The Mail Bag
Euro revision wrong contest
Comments (65)
After Sunday?s result, I thought I?d take a look at this new Europa League format and see what it?s all about. If you?re thinking of doing likewise, I?d advise you not to bother. Actually, I?d probably say the same to Moyes.
If I?m reading it right ? and that?s a big 'if', it?s an incredibly complicated format ? the team finishing 6th in a Uefa coefficient top-3 league (England is currently ranked Number One) enters the Europa League in the third of four qualifying rounds. In other words, if we finish 6th we?d have to play two qualifying rounds, both home and away, JUST to get into the Europa League itself.
If we win the FA Cup, or get 5th, we enter at the 4th and final qualifying stage, as last year v Std Leige. If West Ham pip us for 6th, I believe it?s the second qualifying round ? in other words, six games just to reach the League.
Once we get there, it?s then a question of playing three home-and-away legs in a four-team group ? six games, as opposed to four in previous years. Then the tournament becomes knock-out in the last 32.
You can see where I?m going with this. The merits or otherwise of Everton in the Uefa Cup have often been debated on ToffeeWeb, and I?ve come down on the side of wanting to see Everton in Europe; but with the extra games in this new format, and the inevitably titchy size of our squad, I can?t help thinking that this time it really will cost us in the league.
ps: Apologies for any factual errors with this ? it?s a genuine attempt to understand the Europa Cup from a bit of web trawling.
Duncan Lennard, Posted 06/04/2009 at 08:08:18
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I?ve loved our runs in the Uefa Cup, but they?re taking the piss with all these extra games. Although the most annoying part of the competition is when after playing 10 games in qualifying rounds and group stages, the failed Champs League teams enter the competition!
I love us being in Europe, but the Europa League format?s a joke.
Those 2 clubs can afford (financially) to ignore the Europa but we can?t. I know the prize money is a pittance but, as our club admitted last year when they made their yearly financial figures public, that the prize money combined with gate receipts from Uefa Cup earned the club around an extra £6 million or something.
Every £1 million is vital to us, Lerner and Levy use rolls of £50 notes as toilet paper.
It's such a narrow-minded idea to question the point of qualifying for Europe ? it?s like Arsenal saying "oh well we?ll probably only finish 3rd or 4th in the Prem next season so why bother, those extra 38 games will be a big drain on our squad!"
Hell why don?t we throw a couple of results next season just to give us a relegation battle just to make things worthwile again instead of us being able to relax and give teams a good tonking towards the end of the season!!
If you don?t like the idea of watching our team around Europe then DON?T GO and if Moyes decides he doesn?t like watching our team around Europe the he can field the reserves!
Two years ago we had learned a lot and went considerably further and made a bit of a name for ourselves. Nobody wanted to be drawn against us. One bad performance in Italy was repaid by a classic return performance against Fiorentina, a game we could and should have won by enough goals to get us through before penalties intervened.
The experience made us a better team, and better known. This season we were not helped by being drawn against a very good side and this, coupled with injuries and Moyes?s prevarication over his contract probably made it almost inevitable we would drop out. But we retained the experience and this is one reason why, overall, we are a better ?football? team now (but it?s not the only reason!) than in the old invariable hoofball days.
I am not a particular fan of European football (some of it sends me to sleep!) but it is an integral part of the game now and one of the rewards for a higher level of performance and the players themselves want to be involved.
If it is there to go for, then let?s go for it I say!
My own view is that we should go back to the old system, with the Champions League being for just the champions (and not for a gang of wankers who haven?t won the league for 19 years!) bring back the cup-winners cup and make the Uefa cup more worthwhile (and rewarding) by having better teams in it (ie: those others who would now be in the CL) Now that would be something to aim for. It ain't gonna happen though because the Champions League is designed to keep the cash in the hands of the few. And at the moment we?re not one of the few!
