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If we qualify for Europe

sunderpitt said:
Atm we do not have the squad to play twice a week, too many times in a season.
I would fear for our league position!
Also it's only the Champions league that coughs up enough money to make it worthwhile.
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We barely have a squad capable of competing once in week. Look how quickly the squad physically has tired in their first season back in the Premier League after 8 years away. They don’t have anywhere near the schedule of teams like Aston Villa and Crystal Palace yet are more physically shattered right now than they are. The Conference League is a strong competition with lots of teams who would run up a cricket score against us. In the unliveable event we somehow inadvertently find ourselves in the Conference League we would have to somehow use sparingly the main squad players.
 

I’m a fan not an accountant so I can only look at it from a fans viewpoint and the idea of playing in Spain for example and a nice little trip here or there is very appealing I must say.
 
I was reading an article the other day and some financial expert was saying that it be bad news for Everton and Newcastle if they qualified for Conference League due to their financial situations, barely any money in that competition even if you win the whole lot as well.
 
penno13 said:
Almost nobody on here has seen us in European campaign in their lifetime but piss their pants at the thought of it.
Who cares about the future outcome of playing in it. The real question is, do you want to see us in a European competition in your lifetime and follow us into the obscure European cities it may give us. Absolutely
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I could take it or leave it. I’ve spent far longer wishing we were on the same level of teams who are in in Europe than wishing we were in Europe ourselves. Clubs like Fulham and Nottingham Forest. Between being a club of the same level of a European team like Crystal Palace and Aston Villa and actually being in it ourselves it’s a no brainier. The likes of Villa and Forest are both bigger than we are. Who wouldn’t want to see us be compared equally with big clubs like Fulham and Nottingham Forest?
 
TradingPlaces said:
I was reading an article the other day and some financial expert was saying that it be bad news for Everton and Newcastle if they qualified for Conference League due to their financial situations, barely any money in that competition even if you win the whole lot as well.
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Also if Newcastle qualify they will face a hefty uefa fine
 
ShieldsBlackCat2015 said:
We barely have a squad capable of competing once in week. Look how quickly the squad physically has tired in their first season back in the Premier League after 8 years away. They don’t have anywhere near the schedule of teams like Aston Villa and Crystal Palace yet are more physically shattered right now than they are. The Conference League is a strong competition with lots of teams who would run up a cricket score against us. In the unliveable event we somehow inadvertently find ourselves in the Conference League we would have to somehow use sparingly the main squad players.
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Maybe the club will take account of being in Europe and plan accordingly?
 
Have a fair amount out support who are always pessimistic and “know your place “ syndrome .
I remember some saying relegation would be good to clear the decks , that worked out well , and some thought promotion was way too early .
You should always aim to win every game you play , then see what happens .
Imagine Sunderland being drawn to a team in Germany/spain or wherever , would be fantastic experience
 
ShieldsBlackCat2015 said:
We barely have a squad capable of competing once in week. Look how quickly the squad physically has tired in their first season back in the Premier League after 8 years away. They don’t have anywhere near the schedule of teams like Aston Villa and Crystal Palace yet are more physically shattered right now than they are. The Conference League is a strong competition with lots of teams who would run up a cricket score against us. In the unliveable event we somehow inadvertently find ourselves in the Conference League we would have to somehow use sparingly the main squad players.
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That isn’t true mate. None of those teams are as good as Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham & the Mags all qualified for a superior European competition & we’ve taken points off them all. 13 from 30. Villa & Forest are in the quarters of the conference league, 4 points from 6. Palace are in the quarters of the Conference league, 4 points from 6.

There’s no cricket scores to he had. In fact, that points return of 21 from 42 available equates to 76 points a season which usually qualifies you for a champions league spot in the league campaign. So we do pretty well against European quality sides.
Fletch said:
Have a fair amount out support who are always pessimistic and “know your place “ syndrome .
I remember some saying relegation would be good to clear the decks , that worked out well , and some thought promotion was way too early .
You should always aim to win every game you play , then see what happens .
Imagine Sunderland being drawn to a team in Germany/spain or wherever , would be fantastic experience
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As long as it’s not Milan.
 
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If we get into Europe and play 10 games in Europa / Comference league then that’s 38 league games, 10 Europe games and 1 league cup, 1 fa cup = 50 games. Could be slightly more, could be slightly less.

We played 51 games last season and won promotion.

We had AFCON this season plus the recent injury crisis and were fine.

RLB will know how to rotate his squad appropriately.

Eddie Howe’s putting his strongest XI out against Qarabag when 6-1 up from first leg - that’s the sort of stuff you need to not do.
 
jaraarrow said:
We would only be allowed to spend 70 % of our turnover as opposed to 85% if we don’t
Is it worth it ?
Just to add if we qualified for the europa league it’s about an extra 16 games if you go far in the competition
Think our squad would struggle tbh
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That’s the crux of the problem but how many teams have you seen struggle in the PL that are in the conference league or Europa league
 
It won’t be long before a club takes a totally different strategy to europa league - eg quality and effectively throw it by playing the reserves

That is genuinely what I would do
 
Just like when we were promoted, the club strengthened the squad.
So if we get into Europe it is very likely that the club will act accordingly again.
We are not run by clowns anymore, the old shambolic ways are gone under this regime, thank god.
 
The best way to improve squad depth is by being attractive to good players, being in Europe would help this. It's not squad players we need, it's better first team players, making current first teamers the squad players.

Also, the early rounds of the conference and to a lesser extent, the Europa League, will allow a fair bit of rotation anyway.
 
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