Stay in control of the latest Blues news with our Everton newsletter Sign up now Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Most, if not all, Evertonians had heard of SK Brann.

But Ruzomberok? Far fewer were aware of the Slovakian minnows, Ronald Koeman included.

And with Brann holding the advantage going into the Europa League second qualifying round second leg, it seemed certain Everton would not need to worry about them either.

Yet a 2-0 win in Norway, which left the then Everton manager a "little bit surprised", saw Ruzomberok turn the tie on it's head and book a place in the third qualifying round where they would meet the Blues.

Everton's doomed return to Europe would start at Goodison but take them, a week later, on a trip to a sleepy town in northern Slovakia, a long drive from any airport, before things turned ugly on Croatia's beautiful Dalmatian Coast and then descended into farce in the group stages.

The warning signs that this campaign would be demanding of Everton's supporters, and yet offering little in return, were already there.

Preparation

Everton were to face Ruzomeberok at Goodison on July 27 yet in the two weeks prior managed to squeeze in a 36 hour trip to Tanzania as well as a return trip to Holland and Belgium in which they held a training camp and had two friendlies. One of which was played in front of a couple of hundred people.

Five days after returning from Belgium, Everton were in competitive action, handing out four debuts - and an official homecoming for Wayne Rooney - by the time the 90 minutes were up.

(Image: Lars Baron/Getty Images)

Koeman had wanted a healthy lead to take into the unknown seven days later.

Qualifying rounds

All the Everton manager got was Leighton Baines' deflected strike on an edgy night at Goodison where expectations were high, but performance levels low.

Maarten Stekelenburg, ensuring the goalkeeper's position stayed warm while Jordan Pickford was given time to rest following international duty, pulled off a fine save to keep the scores level before Baines' intervention.

Officially, 450 Everton fans made the trip to Slovakia for the biggest game the town had ever hosted. The backdrop was a "great view from the bench" but the performance, as the Blues won 1-0 again, was less enjoyable to look at.

(Image: Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)

Hajduk Split in the play-off round were certain to offer a sterner test yet it was matters off the field that proved more challenging that booking a place in the groups stages.

A pitch invasion forced the first leg to be briefly halted and would result (not for the only time) in Uefa sanctions before Evertonians headed to Croatia with strongly worded, and sobering, travel advice.

An uneasy tension filled the air, there were reports of isolated attacks on fans before and after the game, which finished 1-1 with a moment of magic from Gylfi Sigurdsson not befitting the occasion.

(Image: Photo by Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)

Group stages

Atalanta, Apollon Limassol and Lyon. Tough but Everton's expensively assembled squad would get out of Group E. Wouldn't they?

Three goals in 17 first-half minutes from Atalanta, at a ground 120 miles from where they normally play, set the alarm bells ringing.

Everton would go through three different managers in the group stages alone, win only one game (a dead rubber), concede 15 and be eliminated quicker than any English team in the competition's history.

(Image: Photo by Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)

It was an embarrassment, Everton had shown the government that leaving Europe was easy if you know how and had managed to make a pig's ear of both their games on the continent as well as at home.

The Europa League chewed up Koeman, been unkind to Unsworth and finished with one of Everton's new coaches (Sam Allardyce had a medical appointment) in the dugout in Cyprus for a meaningless game.

(Image: Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)

Lessons learned?

Sam Allardyce was not keen on a return to the Europa League.

The 63-year-old, after a good start, had designs on - at the very least - seeing out the length of his 18 month contract at Goodison.

And, in his first full season, trudging through the qualifying rounds of the Europa League did not feature in his grand plans.

Allardyce insisted he would embrace the competition if they finished seventh and qualified but would not lose any sleep if they didn't.

(Image: Daniel Hambury/PA Wire)

Europe, for Big Sam, would have been an unwanted distraction as he made a case for keep his job.

Everton should always aim to be in European competition every season but Koeman, having managed with it and without, would testify that when you are trying reshape a squad, integrate new players and yet keep Premier League results on the straight and narrow, having to play games in Slovakia in early August is far from ideal.

(Image: Andrew Teebay)

Burnley have, today, learnt they will face Aberdeen in the second qualifying round on July 26 and August 2 . Sean Dyche is certain to be pleased they've avoided a trip to Armenia, Andorra or another of the competition's backwaters but will know of the burden it will place on his squad.

Marco Silva's to-do-list has to include booking a return to Europe this season and he can learn from the mistakes of last summer but still in the infancy of his Everton tenure he may, privately at least, be thankful to be out of it.

Other than the domestic cup competitions, Everton will have free weeks between games in which Silva can work on his systems, formations and tactics and, as planned, a much smaller squad than currently in place.

In your first season at Goodison, it's exactly what you'd want.