i bet their supporters remember though! and surely that is the point. you're kidding me if people don't think clubs like hadjuk split and dynamo kiev aren't decent sized european clubs - these are traditional european clubs who feature year in, year out and often in the champions league too. check out who man utd played in this years champions league group stage... the list of clubs fulham played are all bigger than those. there is a certain arrogance that people don't like about english football which is being displayed by some people on here. we won't qualify anyway so it won't matter (unless we win the fair play league that is) but i do dislike the notion that the europa league is somehow beneath english clubs and should be dismissed.
FFS, my ability to convey my thoughts is obviously poor, or everyone is just winding me up 1. There are decent teams, indeed top european sides in the europa league. 2. I only tried to say it is not as glamorous or has as much kudos as the old UEFA cup, when fans from all clubs would pay much more attention to what was happening to other English clubs. 3. It would be less special to me. I have no idea how special anyone else who supports NCFC would find playing in the Europa league. 4. It is not beneath any english team, where was that stated explicitly or implied? I can't see anything contentious in the above statements, but I guess somehow others can.
As it has become the replacement for the UEFA Cup then I would be excited if Norwich were in it, just as I was when we played Vitesse Arnhem, Bayern and Inter
me too, just less so because in my view it is not a replacement. The champions league amalgamated the european cup and uefa cup effectively, the Europa league is an addition.
i think the point that you made which is being questioned is that nobody will remember the clubs fulham and stoke played in europe, which to be honest is basically nonsense. ask a chelsea fan who norwich played in their european run of 93 and they will say "bayern munich and err". ask any norwich fan and they will reel off every opponent, the result, the scores, the scorers, the teams maybe... ask any norwich fan who fulham played in their european run and most will remember the juventus game but after that struggle. fulham fans will know all the details. can you remember who man utd beat on their way to winning the champions league against chelsea? of course not. naturally, the europa league is not as glamourous as the champions league. the uefa cup was not as glamourous as the european cup back in the day! nothing has changed. the only thing that has changed (other than the names) is that there are more games. for a fan, this should be seen as a bonus! ok, cost comes into it but if we qualified for the europa league we'd be guaranteed six games. to put that in perspective, we played six games in our only other run in the competition. even friendlies against foreign opposition have a special feel to them. why would anyone not want to experience european nights again? what, cos its not glamourous? who gives a ****??? i bet if we drew someone like lazio or sporting lisbon in our group, we wouldn't be struggling to sell out. we sell out for games against stoke and wigan - i know who i'd rather watch us play... the only downside is that it is a lot more games and can affect your league form. but isn't the fa cup a lot more games if you have a run? would we all like a run in the fa cup? i simply don't understand the logic behind people who claim they don't want to qualify, that's all.
Jesus Superman you always have to be right. If you were to to assess how many non city fans were aware of who Norwich were playing in the Uefa cup in 1993 (we don;t have a time machine to go back) then my guess is that more people would have been aware of it, because it was a bigger deal then. END OF isn't it.
no chance. people know about the munich game because we won. THAT was a big deal at the time. nothing else was. fulham beating juventus was a big deal too. big deals are remembered, that's natural. its only english fans who think its a waste of time. you say i always have to be right. isn't that what i'm saying about english fans in general? well on this, english fans are wrong... that is, unless the whole of the rest of europe are wrong. i find that unlikely.
I'm not bothering anymore to argue, just to say My major point was not about the bayern game, , just the UEFA cup was a bigger deal, nothing else. That's my view born out by my experience. My experience in the 80's and early 90's is that people became enthused about the european games, in the UEFA cup and cup winners cup, I don't really meet folk who become excited about the europa league.
...and my point is that its ONLY the english who think that way the funny thing is, this debate is probably irrelevant to norwich city - we'd need to finish 5th to qualify! not going to happen...
I find it odd that you say it hasn't got the same glamour as the UEFA cup. The same teams qualified into the UEFA cup through being 5th place in the Premier League, winning the League cup and winning the FA cup as they do to get into the Europa cup. I fully agree with the points Supers and Thai are making. Hamburg, Dynamo Kiev, Roma and Juventus are all decent sized clubs. I would love to see these clubs coming to Carrow Road. See players like CSKA Moscow's Doumbia and Rasmus Elem and Ajax's Eriksen. Fulham fans will be talking about the cup run in Europe for years to come. Other fans will forget about it like they did with Norwich's European cup run. But Fulham and Norwich fans won't forget them.
that's it. think positive. to be fair, THEN i would be disappointed to go into the europa league. all about perspective
Maybe it is only the English that think that way, you may be right. But again that's not my experience. I have the fortune (misfortune) to work with lots of Germans who say they enjoy watching their team in the Europa league but hark bark to the days when it was a major trophy competed for by essentially the three of the best four clubs from each league. I've never had a conversation eulogising about the merits of the Europa league, but I have now.
Wonky, my guess is that this could be an age thing. For me aged 23 when Norwich played in Europe it was huge and It would be if Norwich ever got there again. but my whole view is coloured by the travesty that is the champions league. Champions play champions , Uefa cup, the next best three teams that year play etc and the cup winners cup, when teams actually tried to win the FA cup from the word go. I probably should move on, but it just feels less special.
they probably see it being slightly devalued by english teams by the way, i spend time in germany too - never heard a single person say that but will have to take your word on it that you've heard rumblings of discontent. certainly bremen fans were devastated to lose the final a couple of years ago.
Of course they'd be devastated (insert stupid bollox slapping head), that's a nice misdirection from the point
Besides all that Europa league ****, the premier league is ****e at well. I want to be back playing at the NEST
you see, that's different. that means you think the whole of european football has been devalued, not just the europa league. but it doesn't make it any less special to be involved in european nights. it is still something we should aspire to be in and enjoy. its still as brilliant to win as ever before. in fact, it is much harder to win nowadays because of the volume of teams involved in both competition. check out how teams like forest won the old european cup. they beat liverpool over two legs, then beat aek athens, grasshoppers and cologne before defeating the mighty malmo in the final. they played just 9 games and other than liverpool and cologne, played nobody of any real quality. yet they won a european cup!
my point is that they took it seriously and wanted to win the whole thing. do you see our clubs going all out to win it? going from memory they had three of the four semi finalists that year.
No just the champions of each league played by players largely drawn from their own countries. clearly all ****e teams then