Look at Aston Villa, they rested half of their players in their Uefa Cup game in a bid to break the top four, got knocked out and haven?t won since and now the best they can hope four is 5th! In hindsight, Martin O?Neill must be kicking himself for resting these players, because they still could have had a trophy to play for this season.
I?m not stupid, I know we struggled last time with a small squad and we will need a few more players for the extra games. But I?d rather we gave Europe our best shot, because at the end of the day football is about winning trophies and we?ve got a better chance of winning the Europa League than the Premier League haven?t we?! It would be another one to add to the trophy cabinet that Liverpool haven?t won, along with the European Cup Winners Cup.
As for the group stage, well the old UEFA cup was ridiculous as it was partly down to luck of the draw of home & away games. Now you play each other twice but in groups of 4 rather than 5 (so 6 games as opposed to 4) making it much fairer.
Then you get to the knockout phase, which has 1 extra round to the CL, you in effect there are 2 more games than you would need to win the CL from 4th place!
On an aside, 4th place has a limited chance of a CL space anyway, as the draw has been changed meaning you are much more likely to meet a side from one of the top leagues in the qualifying round as well.
According to Uefa?s own site, the sixth-placed side from national associations ranked 1 to 3 (ie England) only qualify for the third qualification round, not the 4th and final.
If, as commented above, we made about £6 million extra from our Uefa Cup adventure last season, then it?s well worthwhile for the club. Especially when you consider the board propose to move, at great expense, to a new stadium in Kirkby in the hope of generating such a boost to our coffers.
1) Do not allow the third placed Champs League group stage to drop into the competition after the Europa group stage... this devalues the competition.
2) The winners should get a Champions League berth the next season.
3) Scrap the Champions League and go back to the old three European competitions, it has caused the death of the domestic game (e.g the creation and dominance of ?The Sky 4 ? pie in the sky... I know).
I agree the Europa Champion should gain automatic entry to the CL group stage. No teams would be sending in their reserves in that case. Cannot have the have-nots breaking up the cartel, however.
No European experience and we’ll get knocked out of the qualifying round of the Champions League anyway.
I want Europe, so what if we play an extra 4 matches? Better than playing none isn’t it, even if we get knocked out?
Everton is about supporting your team and following your team, and second to a trophy is watching Everton in Europe.
Football is entertainment first and foremost, and fans memories in this decade will be about European matches first.
However, Man U have won the Carling Cup and will be in the Champions League. Which makes the playoff 5th place and FA Cup winners, and the previous round 6th place.
However, Everton are the only team left in the FA Cup who aren’t likely to be in the CL. So, if we reach the final,we get the winners place. if we lose, man U will play Arsenal or Chelsea, all teams in CL, so the FA Cup place goes to a league team.
so now the league place goes to 5th, the FA Cup place to 6th and the CC place to 7th. Meaning 5th and 6th get into the playoff round (as two English teams are given places) and 7th go to the previous round in lieu of the CC winners
QED
Now you might not agree with the way placed teams qualify for the Champions league, but them's the rules
We?ll all probably be able to name the teams who?ve qualified for the past 5 CL semi finals, only the real statos will be able to do the same with the Uefa Cup, It doesn't raise the profile of a club, certainly not a Prem club. Besides, the odds are stacked against English clubs as the Prem is far more demanding than the leagues the Zeniths and Glasgow Rangers of this world play in.
By the way £6 million? Where do you guys get these figures from? For getting all the way to Florence we did marginally better than break even.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Europa_League_2009%E2%80%9310
Why wouldn?t you want to watch your team in Europe? ? even if you couldn?t get to the away games there is something different about European games, supporters, the whole atmosphere. What is the point then of being ?bitter n twisted? (as our redshite friends like to compliment us with) about us being banned from Europe... or are you not ?bitter n twisted? (a bit of lemon with that please barman)! and you're happy we never played in Europe with our greatest ever team!...
Get another life other than supporting a football club as I think you?ve lost the true meaning of following a your team. It is not just about trophies and whether or not you can win them, it's about following your team whether they?re shite or not, whether they can or can?t win a trophy. It?s about passion for your team in whatever and wherever the game is played.
