The issue of Premier League spending is once again in the limelight following a denouncement of the debt culture in English football by UEFA general secretary David Taylor.

Taylor pinpointed the big spending of Manchester City as a source of concern, with the Premier League club forking out hundreds of millions of Euros for top players, effectively forcing other clubs to over-extend to compete in the transfer markets.

“There is certainly disquiet in the corridors of power here,” Taylor told a press conference. “There are stories concerning some English clubs that are of significant concern. There are a number of English clubs where the value of the club itself has fallen significantly and they are effectively on the market.”

Taylor claimed to be surprised by the fact that clubs like Manchester City were over-extending themselves financially in the midst of a recession.

“In this current economic environment, I would never say never to anything like that. Clearly we do not see that as imminent but the concern is that we have to establish a stronger financial basis on which clubs can compete.”

Aberdeen’s 2009/2010 season began with a humiliating loss in front of their home crowd in the Europa League qualifiers on Thursday night.

The side, led by new manager Mark McGhee, found themselves on the receiving end of a 5-1 thrashing from the Czech Republic’s Sigma Olomouc.

The result leaves the club with little chance of progressing to the Europa League tournament proper, with a 4 goal reverseal required in Prague next week.

The two sides looked well matched for the early part of the game, with Sigma Olomouc drawing first blood on 18 minutes before Aberdeen equalized through a Charlie Mulgre free kick.

However, the wheels came off the Aberdeen effort after the hour mark, as Lukas Bajer put his side into the lead.

The floodgates opened with Sigma Olomouc in the lead, and the Czechs were able to put three more goals past the Aberdeen defence before the referee put the Scottish club out of its misery.

“I think I could cry, to be honest,” McGhee told the Daily Mail after the match. “Generally, we learned we are nowhere near fit enough. It’s an easy excuse to say that but we are not up there where we would want to be at the start of the season.”

“Did the game come too early for us? Clearly it did. We are not ready to play for 90 minutes.”

Motherwell’s hopes of playing in the tournament proper for the inaugural Europa League were destroyed by Steau Bucharest last night as the Scottish Premier League club was handed a 3-0 thrashing in the Romanian capital.

The club had set out for Romania determined to keep the Romanian club in range for their home leg of the Europa League tie. However, the night got off to a dreadful start when Stephen Craigan scored an own goal after a period of sustained pressure from the hosts.

The floodgates opened following this goal, as Steau Bucharest secured and converted a penalty before Bogdan Stancu smashed home the final goal for the Romanian side.

The result of the match leaves Motherwell with the unenviable and improbable task of reversing a three goal deficit when they host Steau Bucharest at the Excelsior Stadium next Thursday.

“We’ll be concentrating on the game and looking to improve the way we play the game,” Motherwell coach, Jim Gannon, said after the match. “It’ll be another opportunity for us to improve our fitness and our speed of play going into the SPL season.”

“We will get something out of the game, even if it’s only just preparation for the forthcoming season.”

Third Qualifying Round, 1st Leg
Aberdeen 1-5 SK Sigma Olomouc
Athletic Bilbao 0-1 Young Boys
Braga 1-2 Elfsborg
Brondby 1-1 Legia Warsaw
Club Brugge 3-2 FC Lahti
CSKA Sofia 1-0 Derry City
Dinamo Tbilisi 2-0 Crvena Zvezda
FC Honka 0-1 FK Qarabag
FC Vaduz 0-1 Liberec
FC Vaslui 2-0 Omonia Nicosia
Fenerbahce 5-1 Budapest Honved
FK Vetra 0-3 Fulham
Fredrikstad 1-6 Lech Poznan
Helsingborgs 2-1 FK Sarajevo
IFK Gothenburg 1-3 Hapoel Tel-Aviv
KR Reykjavik 2-2 Basle
KSP Polonia Warsaw 0-1 NAC
Maccabi Netanya 1-4 Galatasaray
Metallurg Donetsk 2-0 Olimpija Ljubljana
MSK Zilina 1-1 Hajduk Split
Petrovac 1-2 SK Sturm Graz
PSV 1-0 Cherno More Varna
Rabotnicki Kometal 3-4 Odense BK
Randers FC 0-4 Hamburg
Rapid Vienna 2-1 APOP
Rijeka 1-2 FC Metalist Kharkiv
Roma 3-1 AA Gent
Sevojno 0-2 Lille
Slavija Sarajevo 0-2 MFK Kosice
Steaua Bucuresti 3-0 Motherwell
St Patricks 1-0 Krylya Sovetov Samara
Tromso 2-1 NK Slaven Koprivnica
Valerenga 1-2 PAOK Salonika
Vojvodina 1-1 FK Austria Vienna

