Leaderboard

Difference is, we have historically gone out of our way to be fair and level the playing field by wasting that money.

Have attempted to work out what we'll earn from qualifying for the two respective competitions, based on the estimated prize money. These aren't exact figures as a lot of it is still too early to work out, as payments change based on the number of countries represented, coefficients, and other money that isn't decided until the end of the group stage, but we'll be in the right ballpark. Firstly, last season Hearts earned €4.5m from being in the Conference League group stage, winning two games, getting a 100% share of Scotland's TV money for the group stage, and a payment based on their 10-year coefficient ranking (FYI: Aberdeen are ranked 215th, Hearts 258th). What Aberdeen can expect this season... Europa League Starting fee €3.63m €0.63m per win / €0.21m per draw Finish third €0.5m Finish second €1.75m Finish first €2.3m Coefficient ranking €0.66m* TV money**: - If only Scottish team €2.58m - If Rangers drop into Europa: €1.03m (Rangers would get 60%, Aberdeen 40%) *This is impossible to work out at this stage, but is an estimate on where we'd likely be ranked out of the 32 teams. **Again can't be worked out until the 32 teams are known due to other distribution models. What we get: If being realistic, best case scenario is third in which case we could make €8.5m plus have a crack at Conference League knockouts (€7m if Rangers also in groups). Worst case scenario is fourth, six losses, and Rangers also in groups. We could still walk away with over €5m. Europa Conference League Starting fee: €2.94m €0.5m per win / €0.17m per draw. Finish second: €0.625m Finish first: €1.25m Coefficient ranking*: €0.22 TV money*: - If only Scottish team: €0.435 - If one of Hearts/Hibs qualify: €0.261 (Aberdeen get 60%) - If both Hearts/Hibs qualify: €0.174 (Aberdeen get 40%, the other two both 30%) Parachute payment from losing Europa League play-off: Hearts received €290,000 last season *Again coefficient ranking & TV money is guess work as the 32 teams aren't known. Realistically, best we do is maybe second if draw is favourable. That would be around €6m plus the knockout stage. Do what Hearts did last year and it's around €4.5m again, perhaps slightly more. Worst case scenario lose every game, then €3.1m to €3.5m. Things to note: These are in Euros. So €3.1m is more like £2.67m. Also these don't include ticket sales, however it's easy to say we'll make maybe £1.5m - £2m on ticket sales and count that as profit. However, when you consider the stadium upgrades we've paid for, charter flights, hotels, security, policing etc, basically that £1.5m to £2m disappears quite quickly, so not even sure it's worth adding.

A man in denial surely. Someone told me you go down there every Friday night

Perhaps I haven't articulated this well or you haven't grasped what I meant. Did Fergie shy away from playing the supposed bigger teams ? No, he took them on, learnt from the experiences and made us better and more prepared the next time around and that is my point about striving to be the best you can be. I'd rather be playing the best and developing any day of the week than playing diddies week in, week out. Opinions vary and each to their own which is the whole point of discussion.