Tell me this, are you going to Wembley? because it's just another game, isn?t it, against a far superior team (allegedly) so it's not worth bothering about is it!. I mean after all if we beat (sorry, WHEN we beat) the Mancs and go on to beat whoever in the final our reward is.. wait for it... our rewards is.. a place in the Europa Cup!!! So really, it ain?t worth bothering about is it!!!
And by the way, I?ll have yer ticket for one of me mates!! A song comes to mind when I read n hear the tripe you and your ilk peddle... it goes lke this!! "Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right..." etc.
As the places from the FA Cup / League Cup are likely to come from the premier league (assuming we don’t beat Man Utd). Then that would make 5th & 6th into the 4th round and 7th into the 3rd round.
I may be mistaken, but that is my understanding of how it works.
Our first game could be in July FFS!!
If the winner and runner-up qualifiied for the CL then it may be worth the effort. But I can see O’Neil’s point of view, looking at the paultry prize money!
Fan by fan we head to the bright lights of the stadium, the away end is full, and every other stand has a smattering of Blue as people fought tooth and nail to get tickets even in the home ends. Nurnberg were outplayed, and towards the end......DA DA DA DA, VICTOR ANICHEBE... DA DA DA DA VICTOR ANICHEBE!!!!!!
The aftermath was more drink and fun with fellow Evertonians (and the odd German lass!!). What an amazing experience, surely one would pay twice the money to do it all over again.
AND THAT'S WHY EUROPE IS IMPORTANT. COYB... WE?RE ALL GOING ON A EUROPEAN TOUR!!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Europa_League_2009%E2%80%9310
Great Link Phil Yates
Does 7th place in the PL join in the playoff stage or do they swap with the team finishing 6th and have to then do the 2nd Qualifying round also?
The teams competing in the Europa League are the ones closest to upsetting the top 3 or 4 in their respective leagues and breaking into the Champions League. We all know how much it infuriated Uefa when we finished 4th and dared to actually qualify for the competition.
By giving us a stack load more games to play in a season with fuck all money to build a decent sized squad, there’s not a cat in hell’s chance of us finishing 4th. Thus the Champions League teams are kept in the CL for seasons to come.
Last season we know how being knocked out of Europe affected us and Tony Marsh made the same point at the time - we’d be far better off sacking this competition off and trying to challenge for the CL spot. Use the Europa League to blood the youngsters like Gosling, Baxter and Rodwell.
Last season Rangers made something like £1.6 million profit from the Uefa cup whilst Man U made close to £60 million from the CL.
Also, there are not many more games than previously, just that its been re-structured.
One of the other less high profile changes is to do with money etc, as the TV rights have are to be sold collectively rather than individually, meaning that there should(!) be more money avaiable.
Other than that its a pretty far fetched conspiracy theory that you came up with anyway!
By qualifying Everton would either have got to the Cup Final and/or finished high enough in the Premier League. Each of these situations mean that extra money has been earned by the club and can be viewed as success.
The other by-product is that the club is seen on the "football" map when trying to sign new players. The general impression seems to be that a club doesn?t exist unless it either plays in Europe or pays huge salaries and if we do neither no one will join us in the summer.
The extra matches create problems but they also provide extra income and this is a situation I would rather see.
It?s better than being left in the footballing desert.
Let?s go for it......
Also, players do not want to be sitting, watching European football on the telly, when lesser players from other teams are gaining great experience. Europe benefits the whole club for the better and that includes the fans.
Everton FC need to be in Europe, our history and tradition demand it.
COYB
..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbO5uiNIdec
Point of detail to make here from a stateside source. I have it on good authority that Lerner uses $100 bills, which are then recycled into Cleveland Browns home jerseys. We don’t call them the "Stains" over there for nothing. :)
As it is at the moment, we’re not far from breaking the top 4. We’d be far better off really having a go at this than wasting our time playing games against European teams we’ve never heard off. Where’s the prestige in beating Brann 6-0? I’d much rather a trip to Barcelona than Neuremburg.
