Motherwell defender Declan Gallagher feels his club and others need to start producing in Europe for the sake of Scottish football.
Celtic have been regulars in the group stages in recent years while Rangers have qualified two seasons in a row but it was Aberdeen 13 years ago who were the last club outside Glasgow to make it past the qualifiers.
Motherwell came close 10 years ago when they fell to Odense in the Europa League play-offs but the Scottish co-efficient tumbled in subsequent years following the financial collapse of Rangers, making the task even more difficult.
Gallagher and his men are looking to complete a Northern Ireland double when they face Coleraine at The Showgrounds on Thursday in the second qualifying round of the Europa League after dispatching Glentoran 5-1 at Fir Park in the opening round.
With Albanians Laci or Hapoel Beer-Sheva of Israel awaiting in the following round, Gallagher is determined to progress.
The Scotland international said; "It's massive, not just for the club itself but massive for Scottish football as well. Celtic and Rangers are carrying a big burden to always get to Europe.
"I think it's probably time that other clubs in this league start progressing and start showing that Scottish football is a good league."
Motherwell's first-round victory was more edgy than the scoreline suggests with the game opening up only after Glentoran had a man sent off and the home side got the breakthrough after the hour mark.
Coleraine's victory over Maribor ensured Motherwell were seeded for this round and they then drew Oran Kearney's side.
The former St Mirren boss came up against Motherwell on four occasions two seasons ago, taking four points off the Steelmen, but Fir Park manager and former Northern Ireland midfielder Stephen Robinson is also well-versed with Coleraine.
Gallagher said: "The gaffer has good knowledge of a few of their players, he has given us insight into how they might play and shape up. So it is good knowledge, and Trevor Carson knows a few of the boys as well. So we will be well prepared and we've been doing our homework.
"We watched clips of the Maribor game, they are a hard-working team, well-organised so we know it's going to be a really tough test for us."
Motherwell gave themselves a lift going into the game by sealing their first Scottish Premiership win of the season with a 1-0 victory over St Johnstone on Saturday but Gallagher had not been overly concerned about their early-season form.
"I didn't think there were any panic stations just yet, we just weren't getting that rub of the green," he said.
"Hibs were flying high when we went to Easter Road and we probably played the best we have played this season and only got a point. Saturday was probably the worst we played and yet we got three points. That's football for you.
"I didn't think there was anything to panic about and now we have picked up those first three points I think we will kick on now."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here