Fulham FC begins its Europa League campaign this evening with a trip to Vilnius to take on Lithuanian side, FK Vetra. The Cottagers head to the Baltic nation knowing little about what awaits them in terms of both venue and opposition.

FK Vetra reached the third qualifying round of the Europa League by defeating Finnish side, HJK Helsinki, earlier this month. The club is one of two that dominate Lithuanian football, and the Fulham players are not taking their opponents lightly.

“It doesn’t matter who the opposition is, whether it be a non-league team or a Champions League side, you must prepare the same,” defender Paul Konchesky told the Guardian. “We’ll get to know much more about the opposition when we get out to Lithuania and sit down with the manager and have a meeting.”

“We’ve been preparing for this game like we would for a Premier League game. We need to win on Thursday and hopefully we’ll come back to The Cottage with a goal advantage having not conceded any.”

Bookmakers are backing Fulham to take the spoils in tonight’s match, with the Cottagers priced at an average of 1/2 in the match betting markets. FK Vetra are priced 7/2 to score an upset victory over their Premier League opponents.

Steaua Bucharest president Gigi Becali has thrown down the gauntlet to Motherwell coach Jim Gannon ahead of their Europa League clash on Thursday evening.

“Motherwell don’t stand a chance in front of Steaua,” Becali told reporters on Tuesday. “We will go through without trouble. I don’t know any of their players and they are not a team we should be afraid of.”

The Scots are on a high following their 8-1 annihilation of Flamurtari last week, and Gannon was quick to dismiss Becali’s talk of an easy win for the home side in Bucharest.

“I think we seen that with statements from Flamurtari in the last round,” he responded. “I’d like to think we’ve always been respectful and professional and give due respect to the opposition team and their country.”

Gannon avoided getting involved in a war of words with Becali by focusing on the task at hand for his young team.

“Perhaps it has been taken out of context but they will be confident and there will be expectations of Steaua against us. However, we will go there and be professional and hopefully surprise people with the quality that we show.”

Ireland will have two sides to cheer in the third qualifying round of the 2009 Europa League after Derry and St Patricks both secured aggregate victories in the second qualifying round of the tournament on Thursday night.

St Patricks secured passage to the next round of the 2009 Europa League courtesy of a 2-1 aggregate victory over Valetta. The Irish side managed to clinch a crucial goal ten minutes into the match, and the resulting 1-0 scoreline proved sufficient to win the tie.

“I am over the moon, it is by far the biggest result of my career to date, to do it with 10 men in the searing heat I couldn’t be more proud of the players,” Saints manager Jeff Kenna told the Irish Times after the match.

“The game plan was to pass the ball because of the heat. Irish teams are more renowned for the blood and thunder, up and at ‘em type football, and playing with fantastic tempo and passion in the tackle.”

Meanwhile, Derry also achieved a 1-0 victory in front of their faithful at Brandwell on Thursday evening. The win gave Derry a 2-1 aggregate win over Latvia’s Skonto Riga, despite the home side fielding an under-strength team for the match.

Crusaders were less fortunate than Derry and St Patricks on the night, falling 4-2 to Macedonian side Rabotnicki. The result secured the Macedonians a 5-3 aggregate win against the Irish part-timers.