I haven't missed a European game since the eighties, but unlike you I dont want to settle for second best, I think we can get Champions League and the worthless Uefa Cup is a hinderance. It killed us stone dead last year. You may be happy to to go to your Nurembergs for piss-ups, but I?ve done that and would prefer a better standard of football.
It's you who needs to get another life, Me old china plate ? maybe following Tranmere, given your preference for second class football.
BTW, I did manage to get hold of a spare ticket, but give it to you? You're really are having a chuckle aren't you? It went to a proper Evertonian, one with pride and ambition. I could never have given it to someone who?s prepared to feed of the scraps of football elite rather than fight to be part of it.
You're a loser, with a losers mentality ? is that real enough for you?
On a side note, loved the title of the article ? puntastic work Duncan :)
If a team who wins the FA Cup final has already qualified for Europe then the runner up no longer gets the place in the Europa (Uefa) Cup. It's now the same rules as the Carling Cup and the next place in the league gets it. These rules were changed due to teams like MIllwall and Cardiff (almost) getting there
So basically if we are runners up in the FA Cup and finish 8th or lower we WILL NOT get into Europe...FACT
So, you're saying because I (and 1000s of others) support my team through thick 'n' thin I?m a loser?!. I think you?ve lost the plot somewhere son and you're trying to make out that somehow your a better supporter because you want the best all the time... What makes you think I/We (that's the royal 'we' so bow, peasant!) don?t want the same?
Why don?t you want the younger supporters tasting European travel and the currently realistic prospect of a European trophy... also I fail to see the logic in not wanting success in the Uefa/Europa Cup which does not pretend to be anything other than it is ? a European competition for those who have not won their league. The Champions League is the imposter as we all know (I don?t have to explain that too do I)...
Anyway sonny, if you fail to see that supporting your team through thick and thin means you always hope and strive for success, then I?m afraid you?ve turned in yer old age into a SKY "I want it now" glory hunter... and I actually feel sorry for you. Never mind eh...( oh yeah, another song springs to mind... nooo it doesn?t.. it's still "Clowns to the left of me Wilson to the right"...etc...
I go to all the games, always have, I don?t need Sky, so unlike you I haven?t become brainwashed. I don?t believe in the Sky 4... you see I remember being clear of the Shite for 4th place just over a year ago, but we were bogged down, stretched to breaking point by a worthless cup, we eventually ran out of players.
I don?t expect Champions League every year, there?s been times when I?ve been relieved just to stay in the Prem, but I believe, that by being free of energy-sapping demands the tatty little Uefa Cup places on the smaller squads, this current side is good enough to Qualify for the CL.
To the less intelligent ? mentioning no names ? the champions league is an impostor; to the rest of the football world, it's where Europe?s elite dine. The top table.
The Evertonians with pride and ambition want to dine at the top table, trying football's finest wines and cuisine, but we are bogged down by people like you determined to eat out of the chippie for the rest of your days.Understand?
The glass ceiling doesn't exist, it's a mythical barrier created by your beloved Sky to convince dutiful little losers like you not to bother even trying. The Europa cup is no more than a bone they?ve thrown you to keep you happy and you're falling over yourself with fucking gratitude.
NSNO. Go study your club.
Did I waste MY fucking time following the Blues all the way to Rotterdam? Was I totally misguided in enjoying the whole experience? Was the happiness and pride I felt in winning the Cup Winners Cup (a second class competition after all) in such fine fashion totally misplaced? Should I have spent all that money I consumed throughout the whole campaign on a new kitchen instead?
I know what my answers would be! I’d like to hear yours.
As an Evertonian I too want my Club to dine at the top table, but that doesn?t mean we have to starve to death while we are waiting.
Everton ARE good enough to qualify for the Champions League, but arguably so are Villa and it may be that Spurs and City will be good enough next season... who knows? The problem is not everybody can.
