So, I am not going to get ahead of myself at being fourth (it's a beautiful sight, but I am trying - trying - to be a realist this morning!), but I am getting ahead of myself at the gap from us down to 8th place after Watford's loss.

Can somebody please explain how the Europa League places work, and whether for us finishing 7th we would have any possibility of getting into the competition? Some might see it as a bit of a joke tournament now, and also something which could seriously affect us domestically, but the sheer chance of seeing my club abroad, not in a friendly, playing at (potentially) the likes of Valencia, Sevilla, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund etc etc is just too mouthwatering for words.

Dare to dream has been a motto associated with our club since the Coyle season, and this for me this would be the absolute pinnacle. I would genuinely feel that, as a Burnley fan, I have seen everything I could have ever dreamed on (well, maybe winning a cup, but playing abroad for me would genuinely top it).

Please someone either end these thoughts in my mind, or make me actually feel this is possible and allow me to continue daydreaming?!

We could even qualify If we finish 8th, for example Arsenal win Europa League and finish 5th or 6th in Premier and Spurs, Chelski, Liverpool or Utd win FA Cup but finish in 5th or 6th, so assuming the following final table
1 City
2 Utd
3 Chelski
4 Liverpool
5 Spurs and win FA Cup
6 Arsenal and Win Europa
7 Burnley
Then City, Utd, Chelski, Lpool & Arsenal in Champions League and Spurs, Burnley and whoever finish 8th into Europa League.

5th place is standard, but it all depends who wins the FA Cup, League Cup, and where those teams finish, as well as sides perhaps winning a european competition this year.

6th almost definitely gets you a spot, and 7th Semi-regularly. 8th isn’t too often.

A bit complex how they work it out though.

No place for fair play nowadays. Cash prize only.

That's stick with the top 4 much much easier to understand

I thought they stopped giving a place to the league cup winner now and had awarded it to whoever finished 6th instead?

I think if we finish 7th we'd get in, but we'd have to go through all the qualifying rounds.

West Ham got knocked out by some dross a couple of years ago if I remember correctly

Lancasterclaret wrote:I think if we finish 7th we'd get in, but we'd have to go through all the qualifying rounds.

West Ham got knocked out by some dross a couple of years ago if I remember correctly

And look where west ham are now... We should aim higher!

Claretforever wrote:5th place is standard, but it all depends who wins the FA Cup, League Cup, and where those teams finish, as well as sides perhaps winning a european competition this year.

6th almost definitely gets you a spot, and 7th Semi-regularly. 8th isn’t too often.

A bit complex how they work it out though.

No place for fair play nowadays. Cash prize only.

No place for Carabou Cup winners or FA Cup runners up anymore. 5th is Gauranteed. 6th usual 7th probable 8th rarely

Lancasterclaret wrote:I think if we finish 7th we'd get in, but we'd have to go through all the qualifying rounds.

West Ham got knocked out by some dross a couple of years ago if I remember correctly

I think Dyche would see it similarly to myself, i.e, as an absolutely astonishing achievement, and give the first eleven the games in this and forego Carabao/FA Cup.

I think our lads are fit enough to cope with the schedule - some teams aren't - we would be well up for it and potentially bloody a few noses. Who knows, Fulham got to the final.

Hopefully we will find out!

Still a long shot though, especially as the injuries start to pile up

5th gets a spot
Fa cup winners get a spot
League cup winnrrs get a playoff spot

I think

If same teams win the cups as other euro spots then they drop to the next best places in the league. Not sure hiw the champions league works though if say city won it and arsenal qualified by finishing top 4 and winning europa.

What i will say is that the way our squad is playing a european place is a very definite target

England only get 7 European places. Usually 4 CL and 3 EL but because United won the competition it went 5/2 this year.
So as long as an English team don't win a European competition and finish 8th or the FA cup is won by 8th or lower than the top 7 in the premier league qualify.

What if Spurs for example win the champions League and finish 5th?

What if Utd finish 5th but win the Europa?

For example is there a max number of Euro places for each country for Europa and Champions league?

Don't really know the answer.

...I can't believe I'm actually thinking about these permutations

If you win any of the CL or EL then you compete in the CL with your league position irrelevant for you.
I don’t know if we would be allowed to enter 6 teams in the CL though? But if we could we would only have one EL place.

