I was a a bit worried of us qualifying and it being a non event, like playing Derry City or Sligo Rovers , so I looked at the fixtures for this year
link below
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012%E2%80%9313_UEFA_Europa_League
You can see the no hopers are in the first qualifying round, no team from Scotland played in that
The next round you can see St Johnstone, and the competition is improving , but still a few 3rd ranked Scandinavian teams
Dundee United played in the next round which was the entry point for Liverpool
Motherwell and Hearts of course managed the Play Off Round.
It seems to me that 2nd place is a must if we are to avoid a long trip to some best forgotten Latvian place.
Just a thought?