THE New Saints boss Craig Harrison is hoping he can convince his boss Mike Harris to fund a few scouting trips to Florence after being drawn to face Fiorentina.

The TNS man was in Monaco to watch his side be drawn away against the Serie A giants plus Irish side Shamrock Rovers and Slovenians NK Celje.

They will host Swedes Djurgarden, Greek giants Panathinaikos and FC Astana, with plenty of European pedigree, from Kazakhstan.

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Harrison, speaking to UK broadcaster TNT Sports, said he was delighted with the draw and admitted he thinks preparation will be easier.

He said: “It’s surreal especially when early in in the draw we get Fiorentina away which is such a huge club.

“They’re Italian giants – we’re taking it in.

“There’s some great draws in there, some really different ones and getting to play against some different teams.

“The planning is going to be easier than it’s been because we’re going to know the dates and we can plan in advance.

“Whereas over the last eight weeks, we’ve been going week to week, going from one to another, but now we have the time for structure and plan properly.

“We get the opportunity to do it properly and I’m sure Mike Harris won’t mind me going out to Florence to have a watch of them.

“I think they’re going to be needed to be watched a few times.

“It’s a great opportunity for all the players and the lads have worked really hard but we’re there to compete as well.”

Harrison echoed his chairman’s view that TNS’s qualification an only be a good thing for Welsh football.

“I think what is does for the country is the big one,” he added.

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“It was well documented that Wales lost a place, going to three from four, but us getting through has hopefully boosted the co-efficiency and getting Wales back to four again.

“Being the first to qualify from the league for European football, hopefully, we’ve broken the mould now so that we can go do it again or another Welsh club can do it.

“The players had a celebration but we flew into Nice early at 7am from Luton.”