Well I've just assumed that the champions league will be no good for us either, what with all those extra games and stuff like the europa league.
It would be interesting to see a stat of those clubs in the Europa League '13-'14 league positions against their previous season league position in which they qualified for the competition, especially those who progressed to the later stages.
Reform comments I have heard in the media the issue with the Europa League is that it doesn't pay the big bucks like the CL so it isn't worth while spending more money on transfers to boost your squad knowing you won't make it back from progressing in the competition. The Champions League is a different matter where I think you get circa £25 m for making it out of the early qualifying round into the first league stage. With that guaranteed additional income we could by 2-3 additional players of the quality we have in the squad at the moment
From Football Italia, posted 15 September: UEFA has today confirmed the revenue distribution for clubs competing in the 2014-15 editions of the Champions League and Europa League. Napoli, eliminated at the play-off round of the Champions League, will net a â¬2.1m payment for their early elimination, as part of a total â¬55m set aside for the 20 clubs involved in this stage. After this, UEFA list the total gross amount for the Champions League and UEFA Super Cup as standing at â¬1.285bn. After deductions from that amount such as 25 per cent for UEFAâs organisational and administrative costs and â¬40m from the Champions League share contributing to the Europa League share, the money will be split into two parts. â¬500.7m will be due to the 32 competing clubs, in set payments based on group stage position, performance and qualification bonuses. Then, â¬409.6m will be shared out in variable amounts determined by the market pool. This is money âdistributed according to the proportional value of each television market represented by the clubs playing in the UEFA Champions Leagueâ. The minimum amount Roma and Juventus can expect from the Champions League each is â¬8.6m for group stage involvement, with â¬1m fees then paid on wins and â¬500,000 for draws. Clubs will earn â¬3.5m for reaching the Last 16, â¬3.9m for progression to the quarter-finals and â¬4.9m for reaching the semi-finals. The winners of the tournament stand to net at least â¬37.4m, as they would be due a further â¬10.5m, whilst the runners-up will net â¬6.5m for progressing from the semi-finals. Meanwhile, the Europa Leagueâs total net share of â¬208.75m will be shared 60-40 between fixed payments and variable amounts depending on market pools. Each of the 48 competing teams, which include Torino, Inter, Fiorentina and Napoli, will receive a group stage fee of â¬1.3m, plus bonuses of â¬200,000 for a win and â¬100,000 for a draw. Group winners will also receive â¬400,000 and runners-up â¬200,000. Teams then progressing to the round of 32 will be paid â¬200,000 each, then into the round of 16 teams will be paid â¬350,000. The eight quarter-finalists will receive a further â¬450,000 each, the semi-finalists will net â¬1m each whilst the competition winners will earn another payment of â¬5m, just as the runners-up collect â¬2.5m. UEFA report that the most a team can expect from fixed payments, so not including the market pool share, is â¬9.9m. So maybe not such a financial boost as I thought. Lambie's right, let's just go for the Champions League!
The money earnt from being in the EUFA Cup is not massive when you take into account the costs of competing and the risk of dropping subsequent league points, but I do believe (as we have little real chance of relegation) that it is worth entering for the massive fillip that it will give the club. It will be a mark of our progress as a club. And does anyone really imagine that Koeman wouldn't take it seriously?
Right, really check. This weekend we face our biggest challenge since the first game of the season. If we beat spurs, and if we can then sustain that sort of form into the winter, maybe then we can start to dream about Europe.
I'm quietly giggling at the back because it appears we have made the pundits incredibly unsure of their ground. On MOTD3 yesterday, one of the subjects was billed as Pelle's goal. Yes, they discussed that, but they also discussed Top 4-6. Mark Chapman came straight with it and it wasn't laughed away by any means. In fact, Jason Roberts made actually making a case for Top 6. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29403415 If you don't want to wade through the whole segment, start at 2' 18".
Would love us to win (or even draw) on Sunday because it will really confirm we can have a tilt at a good position this season (and it will really piss off the Spurs fans), but one game doesn't make a season. Not too high, not too low etc. Winning will tell us something, but, on the contrary, losing won't.
Quite right Fran. Most of us did not expect such a great start. Hope we keep it going but a loss wont be a disaster.
I can see the game being quite open & possibly a few goals. However, hopefully we can keep them quiet for 60mins & get in front late on. A win would be very possible then. It was interestingto follow the spurs links above & once i got past SB3's ****e it was interesting to read their comments on the game. COYR
Even if we got into the Champions League we would not be able to invest enough money in players to make any kind of serious challenge and maintain a decent Premier League campaign. Really I'd like to see it return to its previous Cup format. Its the only way it makes sense unless you are happy that the BIG clubs win it every year (oh yeah well theres your answer then!). No doubt there are people making a fortune from it somewhere so its not going to happen.
I remember Saints fans (including me) enjoying a good start a while back thinking if we can keep this up we could realistically be in with a chance of getting in the.................play offs. Every week thinking it would be the start of the loss of form. I seem to remember we got better than play offs and actually should have won that league. Similar to now where we have a much smaller budget and wage bill than those we need to be competing with and even we were thinking 'surely not' until towards the end of the season. I will not go the route of doubting until we get there anymore. Quite the opposite. I now believe it will happen until it looks doubtful rather than being doubtful until it looks likely Faith in the board, Koeman and the players. As for Saturday my last couple of predictions of an 8-1 win at Swansea and a 9-0 win against QPR were in hindsight a little bit optimistic. Therefore I am restraining myself and predicting that we will beat Tottingham Pochspurs 5-1. In the post-match Pocketingo will proclaim that his side controlled the game and would have won but for the referee having a bad day, the weather being 2 degrees higher than expected and that Koeman cheated by wearing beige chinos. Stats will be: Possession: Spurs 55% Saints 45% Shots on target: Spurs 0 Saints 5 Shots off target Andros Townsend 8 Saints 10 (The Tottingham goal being a deflection from one of Townsend's wayward shots.
I put him on my ignore list a long time ago (he is in fact the only person on my ignore list), and my life is much happier as a result. You know you want to..... Go on, Go on, Go on, go on, go on......
