Early birds United wary of Scandinavian threat as they aim high in the Europa

In a sense, a new European season kicks off tomorrow when Dundee United will be the first Scottish team to have their name pulled out of UEFA's glass bowl.

That will happen during the draws for the first two qualifying rounds of the Europa League which will be made in Nyon, Switzerland, at lunchtime.

The Tannadice squad will be just about finishing their first training session of the new season shortly before the draw is made around noon. There are 50 teams in the first round draw with 55 joining in the second round, some 19 domestic cup winners being among that latter number.

United set off for a two-match tour of the Republic of Ireland next weekend and then, after a couple of friendlies against Forfar Athletic and Falkirk, all too soon - in fact as early as 7 July - United will play in the second qualifying round of the Europa League in what will be the first competitive match played by any Scottish team in the new season. The return match is a week later.

Dundee United chairman Stephen Thompson is well aware that his club could be drawn against a Scandinavian team which is midway through its summer football season but says the club has no choice but to "get on with it". He said: "We've not got a big pre-season and it would be very tough if we came up against a side that is halfway though its season.

"But you have to look at Motherwell who had an early start last year and did all right, and we just have to get on with it.

"We had a meeting on Friday and looked at the list of teams, and the fact is we could end up going absolutely anywhere in the first couple of rounds. Some of the former Soviet Union countries such as Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Armenia are nearly as far away as the USA.

"But we could just as easily be going to Wales and Ireland and we will just have to accept what we get, although, knowing the luck of the draw for Scottish teams, I fear we will be out the back of beyond. To be honest, I hadn't heard of a lot of the teams. I used to know European football well but, with the splitting up of the Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia, there are teams from places that you just don't know.

"The ideal scenario would be a tie closer to home, because there is a lot of travelling in the earlier rounds as you are playing every single week.

United fans will need no reminding of how close they came to making the Europa League proper last season, the 2-1 aggregate defeat by AEK Athens in the play-off round ending their run at the first hurdle, in which they drew 1-1 in front of an empty stadium in Greece, AEK having been disciplined by UEFA.

Dundee United are seeded in tomorrow's draw, though the United chairman is not sure if that's a good thing: "I don't know how much of an advantage it is at this stage, and I don't think we'll be seeded if we reach a later stage in the tournament, but we're happy with it and whoever we get will give us a hard game because there are no mugs in football these days."

Having signed Willo Flood and John Rankin and gone for "quality not quantity," the chairman is confident that manager Peter Houston will have his men playing the same attractive football they tried to play last season, even though the likes of Craig Conway, Prince Buaben and Morgaro Gomis have left under freedom of contract.

Thompson said: "We knew they were going so I went into the dressing room at our last match to say goodbye and thank them, because they were in the side that won the Scottish Cup 14 months ago and they will always be part of our history."

Thompson also hopes that the unpleasantness of the last SPL season will not be repeated when the new Scottish season kicks off at the end of next month.

The talk of a ten or 14-team SPL is over, he insists, and Thompson is also happy that the new anti-sectarian legislation will target individuals and not hammer home clubs for away fans' misbehaviour.

He said: "Inverness had that scenario with Rangers' fans two or three years ago and it was Inverness who were hauled up on the back of it. I've always felt aggrieved about that, as it's unfair - how can you expect the police to wade into five or six thousand away fans? Putting the onus on home clubs to deal with it was very unfair, so I'll be waiting to see what happens with the new law. I've often said our game is not as bad as people make out, but the off-the-field stuff damages the game, and we don't want another season like last season."