LOI in Europe 2016

roverstillidie wrote: pre Madonna wrote: The team should always believe a chance, no matter who they are playing! Realistically though, Shams beating Aberdeen now would be a big shock. The gap between the two teams, never mind the clubs, is absolutely huge. While I accept this is subjective, what happened the last two times Irish and Scotch clubs played in Europe? The only two times since the switch to summer football as well. 16 years ago? Was a shock then as well.     I had a look at their squad and they are bog standard SPL - some decent players released by the Glasgow two and a couple of journeymen on their way down. Second was a great finish, but it says more about the SPL than the Dons. True, still far superior to anything in Ireland, Dundalk included. Most, if not all, LOI players would see a move to Scotland as a step up. I can't see Johnny Hayes, McGinn or Willo Flood seeing a move back to Ireland as anything but a step down.   This year just gone Aberdeen beat a Macedonian team on away goals, had a good win against Riejka from Croatia and then lost to Kazakh opposition. Inverness and St Johnstone crashed out first round, the Saints to Armenian opposition and Caley Romanian. So they aren't exactly showing us how it is done on the continent. And nobody said they were, did you miss the Irish club results? 2 wins against Luxembourg teams, Pats getting spanked by Latvians who were beaten 11-4 on aggregate by Debrecen in the next round. My lot were beaten by ten men in Iceland. The only team who can hold their heads high is Dundalk in giving BATE a bit of a game. By the way, the Romanians that squeezed past Caley then knocked out West Ham before going out 4-3 on aggregate to AZ Alkmaar and Kairat went out on away goals to Bordeaux   I really think you are overestimating contemporary Scottish football and not giving our sides enough credit. I think the problem is the exact opposite and that is why our league continues to be stuck where it is. We are continuing to pat ourselves on the back for no achievement. We believe because we have a similar population to a country near us, see their football go backwards from where it was and just assume we can compete with them because Bohs and Derry had decent results. For a start the league was stronger back then, there has been a massive drop off in standard in the past decade that many choose to ignore, mostly by pointing at Dundalk. That is fine, but Dundalk have been head and shoulders above everyone else in the league. They lost one game in the league last year and won the cup. They might give Aberdeen a game, I would imagine Shams would be beaten quite comfortably by them.

Cabra Hoop wrote: UCDFAN wrote: Green Devil wrote: Twoinarow wrote: roverstillidie wrote: Twoinarow wrote: No chance would Rovers beat Aberdeen! Dundalk wouldnt even beat Aberdeen FFS! You can't beat anyone in Europe. Don't you lot hold the record for the biggest spanking ever dished out to an Irish club. We also got the furthest any irish side ever got in Europe! TBH that honour should really go to Shamrock Rovers who made the group stages of a tournament, given the amount of teams now playing in European competition. Years ago, cup winners or whatever could get into the first or second round of a tournament.  To be fair Glentoran are the Irish side that got the furthest. As a cup competition the closest a team gets to the Final is the acceptable measurement of progress last sixteen from Dundalk is vg. Other metrics: Number of matches in a season Number of competitions in one season (Shelbourne and Shamrock Rvs on 2) Number of victorious ties Number of individual victories Latest date of Football match. Actual Prestige of Opponents Preceived Prestige of Opponents Number of games at Domestic venue Latest round of games at Domestic venue. Attendance. after edit: Percentage over capacity of attendance for Home tie. Linfield Q/F in 1967 of EC not ahead of Glens. Linfield only beaten by one goal on agg.

Xpro wrote: "RKBarmyArmy" - I`m not going to get pedantic about the respective populations of Glasgow and Dublin. That figure for Dublin is 5 years old and I`d be very surprised if Glasgow has a bigger population

I like to see our sides doing well in Europe but I don't see anyone that will go on a run.

Pats & Shams are poor. A round would be good.
Dundalk have regressed. The seeded side is packed with big clubs with massive budgets so the odds are against them getting a favourable draw:
Celtic     
APOEL     
BATE Borisov     
Legia Warsaw     
Dinamo Zagreb     
Ludogrates
København     
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Qarabag     
Rosenborg
FK Astana     
Skënderbeu Korçë     
Red Star Belgrade     
Dinamo Tbilisi     
FH Hafnarfjardar     
Trencín

Cork are probably capable of a few round but I would have said the same thing before they went to Iceland last year.

Not optimistic.

pre Madonna wrote: Xpro wrote: The population of Greater Glasgow & Fylde is currently 1.2 million. The population of Greater Dublin was 1.23 million five years ago. Sorry if that dampens your puerile excitement but ffs brush up on your junior cert geography, you`ve exams coming up    Use google better cliché lover!! I hold very little hope this year, similar to last I would expect.

Edited by UCDFAN - 08 Jun 2016 at 9:31pm

Stewart Lee

You couldn't count of an FAI team to beat an IFA team. People think it would be an easy way into the second round but it wouldn't be that easy.

corkery wrote: You couldn't count of an FAI team to beat an IFA team. People think it would be an easy way into the second round but it wouldn't be that easy.

The NIFL hasn't been run by the IFA for over 2 years now.
The NIFL run it.
Interestingly, they are now only less than a point behind us in the coefficients which means they are on course to leap frog us possibly as early as this year.

I'd agree with you as much as we'd see it as a good draw any of their top sides would see it exactly the same way, with the added sickener for us that a win for them would put them ahead of us & leave us right down among wales/the rock & San Marino.

Probably best to avoid drawing the Nordies!