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bigsmithy9 said:
They say Real Madrid's refurbishment of their stadium will make it the best in the world. Is the government paying for it?
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I was slightly thrown by Perez' grandiose statement today. It's a 4-year project that doesn't increase capacity by a single seat, adds a totally unnecessary retractable roof and a shopping mall inside the stadium. Really.
 
BrunelGooner said:
I think it has potential to be a very good second-tier European competition, but it has too many flaws.

They only recently put CL qualification as the ultimate prize (from 2016 I believe). I could be wrong, but I think getting to the Last 16/QFs of the CL gets you more income than winning the entire Europa League.
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VERY wrong.
A club that ends the CL group stage with 0 pts makes more
money than an EL finalist rhat wins EVERY prior game. :)
 
FFS Villareal <doh> 4-2 up against Barca with 3 minutes to go and they end up drawing 4-4.
Messi is literally carrying that team right now.

Barca fans are losing patience with Valverde.
 
BrunelGooner said:
I think it has potential to be a very good second-tier European competition, but currently, it has too many flaws.

They only recently put CL qualification as the ultimate prize (from 2016 I believe). Prior to that, there was no real incentive for a bigger club to win it. There's not enough money for progressing to each round. I could be wrong, but I think getting to the Last 16/QFs of the CL gets you more income than winning the entire Europa League.
I also don't think it's fair that teams who finish 3rd in the CL group stages get to drop down into it. They had their opportunity, why should they get a second bite of the cherry?

From a personal point of view, I hate playing random teams from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan and wherever else in the group stages. The journeys are long, it is hard to get up for it because the level of opposition are poor and you play at weird kick-off times. On top of that, I hate the constant Thursday & Sunday schedule. It's not enjoyable and, if our rivals play beforehand, there's added pressure on us to win games having known the results of the previous day(s).

Some of those things I've said can't be helped, however, I just can't shake this feeling of it being a pile of rubbish at the moment.

God knows how **** this third-tier European competition is going to be when UEFA roll it out from 2021.
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Yeah you're right about the financials, just getting to the groups gets you more than Europa I believe.
I agree about the 3rd place business, it's rewarding failure with another shot at success which is just wrong.

Ultimately I just see it as a chance for success on the European stage. Clubs that realistically know their chances of winning the CL are similar to when Leicester won the Prem, have a shot at winning a fairly prestigious trophy and enjoy a glory night in Europe.

IF we end up in EL next season, I'd want us to go all out for it. We'd have a side strong enough to win it, it's just - as has often been the problem for Spurs - we seem to lack a winning mentality and freeze when it matters most.
 
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KingHotspur said:
He signed but it missed the deadline didn’t it?
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Yeah I think he signed all that he had too but there was a disagreement with his 3rd party ownership that dragged the deal that bit longer and ultimately we missed the deadline because of it. They're sketchy as **** those 3rd party owners, don't think it should be allowed in football.
 
C. Kane said:
I was slightly thrown by Perez' grandiose statement today. It's a 4-year project that doesn't increase capacity by a single seat, adds a totally unnecessary retractable roof and a shopping mall inside the stadium. Really.
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They badly need to modernise their tapas bars, toilet facilities,
and the in-house Tesco (Diego to confirm this) ...
 
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Since those who qualify for the EL are already failures in that they've finished below the qualifiers for the CL I don't think the can complain about Clubs more successful than them dropping down from the CL. This happens at other stages of the competition too. I think it is perfectly sensible on two grounds:
1) it keeps the weaker clubs in the CL honest towards the end of the Group Stage. This could be a big issue with corruption otherwise
2) It isn't much different from the 3rd round of the FA Cup where there are two routes in.
 
But it might be better to have a Group Stage with say 16 groups of 6 with the top two going into one knockout stage and the middle two going into the other one.
 
PowerSpurs said:
Since those who qualify for the EL are already failures in that they've finished below the qualifiers for the CL I don't think the can complain about Clubs more successful than them dropping down from the CL.
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Yes, people can complain. Because they know these clubs will have a second chance to win a European trophy and the added incentive of securing Champions League football for the following year, despite failing. It is rewarding failure.

With all due respect, the reasons you've listed aren't good or valid enough reasons for the 3rd place team in the CL group stages getting another shot at winning a trophy. The only 'good' thing is that UEFA get more money from the current format hence why it won't change.
 
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C. Kane said:
I was slightly thrown by Perez' grandiose statement today. It's a 4-year project that doesn't increase capacity by a single seat, adds a totally unnecessary retractable roof and a shopping mall inside the stadium. Really.
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People made fun eighteen years ago when Bradford built a new stand that didn't increase capacity

But a whole stadium???
 
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BrunelGooner said:
Yes, people can complain. Because they know these clubs will have a second chance to win a European trophy and the added incentive of securing Champions League football for the following year, despite failing. It is rewarding failure.
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It is UEFA ensuring, apart from money, that some of their darlings
(who are now increasingly falling to '3rd place' syndrome) still have
the chance to maintain their UEFA ranking pts should they manage to
qualify for the CL the next season via the domestic route.
 
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So Muller kicks an Ajax player in the head and a couple of months later an Ajax player kicks a PSV player in the head.
Is this some sort of pass it on thing? Who's up for the next Karate Kid impression?
<laugh> at the initial yellow, too!
 
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