champions every possible chance of making the Group Stage of at least the Conference League.

[D24Saint]

Are those figures for winning in the round or participation in the round ?

[legendz]

Am I right in saying it was the same stage Bohs and Dundalk reached last year? Becoming a bit of a norm....Yeah, it is becoming a bit of a norm. Q3 is becoming the standard expectation, keeping in mind that the qualifiers are fraught with danger.
The likes of Dundalk can enter Europe with high expectations of Q3, be mindful of the pitfalls and hopefully have a right rattle at making the playoffs.

[patsdad]

Are those figures for winning in the round or participation in the round ?

It’s €100k for each round you participate in. The prizemoney is what you get when you go out.
If Sligo had gone out to Baha they’d have got a total of €250k. With each subsequent round the prizemoney went up €200k and they got another €100k for participation.

[Philosophizer]

Sligo going to Norway will cost a pretty penny too. Norway is one of the most expensive places in the world! Prague would have been a much more affordable place for thirsty fans but it is what it is.
Norway is still a stunning place to visit and going in summer is the best time to see it.

[nigel-harps1954]

Sligo going to Norway will cost a pretty penny too. Norway is one of the most expensive places in the world! Prague would have been a much more affordable place for thirsty fans but it is what it is.
Norway is still a stunning place to visit and going in summer is the best time to see it.

Expensive enough trips for both Sligo and Pats fans. Neither place are exactly cost friendly in terms of flights alone.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

We can’t really complain after Wales and Scotland

[Philosophizer]

Expensive enough trips for both Sligo and Pats fans. Neither place are exactly cost friendly in terms of flights alone.
Sofia would be cheap once you get there though.

[pateen]

Are we looking at the possibility of all 3 teams having to play their next round in Tallaght?
I know Sligo would have to put a temporary stand in to host the next round but not sure if it’s feasible…

Jesus if thats the case then you'd hope the town would pull everything out to make that happen.
I imagine lots of the pubs and restaurants did very well yesterday, add in the spending power of 400 away fans. Things like this mean a lot to the team and town.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

UEFA generally don’t allow temporary stands but we’re in discussions with them