The Bairns are headed to Europe
By: Ian Rose | April 26th, 2009The Scottish Cup semifinals are over (no extra time, no replays, and hurray for that). Rangers beat St. Mirren 3-0 in a match that featured former Scotland man Kris Boyd’s 100th Rangers goal. In the other semi, Dunfermline fell to Falkirk, currently last place in the SPL. Since Rangers are certain to be headed to Europe through their league standing, this means, once again, that a Scottish team with a poor league season has booked a European place whether they win the final or lose it. First Dunfermline, then Queen of the South, and now Falkirk.
This version of the same old tale has a slightly different wrinkle. Monsieur Platini, as part of his quest to bring some fire back to the domestic cups (one I generally agree with) has set up the new, rebranded Europa League (sigh) with the cup winners getting the best of each nation’s placements. While the fourth place finisher in the league will enter in the second qualifying round, and the third place finisher will enter in the third, Falkirk, win or lose, will enter the competition in the so-called playoff round, along with 15 dropouts from the Champions League and the survivors from the previous qualifiers. They will start only one round away from the group stages.
I won’t spend too much time whining about the coefficient and how bad this decision has been for it. Good luck to the Bairns in their first-ever European berth. I hate to see losers rewarded, so for me, I’ll be rooting them on for their third Scottish Cup win on May 30th. Rangers have 32 Scottish Cups in their case at Ibrox, and who would even notice another?
Category: Scottish Cup
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share
      |
Comments are closed
Home 
