Comparison of Irish clubs in Europe versus Scottish clubs in Europe

**kevincronin2000** · 18/08/2011, 8:41 PM

well rangers beaten and hearts thumped, rovers get a draw........

**legendz** · 18/08/2011, 8:54 PM

Celtic 0-0 FC Sion
Hearts 0-5 Spurs
NK Maribor 2-1 Rangers

Shamrock Rovers 1-1 Partizan Belgrade

**kdjaC** · 18/08/2011, 9:17 PM

Zombie thread!!!!!

LOI P15 W3 D3 L 9
SPL P8 W0 D1 L7

LOI 1 more to play and SPL 3.

i think, dunno F/A

Rovers Bohs and Sligo ****ing us over and Us not getting any away points.

**legendz** · 18/08/2011, 10:03 PM

What are the likely odds for the 3 Scottish clubs to crash out next week and for Shamrock Rovers to march on?! Hearts clearly are gone. It'll take Celtic to lose away, Rangers probably to draw at home and Rovers possibly to draw 2-2.

**Stevo Da Gull** · 18/08/2011, 10:09 PM

I think the one of the Glasgow clubs will go through, and that will be it from the four sides. I'd love to be wrong though!

**bullit** · 18/08/2011, 11:14 PM

Celtic cant win a Euro match in the "theatre of football" that is Parkhead

Ca Bhuil tiochfaidharmani ??

**TiocfaidhArmani** · 19/08/2011, 6:55 AM

Originally Posted by bullit

Celtic cant win a Euro match in the "theatre of football" that is Parkhead

Ca Bhuil tiochfaidharmani ??

Look at our record there in the last decade, one bad night is not gonna have me crying like a baby. Take away the inverted commas, it is just that

**TiocfaidhArmani** · 19/08/2011, 6:56 AM

Originally Posted by kdjaC

Zombie thread!!!!!

LOI P15 W3 D3 L 9
SPL P8 W0 D1 L7

LOI 1 more to play and SPL 3.

i think, dunno F/A

Rovers Bohs and Sligo ****ing us over and Us not getting any away points.

Bit of a silly comparison when you compare the teams Celtic and Rangers meet to the general dirge LOI teams play in qualifiers and it's Rangers with one win in twenty games, yes 26(!) game that makes us all look bad - it's great though

**Straightstory** · 19/08/2011, 9:10 AM

Last night's results confirm that Scottish football has never been in such utterly dire straits.

**TiocfaidhArmani** · 19/08/2011, 9:47 AM

Originally Posted by Straightstory

Last night's results confirm that Scottish football has never been in such utterly dire straits.

I agree, very poor night.

That said, to keep it in context if Ireland, a country with the same population roughly as Scotland, had two teams in a European final in a decade we'd be singing about it and how great little plucky Irish teams are. People expect too much from Scottish football and a lot of that is the English running it down and comparing themselves to it when they're a country with 50 million people which allows for vastly bigger crowds, TV money and young players to choose from.

**Dodge** · 19/08/2011, 9:48 AM

Originally Posted by TiocfaidhArmani

Bit of a silly comparison when you compare the teams Celtic and Rangers meet to the general dirge LOI teams play in qualifiers

Rangers have played Swedish and Slovenian opposition this year. This year Bohs played Slovenians and LOI sides have knocked out Swedish sides 4 times in the last 6 years.

Nobody is saying that Celtic/Rangers aren’t better than LOI sides BTW.

In points earned;
In 2008/09 Ireland ranked 24th, Scotland 29th
In 2009/10 Scotland 25th, Ireland 36th
In 2010/11 Scotland 21st, Ireland 40th
In 2011/12 (so far) Ireland 37th, Scotland 42nd

Bottom line is we’re all ****e (oh and I think both old firm teams will qualify)

**TiocfaidhArmani** · 19/08/2011, 10:03 AM

Rangers will go through, I wish they wouldn't but they will. 2-1 sets them up nicely with the away goal. Celtic and Rangers generally play in the league format so the quality of teams is much better. The LOI have never even had a team to qualify for the group stages of anything. This year has only started so yeah, but generally they play teams who have made the group stages. Last year Rangers had Man United, Valencia and PSV etc. They're both garbage but the LOI is beyond awful in European terms. Not one team has made the group stages of even the Europa. Even Aberdeen did a few years back and drew 2-2 with Bayern Munich and two teams in European finals in the last decade is not bad and no country with a population of 5 million or below had achieved the same.

Yeah it's garbage, but a bit of context is needed imo.

**Dodge** · 19/08/2011, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by TiocfaidhArmani

Yeah it's garbage, but a bit of context is needed imo.

The context is results. Nothing else matters.

**TiocfaidhArmani** · 19/08/2011, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by Dodge

The context is results. Nothing else matters.

Bit different when you're playing Man United and Valencia, but fire away. Two European finals in the last eight years for a nation with five million people is also some result.

**El-Pietro** · 19/08/2011, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by TiocfaidhArmani

Rangers will go through, I wish they wouldn't but they will. 2-1 sets them up nicely with the away goal. Celtic and Rangers generally play in the league format so the quality of teams is much better. The LOI have never even had a team to qualify for the group stages of anything.

actually, thats not true. Cork City played in an intertoto group stage in 1997 - playing Standard Liege, FC Koln, Maccabi Petah Tikva (Israel) and FC Aarau (Swiss)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_UEFA_Intertoto_Cup.

Lost to Koln 2-0 and drew the remaining games 0-0. Finished 4th of the 5 teams.

**TiocfaidhArmani** · 19/08/2011, 11:26 AM

The Inter-toto cup. The cup where some clubs got invites you didn't actually earn a place. Comedy gold

**Dodge** · 19/08/2011, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by TiocfaidhArmani

Bit different when you're playing Man United and Valencia, but fire away. Two European finals in the last eight years for a nation with five million people is also some result.

Whats the population matter when it comes to clubs? Celtic get 50k at a game and in that European final had 2 lads from Scotland.

**A N Mouse** · 19/08/2011, 11:44 AM

Anyone else confused by chuckie's use of 'we' and 'us' in this thread?

Also, the 'usually in the group stages' - playing teams like man utd - is more of an excuse for rangers' poor recent record, than explanation of the current general malaise.

At the minute they're not playing in the group stages they're playing at the same stage as a loi team - surely a fair comparison - and they're faring about as well.

Just out of interest how many different scottish teams have qualified for the group stages of anything?

I also noticed his claim no loi side ever reached the group stages of anything, presumably admitting no irish team had ever reached those lofty height would make his head explode.

**TiocfaidhArmani** · 19/08/2011, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by Dodge

Whats the population matter when it comes to clubs? Celtic get 50k at a game and in that European final had 2 lads from Scotland.

It has everything to do with it. A country with a population of five million does not have a audience to attract large TV deals that England, Italy, Spain, Germany, France etc can use to fund the large amounts they spend on players. A league in a country of five million people will not get large crowds that the above get so therefore less funds than the larger countries. I can't believe I've had to explain that out. It's obvious why a five million population would hold a league back and some teams in it.

Celtic are a different case to any club on the planet from a small country in that they get a fantastic support at home (51k last night against Sion, not many in the world would get that) and they also have a huge worldwide support for a club in such a small country, which has seen them rise above the crap. Celtic had an annual turnover of £60 million in 2003, hence we had the funds to bring in decent foreign talent.