And so,the Europa League!

[Colonel_K]

 

[SouthStand Billy]

what's the difference between ghent and gent?

an h.

 

[EighteenEightyTwo]

What do we reckon the Spurs players reaction to Ghent was?

ochfacepalm::vertna::walker:

 

[1882]

Right, before we go down the route of totally writing off the Europa League...
and thinking we're bigger than a EUROPEAN COMPETITION to ever bother trying to be in it...

let me first refer you to what it used to mean to our Club to not only participate in, but to actually attempt to win the thing!

cast your eyes over these...

NOW TELL ME IT DOESN'T MATTER!!

 

[Oracle]

So basically we're going to be playing on a shit pitch in freezing cold temperatures hundreds of miles away......fantastic

West Ham are out

 

[Aberdeenshire yid]

32 years have come and gone since our last European success, 32!!!! Can we at least try and win it! Please.....at least try!

 

[Statler Gantoise]

Out of interest, how many Gent fans would normally travel to a European away match that's reasonably easy to travel to, such as your Champions League matches last season against Wolfsburg, Valencia or Lyon? Is the demand similar, or is the demand for this one much higher because it's Spurs/Wembley?

2500 fans went to Valencia, roughly the same to Wolfsburg. This was down to ticket allocations.
None were allowed to Lyon due to the Paris attacks.

1. SPURS!
This is our fourth draft in two years: CL, CL last 16, EL and now EL last 32. We never had a "proper" opponent, a big name. No Barcelona, no Madrid, no Bayern and no English team.
Finally we have a big name: Spurs. We all know the club, we see it every week on TV (BBC1 and so MOTH is standard in our TV-channel package), some Belgians are playing quite well there and Spurs play our kind of football: fluid, dominant, attractive. It is not in the genes of Spurs to park the bus. Neither in ours. Also bear in mind that the FA Cup was on our BBC-equivalent during the 80s/90s. We are born and bred on English footie.

2. LONDON!
London is a hop over the channel, roughly 3 hours away. It has plenty of hotels, bars, attractions, is easy to travel to (ferry, plane, bus, train). Wolfsburg: that's a VW factory with some houses around it. So London is a plus. Plenty are coming to see the game and make a weekend of it.

3. WEMBLEY!
Que sera que sera...
White Hart Lane would have been fun but Wembley is the cherry on the cake.
If there is one stadium you have to see it's Wem-be-ley. Being a nostalgic romantic I preferred the old version, but to support your own team in the mothership of football against decent opposition, that takes some beating.
Win or lose, we win.

 

[Paul Allen's Omen]

You just know we are going to draw Fiorentina

 

[John Thomas]

Just grabbed 5 in the top tier. You do realise, Spurs v Gent in a round of 32 europa league game, on a Thursday night, is gonna attract a bigger crowd than Woolwich v Bayern Munich in the Champions league knock out stage.
Londons Biggest Club

 

[ArcspacE]

Thursday nights suit me better than Wednesdays anyway

Thanks for letting us know

 

[EighteenEightyTwo]

Gent players reaction to the draw

 

[Belgian Spur]

A friend of mine can help you out if only he could post links (he needs a "like" to be able to do that)

Don't let your friend get too excited: my friend is not a Russian entrepreneur who specialises in the men-orientated market.

And me? I'm here as a KAA Gent supporter to check the mood among the Spurs fans and answer questions about all that Belgian stuff, be it from a friend or not.

Welkom vriend er zitten hier ook gentse spurs fans

to prevent you all from having to use Google translate I just said you are all inbred cunts

 

[ArcspacE]

If we get Schalke, can Bentaleb play?

Yes, he can

Now let's show some respect this time around, Poch - and look to be competitive. Not to mention winner gets a CL spot

 

[Biff]

I can't be the only one confused by Genk and Gent both being in that draw. Not to mention Gent/Ghent. Hope everyone lucky enough to get a ticket goes to the right place!

 

[Suzyfree]

What does the KAA stand for?? Not some right wing extremist movement is it?

Yeah, watch out for their right winger.

 

[Pinkerton 45]

Aaaand we're back. What else is there to do,right? Atleast we'll be teaming up with another super cool british club


MAn U

 

[Raymond]

I am a bronze member with 35 LP ,What are chances of me maybe getting a ticket? be my first European away day

 

[John Thomas]

I can see why people think we will field a weakened team. We probably will. But why the fuck did we play a full strength team against CSKA to ensure qualification then. After fielding a weakened team in Monaco resulting in elimination from the UCL.
Don't make sense to me.

 

[Statler Gantoise]

Thanks for the quick responses. It was very helpful.

And yes, the excitement here is going through the roof.
Some are considering selling their mother-in-law for a ticket.
I quite like mine, though.

Expectations regarding the game: we'll lose obviously. We don't care.
Tottenham is a respected adversary. There is no shame in going out against such a team.
Wembley is epic. The FA cup was broadcast here on national TV for decades (80s-90s).
I still remember Nico Claesen being the first Belgian in a FA Cup final, as a subsitute for Spurs.
It didn't help much I'm afraid.
How times have changed.

 

[Flav]

True but feel that they were also not "promoted" anywhere near as much as what went before. You lot put tremendous effort in the early days, it felt like an important & pssionate thing. There were blogs, those that attended shared thier stories and experiences, it caught the media's attention etc.
Obviously you will have a far better handle on interest than anyone what with clicks on here etc so not trying to teach to suck eggs. It just feels like there is a renewed connection with the whole fanbase and this team because of the youth braking through. With current interest with our academy at an all time high it feels like an opportunity lost not to focus efforts of 1882 on academy football.

EDIT:
I've just seen this posted in the FA Youth Cup game thread by WindyCOYS surely this shows the interest and demand is there and what I like even more is the club really, really appreciate it too.

Windy thinks the 5th round against Norwich will be at WHL...

Date TBC, but we'll get on this - give it a good push and see what happens.

It's good to know all this though (what you posted above), it's difficult to know how things are seen from the inside out.