Finally, telling us what is wrong with the Champions League set-up is a waste of energy because you are preaching to the converted. Of course we have to try to qualify for the Champions League because we always have to try to finish as high as we can in the league and if that gets us into it, all well and good. The Uefa Cup, however, is something we can qualify for if we don?t quite make it, what is wrong with that?
of course you didnt waste your time in Rotterdam, it was one of our finest hours
But that was nearly 25 years ago, the game is different now, the European cup was for champions only and the the other two competitions were contested by some of Europes elite, teams that maybe were even going on to be champions - like ourselves
If you and others are happy to play in a lesser competiton, fine, thats your views, but I believe travelling half way across Europe midweek to play second class sides in countrys in that didnt exist 10 years ago will drain a clubs resources and virtually guarentee they wont qualify for CL.
Now if that was the best we could do that would be fine, but I believe our current side can crack this top four
Moyes, Oneil, Redknap, big Sam and Hughes are classed as amonst the best british managers. but they have all fielded weekend teams in ths competition . . ask yourself why
Davey has an ?in it to win it? mentality, which I believe we should all have.
Look how much good it did Villa to opt out of the Uefa Cup at the later stage...
What you are saying doesn?t make sense!
If we travel to Europe to watch us play (as you put it) second class teams in a second class competition then surely their supporters are travelling to Goodison to watch their team play a second class side in a second class competition too... Everton! Are we second class then, or are we Champions League material? Make your mind up because you can?t have it both ways.
Whether the game has changed or not, the Cup Winners Cup competition was most definitely at least a firm second to the old European Cup and some pundits would put it even behind the old Fairs Cup (the Uefa/Europa Cup as it is known now) yet you say it was one of our finest hours! Wouldn?t it be another of our finest hours if we were to win the Europa Cup next year, albeit its inferiority to the Champions League?
And what about the FA Cup while we are at it? Is it worth us all going to Wembley at all? After all, the FA Cup is definitely a lesser competition than the league so should we bother our arses? Should we put a weakened team out in the 3rd round of that next year as well as the Europa in order to go for the league and qualification for the CL although we all agree that?s a phoney and (as somebody mentioned above an imposter( I would say misnomer to say the least!)
Finally, I don?t remember Moyes putting a gang of reserves out on masse in the Uefa Cup last year! As I recall, he always played the strongest sides he could put out even if they weren?t always what we would have liked or expected. As for the other lot, Redknapp is a dickhead anyway and his priority was to keep Spurs up. We don?t have that problem.
O?Neill is sorry now isn?t he? So much so he is having a meeting with 200 Villa supporters this week and buying them all a meal while discussing the issue. O?Neill got too far ahead of himself and ended up disrupting the team almost as much as we did by knocking them out of the FA Cup! I am sure he thinks he is right but what did he leave Villa with? A chance to qualify for the Uefa/Europa again! What will he do next year?
Hughes doesn?t know what his best team is anyway and as for Big Sam, what does he know about football!? I wouldn?t take any of their deeds as a guide to good sense.
You?re being a bit of cunt to be honest. The point is that Everton only have an outside chance of qualifying for the CL. To improve the odds of getting there, we need to slowly raise the Everton profile. The idea being, we?ll start to attract talent that sees being at Everton as being at a club with a European pedigree; that is, a club that wins matches and could well be the next big thing. We won?t do that if we do what you suggest, and regard the Europa as a second-rate competition, constructed merely for the dross of Europe.
The competition further provides much needed experience against teams from nations that have a very different game. It improves us as a football team. It makes us look at our own game and shows us to adapt to conditions. Since we became a Uefa Cup team, our profile has indeed been heightened.
I live abroad, and people recognise Everton now. The word now, is that we?re a good, solid team. The media in the UK have even started to notice the Everton brand. We?re no longer classed alongside the relegation fodder in the PL, we?re classed as potentially one of the best teams in the country.
