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OzzieMandias

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Don't agree with Cup winners in the Champions League. It's devalued enough that potentially the 'best team in Europe' could never have been the third best team in their own country, never mind never even finished as high as fourth.  I know it's more of a big club money spinner than a competition to decide the best team in Europe now, but still.

 

And the standard would drop like it did when they let 3rd and 4th place in, and you had teams like Milan and Liverpool, clearly not the best teams in their own countries saving themselves for knockout football. Most of the finalists and a few winners since - Monaco, Arsenal, Porto, Liverpool, a past it Milan in 07, this years Man u, probably wouldn't have made the semis between 98-02 against great Juventus, Bayern, Kiev, Man U, Real Madrid, Valencia, Leverkusen teams.

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Don't agree with Cup winners in the Champions League. It's devalued enough that potentially the 'best team in Europe' could never have been the third best team in their own country, never mind never even finished as high as fourth.  I know it's more of a big club money spinner than a competition to decide the best team in Europe now, but still.

 

And the standard would drop like it did when they let 3rd and 4th place in, and you had teams like Milan and Liverpool, clearly not the best teams in their own countries saving themselves for knockout football. Most of the finalists and a few winners since - Monaco, Arsenal, Porto, Liverpool, a past it Milan in 07, this years Man u, probably wouldn't have made the semis between 98-02 against great Juventus, Bayern, Kiev, Man U, Real Madrid, Valencia, Leverkusen teams.

notts forest and villa weren't the best teams in our country when they won the european cup.
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Don't agree with Cup winners in the Champions League. It's devalued enough that potentially the 'best team in Europe' could never have been the third best team in their own country, never mind never even finished as high as fourth.  I know it's more of a big club money spinner than a competition to decide the best team in Europe now, but still.

 

And the standard would drop like it did when they let 3rd and 4th place in, and you had teams like Milan and Liverpool, clearly not the best teams in their own countries saving themselves for knockout football. Most of the finalists and a few winners since - Monaco, Arsenal, Porto, Liverpool, a past it Milan in 07, this years Man u, probably wouldn't have made the semis between 98-02 against great Juventus, Bayern, Kiev, Man U, Real Madrid, Valencia, Leverkusen teams.

 

Do you have to do the double of league and CL to make it fair then?

 

If a team finishes 4th one season to get into the CL the next, and wins the league and CL the next, are they still the 4th best team in the country?

 

When we were in the CL in 02/03, were we the 4th best team or the 3rd best team in the country?

 

You just have to face facts that the current system allows the best teams in Europe to get into the Champions League and that is surely the point. It's a sport so obviously the winner isn't always the best team in Europe, but that's how it works.

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notts forest and villa weren't the best teams in our country when they won the european cup.

 

The same players had already proven they were. Liverpool hadn't for 15 years and clearly weren't the best in Europe.

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notts forest and villa weren't the best teams in our country when they won the european cup.

 

The same players had already proven they were. Liverpool hadn't for 15 years and clearly weren't the best in Europe.

liverpool weren't the best team on merseyside that year (i think)
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notts forest and villa weren't the best teams in our country when they won the european cup.

 

The same players had already proven they were. Liverpool hadn't for 15 years and clearly weren't the best in Europe.

liverpool weren't the best team on merseyside that year (i think)

 

Nope. Everton finished 4th and Liverpool had to get special dispensation (bitch and moan) to be let into the CL as winners

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notts forest and villa weren't the best teams in our country when they won the european cup.

 

The same players had already proven they were. Liverpool hadn't for 15 years and clearly weren't the best in Europe.

liverpool weren't the best team on merseyside that year (i think)

 

Nope. Everton finished 4th and Liverpool had to get special dispensation (bitch and moan) to be let into the CL as winners

 

Yeah, it would have been really fair if the holders hadn't been allowed to defend their title.

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notts forest and villa weren't the best teams in our country when they won the european cup.

 

The same players had already proven they were. Liverpool hadn't for 15 years and clearly weren't the best in Europe.

liverpool weren't the best team on merseyside that year (i think)

 

Nope. Everton finished 4th and Liverpool had to get special dispensation (bitch and moan) to be let into the CL as winners

 

Yeah, it would have been really fair if the holders hadn't been allowed to defend their title.

 

They shouldn't have been so shit as not to qualify again

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notts forest and villa weren't the best teams in our country when they won the european cup.

 

The same players had already proven they were. Liverpool hadn't for 15 years and clearly weren't the best in Europe.

liverpool weren't the best team on merseyside that year (i think)

 

Nope. Everton finished 4th and Liverpool had to get special dispensation (bitch and moan) to be let into the CL as winners

 

Yeah, it would have been really fair if the holders hadn't been allowed to defend their title.

 

They shouldn't have been so shit as not to qualify again

 

They won the fucking thing man. :lol:

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notts forest and villa weren't the best teams in our country when they won the european cup.

