{"id":20319,"date":"2012-06-26T11:34:29","date_gmt":"2012-06-26T08:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/?p=20319"},"modified":"2024-02-17T13:26:58","modified_gmt":"2024-02-17T10:26:58","slug":"scotish-st-johnstone-have-been-drawn-against-turkish-side-eskisehirspor-20319","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/scotish-st-johnstone-have-been-drawn-against-turkish-side-eskisehirspor-20319\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotish St Johnstone Have Been Drawn Against Turkish Side Eskisehirspor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

St Johnstone\u2019s Europa League plans were thrown into chaos last night as confusion reigned after the draw in Nyon.\u00a0The Perth club were paired with Eskisehirspor \u2013 labelled the \u201cunpronounceables\u201d by boss Steve Lomas \u2013 in the second qualifying round.<\/h1>\n

But their name wasn\u2019t the only thing that was difficult to understand as the identity of Saints\u2019 opponents was then thrown into doubt.\u00a0Eskisehirspor, who finished sixth in Turkey last term, only landed a place in Europe after Besiktas were booted out due to alleged financial irregularities.<\/p>\n

But Besiktas have taken their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and if they win on July 5 it will change which club Saints face.\u00a0To make matters even more confusing, it won\u2019t be Besiktas who take the place of Eskisehirspor but Bursaspor instead.<\/p>\n

Bursaspor \u2013 who won their own case with CAS last week after similar problems \u2013 finished fifth in the league last term behind Besiktas. So they will drop into the second qualifying round with Besiktas taking their place in the third round.<\/p>\n

Confused? Don\u2019t worry because even Saints chairman Steve Brown didn\u2019t seem to know what was going on.<\/h2>\n

He was under the impression that his club could face THREE different Turkish clubs but that won\u2019t happen because Besiktas would leap straight into the third qualifying round.\u00a0And he revealed Saints would be playing away first on July 19 only for the club to later claim via their official Twitter account that these details have yet to be confirmed.<\/p>\n

Brown said: \u201cThe only certainty right now is that we will be going to Turkey for the first time. But we\u2019re told the opposition will hinge on a court case on July 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s far from ideal for us and our fans who want to press on with travel arrangements.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been told we could be playing Eskisehirspor, Bursaspor or Besiktas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had been hoping for some clarification but the top UEFA officials are in Poland and Ukraine for the Euro Championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lack of clarity which is unfortunate. The first game is away on July 19 and the return is a week later so it doesn\u2019t give us much time.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Saints do end up heading to Eskisehirspor\u2019s Ataturk Stadium then Lomas will turn to former Rangers striker Kris Boyd for information.<\/p>\n

Boyd, who is now at MLS side Portland Timbers, spent an unhappy six-month spell with the Turks last year.<\/p>\n

And Lomas said: \u201cKris played with them recently so he might be a good guy to turn to. I will try to get prep work done.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say their name so they are the unpronounceables to me at the minute. I will just call them the Turkish team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saints haven\u2019t played in Europe since losing 6-3 on aggregate to Monaco in 1999 and stopper Dave Mackay can\u2019t wait to take on the Turks.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old said: \u201cIt\u2019s a step into the unknown but it will be exciting for us. I went on holiday to Turkey in 2009 and it was scorching so we will have to cope with the heat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Lomas hopes midfielder Chris Millar, 29, will sign a new deal after snubbing the club\u2019s initial offer to look at options in Australia.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St Johnstone\u2019s Europa League plans were thrown into chaos last night as confusion reigned after the draw in Nyon. The Perth club were paired with Eskisehirspor \u2013 labelled the \u201cunpronounceables\u201d by boss Steve Lomas \u2013 in the second qualifying round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":702,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,80,63,135,1,118,171,1633,14],"tags":[1700,6757,25926,25930,25932,1938,25923,25927,25931,25925,25928,25929],"class_list":["post-20319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe","category-breaking-news","category-daily","category-football","category-general","category-hot","category-turkey","category-turkey-sport","category-world","tag-besiktas","tag-poland","tag-saints-against-eskisehirspor","tag-saints-europe","tag-scotish-turkish-matches","tag-scotland","tag-st-johnstone","tag-st-johnstone-perth","tag-st-johnstone-steve-lomas","tag-st-johnstone-uefa-cup","tag-st-johnstone-vs-eskisehirspor","tag-uefa-cup-eskisehirspor-st-johnstone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/702"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78464,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20319\/revisions\/78464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}