Champions League restructuring

[cdbearsfan]

And make it impossible for fans to attend without spending an absolute fortune on flights etc as you won't know who you're playing until a week in advance!

[cdbearsfan]

More significantly, it will probably be the end of the League Cup, because giving teams a chance to win a trophy is much less important than giving already rich clubs more money.

[Flamingo Lane]

So on the basis of the co-efficient, Liverpool would get to qualify for the Champions League next season by finishing 7th in the Premier League.  That's nice.

[JuanMartinez]

Another nail in the coffin of football.

I prefer the option of one legged league cup semis and no FA Cup replays, but I’m not holding my breathe.

[Pat Mustard]

Time to tell Liverpool, Manure, Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus et al to f*ck off and set up a permanent European Super League - if they are so hellbent on destroying the game as a competition then screw them all.

[Flamingo Lane]

I see that UEFA have now put back its decision on this to 19 April.

[VILLA MOLE]

I really cant believe there is an appetite for this shit !

[cdbearsfan]

Time to tell Liverpool, Manure, Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus et al to f*ck off and set up a permanent European Super League - if they are so hellbent on destroying the game as a competition then screw them all.

And take Grealish with them? No thanks. Villa should always aim to compete at the top level. If that happened we would be second tier, at best, for all time.

[olaftab]

Fucking ******. Total ******.

[Pat Mustard]

Time to tell Liverpool, Manure, Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus et al to f*ck off and set up a permanent European Super League - if they are so hellbent on destroying the game as a competition then screw them all.

And take Grealish with them? No thanks. Villa should always aim to compete at the top level. If that happened we would be second tier, at best, for all time.

Something like this would lead to a split between UEFA and FIFA, and potentially impact on players international careers as well - whilst in the short-term it might attract a lot of sponsorship, it will soon wither when the lack of competition strangles the health of the product.  They seem to want to create an NFL type perpetual structure, but in a sport where there are tens of thousands of existing teams and hundreds of leagues.

To be honest I'm surprised any of the English clubs are involved - unlike elsewhere, they derive the majority of their broadcast income from the League, not Europe and that is guaranteed money as well.  The only reason for participating in this is to kill off all domestic competition and we shouldn't want any part of it.  That being the case, the other Premier League clubs should be telling them to do one, and if they join this structure which leads to a smaller league, no League Cup and guaranteed European football on anything other than merit then they can no longer be part of the Premier League.  I'd rather be part of the second tier of a pyramid, than the top tier of a closed shop.

[cdbearsfan]

I understand your point, but just don't want to resign myself to us losing any good player we produce ever again, reduced to Small Heath style vicarious thrills through our former players playing for "big" clubs.

I'm certainly onboard with the other clubs threatening to kick them out of the Premier League as leverage if they try to abolish the League Cup or move the FA Cup to a midweek competition or any other horrific idea I've seen mooted.

[fredm]

The thing about this is that the two clubs who are pushing it in England both have American owners and so are ingrained with their non promotion/relegation aspect of competitions.

[Damo70]

I really cant believe there is an appetite for this shit !

I doubt there is much of a sporting appetite for it in general but there will be a big financial appetite for it amongst the European big guns/usual Champions League suspects.

[Drummond]

The problem with telling them to do one is that it's a UEFA problem. Would our league then be ratified? What's FIFA's take?

[Rory]

The point has been made before, but the clubs in question are only high-profile because of their history - whether over 10, 20 or 100 years - of winning football matches.

The disparity in finances across most European leagues means that most domestic opposition are little more than whipping boys. Deprived of their supply of cannon fodder, and playing each other every week, they can't all be 'winners' in the way they are now.

After 25 years of expansion and commercialisation, and with TV audiences now more important to most of these clubs than the fans who actually turn up, their success (ie winning games almost every week) has become an important element of their identities. Losing that could result in a pretty radical reimagining of the football landscape and a given club's perceived place within it.

Take the 'glory' away and you're left with quite a few clubs who are little more than fairly non-descript businesses with identikit stadia, bland colours and a dwindling connection to their local communities. All in my opinion, of course.