 

The same players had already proven they were. Liverpool hadn't for 15 years and clearly weren't the best in Europe.

liverpool weren't the best team on merseyside that year (i think)

 

Nope. Everton finished 4th and Liverpool had to get special dispensation (bitch and moan) to be let into the CL as winners

 

Yeah, it would have been really fair if the holders hadn't been allowed to defend their title.

 

They shouldn't have been so s*** as not to qualify again

 

They won the f***ing thing man. :lol:

 

And couldn't finish 4th in there domestic league. 'Champions' League indeed.

 

If it was any other club, I'd have said they deserved the shot at defending...

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That was Uefa's fault for not clarifying their rules. Of course the champions of Europe should take precedent over fourth place, but this is the problem you have if you let in underachievers like Liverpool who are going to struggle to be the fourth best domestic team.

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That was Uefa's fault for not clarifying their rules. Of course the champions of Europe should take precedent over fourth place, but this is the problem you have if you let in underachievers like Liverpool who are going to struggle to be the fourth best domestic team.

 

You're right. Rafa should have concentrated all his resources on the league. 3rd or 4th spot is way better than winning the CL.

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Everton are the team who people should be complaining about, not Liverpool.

 

The same situation occurred in 2000 when Real Madrid won it at the same time they finished 5th in the league and the team that finished 4th got booted out to the UEFA Cup, so a precedent had already been set which UEFA didn't follow.

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Exactly, it should work in the same manner as the FA Cup. League position should only come into play when the cup winner is above 4th in the league or comes from another nation.

 

Anyway, I have an idea for a less lucrative, but more interesting Champions League. Use the inital qualification sequences to produce 64 clubs in the tournament (all champions or just fairly successful). Have two rounds of two-legged knockout aggregate football (only the top eight sides will be seeded) to leave us with 16 teams in the tournament. At this point, create 4 groups of 4 (Only the top four remaining seeded teams are seeded in these groups). These groups will only be three matches long and it will be decided at the draw which teams get the benefit of an extra home match. The winners of these groups advance to the semifinals, at which point the tournamet reverts to ints current form.

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Exactly, it should work in the same manner as the FA Cup. League position should only come into play when the cup winner is above 4th in the league or comes from another nation.

 

Anyway, I have an idea for a less lucrative, but more interesting Champions League. Use the inital qualification sequences to produce 64 clubs in the tournament (all champions or just fairly successful). Have two rounds of two-legged knockout aggregate football (only the top eight sides will be seeded) to leave us with 16 teams in the tournament. At this point, create 4 groups of 4 (Only the top four remaining seeded teams are seeded in these groups). These groups will only be three matches long and it will be decided at the draw which teams get the benefit of an extra home match. The winners of these groups advance to the semifinals, at which point the tournamet reverts to ints current form.

 

Proposal denied.

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Exactly, it should work in the same manner as the FA Cup. League position should only come into play when the cup winner is above 4th in the league or comes from another nation.

 

Anyway, I have an idea for a less lucrative, but more interesting Champions League. Use the inital qualification sequences to produce 64 clubs in the tournament (all champions or just fairly successful). Have two rounds of two-legged knockout aggregate football (only the top eight sides will be seeded) to leave us with 16 teams in the tournament. At this point, create 4 groups of 4 (Only the top four remaining seeded teams are seeded in these groups). These groups will only be three matches long and it will be decided at the draw which teams get the benefit of an extra home match. The winners of these groups advance to the semifinals, at which point the tournamet reverts to ints current form.

 

Proposal denied.

 

:lol:

 

I was going to post this exact thing.

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Everton are the team who people should be complaining about, not Liverpool.

 

The same situation occurred in 2000 when Real Madrid won it at the same time they finished 5th in the league and the team that finished 4th got booted out to the UEFA Cup, so a precedent had already been set which UEFA didn't follow.

 

Yeah. UEFA went mental when the FA cow-towed to the EPL and sent the fourth-placed team ahead of the title holder. They had assumed that any national association would of course send the reigning champions (top spot in UEFA's list of qualifying teams is always for the title-holders). They scrambled to get us back in it and immediately changed the rules to say the title holder gets a CL place regardless.

 

Of course, it didn't go so well for us after that.

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Thought it best to mention this here than elsewhere. I was at the Norwich vs Man City game yesterday. The Gary Speed moment before the match was very emotional and impeccably observed by Norwich fans, but for some reason a Man City steward decided to wade in and stop fans applauding with their hands above their heads.

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Thought it best to mention this here than elsewhere. I was at the Norwich vs Man City game yesterday. The Gary Speed moment before the match was very emotional and impeccably observed by Norwich fans, but for some reason a Man City steward decided to wade in and stop fans applauding with their hands above their heads.

 

Eh? F***ing mongs the City stewards. That video where they pull the bloke from his seat shows that too.

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Be interesting to see how going out of the CL affects their push for financial fairness. Best get on the phone to some more Abu Dhabi businesses that have a few million to spend on "sponsorship"

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