JerusalemMan
Johnny Morrison
Having lost the rights to that, maybe the incessant drumbeat will quieten a little
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Serious relegation fears
- Thread starter NaijaSpurs
- Start date
Having lost the rights to that, maybe the incessant drumbeat will quieten a little
Modric THFC
Jimmy McCormick
If they love Europa League in Italy so much why did only 8,630 people show to see Lazio v Rosenberg?
Its the same in the rest of Italy.
Lazio vs Saint-Etienne 11,039
Fiorentina vs Lech Poznan 13,792
Fiorentina vs FC Basel 15,212
Napoli vs Brugge 13,043
Napoli vs Midtjylland 18,475
The same amount of people turned up at the two Liverpool home games as all 6 of these games.
parklane1
Vic Buckingham
The damage has been done unfortunately, there are so many fans around nowadays who believe that the Prem is all that matters and everything else is worthless.
It makes it worthwile because that means you don't have to participate in the EL the next season, but what does that say about the value of the competition in itself? It's like they need to offer CL football this way because otherwise nobody would care about playing in the EL, lol. Yes, teams will take it more seriously, but it's the wrong way to do it. Same with letting CL teams participate halfway into the competition, it improves the quality of the EL, but it makes a mockery of the group-stages. It makes them redundant. A proper competition shouldn't need CL drop-outs joining half-way to strenghten it.
I've seen many analysis to the contrary.
I'm from the contintent, I don't care and I'm certainly not the only one.
Yeah the name is wrong. But the competition is strong though, probably the strongest an European competition has ever been.
It's actually true though. I'm tired of debating this because that has been done countless of times, but it isn't cobblers.
parklane1
Vic Buckingham
No its not true and it has been done countless times before to show why it is cobblers, but everyone to their own.
NaijaSpurs
Rafael Van Der Vaart
It is obvious to me that the best way to strengthen people's interest in the EUROPA Cup is to stop third placed losers from being parachuted from the Champions League and get rid of the the league system so it becomes a straight knock out competition
I think the league system is good and makes it interesting. The CL drop-outs joining the EL I agree though - those teams have had their chance to win a trophy and lost out so they shouldn't get a second chance. Scrapping that rule would also means with a little tinkering you could get rid of 1 of the knock out rounds
NaijaSpurs
Rafael Van Der Vaart
Well if you did a straw pole on this forum methinks you would find yourself in a tiny minority
DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
braineclipse
Willie Hall
With the amount of football available these days and the number of top teams in the CL I really don't think the EL is going to be a huge pull for people in general regardless.
Most people who watch EL games do so because they're fans of one of the teams I think.
What UEFA will probably be afraid of is teams like us or the big-ish Italian, Spanish, German or French teams not caring about the competition and sending out weaker sides. The only way to keep that from happening is offering more money. Including the CL drop outs usually means a handful of teams with very good fan bases in the competition. Higher profile teams later on in the tournament also strengthens interest overall I think. That means more money in and more money to hand out.
As it is right now I don't think the EL does much for us financially. We need a bigger squad to compete in the EL, but the money we're making from it barely covers the expenses for a small handful of decent PL standard players over a season I'm guessing.
Benefit is that we can have a slightly bigger squad to deal with injuries in the league when they do happen, but this is probably more than counter acted by the extra strain from the extra games.
With our youth policy at least our squad players are cheaper so financially it makes more sense. And it's a chance to give game time to some of our young players not quite ready to start in the league yet. That's a real benefit, but only because of our successful development and transfer market activity.
NaijaSpurs
Rafael Van Der Vaart
Firstly, to me it is a trophy I would rather win than a domestic cup, and secondly it comes with a CL place so it this is a trophy we should always take seriously as long as we are taking part
metalgear
Nayim
i would make it a knock out competition that includes champions league qualifiers too. increase the variety of teams, commit the top teams to more games since they can afford more players, enjoy the odd occasion where the minnows beat the giants once in a while.
inkpenspur
Allan Nielsen
It is a tournament that gives me the opportunity to take my kids and their mates to at White Hart Lane without requiring a second mortgage thanks to sensible pricing for Europa games, so I like it!
DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
Thinking about it, removing the habit of dropping losing Champions League play-off teams into the group stages would be a start: the key being to reduce the number of teams in the competition to the level where the extra knock-out round prior to the quarterfinals is removed. 8 Champions League third place teams being parachuted in is probably necessary to keep viewership up and advertisers onside, but it's unlikely that the CL teams that don't navigate the playoffs (usually unseeded ones) will be interesting enough to the advertisers for them to insist on their inclusion. The aim should be to reduce the number of qualifying teams (for the knockout stages) from the present 32 to just 16, to remove the extra knockout round and streamline the competition to have as many games as its bigger European counterpart. Since the 8 CL drop-in number is probably fixed for now (until they reduce the number of CL contestants to streamline that competition as well, perhaps by removing 4th/3rd place qualification), that means only 8 qualifiers from the group stages. That in turn means less qualifying teams from the knockouts (probably 16 or less, instead of the present 22) ad a reduction of the overall number of teams in the group stages (from the present 48 to 32). However, a 32-team group stage would still present you with 16 qualifiers for the knockouts, which when added to the 8 CL drop-ins creates an unsustainable number (24): therefore, that has to be reduced even further (to 16 teams, an unprecedentedly low number)...
...or, conceivably, to only have the winners of the groups go through, with the seeded/unseeded calculation for the knockout round draw that would follow being removed and teams randomly drawn against the CL dropouts. I like this option the best, since it firstly makes the group games really matter from the perspective of the team trying to go through and the team chasing them (the teams in 3rd and 4th won't be as interested, but that could be remedied by adding a large financial incentive and European coefficient bonus to finishing 3rd instead of 4th): secondly, it ensures that the best teams are selected for the face-off against the CL drop-ins, and thirdly, (critically), it reduces the number of teams in what is at present an unfeasibly large and unwieldy competition.
Michel Platini fudged up the competition by insisting that any two-bit team from Outer Siberia be given a spot in the group stages, and by expanding it to include an unprecedented number of contestants, CL dropouts and fair play winners. That needs to change.
DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
In fact ,thinking about it further, I'm not sure the CL won't be reformed in he years ahead: the explosion in Premier League financing has created a situation where qualifying for the CL isn't the draw it once used to be, and isn't the boost to club finances that it once was. As Europe's 'premier' competition, I'm not sure UEFA can have that: equally, the strange revenue distribution system they use, which weights clubs according to the TV rights deals of their respective domestic league (losing finalists United earned more than the winners Barcelona in 2011, for example, because PL TV revenue was higher than La Liga's) has to be reformed given the explosiveness of PL commercial growth.
We might see a situation where participants in the CL are reduced (weighted against the larger leagues: smaller ones would continue to have only the top one/two qualify, but larger ones would see their allocations cut from four to three or less) so the revenue boost to participating clubs is larger and the PL doesn't run away with its commerical and TV revenue outstripping European competitors and only being aided by its teams receiving more money from UEFA than other continental clubs. If that happens, drop-ins into the Europa League will naturally be reduced, which could help solve the problem of EL irrelevance (also, the shortfall in CL places could be made up by EL places going 'up' from fifth to fourth and third, which allows for a higher quality of entrant).
We might see a situation where participants in the CL are reduced (weighted against the larger leagues: smaller ones would continue to have only the top one/two qualify, but larger ones would see their allocations cut from four to three or less) so the revenue boost to participating clubs is larger and the PL doesn't run away with its commerical and TV revenue outstripping European competitors and only being aided by its teams receiving more money from UEFA than other continental clubs. If that happens, drop-ins into the Europa League will naturally be reduced, which could help solve the problem of EL irrelevance (also, the shortfall in CL places could be made up by EL places going 'up' from fifth to fourth and third, which allows for a higher quality of entrant).
alekaras
The ITK of IDK
Wouldn't hurt to have EL and CL on alternating weeks either. By the time Thursday rolls around everyone has had their fill of midweek football and watching lesser teams isn't as appealing. Or switch the games around so EL plays on Tuesdays and CL on Wednesday/Thursday. Kind of like an undercard for the "big" games to follow.