So much for the Super League 
Be interesting to see what this does to the Champions League though, the current UEFA competitions are still broken.
We need to move to the German ownership model in future though.
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I’m not sure that the new system is going to help.
The biggest problem is that the different leagues aren’t equal in financial or footballing terms, so you therefore have the top teams playing substandard opposition.
I can completely understand why Barcelona aren’t interested in playing Ferencvaros and the Europa League is even worse. The 5th placed Premier League Team could expect to be in the running to win the league in most of the other countries represented. (How often is the Europa League won by a team knocked out of the Champions League?)
You end up with the top teams playing weakened sides which makes the whole thing pointless. I have more interest in the League Cup than the Europa League.
Yes, could have done with them beating Hull and Posh beating Gillingham 
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Because their greedy, ignorant …!!!
Ferencvaros had the right to be there Barcelona didn’t they finished 2nd but because they spend a fortune and have the big names it’s assumed they should be given a pass they were not Champions and should of been bumped to the europa.
I saw Perez bumping on about if people want the standard of football to be high then this ESL is the only way to do it due to costs. People are fed up with these big clubs buying the stars and then puts the same old crap and demanding to win, there is no excitement it’s just the same old.
If you watch the Ferencvaros v Barcelona game in Hungary? Ferencvaros out played them for the first 45’ but gave up if they went near a Barca big name it was a foul, they had a perfectly good goal knocked off too it was at half time they realised they were only there to make up the numbers.
If uefa had a shred of a spine they should be announcing the champions league will be exactly that for the CHAMPIONS of each country, not those big teams who need a financial hand out to survive because they pay £500K a week to a player. If you want to pay that fine do it from you own pocket don’t expect the champions league to bail you out.
Go back to the champions league in the 1993 when the new format came out it was the champions Marseilles won it. Nobody could of expected those results but they won’t because it’s
All about the money…And that is why football is broken…
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Completely agree. It’s madness that coming 4th in the league counts as being a Champion
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That’s the entire point of sport…
Teams aren’t equal, that’s why they play each other to find out who’s best.
Nice idea but problem with that is that you then concentrate all of the Champions League money into 1 Club per league who are then so much richer than everyone else that they will always be number one. (Which was one of the biggest criticisms of the ESL idea).
It’s also reality, the 4th best team in the Premier League are generally better than top teams in most of the other European leagues. (Although with West Ham in fourth I might have to change that opinion).
There is not being equal and then their is having to play what are basically Sunday League teams. It’s not so bad in the Champions League but the Europa League is an absolute joke. I’d rather not qualify than have my club waste it’s time with that.
The FA Cup 3rd round makes people all nostalgic and it’s great fun once per season, but a whole group stage of it is just dull and a waste of everyone’s time. (Especially on a Thursday night somewhere in the former USSR!)
That worked out well for Spurs then…
Maybe the prize money should be reviewed too
Instead of say £5m going to the club they get £1m and the other £4m got to the corresponding FA for grass roots project.
We need to seriously break this link between big money corporations and sport if we want football to survive away from corporate greed
I really enjoyed my trip to the San Siro a few years back in this “joke” competition. We had a great day in Milan followed by a match in an iconic stadium.
As a supporter of a team who don’t regularly qualify for Europe we want more nights like that.
The champions league is prestige but you have to be good enough to get in and with the self appointed big 6 there isn’t space for them every year so sometimes they might have to pop to the USSR, or they could turn down their place!
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Apparently Jose has had £80m in payoffs when sacked over his time.
That’s just mental!
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That’s called “hustle”.
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There wouldn’t be as much money, if only the champions qualified, there’d only be a small number of games, and a much reduced pot of money. While there haven’t been a huge number of different League winners in England in the past 10 years, there only been 2 in Scotland…
European results haven’t exactly echoed that.
The teams have earned their position, usually by several rounds of playoffs, and if you don’t want to go there are plenty of clubs who’d be extremely willing to take your place…and your prize money.
No there wouldn’t, UEFA are only interested in Money as much as anyone else in football, if there were less teams they would do what the ESL were proposing and drag the group games out for half the season.
He was getting sacked anyway, it was just a matter of when.
That ship sailed 29 years ago unfortunately, which makes the hypocrisy of people like Gary Neville even more hilarious, he’s worked in that system for 35 years and suddenly doesn’t like the idea of money in football.
I’d love to see the German club ownership model, but it’s far too late for that to actually happen.
I would disagree, I’d you look at who’s won both the Champions League and the Europa League for the last decade they are all teams from the comparative domestic leagues.
Fair play to all involved in the decision to briefly pause the Leicester/Palace game to allow the Muslim players to break their fast.
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Friday Night Football at St Mary’s against Leicester 
In for a pounding
Biggest game of the weekend postponed.
I think some voices might be heard.
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Gonna be a few banned for life coming