Europa League Draw

I am in Blackpool that week, might have to take our passports wa us lol

Really happy and surprised with the pricing of these games.

Will be trying to get tickets do most folk think that there will be plenty GS ?

 

Aye 35,000 max I think. Could probably shut the upper tier as I think the bottom half of the stadium holds 36/37,000??

 

I reckon salzburg away -0 points
zagreb home -3
astra home-3
astra away-3
salzburg home-1
zagreb away-will be a great match and probs 1 point

 

Fortunately we have a postal system in Scotland.

 

Who cares about attendances really? We all know it won't sell our but watch all the wee hords of people crawling and fighting for tickets come the last 32

 

They were based in the city of Ploiesti for most of their history. The name Astra comes from the city's oil refinery, and translates as "The Star".

They were first promoted in the fourth league after 1990. In 1998 they made it in the first league, where they remained for five years. Now, Ploiesti always had a big team in Romanian football. Petrolul is in top 5 in terms of fanbase and performances, and rarely spent time outside the top league.

However, both Astra and Petrolul were relegated in the same year, and very weird machinations happened afterwards. The teams merged, then after promoting they split again, but Petrolul were the ones who stayed down. The ended up in the hands of a dodgy business man and suffered a lot over a couple of years. This owner closed the stadium and eventually had the team play in different cities.

Petrolul finally got rid of him and returned in the first league. They had won their last trophy 16 years ago, but now had a chance to heal. Astra were hated for the part they played in Petrolul's downfall (and indeed they did, there is more to this story).

Until 2012, Astra has spent their years in the top flight as a mediocre Ploiesti-based team. They had the lowest attendance in the league, having games with as few as 100 people. After Petrolul were promoted, they moved to a different city, Giurgiu.

Since then they have improved considerably, and both they and Petrolul are challenging Steaua for the title. These are currently the best three teams in the league.

Their fanbase increased, because Giurgiu didn't had a team and they adopted Astra. Not very big attendances, but you see people with scarves, chants etc.

It's a pity you play against Astra and not against Petrolul (they were beatend by Dinamo Zagreb in the play-off). They have a new stadium, great support, and a nice city. Astra are a little soulless compared to them.

By the way, Astra Giurgiu is a bit of a nonsensical name. It would be like a a team from Glasgow being named after a symbol of Aberdeen.

 

Tough group with zagreb and salzburg with our current team..

 

Definitely. I don't hold any great hopes at the moment as Salzburg and Dinamo both look better, on current form, than us. And Astra just make me think of unknown teams like Basel and Donetsk who came to Parkhead and passed us off the park (even though we beat Basel 3-1 that night!)

 

The beauty is we'll have a settled first 11 by then once new boys and injured players get used to each other and up to speed, hopefully a decent run of form by then and full of confidence..

We're what, almost 3 weeks away..

Onwards and upwards ay

 

Yup! That's the ticket right now!! Get the new boys settled in and a consistent team selection hopefully...and Broony back!

 

I'm really looking forward to this

 

Have to agree with you. Getting out of this group will be tough especially given how unsettled the team looks at the moment. Having the away game against Salzburg first up is a tough ask too. We would be doing brilliant to even get a point in that game.

 

I'm glad we're getting, potentially, the 'toughest' tie out the way first tbh.

 

The 3 match package ticket prices are very reasonable tbh, I suppose they have to be to appease the fans though.

 

We know that we're not even close to the team we were 2 years ago, so we won't be underestimating anyone.

If the fans turn up and we don't get too much bad luck, we can take 9 points at home. However, I think that the fans of every other team will be saying the same; the teams look relatively evenly matched to me. Salzburg stand out as having far and away the best attack though.

This group will be very close; any teams could go through.

 

Getting excited for this! Very good European games that we won't just be pinned back for 90mins!

 

I agree. If they charged nearer the £90 that fans paid for champs league last year it would be a PR disaster.

 

@skysports_bryan: We're told Southampton have made €15m (£11.8m) bid for Salzburg's Sadio Mane. More on @SkySportsNewsHQ

 

Let's hope Salzburg are also a team who don't spend money, and fail to replace him with a quality replacement.