No, don't worry, I'm not getting ahead of myself. But with the Champions league and Europa cup back in full swing, I was wondering whether (after the prolonged debate about the 'worth/value' of the F A cup this week) these European tournaments are quite what they're cracked up to be any more. Years ago, I'd cast my domestic allegiance aside and support any 'British' club that made it into Europe. I find that impossible these days. Teams like Chelsea ( I was rooting for Napoli tonight ) and Man Citeh have bought their way to the top and therefore automatic places in Europe. I grinned when both Manchester clubs slipped into the lesser of the two competitions, and would love to see them both knocked out. The reason is simple - they are no longer representative of English teams, stuffed full of cherry-picked global superstars. My one recent exception was Fulham. I watched every match of their Europa run last year with fascination and genuine passion - I know the players are not all British, but they earned the right to progress, whereas the top four basically inherit it because they can snap up the best players in the world and there's bugger all anyone else can do about it. Champions league - Pah. Since when did England have four "champions" and countries like Switzerland, Greece, Latvia etc only one, or in some cases none at all Sorry, <mr angry, rant over smilie>
Both competitions are a joke especially the Europa league. How can finishing third in the league and then third in a group with other European teams (many of whom are also not champions) entitle you to a stab at being in the last 32 of another competition?
I know it's all about money nowadays, but the excitement, for me anyway, went when they changed the format. European cup - champions ony Cup winners cup - teams that won a trophy Uefa cup - Teams that earned a right to be there. NOT failures from another made up competition I know a lot of us yearn for the old days again sometimes, but this new format in Europe lost me as soon as it started. Wasn't the rule that a team could only have 3 non *insert own country* players in the team? That would bugger up Chelski and Citeh for a start
what would be interesting is if the premier league have another couple of poor showings in the champions league and their coefficient drops we may have the league reduced to the top three qualifying - that would really shake the top teams up a bit!
When people say to us Canaries, "Whar are your aims for the season?", we would reply survival. As the season progresses, if we're asked the same question now, we might say mid table finish or even top half. Now bearing in mind the size of our club compared to say, Arsenal, Chelski, Liverpool and Spurs, we are definitely small. Ask them what their hopes for the season are and they will probably say finish 4th, because that gurantess them champions league football. Going on scale, are they more ambitious than us or the same? ps. This drivel made sense in my head.
i knew what you meant maestro... at least i think i do! and i would say that its currently us showing more ambition at the moment. the aforementioned teams shouldn't be aiming for top four - they should be aiming for top! we are in our first season therefore survival is what is required - for them, 4th is what is required as a minimum or its seen as disappointing. thats probably drivel too
"Whar are your aims for the season?", Was it a Chinaman asking you? Stuff Europe. We liberated it only for the Germans to dominate it once again. And now we have Swiss neutrals running world football and a Vichy French guy running UEFA. TIC!
Glad you're awake enough to spot my deliberate typo. May I take this chance to announce you as the winner of my new competition called'Spot the deliberate mistake' Otherwise know as....ok I admit it I fooked up. Fat fingers and small keys don't make a good mix!
Completely agree. Champions' League is an oxymoron and only gets interesting once you reach the quarters when the dross have been ejected. The group stages generally involve the big boys giving the plucky underdogs a good shellacking and to win a group to qualify for another is just the tv companies taking the proverbial. Sadly I do miss the Cup Winners' Cup - it used to be a good competition
Plus it makes sense. Teams that have won a domestic trophy the previous season - regardless of where in Europe they hail from, are drawn from a hat and play over two legs to progress. Simples! So where the hell this 'mini-league followed by a straight knock-out' system came from .....well, I know where it cam from. The TV moneymen trying to spin the whole thing out for as long as they can to feed their already swollen coffers. The seeding system sucks, too. Why can't Chelski and ManUre be drawn in the same group? Oops, I answered that in the previous paragraph
They do have the 'homegrown' player rule which says you have to have x amount of homegrown players in each squad. The only problem with that rule is that they have to have been trained or with the club for a certain amount of years, not necessarily from that country, which meant that Arsenal for example could field Van Persie and Fabregas as home grown.
Cromer - just like you I was rooting for Napoli yesterday, and a pretty good job they made of it too, could easily have been 4 or 5-1. The European tournaments otherwise hold no interest for me at all, just the rich getting richer, while given every chance to progress and doing very little to earn the money.
Got to say everyone knows what happened with Leeds and they had budgeted for Champions League football for 5 years when they got in once, but Newcastle's failure to beat Partizan 1-0 in 2003 was the beginning of their demise and Liverpool have certainly paid the price since. It has spoiled football as it helps clubs break away like when you look back 3 years ago and you knew the top 4 would be Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd, now you know the top 6 will be those 4 plus Man City and Tottenham.
