2011/12 SEASON PREVIEW

 

Yeah I know, it's only early August but the fact is, the ball has gotten rolling in enough parts of the European football season already that I might as well call this a season so far ramble. OK, United have yet to start their defence of the Premiership title but for a lot of other clubs a long summer has been boken up with European preliminary competitions amongst other stuff. And the SPL's started up already! So, where do we start?

Let's start with the Champions League preliminaries. There was no British interest in the 1st qualifying round, which contained only two ties. Luxumbourg side Dudelange beating Andorran side 4-0 on aggregate with the 1st leg at the Estadi Communal. A very smooth run for Dudelange. Then Maltese side Valetta beat San Marinese club Tre Fior 5-1 on aggregate with the 1st leg at the Stadio Olimpico(San Marino) with Tre Fior holed below the waterline on their own turf. Neither tie was much of a contest and neither matchup was of much interest to British fans but so be it. You'd have thought they'd have made more teams take part in this stage of the competition.

British interest started in appear in the 2nd qualifying round. The WPL's Bangor City showed their hand...and it turned out to be a dud. They were anhiliated 13-0 on aggregate by Finnish side HJK with the 1st leg at the Belle Vue, I can't remember the last time a British side was on the wrong end of such a drubbing. Linfield were the IFAP's representatives this time around but they fell to BATE Borisov 3-1 on aggregate with the first leg at Windsor Park, Linfield's failiure to win on home turf costing them dear. Bottom line, both the Welsh and Northern Irish representatives were wiped out at the first time of asking, of course though there were plenty of big guns to come.

The 3rd qualifying round was where the SPL showed their hand, with Rangers joining the party. The Blues, now gaffered by Ally McCoist had to deal with Malmo. Things did not go to plan though, the Blues losing the 1st leg at Ibrox 1-0 and despite McCoist's protestations, the tie looked pretty much done and dusted. Credit to the Blues though, they managed to come up with a 1-1 draw in the 2nd leg at the Swedbank Stadium. That still wasn't good enough though and the Gers crashed out 2-1 on aggregate. So, there went the SPL's respresentation in the Champions League, this was not a good preliminary campaign for British sides and all three leagues in question must be seriously embarrassed.

Next up is the playoffs and that's where the Premiership shows it's hand. Arsenal are the side to be given an early start to the Champions League on this occasion and they're up against Udinese with the first leg at the Emirates Stadium. On the face of it, having to deal with Serie A opposition is less than ideal for the Gunners particularly with some of their big names still seemingly up for grabs. Yet they could have done worse, Udinese are relative small fry with little European history and no players of note. The Gunners know how to get through this stage ofd the competition at least and their experience should tell. Arsenal to reach the group stages without much of an issue.

Going down a level...the Europa League preliminaries also took place and there was a Premiership presence here from the start. The 1st qualifying round saw Fulham, now gaffered by Martin Jol, beat Faroe Islands club NSi 3-0 on aggregate with the 1st leg at Craven Cottage. There was also an all-British tie with TNS beating Cliftonville 2-1 on aggregate with the 1st leg at Park Hall. However TNS's fellow WPL side Neath were beaten 6-1 on aggregate by Norwegian club Aaelsund with the 1st leg at the Aaelsund Stadion. Cliftonville's fellow IFAP side Glentoran managed to draw 3-3 on aggregate with Macedonian club Renova after extra time with the 1st leg at the National Arena Filip II before winning on penalties.

The 2nd qualifying round saw Fulham beat Crusaders, the latest IFAP side to show their hand, 7-1 on aggregate with the 1st leg at Seaview. The SPL joined the party through Dundee United but they were only able to draw 3-3 on aggregate with Polish league side Slask with the 1st leg at Slask Stadium Orporoswa, losing on away goals. TNS were beaten 8-3 on aggregate by Danish side Mitdjylland with the 1st leg at Park Hall. Llanelli tried their hand, but were beaten 6-2 on aggregate by Dinamo Tibilsi with the 1st leg at the Parc Y Scarlets. Glentoran's run also ended as they were beaten 5-0 on aggregate by Ukranian club Vorskla with the 1st leg at The Oval.

Then came the 3rd qualifying round. Fulham beat RNK Split 2-0 on aggregate with the 1st leg at the SC Hrvatskih vitezova while Stoke showed their hand by beating Hajduk Split 2-0 on aggregate with the 1st leg at the Brittania Stadium, a particularly impressive performance for a Premiership side not used to European competition. The SPL reloaded in the form of Hearts, who beat Hungarian league side Paks 6-2 on aggregate with the 1st leg at Sostoi to give the SPL a strong presence going into the playoffs of this competition. The WPL and IFAP however had no further reinforcements after their earlier representatives were booted out and so their interest in European competition was over.

So, now came the draw for the playoffs. Spurs join the party at this point and find themselves facing Hearts in what'll be an interesting battle with the 1st leg at Tynecastle, Spurs should win that. Fulham face Dnipro with the first leg at the Dnipro Arena, that one's too close to call. Stoke face Swiss Super League side FC Thun with the 1st leg at Stadium Thun. That match is again too close to call. Championship side Birmingham face Superliga club Nacional with the 1st leg at the Estadio de Madiera, I suspect they'll get a reality check there. Rangers face Maribor with the 1st leg at the Ljudski vrt - Gers should pull that off. Celtic face Sion with the 1st leg at the Stade Tourbellion - too close to call.

So, what have United been up to? Well for starters the club has had to say farewell to van de Saar, Neville and Scholesy, all of whom are now football history. The latter two in particular are legends of the club and it's been an honour to have sen them in action. On that note, other old faces have left the club, Brown and O'Shea are off to Sunderland, Bebe's been loaned out to Besiktas, and Hargeves has been shown the exit door as well. Welcomed in to Old Trafford are the following: New and rather young Spanish goalie David de Gea from Atletico Madrid(£20 million), Blackburn defender Phil JOnes(£16.5 million) and the most interesting signing off the summer, Ashley Young from Villa(£20 million). Let's see what they can do.

North of the border, Aberdeen have also been busy, including some big surprises through the exit door with Chris Maguire Sone Aluko joining Derek MacNamee, Mark Howard and Derek YOung on their way out. Craig rown is looking to fill those holes with French defender Youl Mawenne, snapped up from Greek second-tier side Panserraikos. Chris Clark returns to Pittodrie from Plymouth. English midfielder Issac Osborne swings in from Coventry, Iceland's Kari Arnasson snapped up as a free agent and Welsh international goalie Jason Brown from Cardiff. Let's see how much use that combo will be, particularly with Jamie Langfield having suffered a troke this summer.

More at the back end of my next article.

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