Rovers hoping for no slip ups in Greece

SHAMROCK Rovers return to European action on Thursday August 22nd, when they play PAOK of Greece in Thessaloniki in the Europa League play-off, reports Stephen Farrell.

After the Hoops fantastic win against NK Celje last Thursday in Tallaght Stadium, where they won 3-1 on the night, and 3-2 on aggregate, they will be hoping to make a positive start this evening against PAOK, where the match has a kick-off time of 6.30pm, Irish time.

Both Rovers and PAOK will have a keen eye on the financial implications of progressing to the league stage of the Europa league should they win this play-off tie.

Qualification for the league stage would bring Rovers’ earnings up to €4.835 million, made up of €4.31 million for making the league stage plus €175,000 per qualifying round excluding the play-off round.

In the Europa League, which involves eight matches for a qualifying club, wins earn €450,000, with €150,000 per draw.

Progression out of this league stage with qualification for the knockout round earns €300,000, with the round of 16 earning €1.75 million.

However if Rovers do not progress to the league stage they will still recoup a financial benefit.

Should they lose in the play-off to PAOK, they will secure a place in the league stage of the Conference League and bring their earnings up to a minimum of €3.87 million.

The Tallaght club will also receive additional five year and ten year rankings UEFA prize money that may come to close to another €1 million.

Meanwhile Rovers’ head coach Stephen Bradley reflected on the historic nature of their win in Europe last week.

“It’s obviously a really historic night for the club and the team.

“It’s the first time qualifying for group stage football in Tallaght in front of our own fans and the second time in three years.

“It was a special night. I thought the players were brilliant on the night and fully deserved to win so it was a special night all round,” he said.

Turning to the tie against PAOK Bradley was candid about his team’s intentions and also acknowledged the presence of the Conference League safety net.

“… our intention and our aim [is] to try and win this tie and make the Europa League group stage. … It is nice going into the game knowing that we’ve secured group stage football, but our aim will be to try and win the tie against PAOK and qualify for the Europa League.

We know it will be a tough game, but that’s definitely our aim,” said the Rovers’ boss.

While Bradley also acknowledged that PAOK are a quality side, his preference was to focus on what Rovers can do.

“There are one or two players we’ve come up against in the past, but we can see they have good players. When you’re at this level in Europe, that’s what you come up against.

“We know they’re a good team with good individuals, but we need to focus on us, go into the game with our game plan and take it back to Tallaght and hopefully win the tie,” he said.

Meanwhile Rovers confirmed on Monday that both legs of the play-off will be streamed live on LOITV.

According to the club they exhausted every avenue across the four rounds of European matches to deliver the games on a free to air National broadcaster, but to no avail.