Kudos aside, I wouldn't like to play in the Europa league.
A toss pot competition that could very well undermine the following league season, as it has for many other clubs before us.
Anywhere in the top half would still be an unbelievable season.

Colburn_Claret wrote:Kudos aside, I wouldn't like to play in the Europa league.
A toss pot competition that could very well undermine the following league season, as it has for many other clubs before us.
Anywhere in the top half would still be an unbelievable season.

So you’d like us to finish top 4 or below 8th?

I dont understand why English fans see the Europa League as such a burden. The rest of Europe take is seriously and I would bloody love to win it.

bfccrazy wrote:So you’d like us to finish top 4 or below 8th?

That would do nicely.

UTC

Colburn_Claret wrote:Kudos aside, I wouldn't like to play in the Europa league.
A toss pot competition that could very well undermine the following league season, as it has for many other clubs before us.
Anywhere in the top half would still be an unbelievable season.

But we're not saying get Europa and go down. It's the same when people want us to go for the FA cup. It's not get Europa/FA cup and relegation. It's about Burnley, yes BURNLEY playing in Europe. Amazing.

Dyched wrote:But we're not saying get Europa and go down. It's the same when people want us to go for the FA cup. It's not get Europa/FA cup and relegation. It's about Burnley, yes BURNLEY playing in Europe. Amazing.

It's the competition I dislike.
If it was the same format as the old EUFA Cup I would be over the moon.

Knowing how meticulous SD is with his planning he is surely looking at Europe as a possibility. Also he will have researched that this has so often been the downfall of clubs in the past, Wigan, Fulham, Everton to a degree. Will he be looking at bringing in a couple more players than planned in January to get them bedded in rather than overload in the Summer if it happens.

Personally if they are young players like Taylor it could only be a benefit.

The Europa League does seem to be treated with very little regard.
But to see Burnley play in Europe, even a qualifier for the Europa League would be amazing.
I'll be honest, I'm enjoying the moment now, because I don't think I can realistically believe it.

It's incredible. The transfer window has now become even more exciting in my eyes.
We still need to build the squad, winger and central defender etc. but the type of player we can be realistic about signing has massively improved

SirAlec wrote:I dont understand why English fans see the Europa League as such a burden. The rest of Europe take is seriously and I would bloody love to win it.

I do - because english teams have to stay in the PL. It's CL or nothing for me. The phrase micky mouse coud have been invented for the EL. If we have to be in the latter, play the reserves in the early rounds and get the hell out of it.

Finishing higher than last season with more points will be good progress.
Finishing top ten would be a great result.
Finishing top seven would be amazing.
Qualifying for European football at any level would be more than I could have imagined.
The kudos, media attention and additional income derived from such an adventure would be massive for club and fans alike.

summitclaret wrote:I do - because english teams have to stay in the PL. It's CL or nothing for me. The phrase micky mouse coud have been invented for the EL. If we have to be in the latter, play the reserves in the early rounds and get the hell out of it.

So I presume if we got someone like Ajax or AC Milan down the Turf you wouldn't be interested?

Top 4 Automatically qualify for the CL group stage.

5th placed qualify for EL group stage as do FA cup winners
If FA cup winners have finshed fifth or higher then 6th placed team will qualify for EL group stage.
League cup winner will qualify for EL 2nd qualifying round..If winner finishes 6th or higher then 7th placed team will then qualify for EL 2nd qualifying round.

I honestly don't want to want to qualify for Europa League... who actually watches it? Personally, I have no interest in it whatsoever. Ha. Champions League it'll have to be for me

I wouldn't mind if we could automatically qualify for EL group stages.

Finishing 7th is a possible EL 2nd qualifying rnd starting in july and potentially 3 ties -6 matches-before the group stages.

Far from it being a dream, it’s a possibility, which is far more than I ever thought I would see.

It’s a long way off yet but should we achieve it, it would be right up there with Leicester winning the league (for me at least).

Dazzler wrote:I wouldn't mind if we could automatically qualify for EL group stages.

Finishing 7th is a possible EL 2nd qualifying rnd starting in july and potentially 3 ties -6 matches-before the group stages.

Would make the pre season schedule a bit more worthwhile.

Quickenthetempo wrote:Would make the pre season schedule a bit more worthwhile.

Would probably mean starting pre-season training without Defour and JBG.
And any other world cup stars that we may sign.