AA Gent 1-0 Naftan Novopolotsk (AA Gent win on away goals rule)
Bangor City 0-1 FC Honka
Red Star Belgrade 4-0 Rudar Velenje
Derry City 1-0 Skonto FC
Dinamo Tbilisi 3-1 SK Liepajas Metalurgs
FBK Kaunas 1-1 Sevojno (Sevojno win on away goals rule)
FC Dacia 0-1 MSK Zilina
FC Dinaburg 0-1 Bnei Yehuda
FC Iskra-Stal 0-3 Cherno More
FC Lahti 2-0 HiT Gorica
FC Spartak Trnava 1-1 FK Sarajevo
FC Vaduz 2-0 Falkirk (After Extra Time)
FK Qarabag 1-0 Rosenborg
Flora Tallinn 1-4 Brondby
Fram Reykjavik 0-2 Sigma Olomouc
Galatasaray 2-0 Tobol
Gandzasar Kapan 0-2 NAC
HB Torshavn 1-4 Omonia Nicosia
HJK Helsinki 1-3 FK Vetra
Helsingborgs IF 2-2 FC Zestafoni
Larissa 1-1 KR Reykjavik
MTZ-RIPO 1-2 Metallurg Donetsk
Maccabi Netanya 3-0 Sliema Wanderers (agg 3-0)
Motherwell 8-1 Flamurtari
NK Slaven Koprivnica 8-2 FK Milano
Olimpi Rustavi 0-1 Legia Warsaw
Pacos Ferreira 1-0 FC Zimbru
Petrovac 3-1 Anorthosis Famagusta (Petrovac win 3-1 after extra time)
Polonia Warsaw 4-0 Juvenes/Dogana
Rabotnicki Skopje 4-2 Crusaders (agg 5-3)
Randers FC 1-1 FK Suduva
Rijeka 3-0 FC 03 Differdange
Santa Coloma 1-4 Basle
Siroki Brijeg 1-1 SK Sturm Graz
Slavija Sarajevo 2-1 AaB Aalborg
Szombathely 0-0 IF Elfsborg
Tromso 4-1 Dinamo Minsk
Ujpesti 1-2 Steaua Bucharest
Valletta 0-1 St Patricks
Vllaznia Shkoder 0-3 Rapid Vienna

Motherwell progressed to the third round of the Europa League qualifiers on Thursday evening, thumping Flamurtari 8-1 in Airdrie to win the tie 8-2 on aggregate.

Motherwell coach, Jim Gannon, had been under pressure to produce a result following his side’s disappointing 1-0 loss to the Albanian club last week.

Gannon responded to the pressure by fielding a host of teenagers fresh from the academy, and they responded in style by putting a flurry of goals past the hapless Flamurtari ‘keeper.

Teenager, Jaimie Murphy, was particularly impressive, hammering home a hat-trick in the space of just 18 minutes to help his side advance to the next round of the Europa League.

“There was some talk of a gamble playing kids,” Gannon said after the match. “Anyone who knows my track record knows I have trust in kids. They are the lifeblood of football. Five scored and there were a lot of fantastic performances. I can assure them this won’t be the highlight of their careers.”

Fellow Scottish Premiership side, Falkirk, were not quite as fortunate on Thursday evening. The club lost 2-0 to Lichtenstein based Vaduz, as the European side successfully reversed a 1-0 deficit from their away leg of the Europa League qualifying tie.

Motherwell coach, Jim Gannon, is under pressure to produce a result when his team takes on Albania’s Flamurtari in the second leg of their Europa League qualifier on Thursday night.

The Scottish Premier League side face an embarrassing exit from the tournament at the hands of their Albanian visitors if they are unable to reverse the 1 goal advantage that Flamurtari achieved in baking heat last week.

“We were going into the unknown when we went to Albania,” Gannon told the BBC. “Now we know all about them. We’ve prepared ourselves really well, we’ve watched the video and I’m expecting a vastly improved performance.”

Should Flarmurtari score, Motherwell will need to win the match by at least a 1 goal margin if they are to have any hope of continuing their European campaign. With Flamurtari holding an away goal advantage, even a draw wouldn’t save Motherwell from elimination.

“The expectation will be upon us winning, but FC Flamurtari will have something to say about that,” Gannon said. “They will feel they have the advantage in terms of tactics in having the goal, and if they score an away goal it will make it extremely difficult for us.”