Dundee United drawing AZ Alkmaar or Tuzla City maybe isn’t the glamour draw in the Europa Conference League.
But that won’t dampen the enthusiasm of Dundee United supporters.
Sarajevo or Alkmaar may not be the greatest away trip – but no doubt Arabs will make it an unmissable occasion.
Whichever side the Tangerines end up facing, it’s going to be a tough tie.
This, though, is the moment where reality hits and the excitement begins.
It’s been a long, long time since United were in Europe and Arabs should cherish every moment.
They don’t come around that often.
Underdogs
I do, though, expect United to be underdogs, whichever of the two sides they end up meeting.
There shouldn’t be anything read into past reputations at this level – there are absolutely no mugs.
I think that can be the mindset from fans of Scottish football sides even after making so few in-roads in the past couple of decades.
Expectations should be managed by the Tangerines.
But that shouldn’t affect the excitement levels of the supporters.
We’ve seen with other clubs, it can sometimes take a few years of being in Europe to finally get to grips with how different it is to our usual league matches.
All the off the park stuff is new for a club like Dundee United as well, getting all that perfect first time out is a tall ask.
Completely different
But the players will have a completely different experience from what they are used to as well.
Yes, plenty of them have played for Scotland at age group level, been away for pre-season camps etc.
But a two-legged tie against a fairly unknown opposition is a difficult prospect.
When I played for Dundee in Europe, I was taken aback.
Here, teams play a little bit different home and away. Tweak tactics a little but generally it’s always the same type of game.
In Europe, the home and away legs can be completely, totally different.
When I say different, it was like we were playing a different team entirely.
They had the same players but the second leg was night and day to the first.
That’s something you don’t really understand until you are in amongst it.
Experience
United have quite a few players who won’t have experienced anything like it, a few youngsters.
That’s why the likes of Charlie Mulgrew and Steven Fletcher will be key.
Mulgrew was brought in for these very moments, to bring a bit of calm and experience to situations the young players haven’t faced before.
Hopefully, by the time the tie comes around United will have some more new faces in the door, experienced ones too.
The Tangerines did great last season but I always felt there was a lot of room for improvement.
Jack Ross seems to agree – big signings are needed for this European test.
Conversation