I?m merely suggesting that all this is a spin-off from competing in Europe.
Where did you read that nonsense? Go to uefa.com and read the competiton regulations for the 2009-10 Europa League. The runners-up in the domestic cup still get the place if the winners are in the Champions League.
England and France are the exceptions in giving a place to the League Cup winners instead of a high place in the league. It is fundamentally different to FA Cup qualification and the runners-up will never be considered for a European place.
And what has the FA Cup got to do with it? if you don't want to go, don't go, I?ll be there because I consider it the best knock-out tournament in club football.
Trust me, to win the Uefa Cup this year a team won't need to beat the Shite, Boro, Villa, Man U or Chelsea/ Arsenal, although I?ll give you this, they?ll probably come across a couple of Macclesfields.
So Redknap's a dickhead, O'Neills sorry, Big Sam knows nothing about the game and Hughes didn't even know his best team... funny that, because they are the managers who usually qualify for this most "prestigious" of cups.
John Dybvad, you're being a bit of a pirck to be honest. The Prem is 10 times bigger than this worthless little tin pot, and is watched by a much wider audience.
Raise our profile? lol, we are world famous mate and were so long before we got ourselves involved in it. Still as you say, playing against a bunch of part timers in Norway improves us as a football team, it wouldn't have anything to do with playing in the most competetive league in the world.
The Uefa Cup can?t compete with the CL, but it's the next best alternative, as it shows your club are competitive, as you have to finish in the top 5 or win a cup to qualify ? not a particularly easy task.
Being a success in the Uefa Cup helps raise your profile to other players (see Arshavin, before he played in the Uefa Cup for Zenit, few people had heard of him).
For all Man City?s money they couldn?t offer any level of European football so struggle to attract top players. Why you would want to field a weak team & get knocked out in the first round is beyond me ? we may as well opt out of the Carling Cup & FA Cup whilst were at it and only concentrate on the league.
It ?s my opinion that it will hinder our chances of achieving our real goal (CL). As for history, what are you talking about? The Prem is the biggest stage of all NOW, no player / team in the prem needs this Channel 5 trophy to raise their profile.
As for attracting top players, it doesn't ? they were hardly queing around the block last time were they? Besides, it doesn't matter if you can attract Ronaldo if all you can afford is Castillo. Playing in a competition that generates so little revenue will not change that.
Moyes will have to decide quickly if he wants to pursue this seriously and no doubt forego any chance of Champions League Qualification in 2009-10 or play the reserves and risk an early exit. 17 or 19 games to the final. 38 premiership games. 10 league cup games. 8 FA cup games. Internationals on top. It?s suicide!
The format of this league was obviously decided by the big clubs to retain the status quo in football forever. Let?s face it football is irredeemably broken.
Dave Wilson - That’s a very insular point of view you have there, for foreign players, some will come to the PL for the money, but given competiition for players, the CL will take presidence over the UEFA Cup, but the UEFA Cup will take presidence over the rest. Foreign footballers want to play in Europe nto get themselves recognised by a wider audience, just playing in the PL won’t achieve that.
What we have to show them is that we are a team that are going places, then the ones who move for football rather than cash WILL choose us over City or Spurs.
As the whole Kaka saga showed, money doesn?t get you everything you want, I am prepared to bet that if City had been challenging for Uefa Cup / CL spaces, Kaka would have given it more consideration.
The Uefa Cup is a stepping stone to bigger things, but not one we can discount thinking we are ?too big? for that competition.
I?d pack it in if I were you. You're just beginning to sound silly and ultra-defensive.
You don?t want Everton to be involved in ?second rate? European competitions but you are quite happy for us to go all the way in the FA Cup which is secondary to the league! Either develop a principle and at least stick to it or stop picking and choosing which inferior trophy is worthwhile and which, in your view, is not.
As regards the FA Cup, I do want to go (I?ve got my ticket, booked the hotel and coach with Soccerexpress!) because I want Everton to win every competition we enter. My point was, by your own criteria, do you want to go, seeing as you don?t like Everton making an effort in ?inferior competitions??
