BrahimHemdani

That's interesting because UEFA are still showing Matches 28 June 2017 First qualifying round Ibrox Stadium Glasgow RANGERS- PROGRÈS 03 July 2017 First qualifying round Stade Josy Barthel Luxembourg "Stade Josy Barthel is the national stadium of Luxembourg, home to the Luxembourg national football team and also used for rugby union and athletics." If the home game is defo on the Thursday seem unlikely the away leg would be on the Monday. Differdange are at home on Wed 05 July 2017 but that's listed for Stade Municipal de Differdange Differdange

i'm not blaming Rangers but at the same time they would have to agree to any changes before UEFA rubber stamp is applied.

I accept that but it should have been sorted last night or first thing this morning.

It must be a near planet if such observation scan be made.

I have emailed Stewart Robertson: Hi Stewart, I don't think I'm alone in having booked flights and accommodation for Luxembourg as soon as the draw was made, before the warnings came out and I thought I had covered all the bases by going out on Wednesday 5th and returning Saturday 8th. (In my experience Rangers away UEFA Cup or Europa League games have only ever been moved by one day from Thursday to Wednesday vs Osasuna in Pamplona in March 2007.) Whilst I appreciate that there will be exceptional demand for this match and both Clubs will want to accommodate as many travelling fans as possible it should all have been sorted last night if not first thing this morning.. The fact that there still seems to be a possibility of a switch of home legs never mind ongoing uncertainty over dates is ridiculous. Last night I could have switched flights for a £60 fee only which was the risk I knew I was taking but now the flights themselves are way up and the hotels are through the roof, that's if you can get one at all. I would appreciate if you could do your best to resolve this situation as quickly as possible.

I don't think I'm alone in having booked flights before the warnings came out and this should all have been sorted last night if not first thing this morning. The fact that there still seems to be a possibility of a switch is ridiculous and I am suspicious that this is not all down to Progres because Rangers will know that there will be exceptional demand for this match. Last night I could have switched flights for a £60 fee only which was the risk I knew I was taking but now the flights themselves are way up and the hotels are through the roof, that's if you can get one at all.

Uilleam exists on a higher planet than most of the rest of us lesser mortals; but yes, it was a joke and quite a good one IMO; something of double entendre in fact.

Still the two different dates shown on UEFA site and nothing on Rangers'.

Just spoke to the TO. The issue is that the Progres ground is not up to UEFA standards, so they want to switch to the National Stadium; but there is already a game booked in there on the Thursday. Initially they wanted to switch the home and away legs, which is still a possibility apparently. Bottom line no dates confirmed as yet. UEFA DECISION EXPECTED THIS MORNING

First leg showing as Thursday 29th and Second leg showing as Tuesday the 4th here http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2017/matches/index.html#rd/2000886/2

Any way to verify if the change of date is confirmed, then I can change my flights?

Yes indeed, but wanted to get the flights booked before they went up, booked to go out on Wed thinking it would be Wed or Thurs. Looks like the info is accurate, Differdange v Zira is listed for the 5th. Clicked on a few others and the dates are all over the place, a lot of first legs on the Wed as well.

It had better not be, the 3rd is the Monday and I fly out on the Wednesday

I knew you were the intellectual type, Pete.

I have a picture somewhere, I'll see if I can find it, naturally they were dawn by my animal magnetism

It wasn't quite as long ago, I was there on 9 August 2005; actually we were well on top 2-0 but ran out of steam and ended up holding on for the 2-1 victory against Temur Ketsbaia's Anorthosis team that also boasted one Georgi Kinkladze. Rangers: Waterreus, Pierre-Fanfan, Andrews, Rodriguez, Ball, Ricksen, Ferguson, Murray, Buffel (Lovenkrands 58), Novo (Burke 79), Prso (Thompson 74). Subs Not Used: Klos, Malcolm, Alex Rae, McCormack. Booked: Ball, Ricksen, Andrews. Goals: Novo 64, Ricksen 71. No question, heat will be a big factor; it's forecast 32/33C there in mid July. By the way, the women are hot too; they get my vote as the most attractive of any European country I've visited on Rangers travels.

. Yes in terms of Luxembourg, BUT and it's a big BUT..... It may have escaped your attention that Cypriot football has been on the up for many years and their clubs' performances have put them 5-10 places ahead of Scotland in the UEFA coefficient country rankings for the 6 years up to 2016 and just one place behind us last season. Apollon Limassol qualified for the group stages of the EL two years running: in 2013/14 after defeating Nice 2-0 at home in the play-off round and 2014/15 after quite probably one of the most astonishing results ever, in Europe certainly in the qualifiers, beating Lokomotiv Moscow 4-1 in Moscow for a 5-2 aggregate. Apollon Limassol is anything but a formality.

