If Saints want to keep progressing as a football club then they need to embrace qualifying for Europe not be afraid of it.

I can never understand the cynicism that surrounds qualifying for the Europa league, although I find that much of it is usually perpetrated by managers who worry more about not getting dragged into a Premier League relegation battle than they do about their team actually challenging for honours. A prime example of this was our former manager Mauricio Pochettino who did not want anything to get in the way of making sure he could achieve a mid able finish and that included domestic cups.

So the Europa League in England at least is shrouded in myths, in Europe it is different, but here the myth abounds that the extra games have ruined many a good league season, the truth is somewhat different, although of course there have been teams whose league form has been affected, the reality is that in recent years at least when the likes of Stoke, Swansea City, Everton, Spurs and even Hull have played in it, their league position and points gained has not been far different in the season they competed in the Europa league than the previous season.

In 2009 Fulham qualified for the then UEFA Cup via the fair play league, the following season they got through to the final of the competition, but in the Premier league they only got 7 points less than the previous year. Likewise Swansea who only got 4 points less in their season in the Europa league than the previous year.

So in the main teams who play in the Europa league fare just about around the same as any other year, yes there is a slight less number of points in some cases but so few less that it could be claimed that the Europa league had little or no affect.

The teams who get affected are usually those who have qualified through the cups rather than a league placing.

But if Saints want to progress as a club then they need European competition and they need to build a squad to cope with it, football clubs should be built on steady progress not one off events, last season our then Chairman and manager often talked about it was the Champions league or nothing, but they never explained how we expected to be able to deal with the Champions league qualification any better than the Europa league.

If Saints do qualify for the Europa League then it not only increases our profile as a club both in the UK and in Europe, that being the case it makes it easier to not only keep our best players for longer, but to sign better quality players going forward.

We have to build a culture within the club where qualifying for the Europa league is seen as a minimum standard and when we have achieved that we will be in a lot better position to make the next step up.

So Saints should want the Europa league, we should embrace it and we should welcome it, if we are ambitious as a football club then why would we not want to be in it ? after all winning one of the domestic cups mean you qualify, finsihing fifth means you qualify, are we saying that we don't want that ?

So on Saturday against Aston Villa it is the biggest day of the season for Southampton Football Club we are playing to qualify for Europe via league position for the first time in 30 years, we need to be positive as supporters, we might as well all give up now if all supporting a football club outside of the big five is about is staying in mid table in the Premier league and pocketing money.

Photo: Action Images

A1079 added 13:01 - May 11 I think you should send this to the current manager and team, because I am not sure they have ever embraced it either. I am not sure our attitude this year has been that different from Pochettino. At least Pochettino openly admitted his concerns regarding qualifying for Europa, whereas Koeman seems to be happy to pretend they are interested when clearly they are not or certainly the way they have played as a team suggests they are not.

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SaintBrock added 13:51 - May 11 There is maybe just a case for a Champions League made up of the Champions only of ranking European Leagues. All the rest of it is as artificial as the play-offs, intended only as cash generators for footballs high roller backers. How many CL or EL matches does the average Joe or Wendy watch per season. In my case it is Zilch, Zero and suspect that may be the case for most Saints fans as well.

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BoondockSaint added 14:08 - May 11 Name me one player who when he left a club said "I want to play in the Europa League!" It's just a way to wear out the teams that might challenge the rich ones in their home leagues.
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SaintNick added 14:49 - May 11 Boondock, I have said this before, players at the level we are striving for always say they want to play in the Champions league rather than the Europa league, it is only us in this country that see the competition as an issue and that is because most clubs outside the top six are more worried about getting dragged into a relegation fight We are a football club, we should want to test ourselves to the highest level and that means challenging for trophies and playing in europe, if we dont want to do that then we are no more than fodder to give united/city/arsenal/chelsea/liverpool someone to play other than each other

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A1079 added 15:04 - May 11 Saintnick, I think you are partly right in that the rest of Europe see the Europa league differently. There was a documentary on some channel the other day that said that only in England did qualifying for the Europa league appear to be an issue and that the other countries seem to just accept it. May be (and I don't know) they have less of an issue financially as their domestic leagues are seen less of a money spinner for clubs. However, what I was trying to say, all the pointers seem to suggest that our manager and players have not embraced it either this season or last and that is despite having managers who are not home grown and a number of players from across the continent. If the team and the manager really wanted it, we could have nailed it a few weeks ago, either that, or were not as good as we thought.

