Fulham Have Got Europa

[bigalffc]

Great news! Blood the newbies and youngsters at first and if we progress lets give it a go. I'd love to have another trip to a European final. You gotta be in it to win it :yay:

[Ron Sheepskin]

I seem to remember that when questioned at the start of our last Europa campaign, Woy said that if it started to threaten our premiership position, then we wouldn't be in Europe much longer.

Now I don't know the guy, but it's a fair bet that Sparky would agree with this approach. I hope to see some of the younger players get a go early on - Hoesen, Trotta, Dalla Valle etc, and perhaps feed in more experience later in the tournament - if we're doing fine in the Premiership. There's no harm in fielding the youngsters, they're not going to get the same level of experience by being loaned out to (say) League 1.

Can't wait for the end of June to see who we've got, and if I'm lucky it'll be somewhere I can afford to get to!

[Whiteroom]

I am not sure how much I have travelled away with the club means much. No I was never a part of the away clique. But I have been to many away grounds supporting Fulham during the 70s and 80s. Given the chance I would not now travel to any Europa team. It means nothing to me. Sorry but That is how I feel. To say sod The Premier is just so alien to me. Without the Premier we would be a little club. But 11 years in the Premier mean we are an established side. Playing in the Europa just means nothing. It is the league cup of Europe.

Enjoy your away days and enjoy wanting to abuse me. But I find it odd that I am sometimes questioned as a fan for not wanting our Premier status threatened. Europa means more to you. I think you are wrong. However I am not likely to be tempted to give you any abuse about it. If we had finished high enough in the Prem to qualify for the Europa, I would still be unhappy. Playing all these extra games because we came in via the fair play league says much for the Europa competition. If it wasn't us it would be Blackpool. We are joined by Birmingham. Do I care? No not one jot. Hardly a high profile competition at this stage.
[/quote]

What a misery guts! I believe that we will account for the Europa and keep some of our fringe players. It has been said, and I agree, that we could get through the qualifiers without using the majority of our first team. With a few additions in the summer and good management I don't see any reason to be unhappy. I think that it shows a lack of ambition to feel unhappy about getting into Europe.

[MJG]

I for one is bloody happy about this news.
Why do you play or watch football if its not to compete at the highest level. I do not want to just bob along between 8-16 every year and do bugger all else. The dream will end one day and back to level two we will go, but until that time comes lets do our bloody best to win things.
It will be hard but if we can get to the group stages that will be another achievement to shout about.

[epsomraver]

What is the best way of keeping our bench warmers match  fit, run outs at Motspur park, we are not even in a competitive league now?  or playing actual games in the early stages of the Europa?

[Lighthouse]

We pay to watch football to see our teams do well. We pay to watch them finish as high as they can in the top league in the world. We pay to watch them qualify for Europe  even into the overly large Europa. Most people agree it is too large.

We do not watch football to see our team creep into a competition above a relegated side because we are nicer than they are. I am pleased so many fans prefer Glentoran than ManUtd. But I would prefer to watch a team finish well against the best clubs in Europe. None of the clubs we played in the last Europa, except maybe 4, would survive in the top half of the Prem.

[MrCheviot]

We pay to watch football to see our teams do well. We pay to watch them finish as high as they can in the top league in the world. We pay to watch them qualify for Europe  even into the overly large Europa. Most people agree it is too large.

We do not watch football to see our team creep into a competition above a relegated side because we are nicer than they are. I am pleased so many fans prefer Glentoran than ManUtd. But I would prefer to watch a team finish well against the best clubs in Europe. None of the clubs we played in the last Europa, except maybe 4, would survive in the top half of the Prem.

While I share the sentiment that creeping into the competition isn't as rewarding as earning it outright via final position in the table, I would suggest that if you prefer to watch a team finish well against the best clubs in Europe you might want to adopt a better club to follow.

Outside of the Premier League clubs we get to play twice every season, I'm not sure how FFC would (sustainably) ever get the chance to play any others if it weren't for things like the FPL - and then our path requires us to win matches against lesser teams to earn the right to do so. The Champions League is a path that candidly is not in our club's future any time soon, so to disparage the competitions we do achieve because they're not of that caliber seems rather downbeat to me.

[mccscratch]

We pay to watch football to see our teams do well. We pay to watch them finish as high as they can in the top league in the world. We pay to watch them qualify for Europe  even into the overly large Europa. Most people agree it is too large.

We do not watch football to see our team creep into a competition above a relegated side because we are nicer than they are. I am pleased so many fans prefer Glentoran than ManUtd. But I would prefer to watch a team finish well against the best clubs in Europe. None of the clubs we played in the last Europa, except maybe 4, would survive in the top half of the Prem.

LH.... I love your stuff normally but you are way way off base here mate...

We played top top top class sides in the Europa... are you forgetting group stage matches again Roma.... Sizzling ties against Shaktar, Juve, Hamburg, Wolfsburg... then the final against Athletico who currently has 2 strikers that may sell for a combined 75 million?

These are not minnows and all would fare very well in the Prem... All of them have more quality than Everton and the like...

Als...we are not going to have our prem status in jeopardy.... I keep screaming this from the top of my lungs on here but some of you refuse to listen... we are a top 10 side now and will continue to be for some time... Provided we keep Moussa, Clint, Bobby and Brede.... we ain't going anywhere even if we have extra matches.... the fringe players are going to make up the ranks in the early stages... if we make the group stages we can give it a go...

[finnster01]

On this fantastic day, why do we keep spanking ourselves and stand with the hat in our hands excusing ourselves for making Europe?

