19 Mar 2026 16:53:18
Just a harsh piece of reality for the jams and their title aspirations that will be fantastik for the capital club if reality comes a knocking. BUT the downside in the CL qualies is they will get their rear end handed to them on a plate which would not be good for our game here. there's only 2 clubs in Scotland who have the experience to handle CL pressure and most of the time we know how that goes apart from the nearly Europa runs by both clubs.
we will be in a good place player wise by the time that comes around so let's get this league won. no slip ups so close to the finish line that knowone saw coming earlier on.
19 Mar 2026 17:04:21
Sure they'd happily take a shilacking if it means winning the league. Tbh, so would I at the moment.
19 Mar 2026 17:05:09
Decent. We have seen this week's matches, how most of the English teams fared. The SPL is country miles off the Champions League. Once the automatic spot goes, which I believe it already has this season, I doubt any SPL teams will qualify.
Yes, I know there's an outside chance we can this season. With equal coefficient points across all the competitions now, the SPL will drop further down every season as other teams fail to qualify.
19 Mar 2026 17:39:52
Hearts would also make a pretty penny in CL.
19 Mar 2026 17:57:19
Decee, who r the two clubs in Scotland able to handle CL?
19 Mar 2026 17:58:14
I don't think that's the case, Davie.
For me this is just the cycle we go through. We will end up with 3 teams in Europe and the points we get are then divided by 3 instead of 5.
This makes a huge difference when 2 of those 3 are the Old Firm.
At that stage we start climbing the ladder till we get to 5 teams again, when the division by 5 kicks in and we start dropping again.
19 Mar 2026 18:19:20
There are no Scottish clubs anywhere near the level required to play against the teams in the Champions League. ? I dread to wonder what clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid,
PSG, Bayern Munich would do to the Scottish clubs, just by witnessing what those teams did to Newcastle Utd, Man City, Chelsea and Atalanta. ?
19 Mar 2026 18:43:35
Ooooft, some of the negativity is unreal. You think just because they are big teams they can't be beaten. Why don't we ask Inter Milan how it went against Bodo, who are on a fraction of the budget even the Old Firm are on. Yes, I get the ECL latter stages usually end up with the same teams year in, year out, but by no means should we think we couldn't or shouldn't be able to compete with teams of that calibre.
I mean, our run to the EL final saw us put out some ECL quality teams.
The biggest difference is, Bodo are a well run club with a brilliant manager, and their success this year should be an example to all smaller-league clubs participating in European competition.
19 Mar 2026 18:52:22
Jesus Christ, it's been a long time since we handed Champions League pressure. ???
19 Mar 2026 18:55:53
Talking to a few of my Hearts friends, and the CL is the last thing they are interested in. They are only interested in winning the league.
19 Mar 2026 19:22:40
You already know the answer, John. We certainly could do well if the outs and ins are productive.
19 Mar 2026 20:18:57
Great point, Tommygunn. One of the worst things to happen to the coefficient was 5 teams playing in Europe and 3 getting pumped out before September.
19 Mar 2026 20:24:56
Decee, a very long way from that, face reality.
19 Mar 2026 20:28:28
Big Dan Burn was running aboot, lost last night. He looked like big Souttar on a bad night.
19 Mar 2026 20:29:57
It's been pretty miserable on here for a while, but this post made me laugh.
19 Mar 2026 21:39:07
Aye, EHL, I agree with your first part of your post.
20 Mar 2026 08:01:27
Most of us are still suffering PTSD from Sands, Davies & King getting played at CHs in a group of death!
20 Mar 2026 08:33:03
Rangers got a skelping off of Club Brugge in Champions League qualifiers. Hearts couldn't do any worse than us, in my opinion.
20 Mar 2026 14:43:13
No club in Scotland can compete in the CL.
If Celtic don't win the cup, and, say, another team wins it, they go into Europa League qualifying.
1st goes to CL qualifying.
2nd goes to Conference League.
So, if we finish 3rd, is there an outside chance we may not get Europe in that case? That's what I think, but I could be wrong.