Expectations?

[Whosthedado 1,670]

Win the Title and not to be humiliated in Europe like we were at home last season

[Danny 0]

I'm in a (probable) minority in that European football no longer particularly excites me and i'd always place domestic success before European success. I want us to win the league and i don't want Europe to compromise that. Anything else is a bonus

 

Believe it or not you're probably in the majority. It's I who places great importance on Europe who seems to be in the minority these days.

[Danny 0]

My hopes/expectations for this season, now, are:

 

Win the league and qualify for the last 16 of the CL, 3rd group place at worst.

[Guest Flying Hippo]

Believe it or not you're probably in the majority. It's I who places great importance on Europe who seems to be in the minority these days.

 

Maybe it was that we were in such a bland, disappointing group last year but i had virtually no interest in our CL games

[Gribz 826]

My hopes/expectations for this season, now, are:

 

Win the league and qualify for the last 16 of the CL, 3rd group place at worst.

 

Throw in the Scottish Cup and thats mine. Id accept 3rd in the CL group - depending on who we have, but last place should be a no no. i hope we go out and express ourselves in the CL this season especially at home.

[Gers4Life 0]

Win the SPL, anything else is a bonus.

 

Lesgue is a priority 100% and I guess the champions league games will look after themselves

[Danny 0]

Throw in the Scottish Cup and thats mine. Id accept 3rd in the CL group - depending on who we have, but last place should be a no no. i hope we go out and express ourselves in the CL this season especially at home.

 

Last season we had one signing - Rothen. Who admittedly was superb against VfB but that's history now. Anyway, now that we look to have reinforced with some real quality and will hopefully play Davis in the middle, we have a much better outlook for the CL than we did a week ago.

 

We just need some work on that defence. It worries me.

[Danny 0]

Maybe it was that we were in such a bland, disappointing group last year but i had virtually no interest in our CL games

 

We were in a dream group last year - the only one we could have qualified from. To get utterly fucked in that group was shambolic.

[Frankie 8,529]

I want us to win the league and would be happy with 3rd place in our CL group - depending on the draw as I think 2nd should be a possibility again.

[calscot 0]

There never used to be much expectation in Europe at all before Souness took us to the EC quarters and then Walter to a hairs width from the CL final. I remember the European attendances being particularly low as we hadn't done much since '72 and were usually out by the first or second round. There was only actually about 5 rounds to win a trophy and so it hardly made a dent on the season.

 

Those two runs raised expectations and as we won 13 titles in 15 years, the SPL almost seemed like a dawdle - a fait accompli, and we started to crave a bigger challenge - which is why we got rid of Walter and brought in Advocaat and spent ourselves silly.

 

Since then, domestically it hasn't been so rosy and as finances have changed completely with us being punished for a small population size which we can't change in a hurry. So we now have less chance than ever to do well in Europe and more reason to be more interested in what happens domestically.

 

Europe is now a bonus with finishing 3rd a great success. If we can then get a run in the Europa cup that will be far more exciting than the usual 2 or 4 games we used to play before the CL came along.

 

I think people forget how little impact European football had before the CL - with so few games it was always an interesting and diverting bonus more than anything else.

 

We now have to have the same kind of eye on it that the lesser Scottish teams have on progress in the domestic cups - and when they do well or beat the odds, it's the best feeling they ever have.

 

I think we have to learn our current place in the scheme of things, just as fans of clubs like Nottingham Forrest have learned to do. Even in Scotland Aberdeen and Dundee Utd used to dominate the domestic scene as well as being big players in Europe for a while. They have to accept where they are now instead of slagging off their team for when they do well for not having the panache of yesteryear.

 

I used to expect to beat the English Champions, like when we trounced Leeds in 91, but now I'd be very happy with a draw against Chelsea or Man U. The same expectations apply proportionately to the rest of Europe. There's absolutely no easy games for us in the Champions League these days.