worldsoccer
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| (member) |
| 21/04/2008 17:29 |
Euro Stagnation
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Gavin Hamilton's latest piece can be found here.
Please post your comments here.
| adriansfc |
| (member) |
| 22/04/2008 10:20 |
Re: Euro Stagnation
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How often do we really have an unpredictable winner though? If Arsenal, Barcelona, AC Milan, Juventus, Stuttgart, Celtic and so on had been on equal form to their title rivals this season, we'd certainly have more exciting leagues, but we wouldn't have surprising winners.
It seems to be becoming more difficult for new sides to become league contenders in every country. It wasn't so long ago Blackburn claimed the Premiership, yet despite good form in recent seasons, it is impossible to imagine them challenging again for a long time. Liverpool have not won the Premiership, despite vast fortunes being spent. They are perhaps the one club who has no excuse for their failure to win the title, given their size and financial backing over the years. Under a Mourinho, Wenger or Fergurson I'm sure they would have done.
Look at the situation in Italy. The teams hit with fines, point deductions and even relegation are still far more likely to come back and challenge for the title than any of the smaller clubs that remained in the top flight. When will a new club win the Scottish league? In fact, how many new champions of European leagues have there been in the past 5 years?
It will feed through to the Champion's league. In fact it already has. I cannot imagine a team like Ajax winning it again for some time. I grew up watching Ajax as a key feature of the competition, and it's predecessor for many years. Is it really more satisfying to see a team that finished 4th (or even 5th!) win the European "Champion"'s League?
I can't say I enjoy the group stage at all. If you want predictability then it is in the group stage of that competition more than anything. True champion's of other nations might pull off one shock result, but the favourites have plenty of time, games and money to correct the situation, which they usually do. So who benefits, other than the clubs finances, which separates clubs yet further and makes it all more predictable? Are the fans happy watching an ever more overpriced game against a team ever easier to beat?
I know it will not happen now, but what would be wrong with a true Champion's League again? The real champions, giving all the nation's a chance to showcase their title winners, and the chance to shock the big teams. Instantly you would revitalise the UEFA cup with the rest of the top teams fighting it out, and no Champion's League losers entering the competition. At what point did anyone think it was a good idea for a team that didn't win their league, then didn't do enough in the Champion's League, could then have a go at the UEFA cup? Perhaps then we would also see teams going all out for their league title, rather than dream of 4th place. Teams like Everton, Villa, Spurs and so on having an optimistic dream of finishing 4th really sums up the detrimental impact on the Champion's League on so many domestic leagues.
| barney |
| (member) |
| 24/04/2008 12:20 |
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Re: Euro Stagnation
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In my lifetime and off the top of my head I've seen Everton, Nottingham Forest, Derby, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Blackburn and Leeds win the League. The idea of any of these sides winning the league now is pretty preposterous and I think that is a great shame. To reduce the potential winners down to 4 clubs - and lets be honest Chelsea's inclusion in that group is down to unique circumstances - not only concentrates the wealth in that small elite group but also reduces the interest among supporters of other clubs in the top division.
You mention Ajax having no chance of winning the Champions League, but it was only 4 years ago that FC Porto played Monaco in the final. It can happen but it's just not going to happen that often.
I agree with you about the Champions League comprising just league winners, but sadly it's not going to happen. No one is prepared to sacrifice cash for the sake of sporting integrity. If UFEA attempted to do this then you can be sure that the breakaway European League would be just around the corner.
| badgerboy |
| (member) |
| 24/04/2008 12:41 |
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Re: Euro Stagnation
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The Champions League will never - ever - go back to the way it was. Nor would there be any point given the crazy financial gulf now not only within domestic leagues but between them.
It's an "outside chance" right now but the most interesting development for the Champions league might actually be expansion. I know I can hear the wails of horror already from certain quarters.
But a 64 team group stage - with each country basically getting an extra place (but one that has to be obtained via a domestic play-off system) would open up the realistic possibility of "glamorous ties" against the biggest clubs to almost every European team.
The biggest clubs would find it far too easy to qualify for the last 32 (but then they find it pretty easy already to get to the last 16) but there would probably be lots of exciting battles between the other clubs vying for KO spots. And even the fans of the bigger clubs might enjoy the prospect of facing "new opponents" more often.
And because it would be straight KO from the last 32 (rather than just the last 16) there would be far more clubs that could go a long way in the competition every once in a while.
Of course this might be the death of the UEFA Cup - though I would prefer to see it continue with a 32 team group stage - with the 16 3rds from the CL groups still joining in for the spring KO rounds.
Back slightly more on the subject of Gavin's piece & I agree that the trend is worrying.
I do think it's more noticeable somewhere like England though because we've been used to such a competitive league. Without looking up my stats I think that 16 different teams have won the English league since the 1950s. Even Spain - which I consider to be an incredibly competitive league - has only had 7 winners in the same period. Get outside the "big five" leagues & in Portugal Boavista (once) are the only team outside their big three to win it since Belenenses in the 1940s. Most years it's been those three clubs (Porto, Sporting & Benfica) in some order or another in the top three.
I would imagine that quite a lot of other leagues have similar stats to Portugal. In other words - domination by very few teams - isn't new to fans in these countries - so it doesn't really bother them. But of course the increased dominance in Europe by a few elite clubs very definitely does...