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Precious Irony

My first article here so please go easy on me if I?ve got my facts wrong. While I?m always focused on what we do as a team, I couldn't help thinking the other day about how things may turn out this season. We all remember Liverpool being able to get the Champions League rules changed the other year when they didn?t qualify. Quel surprise! Anyway, it got me thinking as to what the rules are now.

My understanding is that the top 4 in the Premier League qualify for the CL. If a team outside the top 4 win that year?s CL, then they qualify for next year?s CL, and the poor unfortunate team who have finished 4th drop into the Uefa Cup. If that is correct, how about this for a possible outcome?

Man Utd win the league
Chelsea come 2nd
Aston Villa finish 3rd
Liverpool finish 4th
Arsenal 5th
Everton 6th

Oh, and Arsenal win the CL. Oh, how I would laugh. Unless, of course, they manage to get the rules changed again...
Vince Hindson, London Posted 24/01/2009 at 14:38:47

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Ian Tunny
1 Posted 24/01/2009 at 18:15:28

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Cant see Liverpool finishing outside the top 3 now, and cant see Arsenal winning the CL, and Liverpool are far too lucky for anything like that to happen to them.

Brett Bradshaw
2 Posted 24/01/2009 at 18:24:05

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Then we could knock them out of the Uefa Cup!

John Baxter
3 Posted 24/01/2009 at 18:27:47

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It won’t be funny if we finish fouth.

Brian Waring
4 Posted 24/01/2009 at 18:59:16

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I thought Uefa said the redshite was a one-off, and that it wouldn?t be allowed to happen again?

Vince Hindson
5 Posted 24/01/2009 at 19:05:52

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Brian, I think that Uefa said the case where a country has 5 in the CL was what wouldn?t happen again. The rules I?ve outlined are what they were changed to. I?m no Uefa lawyer so happy if someone can put me straight on this.

John Martin
6 Posted 24/01/2009 at 19:45:00

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Sadly, I can't see the RS finishing outside the top 2 the way Chelsea are playing. Also, Arsenal have no chance of winning the CL. But, as someone says earlier, they would never suffer that sort of bad luck; now, if we were to finish 4th, it would happen!

Adam Wightman
7 Posted 24/01/2009 at 21:11:56

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Good first article Vince. I think your logic is right. Just to expand on your point, if Man Utd win the Carling Cup will this mean that 6th place will become a Uefa Cup spot? And if Utd do win anything this year, are we still eligible to gain any money from the Rooney deal?

Darrel Pugh
8 Posted 24/01/2009 at 22:04:06

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Just a glimmer of hope that Villa?s ridiculous luck is wearing thin ? a 0-0 today. Young diving all over the show has stopped thanks to his red card... fingers crossed this average pile of crap now blessed with the attacking prowess of Heskey(??????) has had its day.

Alan Kirwin
9 Posted 25/01/2009 at 13:58:29

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If ManU win the CArling then 6th gets into th enew Europa league (ex UEFA cup).

There’s some info on Wikipedia as follows:

Qualification for European competitions
The top four teams in the Premier League qualify for the UEFA Champions League, with the top two teams directly entering the group phase. The third and fourth placed teams enter the competition at the third qualifying round and must win a two-legged knockout tie in order to enter the group phase.

However, this has changed as of the 2008Ð09 season, so that the top three teams enter the 2009Ð10 UEFA Champions League at the group stage, and the fourth-placed team enters the third qualifying round for non-champions.[18]

The fifth placed team automatically qualifies for the UEFA Europa League, and the sixth and seventh placed teams can also qualify, depending on what happens in the two domestic cup competitions.

If the FA Cup winners qualify for the Champions League, the runner-up is awarded the Europa League place; if the runner-up has also qualified for the Champions League, the spot goes to the next-highest placed league finisher not already qualified for Europe.

If the League Cup is won by a team that has already qualified for Europe, the League Cup’s Europa League spot also goes to the next highest placed team in the League (unlike the FA Cup spot, it is never transferred to the losing finalist).[19]

Prior to 2008Ð09, the highest placed team that had not qualified for the UEFA Cup was allowed the opportunity to compete in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, provided they had applied to enter the Intertoto Cup in the next season. The Intertoto Cup was discontinued after 2008 and folded into the UEFA Cup, which will be rebranded as the Europa League effective with the 2009Ð10 competition.

But going back to one of Vince’s main points, I would be delighted for Arsenal to win the CL and LFC to finish 4th. Arsenal battered the bastards twice in the CL last season and were done by two crucial & shit refereeing decisions. Just another example of LFC luck, now handed on to Aston Villa.

I still hold out a scintilla of a chance for 4th, but Villa’s unbelievable luck, starting at Goodison, has made that a distant hope. We need to win at Villa Park and beat Arsenal at Goodison. Some massive games coming up.