I was reading the other day that Platini proposes to do away with the Europa League and extend the Champions League to 64 teams. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/feb/14/michel-platini-uefa-champions-league I can’t think of a better way to devalue the CL even more. That said a review of the current structure wouldn’t come amiss - for example of the 16 matches taking place this week only 3 have any significance. And we know there are issues with the Europa League. I don’t think it’s the Thursday/Sunday thing that bothers clubs so much, rather it’s the distances travelled and the costs involved. Wouldn’t it be more sensible if the qualifying and group stages were at least on a regional basis ? Whatever, there must be a better way to improve things than Platini’s plans although at the end of the day I suppose it will all come down to power and money, not what fans want. I do miss those Europe nights though. Just think, three years ago today our Magyar hero was helping us defeat the Bulgarian Army : [video=dailymotion;xbdep7]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbdep7_fulham-vs-cska-sofia_sport[/video]
Went downhill after our last appearance last season. Joking aside. More teams would dilute the competition even more. I still think Champions League should be the champions and not top 4 clubs in each league. IMO.
I agree with Cravin' on this. Adding teams to CL doesn't really solve anything. Two competitions is better and it gives a team like Fulham an honest chance to bring in European silverware.
I quite agree with DR that the proposed changes will shut the door of meaningful European competition on a lot of clubs like us. The problem is that the Champions League regulars carry too much influence. That's the reason more and more places were made available to teams from the top leagues, because the likes of Manchester United, Real Madrid et al didn't like the idea of missing out from time to time. For them, the Europa League is an annoyance so there isn't a great political will to keep it. A better idea would be to allow the winners of the Europa League automatically qualify for the group stages of the next year's Champions League. That would make it appealing to any big (or aspiring) teams who found themselves outside the qualifying places in their domestic leagues and give them a reason to take the competition seriously. They should also reduce the number of games required in the Europa League by ceasing the practice of parachuting teams in from the Champions League after the group stages. After all, those teams have already had at least 6 matches (and the related revenue) in Europe. I don't think they should stop teams who fail to reach the Champions League groups stages from dropping into the Europa, as that would just hit at smaller European sides - precisely the people who the Europa League should be for. But whatever changes they make, it won't be for the good of the competition or the smaller sides; it'll be whatever suits the big boys.
In this excellent Blog the writer argues why the Europa League should be retained, while putting forward a suggestion for improvement. I was particularly taken by this passage - http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=21397