Claret&Green wrote:We could even qualify If we finish 8th, for example Arsenal win Europa League and finish 5th or 6th in Premier and Spurs, Chelski, Liverpool or Utd win FA Cup but finish in 5th or 6th, so assuming the following final table
1 City
2 Utd
3 Chelski
4 Liverpool
5 Spurs and win FA Cup
6 Arsenal and Win Europa
7 Burnley
Then City, Utd, Chelski, Lpool & Arsenal in Champions League and Spurs, Burnley and whoever finish 8th into Europa League.

That’s the same permutations as last season isn’t it, with Arsenal 5th and FA Cup winners and United 6th and Europa winners? We only got two teams then into this season’s Europa, no place for 8th

How much notice is normally given for a Europa League fixture. Certainly a good reason to travel to some previously unheard of places.

Mrs H says she would like to join me

Anyone else like me.......I have started sowing seeds early with the trouble and strife 'that there is a remote possibility of us getting to Europe'

Thought it best to warn her now so I have chance to work on it! I can't repeat what she said because of the mods on here.

Safe to say I had to cover my dogs ears. Be prepared is my best motto

jrgbfc wrote:So I presume if we got someone like Ajax or AC Milan down the Turf you wouldn't be interested?

If we qualified for the europa league, I doubt very much if you will even have heard of our opponents. Therein lies the first problem. The season starting in Mid July would be another.

iluva64 wrote:Anyone else like me.......I have started sowing seeds early with the trouble and strife 'that there is a remote possibility of us getting to Europe'

Thought it best to warn her now so I have chance to work on it! I can't repeat what she said because of the mods on here.

Safe to say I had to cover my dogs ears. Be prepared is my best motto

Funny I just did that, there were F words and expensive presents mentioned. Best prepare early eh!!!

What we need to remember is "Trelleborg".

They are also a supplier to my company who I visit, but every time I rock up I have a little chuckle before I report to reception.

We don't want to do one of those. Embarrassing as it was for bast4rds

Meanwhile in Valencia: Si el club Burnley en el Europa Liga, vamos al Inglaterra norte por el adventura muy fantastico mystica caliente calor!

Colburn_Claret wrote:If we qualified for the europa league, I doubt very much if you will even have heard of our opponents.

Some well known clubs had to go through qualifying for this seasons EL.

Red Star Belgrade (European cup winners 1991)
AC Milan
PSV Eindhoven
Marseille
Galatasaray
Sparta Prague
Panathinaikos
Ferencváros
Hajduk Split
Austria Vienna
Glasgow Rangers
Zenit St Petersburg
Maccabi Tel Aviv

What's all this Europa League?

Loving this thread after only missing 3 home games in 40 years !!

Hereford anybody ?????????

BUZZING !

Just think we could be playing Shamrock Rovers in a competitive game this July rather than just a friendly

The day we went to Bangor even (Wales)

Claret&Green wrote:We could even qualify If we finish 8th, for example Arsenal win Europa League and finish 5th or 6th in Premier and Spurs, Chelski, Liverpool or Utd win FA Cup but finish in 5th or 6th, so assuming the following final table
1 City
2 Utd
3 Chelski
4 Liverpool
5 Spurs and win FA Cup
6 Arsenal and Win Europa
7 Burnley
Then City, Utd, Chelski, Lpool & Arsenal in Champions League and Spurs, Burnley and whoever finish 8th into Europa League.

What if we win the FA cup as welll?

Anyway...Champions League is more suited to us.

If, and it still is a very big if, we manage to qualify for Europe it will be seen by many as a distraction to our primary objective to stay in the Premier league.

But it will also be a big factor in keeping our star players which is something we have not yet been able to do and maybe improve our chances of attracting better quality players to us.

Potentially the biggest bonus of EL qualification would be that Sean would be pretty much nailed-on to stay for at least another season. European club competition experience would be a big tick to put on his managerial CV. The fact that he hasn't got it is often cited as a reason why he is not considered for the bigger jobs.

Alternatively if we are competing in those circles he may be encouraged to stay and see how much further he can take us as he continues to raise the bar season after season.

In addition it would take us to the next level in terms of recruiting and retaining players.

Win/win really - I'd have thought.

I don't want to get ahead of ourselves but I reckon we could win it and therefore qualify for the Champions League the year after as a result regardless of whether we win the league or finish in the top four in 2018/19

Shat ap!

No you shat ap!!!