Stirring echoes of big brother key to Sutton Euro vision

However, Sutton ignored the low-key setting of a Welsh rugby ground to score twice on that occasion in Motherwell's Europa League qualifying tie in July 2009. The 3-0 victory helped to maintain the growing presence of the Lanarkshire club in European competition and now the near-perennials are preparing for their fifth campaign in six seasons.

Indeed, Stuart McCall's side actually dipped a toe in the waters of the Champions League – albeit the qualifying round – last season while Sutton was at Hearts, but now that the 29-year-old striker has returned to Fir Park he would like to progress far enough in this season's Europa League and rub shoulders with some of the names which would appeal to the glamour-starved Motherwell supporters.

Kuban Krasnodar are on the guest list for Fir Park this Thursday for the first leg of the third qualifying round tie, but that does not translate into public appeal for the locals, even if the unheralded Russian side have a budget that allows them to recruit French striker Djibril Cisse, for whom Liverpool once paid out £14 million.

This time a year ago, Fir Park was nearly filled for that Champions League date with Panathinakos. However, McCall recognises Kuban are hardly box office and this particular European assignment will see Motherwell lose money on the tie once they travel to Krasnodar in southern Russia for next week's second leg.

"When I first heard the draw I thought it was not too bad, but then you look at the travelling and the expense," admits McCall. "Last year we were able to charter a plane for £60,000 ( for Athens), but for this tie we're having to pay £180,000 to hire one and there is not the television money you would get if it was a German or Italian club. Personally, I can't understand why they don't regionalise the qualifying rounds because it would save everyone money. As it stands, you can only make a profit by actually reaching the group stage."

There were no such issues for Sutton back in October 1993. He was an awestruck boy of 10 when Bayern came to a sell-out Carrow Road only to be humbled by John's older brother, Chris, who helped eliminate the German club from the Uefa Cup thanks to the 2-1 victory achieved in Munich a fortnight earlier.

"That was incredible," recalls Sutton. "There was more of a mystique surrounding European football in those days because only the top clubs qualified. I went to all Norwich's home games. I watched the first leg against Bayern Munich on television. when Jeremy Goss netted a volley and Mark Bowen scored. The atmosphere for the home leg was absolutely brilliant.

Norwich were then unlucky against Inter Milan in the next round. Dennis Bergkamp scored a couple of goals for Inter, while Norwich hit the bar and the post. It just was not meant to be.

"It would be nice for Motherwell to enjoy a good run. The nearest we came in my previous spell was 2010/11 when we knocked out Breiðablik, then beat Aalesund of Norway. We won 3-0 at home and it was a really special night, but we lost to Odense the same way we did to Nancy and Steaua Bucharest.

"We've had a few attempts to get through to the Europa League, but never quite made it. This is a tough ask because although Kuban are not the biggest name in Russian football, they finished ahead of the Moscow teams and Rubin Kazan.If we get through this tie, and the next, who knows where it will take you?"

McCall, however, wants his side to be much more streetwise against Kuban than they were Panathinaikos. "We were on top with the crowd behind us, and then they hit us with a sucker punch," said the manager. "Levante did the same to us in the Europa League. They have pace on the break. Although we've beaten Celtic three times here, that night against Panathinaikos was the best atmosphere I've experienced here. We want that atmosphere again, but we don't want to get caught up in it."