Glass half full of what I ask myself??????

Well according to the Daily Mail if Chelsea go on to win the FA Cup and finish in 5h place in the league then the team finishing in 6th place would qualify for Europa League next season, but if Chelsea finished 5th and won both the FA Cup and Europa League then there would be no additional European spot for the 6th placed team, but if Chelsea finish 6th and .....oh I don't know I've got a headache read it for yourself at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2302130/Liverpool-Everton-handed-European-boost-Chelsea-beat-Manchester-United.html

C'mon - to all intents and purposes we were safe on the first day of the season with the squad we've got....

But am I right in thinking that if Man Utd win a (say) Wigan (oh it hurts even now to write it) MU final, then Wigan qualify for Europe - along with Swansea who will finish about ninth. Whatever happened to the concept of European competition being for the 'elite' of each country to test themselves against each other. Takes me back to a few years ago when I think that every club from first to ninth qualified for Europe, except the team finishing seventh - guess which team that was.

Adam Fenlon, I expect Sunderland fans thought the same. Especially after they had splashed £20m+ on Fletcher and Johnson. Likewise the Newcastle team that got relegated a few seasons back.

At least Sunderland's demise has shattered the Martin O'Neill and Adam Johnson myths. Their reputations preceded both of them.

James, I have to say I desperately wanted Johnson to come to us last summer. Shows how promising young players can't always deliver consistently.

Lots of relegation candidates but I think my money is on Reading, QPR and one of Villa or Sunderland.

James its disingenuous to say Johnson has suddenly become a bad player, unless you are Gareth Bale you aren't a one man team. Baines didn't carry Wigan to European glory on his own did he? It's the group of players and how they are coached and played.

Glass???? what glass!! 4th is in our own hands (ok we do need a bit of help) it's a tough ask but if we beat Spurs next week its game on.

I'm not saying he's a bad player just not as good as a lot of people thought when we were linked with him last summer, there was much disappointment when we didn't get him....then Moyes picked up Mirallas. Just a case of sometimes when the fans play footballl manager it isn't always for the best.

I agree with David Hallwood.

We still have to go to Spurs, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea and I think if we win 2 of them we will get Champions League football.

I think we deserve to be in the top 4 given how we have played all season. Chelsea and Arsenal are lucky to be as high up as they are. They have had the luck with the decisions, which we haven't - if we'd had some better refereeing we'd have the Wigan (a), Newcastle (h) and Reading (a) points at least, which would give us 7 additional points. We would be 3rd on 58 points right now.

Whatever happens, we must not end up in the Europa League. Thursday-Sunday football in a worthless meaningless competition will kill off our small squad.

I know loads of the lads love a piss up abroad but go to Benidorm with your mates for a few days if you must. I dread the thought of being in that useless tournament.

Actually Carl - you should have been happy long ago, we were mathematically safe a while ago. (You can't just look at the bottom clubs and how many points they have/don't have. All clubs play each other so if teams win then others have to lose games etc....so we were safe long ago as not every team can get 3 points every weekend in order to catch us...).

You've been having a few sleepless nights for no reason:-)

Carl
I think we all know relegation dog fights were things we worried about in Walter Smith's reign. Moyes has taken us out of them dark times. The worry for us now, is can we break into the top 4 and win a trophy?

Carl
Instead of looking down, we should be looking up. We are too good to be looking over our shoulder and it's idiots like Pip and Moyes who want to get to 40 points before pushing on. Instead of aiming for stability and 17th every year, why can't we aim for top 6, rather than waiting until February or March to push on?

It's annoying and shows a lack of ambition. We're not a mid-table club like Sunderland, we are a top 6 club with European quality players and it's irritating and stupid to wait until we get to 40 before progressing.

We'll never get anywhere unless we get shot of our unambitious board, manager and captain.

Tony Marsh @ 275

Well said Tony, I totally agree.

It can take as many as 21 games to win it (yes 21!), but usually 19 games to win that competition and all for a payout of just £3m? Let's concentrate on the Prem with a minimum £60m payout (next year) and the domestic cups (even they're more profitable!).

And we have to be realistic about DMs ability to lead in Europe, his winning formation and astute substitutions, along with his dazzling tactics no doubt left teams like Sporting Lisbon feeling they'd just played Barca at their best.

My God, can't we just be happy for having had a bloody good season with some great football. Personally, I couldn't care less about the Europa but it's what you get for finishing 5th (or is it 6th?) — what do some of you want the lads to do, start throwing matches?

Just enjoy!

Tony
I know it exhausts the squad but what is wrong with the Europa League? I mean it's not a bad competition but it is overshadowed by the Champions League isn't it? People don't take it seriously but it's a good opportunity to win some silverware, Fulham got to the final and had a great adventure, I mean it's not everyday they get teams like Juventus come to the Cottage is it?
I admit that we have no chance of winning the thing because of Moyes being clueless in terms of tactics and especially in Europe, but if we do qualify for it we shouldn't write it off as after all it is a European competition isn't it?

I think the last time, when we reached th QF, Ross, we made the sum total of fuck all. I do agree though that actually winning the thing would be beneficial.

Richard Dodd @ 307

Do the maths Richard and you'll see that winning that competition (19 games to it!) is just about worth 1 place in our prem next year, there's a reason why most of the big boys deliberately get knocked out of it (after they've been dumped from the CL)?

"Just enjoy!" I would have liked to have enjoyed winning either of our two domestic cups (and for more profit, just 6 games each to play), but we generally dazzle the opposition in those like we do in Europe.

Hasn't 40 points been enough for survival every season bar one?

I think the Europa League would give us some experience of playing in Europe which we need, if we got in to the Champions League we would not get past the first round.
Our squad is just not good enough for Champions League football.
Its nothing to do with the money you get for winning the Europa League its the winning of the cup that matters.
Give me a Europa League win and I would be over the moon anyone that says they don't want to win it must be barking,,,,

When did fans start picking their cups on a pounds-per-game basis?

If you must have some basis for wanting to compete in a competition, maybe coefficient points?

Personally I'd love us to play in Europe.

I'm not convinced that a run in the Europa League wouldn't be profitable. There may be not a lot in prize money, but there is all the gate receipts, TV money etc.

In any case, it would do our players a lot of good to experience playing different styles of opposition, and also help to keep our best players at the club and raise the club profile for potential signings.

Well said Ernie. I had a conversation with a Chelsea fan in work this morning and he was adamant that finishing in the top 4 should be a priority over possibly winning 2 trophies. I don't care how much Sky throw at the game, football is dying.

James (#245) What is the myth about O'Neill? Is it 2 consecutive promotions when he first started out with Wycombe, taking them from the conference to Div 3, also winning 2 fa trophies with them (obviously that will be laughed at on here) getting Leicester to the premier league and winning 2 league cups (Mickey mouse cups you will probalby tell me) along the way. How many trophies has Moyes won, I forget? A eufa cup final with Celtic, a treble of in his first season with Celtic (You will probalby say anyone could win a trophy up there managing Celtic) a couple of more league titles and Scottish cups as well. 3 successive 6th place finishes with Villa (imagine at this point you will mention money) Not a bad record at the end of the day.

I think the Europa League is better than no Europe at all. It's a great way to get your reserve and youth players some much needed experience. So why not?