So, the Premiership's top two will go directly into the first group stage while the third and fourth placed teams will have to successfully negotiate their way through the third qualifying phase.
In the UEFA Cup, England have three automatic places which are allocated to the team finishing fifth in the Premiership and the League Cup winners, with the final place going to the FA Cup winners/runners-up or the sixth placed Premiership side.
Hence, only the top five or six teams can qualify for Europe. The only other route to qualify would be to enter the Inter Toto Cup but I would not wish that on any team.
This being reality, it means that if Boro are to qualify for Europe next season, they must reach the FA Cup final, and win it to be sure.
If we play Fulham we must win the cup to qualify.
If we play Chelsea and win we will qualify by right but if lose we need Chelsea to finish fifth, or higher, in the league.
As it stands today I think we can safely say that the top three will be Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United. Newcastle are obvious favourites for the fourth Champions League place but cannot afford any slip-ups.
That leaves Chelsea and Leeds battling for fifth spot. Chelsea are holding the upperhand at the moment with a three point advantage and a far superior goal difference. This means that we could go to Leeds on May 11th needing to stop them getting points.
Dream on you might say, but we have got to make contingency plans and start a Euro saving fund. You have always got to believe in this game and it will happen one day, hopefully sooner than later.