12 Feb 2014 11:32:24
Bear with me on this.
The three highest placed national associations in the UEFA Respect Fair Play ranking will each automatically gain an extra qualification berth for the First Qualifying Round of the UEFA Europa League, providing they have exceeded the threshold of games played, and have a minimum average score of 8.0. Looking at the current ranking tables, neither of those requirements would appear to be a problem for English clubs. These berths are then allocated to the highest placed club in that association's own Fair Play league that has not yet qualified for either the UEFA Champions League or the UEFA Europa League. Of course, we want Everton to qualify for European competition via Premier League finishing position or FA Cup success - both of which means entering the European competitions at one of the later rounds - but we can't discount Fair Play qualification as an option.
For next season (2014-2015), the First Qualifying Round's legs take place on 3rd July and 10th July, which is when the World Cup is still taking place. The Second and Third Qualifying Rounds' legs take place over the following four weeks (17th July, 24th July, 31st July and 7th August). So, players from the World Cup - who would most likely be having a break before returning late to their clubs's pre-season training anyway - would also probably be unavailable for these early Europa League rounds.
As at the end of December, England were in fifth place in the UEFA Respect Fair Play rankings. (The top four are Finland, Norway, Sweden, and France.)
As at this morning (12th February), Everton were fifth in the Premier League Fair Play rankings. (Cardiff are top followed by Fulham, Liverpool, Crystal Palace, then us.)
So - to eventually get to my point ;-) - do we really want to get into the UEFA Europa League by this Respect Fair Play route and have to play qualifying rounds without our best players and, come to that, while all of our players would be in pre-season condition? Or, could it actually be a good part of a pre-season schedule?
All very hypothetical at the moment, but something to bear in mind.

1.) 12 Feb 2014
The teams there are easy. Plus our team would prob be:

Joel

Coleman
Alcaraz/Duffy
Stones
Distin

McGeady
McCarthy
Barry/Ossie/Gibson (depends if they go WC or not)
Pienaar/

Kone
Naismith

Plus any new signings