Facts are:

1) Went to the first final of the Europa League ever. So the quality is there.
2) We qualified through our exemplary discipline record and by the rules (despite Mark Hughes and my conspiracy theories). Just don't think we will be qualifying again next year through fair play. Remember Blackburn.
3) No need for any Fulham fan to apologize for anything, and no, it is not the Rapture or the end of our run in the Prem for us either

COYW!!!!!!!

What is there not to love about Fulham?

[Blingo]

If anyone thinks its a crappy competition, just ask yourself two questions. Did you care and want us to win the final against Athletico Madrid? How sick did you feel when we lost, knowing that if BZ had been fit, we would have probably won it?

In Europe there are TWO competitions, the CL and the EL, now as far as Blingo is concerned, I am elated and very proud that FULHAM FOOTBALL CLUB, has qualified to play in the EL. I don't care how we qualified, I am just very VERY happy that we are in it.

NOW LETS GO AND WIN THE THING THIS TIME.

COME ON YOU WHITES.

[FatFreddysCat]

If anyone thinks its a crappy competition, just ask yourself two questions. Did you care and want us to win the final against Athletico Madrid? How sick did you feel when we lost, knowing that if BZ had been fit, we would have probably won it?

In Europe there are TWO competitions, the CL and the EL, now as far as Blingo is concerned, I am elated and very proud that FULHAM FOOTBALL CLUB, has qualified to play in the EL. I don't care how we qualified, I am just very VERY happy that we are in it.

NOW LETS GO AND WIN THE THING THIS TIME.

COME ON YOU WHITES.

Too right, cant wait to go and have a good laugh with my mates in hopefully a country i haven't been to. Try differant beers/food etc, meet new people both Fulham and the locals. No way will we struggle in the League so why not enjoy a bit of iceing on the cake. COYWS.

[Alternative]

Cherish the opportunity. We might not get far this time but who knows?

Last time provided some great nights and historic games.

You can be over cautious about Premier League status IMO. We could get relegated with or without Europa League commitments.

[b+w geezer]

Europa League is perfect for us. While I suppose I'd in practice be mega-excited if we ever got a Champs League sniff, it's inconceivable we'd make waves in it, it would be familiar capital cities all the way and opponents with clothes-pegs on their noses at the thought of us.

Europa takes you all over the shop to a mix of the obscure (Icelandic archipelago anyone?) and the plenty big and glamorous enough -- who really needs more famous than Juventus or Roma?

Plus every other time that we enter, we reach the final. Perfect.

[epsomraver]

We pay to watch football to see our teams do well. We pay to watch them finish as high as they can in the top league in the world. We pay to watch them qualify for Europe  even into the overly large Europa. Most people agree it is too large.

We do not watch football to see our team creep into a competition above a relegated side because we are nicer than they are. I am pleased so many fans prefer Glentoran than ManUtd. But I would prefer to watch a team finish well against the best clubs in Europe. None of the clubs we played in the last Europa, except maybe 4, would survive in the top half of the Prem.

Is that as in the "royal we".to pay is one thing to watch is another

[finnster01]

Fair point. But I'd pay to watch Pippa any day mate

[HatterDon]

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Play the reserves, play the supporters, but don't in any way threaten our Prem performance. I pray we will be knocked out early and have a full season to qualify properly without going through this dangerous early start. Bad day for the club. NOTHING TO CELEBRATE HERE.

I hear you, sir. We must have absolutely nothing to distract Fulham from the one and only ambition we should ever have: finishing 17th in the Prem. To that attitude I say, "rubbish, pish, and also tosh." Here's hoping I don't get   096.gig for the violence of the tongue.

[GoldCoastWhite]

Carpe Diem I say ! And for Fulham's unofficial Europa anthem I propose this rough n ready gem...
Angry Anderson - Bound For Glory

[Jimpav]

Great news and very exciting.

We made it to the final last season and still finished a respectable 12th in the league - not to be sniffed at given we also had lengthy FA cup runs (thanks to replays).

The Europe galvanised the squad and fans alike.

Being given the chance to pummel the likes of Basel and Juventus into submission made Zamora the man he is today. His confidence was at an all time low - as was his relationship with the fans. Despite some excellent hold up play and movement he was missing sitters left right and centre. His performance against Basel was at the time  his best performance in a Fulham shirt. He literally terrorised their defence before powering us 2 goals ahead going onto the second half. This match was followed by a blistering performance against United just 3 days later (we won 3-0) and then the rest is history.

Gera's amazing form seeped into the league and other frige players such as Riise, Kelly and Greening shone on the big stage.

The only low point to the 2009/2010 season was our exceptionally miserable January. You may recall that we did not take a single point that month. Coincidentally this was the only month we failed to play a single minute of European football - this of course being the winter break.

Normal service resumed in February when we went the month unbeaten - including a monster away trip against Shaktar.

It's also worth noting that  we were also unbeaten in October (including a 3-1 win against Liverpool) and we only lost one match in Decemberl (home to Chelsea) and one in April (away to Everton). These months included the group stages and our semi-final against Hamburg.

The atmosphere was amazing in every Europa match and the players appeared to thrive on this. You only need to look at the postmatch celebration videos to see how much it meant to the players and of course the fans.

In addition to this we only stand to have a better chance of keeping our better players, our manager and attracting new players to the club. Our fringe players wil knwo that they will get more time on the pitch also.

This is a massive win win.

[Jack Fulham]

Europe > normal mid table finish.

So excited for this COYW

[HatterDon]

great -- just GREAT. Now I've got to be jealous as you tarts go swanning about Europe watching the boys kick major bodingie.

Here's hoping there'll be SOME television of this so that Ag and I can quaff some Fullers ESB and cheer the lads on against the Freedonia Groucho's!

And here's also hoping that there'll be amateur video as thrilling as the "Take Me Home, Al Fayed" marathon in the innards of Hamburg's stadium at the away leg of the semi.

Come on you European Whites!