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BoondockSaint added 15:35 - May 11 Nick, the "highest level" is Champions League, not Europa. The reason it is seen differently in Europe is because the other leagues (with the exception maybe of the Italian League) are non-competitive. They have two, maybe three extremely rich teams that are always at the top. They get the majority of TV money and then use that to pluck players from the lower teams, thereby keeping the status quo. So the only thing these minnows can aspire to is Europa League because they will never, ever, have a chance at Champions League! The Premier League is more competitive, you can upset the applecart (unless you throw away points) That's why fans aim higher than The League of Ordinary Also-Rans

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SanMarco added 15:40 - May 11 The battle royal between us and Spurs for 6th place is more wheezing cart horses than Njinsky vs Mill Reef (sorry don't know any modern racehorses). This is an eloquent comment on the Europa League - it is no good saying clubs 'should' want to be in it because they obviously don't. Matches in empty stadiums vs teams we have never heard of and a competition that only gets going once you've already played 10 matches. On the lines of SaintBrock's suggestion how about a smaller CL with only top 2 from big leagues and 1 from others and have a high quality Europa Cup run on the same lines as the CL. If we qualified for that we could be in a group with Athletico Madrid, Seville and one of the Milans. This would make the CL less 'be all and end all' - let's face it the 3 CL chasing sides that didn't make it all essentially stopped playing once they knew they had lost out. Yes this idea might mean that 5th would be the lowest you could finish for Europe but that wouldn't be a bad thing in my view. I of course know I am only dreaming - the 'big boys' would never allow this...

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JDawg added 16:19 - May 11 I'm not sure the club doesn't want to qualify for the EL, after all they have announced a new 5 year plan and that seems to see the EL as a stepping stone to the CL. I think the team has decided Swansea can't catch us and Arsenal will win the FA Cup therefore we are already in Europe. I can see that biting us on the arse. Hopefully the team will realise this as well and give the fans what they deserve on Saturday, a proper performance and a final home win of the season. If Spurs loose at home to Hull then all we need is a draw at Citeh... If only, if only

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SonicBoom added 17:22 - May 11 TBF to Fulham I imagine that in the PL seven points can make a pretty big difference in your league position.
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Zambucco added 18:22 - May 11 "You took the words right or of my mouth, it must have been while you were kissing me " My sentiments entirely Nick, let's have the gonads and go for it! What tosh to suggest that or players are avoiding it, shame shame knows your name! NB. "The highest level" surely that's the World Cup, if we're talking of players aspirations
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BoondockSaint added 19:00 - May 11 I was quoting Nick: "We are a football club, we should want to test ourselves to the highest level" so that would not be World Cup because he was talking about club football. There is the school of thought that the Champions League Final is of higher quality than the World Cup final because you have better players at every position.
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corkcitysaint added 19:40 - May 11 I think we need to get real here. Are we good enough for CL? Hell no!! Are we good enough for EL? No ! ( certainly not on recent form. Still too numb / shocked from Saturdays match to even post comments on that one!!). But dipping our toe into Europe would be good. I think we would struggle big time in Europe next season and consequently in the league too (although Nicks stats offer a different view). But I think the EL is a very important steeping stone for us as a club. Remember, it wasn't so long ago that we were in League 1, in administration and didn't have two coins to rub together, Now, we have had 2 consistent top 10 placings, best points tally 2 seasons running even given the upheaval last summer. Ok, we have really fallen off the horse in the last number of games and the team look devoid of any ideas of how to play, score and win. We look 1 dimensional, short on tactics, predictable and disinterested. But, to play in Europe would have a buzz about the team. Great nights at St. Marys' can be had. Fly the flag of Southampton at away matches, generate interest in the club, get our name out there. I'd be happy to consistently qualify for the EL for the next few years. We need to gain the experience and "know-how" of how to play in Europe and become established. What did the board say, that the plan was for Champions League in 5 years?? No chance but it sounds good. Major investment, progression and consistency is needed before we can dream of that. For me, we have to crawl before we can run. One step at a time...

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IanRC added 22:02 - May 11 This only makes it more galling that we pathetically surrendered a decent chance of a CL place this season. Our second half season form has been pathetic.
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halftimeorange added 22:11 - May 11 It's been looking for some weeks as though Swansea would catch us. We certainly replaced the players we lost with talent and a proven manager but none of them had experience of the gruelling demands of the EPL where there are very few gimmes. Now the new boys have been found out. They haven't got the stamina for it, not yet anyway. Europa League qualification might not be good for us until this team has been together for a couple of seasons. They are still learning and its hard.

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aceofthebase added 22:19 - May 11 8th place is now very likely. Europe a distant dream
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mikesaint added 22:48 - May 11 Arsenal 0 Swansea 1 We can forget Europe. Cant see us getting anymore points.
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GeordieSaint added 07:44 - May 12 The Europa league is not the greatest of competitions. It only gets competitive around February when the champions league teams get shunted down. The money earned is minimal compared to premier league cash and it is draining in terms of energy and resources. Think how spread thin we have looked in parts of the season with players looking tired and jaded, the Europa league could only make this worse. The other two problems are that there is no time for training or pre season. If you think Wednesday is travel Thursday is game Friday is travel/rest it means there can only be a light session on Saturday before the game. Monday is rest leaving only Tuesday in order to do some useful work on the training ground. To add to this qualifying starts in July! That said I think it would be brilliant to be in the Europa league for a season. The chances of having a crack at the CL are remote as the big teams will all sign major foreign talent and come back stronger. It would be a good laugh to get some decent away days in Poland or somewhere and it is a fabulous opportunity to give all the promising young lads some game time. After all, we are pretty much the england under 21 side so best to give the boys some international experience early in their development.

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