ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

Champions League Revamp

I see both Manchester United and Liverpool have objected to the winners of domestic cups being allowed entry into the Champions League. While I didn?t get to hear their objections I can?t imagine it was that they didn?t want anyone other than the League Champions in the competition?

To me it sounds like two of the big four want to make sure that the present big four stay as the big four. Having some little upstarts like Everton or Spurs getting into the Champs League and sharing in the wealth thereby allowing one or both of us to become one of the big four clearly doesn?t suit them. They have a monopoly on things as they stand and they aren?t going to let that change. Full credit though to Michel Platini as he clearly sees this as an opportunity to break the big four?s monopoly.

I do admit that a lot of the teams outside the top four spots would be unable to compete in the Champions League and the gulf in class would be painfully apparent; however, I feel Spurs have the quality and strength in depth to compete and we?ve been there before (albeit in the qualifying rounds).

So let?s hope that Platini stands firm and ignores the cries of the G14 to redress the balance of wealth and success because it would be coming at just the right time for us. Now all we have to do is win a cup ? can?t be too hard right?
Declan Critchley, Dublin, Ireland Posted 12/09/2007 at 10:30:28

back Return to the Mail Bag

Comments

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

Erik Dols
1 Posted 12/09/2007 at 14:32:21

A team outside the big 4 winning the FA cup is even less likely to happen than a team outside the big 4 finishing inside the top4, history tells us (and if y’know your history? we’re the team that pulled off both these things most recently). So I actually don’t see them gaining from objecting to this rule. Or does losing the cup-final mean you get to play the CL as well, provided your opponent finished inside the top-3?

Chris Keightley
2 Posted 12/09/2007 at 14:44:04

There the big four because they are the wealthiest four clubs in the country, dont kid yourself otherwise. regardless of the money invested in the big four they are there on there own merits the players have to still perform, we or anyone else that wants to break the monopoly will have to be taken over by billionaires until then we will have to scrap for fifth and sixth and be satisfied with the uefa cup, our fourth place finish was one if not the lowest points tally for fourth ever, that my friend i cant see repeated, the gulf is there and will remain !!

Mark Murphy
3 Posted 12/09/2007 at 14:49:16

The champions league should be just that! For the champions only! The redshites sneered when Man U won it having finished second but soon changed their tune after Istanbul!
I agree that the cup winners shouldnt be entered but I think the Uefa cup should be scrapped (after we?ve won it hopefully) and the cup winners cup brought back.
By the way, am I right in assuming that if a team outside the top four lost in the cup final to a team who qualified for the C.L they would go into it, for example, Millwall the other year??

Bee eater
4 Posted 12/09/2007 at 15:30:26

From reading the proposals, the losing finalists would not get a place, if the winner were already in the top 3 in the league. The fourth CL spot would go to the 4th placed club in the league.

Andy Tomczak
5 Posted 12/09/2007 at 15:35:03

If the fourth placed team doesn?t qualifiy then we will never have a chance of getting close to the ?big four?. The only hope we and the others have is a good season combined with a bad one for either arseanl or RS and will get us into the qualifiers the we strive for the group stage and then we get money and prestige. The possibility of fourth is a reality but third - no chance.
However if the winning team has finished top three then the last spot goes to fourth which would mean that over the last 12 years the fourth team would have always qualified so nothing would have changed anyway

Carl Wright
6 Posted 12/09/2007 at 15:51:39

How about this idea to revamp the CL. Feel free to pass it on to Platini or anyone else at FIFA....

As now the top 2 teams qualify automatically for the CL

3 place, goes in to the qualifying, again as is now.

heres the difference....

4, 5, 6, & 7th place go in to a play-off type scenario. Home and away legs in the semis, final played at Wembley.

What this will effectively do is open up the chances of playing at the highest level more often. As we know during the season and in cups any one team can win on any day.

The atmosphere and iportance of these games would be even greater than the championship play-offs.

Is the idea flawed? Possibly. But no more than the cup winners qulaifying.

Also UEFA cup winners, should qualify for champions league the next season.

Seamus Murphy
7 Posted 12/09/2007 at 17:40:55

Carl - i like that idea. Same as the play offs in the championship and lower leagues.
Only thing is, knowing our luck as soon as this was implemented we would probably finish 4th then lose to the team that finished 7th!!

ryan crest
8 Posted 12/09/2007 at 17:52:23

Careful Declan - you might get what you wish for.

When was the last time we won the cup? And when was the last time we finished in the top 4? And what position are we in the league now? Can you see where I’m going with this?

It will be just our luck that we finish 4th in the league, get beat by Liverpool (who finish 5th) in the cup final, but Platini changes the rules. And once again we become a laughing stock for the kopites. Doh!

Steve Linden
9 Posted 12/09/2007 at 19:30:36

I get the feeling he doesn?t like the G14 and is trying to break their monopoly. If he is good on him!

Steve Sweeney
10 Posted 13/09/2007 at 20:41:16

In Holland they have 2 CL Places and 3 Uefa places, the Champions go into the CL then the teams finishing 2nd 3rd and 4th plus the cup winners play off to see who gets the 2nd CL place.
In England that would meaan the 4th 5th 6th and cup winners would play off (7TH would go into UEFA), with the winners going into CL.
If Sky get wind of this it will probably happen as it would be a big money earner and another sell out at Wembley.