McCoist made two big mistakes in Maribor, gambling with Bocanegra 24 hours after signing him and the dash from France and changing tactics in the second half after (rightly) taking off Naismith at half time before he was got off. However, we lost in Malmo because uncharacteristically Whittaker and entirely predictably Bougherra (in his last match) lost the plot; and Jelavic (after scoring a fantastic volley from Edu's long ball) missed with the goalie to beat to take us through. Of course it's arguable, and I did before the match, that Bougherra should not have played but Weir was injured and Papac had to revert to CB.

And get their 5.775 coefficient......

I agree with your analysis plus the fact that only half points are awarded in the qualifiers. As to NK Rijeka, Croatia are 17th meaning their champions get a bye to the CLQ2 and NK Rijeka Cro 15.550 are seeded.

Fola Esch are at home in the first leg but Differdange are at home in the second leg so one or other may wish to switch dates.

Has to be better than Pal Joey

I think it's a combination of factors. The last twice we played in the old UEFA Cup there was only one qualifying round and we scraped through in 2004 vs Maritimo on penalties thanks to the legendary Gregory Vignal's penalty after losing 1-0 in Madeira, winning 1-0 at home (Prso) and 2006 vs Molde 2-0 (Buffel and Ferguson) after 0-0 in the Fjords. In 2008 of course we dropped down from the CL before going to Manchester. We have only played once in the Europa League, suffering ignominious defeat 3-2 on aggregate to Maribor in Q4 in 2011 after equally ignominious defeat to Malmo in the CLQ3. So it has never been easy at least not in the last 7/8 years we played in Europe. However, the Europa League format of four qualifying rounds makes it much harder; Scotland's poor coefficient means having to start in Q1 and our own lack of any coefficient other than 20% of what the other teams have amassed over the past 5 years just compounds the problem. Incidentally, next season Scotland will be marginally better off as we finished 23rd this season (based on last 5 years) so the CW will automatically gain entry to Q2 (rather than through the back door this time*) but the N2 and N3 will still start in ELQ1. * Since the Champions League title holder (Real Madrid) already qualified for the group stage of the Champions League, the Europa League title holder (Manchester United) gains access to the group stage of the Champions League, and leave an open spot in the Europa League group stage. This open spot will be taken by the cup winner of the 13th country on the ranking list (Czech Republic). The cup winner of the 18th country on the ranking list (Poland) has direct access to the 3rd qualifying round, and the cup winners of the 25th and 26th countries on the ranking list (Scotland and Azerbaijan) have direct access to the 2nd qualifying round of the Europa League. https://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/seedel2017.html Our Champions will have to get through four qualifiers to get to the group stages of the CL. We have to get up to 17th even to improve one round on that in both the CL and EL.

It gets worse because " The 15 clubs defeated in the 3rd qualifying round of the CL, are entitled to play in the 4th qualifying round of the Europa League," Any of these.... Seeded teams coef. Unseeded teams coef. ------------------------ --- ---------------- ------------------------ --- ---------------- Olympiakos Piraeus Gre 64.580 Malmö FF ** Swe 16.945 Celtic ** Sco 42.785 FK Astana ** Kaz 16.800 FC Salzburg ** Aut 40.570 Partizan Belgrade ** Srb 16.075 FC København ** Den 37.800 NK Rijeka ** Cro 15.550 Ludogorets Razgrad ** Bul 34.175 Rosenborg BK ** Nor 12.665 BATE Borisov ** Bls 29.475 Sheriff Tiraspol ** Mol 11.150 Legia Warsaw ** Pol 28.450 Hapoel Beer-Sheva ** Isr 10.875 APOEL Nicosia ** Cyp 26.210 Slavia Praha Cze 8.135 NK Maribor ** Slo 21.125 FH Hafnarfjardar ** Isl 6.175 Garabag Agdam ** Azb 18.050 Viitorul Constanta Rom 5.870 For the draw of the 3rd round the 20 teams are divided into 2 groups of 10 teams. 3rd Qualifying Round for Non-Champions (10 teams) Seeded teams coef. Unseeded teams coef. ------------------------ --- ---------------- ------------------------ --- ---------------- Dinamo Kiev Ukr 67.526 Steaua Bucuresti Rom 35.370 Ajax Ned 67.212 Young Boys Sui 28.915 Viktoria Plzen Cze 40.635 OGC Nice Fra 16.833 CSKA Moscow Rus 39.606 Istanbul Basaksehir Tur 10.340 Club Brugge Bel 39.480 AEK Athens Gre 6.580

You mean that I am looking that far ahead or that we will almost certainly get a tough draw if we make it?