The reason I mentioned profit in my last post is because the Champions League gives enough money to expand your squad to cope, the Europa League doesn?t. I can?t believe how short-sighted some Evertonians are. We are this close to CL qualification and you?d throw it away to compete against teams equivalent to Tranmere?s standard.
I am in full agreement with Dave Wilson.
Your argument about the amount of games against size of squad ? how does that work then? We?ll play just as many games in the Champions League with just about the same size squad if we happen to finish in 4th place (let's hope Arsenal collapse eh)!
And please don?t go on about the extra funds because that doesn?t become available until you actually reach the group stage so will not be available to buy players in the summer... and this club of ours will not borrow against that hope because they?re not gonna do a Leeds!!
So you and Mr Wilson, do your fellow supporters a favour and pass your tickets to Evertonians who?ll follow their club whatever the competition, always hoping for the best but prepared for the worst...
Read our history boys... we take an age to assemble a decent side, win a few trophies (still more than most even without a trophy for 14 years)! then subside again. It?s the Everton Way and will always be unless the sugar daddy arrives with trillions (billions aint enough anymore)!!
The Uefa Cup generates no money because it's normally contested at half-empty stadiums and broadcast by TV companies nobody watches and isn't contested by the top teams... not even the top teams from places like Iceland, Norway, or Wales.
I want a trophy too, but my standards and expectations are higher than yours... that's all.
Settle for second best by all means but please, settle for it somewhere else. If you want a piss up abroad, stop hiding behind a Mickey Mouse competition and go to Ibiza with the rest of the dickheads.
But I think whoever wins the Europa League should get automatic qualifcation into the Champions League.
You really don?t get it, do you? You sound like the dads watching Sunday football, urging their lads to win, win, win ? and if you don?t win, you're nothing!... (a truly sad indictment of todays 'want it now' culture).
When will people like you learn? We follow our teams for enjoyment; it's our hobby ? not our life. We hope and strive to win but we know it's not always possible to win so we enjoy the taking part in...
And by the way, me being defeatist, I don?t think so, Sonny; I fucking hate it when we get beat, but I get over it and plot revenge!! Haa haaa...
Oh yeah.. Ibiza... never been there, you offering me a holiday!!
On our FA Cup journey we?ve beaten Liverpool, Villa and Boro. To win it we?ll have to beat Man U, and Chelsea or Arsenal. So we?ll have beaten 3 of 4 Champions League clubs to win the cup. Now look at who Man City have played to get to the quarter finals ? no-one of any note whatsoever.
The FA Cup is hardly a second rate competition is it? So your argument is certainly flawed. And think also, and answer it honestly, would we be anywhere near CL qualification next year if we have to play in the Europa? Your answer will be no. So it would be 1 step forward and about 4 steps back.
And do you not have a ticket already for Wembley? Or do you not bother going to the games?
Plus the fact that we only get the extra money for reaching the group stage; given the new structure from next season, which makes qualifying for this stage from 4th place much harder, I fail to see your arguement as to why this is better.
Back to the prestige arguement from earlier, someone from Russia or Spain for example is more likely to be impressed by a Uefa Cup triumph than an FA Cup win.
But as the song goes: if it makes you happy, it can't be that bad.
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1 Posted 06/04/2009 at 13:42:06
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I’m all for Everton playing in Europe and expanding our achievements and our presence. If we don’t make the champions league then this is next best. I thoroughly enjoyed our UEFA campaign 2 seasons ago and it had no detrimental effect on anything, quite the reverse. It was only the heartache of losing to Fiorentina that upset the apple cart.
Those who decry such things and prefer us to stick to domestic matters are living in the past. Playing in Europe will only do good for us. It will improve our football, our international awareness and our prestige. Other countries embrace change and prosper as a consequence. We should do the same.
I have an inkling that Moyes feels exactly the same way.