Europa League or not?

[Dave]

Rather not, it sets most clubs back. Fulham, Stoke ect. Think fulham have played 40 odd games this season man. Shite competition until the latter stages.

 

Fulham are currently 10th, Stoke are 11th. Both are a win behind 7th. Isn't that about par for them?

 

And how else do you get to the latter stages?

[QBG]

Obviously I would love top four, but any form of European competition would be great for us. The fans love it, it brings in extra revenue and its another competition to try and win. It will make me feel dirty inside, but I'm cheering for Liverpool in the FA Cup semi on Saturday to make sure 6th gets us there.

[TRC]

Rather not, it sets most clubs back. Fulham, Stoke ect. Think fulham have played 40 odd games this season man. s**** competition until the latter stages.

 

Fulham are currently 10th, Stoke are 11th. Both are a win behind 7th. Isn't that about par for them?

 

And how else do you get to the latter stages?

7th this year is very weak, I'd rather just go all out for CL next year. Unless we expand the squad to keep up with the demand of EL.

[Ronaldo]

The format of the Europa league needs to be changed but it's still a lucrative tournament.

[TRC]

Yeah, it should just be straight knock out like it was years ago.

[madras]

Yeah, it should just be straight knock out like it was years ago.

and get rid of the seeding. if the top rated spanish team gets drawn against the top rated german team then so be it.

[Guest neesy111]

CL teams should never be allowed to drop into it.

[madras]

CL teams should never be allowed to drop into it.

haven't had a drink tonight yet i agree with neesy ?

[Ronaldo]

It's become the consolation prize that the big teams don't really want. You can't have teams dropping into it and whoever devised that concept should be waterboarded.

 

Knockout format probably wouldn't work either. No harm in having a group stage first.

[Sifu]

Yeah, it should just be straight knock out like it was years ago.

 

Definitely this. Was a much better competition under this format.

[Wullie]

Drop the "Fair Play" farce as well.

[Mistle17]

The format of the Europa league needs to be changed but it's still a lucrative tournament.

 

Totally agree. Imagine how good it would be to win that? Unbelievable. And also, just from the perspective of pride it'd be great to be back in Europe. That's where NUFC should be, just can't imagine how you would want to turn it down.

[Ronaldo]

Drop the "Fair Play" farce as well.

 

That ones requires more severe torture. Pathetic.

[Interpolic]

The thing is that non-English sides don't seem to have a problem taking it seriously.  Look at the last 8 most seasons and there are some big foreign sides still in it.

[madras]

it's all a money gathering exercise for the top clubs.  (fifa/uefa thinks the game is better off with man utd/real madrid style uber clubs)

 

league stystem in the champs league so theres tv money and attendance money even when their out, then a consolation of another competition to make money from when they get knocked out.

[Wullie]

The thing is that non-English sides don't seem to have a problem taking it seriously.  Look at the last 8 most seasons and there are some big foreign sides still in it.

 

I think it's almost become the main tournament in countries that have basically been priced out of the Champions League - particularly Portugal who almost have a monopoly on it, but also Russia, Holland, Ukraine, even Germany to an extent.

[Guest neesy111]

2 English Winners of UEFA / Europa League in 30 years

[Cronky]

Yeah, it should just be straight knock out like it was years ago.

and get rid of the seeding. if the top rated spanish team gets drawn against the top rated german team then so be it.

 

But the whole thing is structured so that some weaker teams in Eastern and Northern Europe get a few good paydays against bigger clubs, and therefore it won't change. It ends up with too many games involving too much travelling, and our clubs end up playing weakened teams to conserve their strength for the league. If we qualify, we won't be an exception to that. You can forget about going all out to win the thing.

 

The CL is the competition that really opens doors for a club and that has to be our priority. My thinking is that if we can get this close with the team that we've got, if we can strengthen our weaker areas then we should be in with a solid chance next season.

[Nobody]

Yeah, it should just be straight knock out like it was years ago.

and get rid of the seeding. if the top rated spanish team gets drawn against the top rated german team then so be it.

 

But the whole thing is structured so that some weaker teams in Eastern and Northern Europe get a few good paydays against bigger clubs, and therefore it won't change. It ends up with too many games involving too much travelling, and our clubs end up playing weakened teams to conserve their strength for the league. If we qualify, we won't be an exception to that. You can forget about going all out to win the thing.

 

The CL is the competition that really opens doors for a club and that has to be our priority. My thinking is that if we can get this close with the team that we've got, if we can strengthen our weaker areas then we should be in with a solid chance next season.

Problem is, the teams that are ahead of us will also strengthen. Chelsea might get a manager in and spend big on another couple of players to get them back where they belong, Arsenal are Arsenal, they'll do well next season, Spurs you never know, especially with Harry's future being uncertain, but I would imagine they'll make some improvements to their team, especially if they are in the Champions League.

We will have to improve on our team to remain at sixth, let alone finishing in the top 4.

[Unbelievable]

Targeting top 4 next year is fucking dreamland if you ask me; I'd say we stand a much better chance at it now with 6 matches to go the way this season has panned out than we do when everybody gets a clean slate and we have another full Premiership season to compete for it. To not want to be in the Europa League on the outside, hypothetical chance we will fail to get into the top 4 next season presuming we would otherwise have done so is just plain stupidity.

[madras]

Yeah, it should just be straight knock out like it was years ago.

and get rid of the seeding. if the top rated spanish team gets drawn against the top rated german team then so be it.

 

But the whole thing is structured so that some weaker teams in Eastern and Northern Europe get a few good paydays against bigger clubs, and therefore it won't change. It ends up with too many games involving too much travelling, and our clubs end up playing weakened teams to conserve their strength for the league. If we qualify, we won't be an exception to that. You can forget about going all out to win the thing.

 

The CL is the competition that really opens doors for a club and that has to be our priority. My thinking is that if we can get this close with the team that we've got, if we can strengthen our weaker areas then we should be in with a solid chance next season.

you see it as opening doors, i see it as pulling up the ladder.

[FrenchWilliam]

Need more of this: http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php/topic,70558.msg2432901.html#msg2432901

[OzzieMandias]

Yeah, it should just be straight knock out like it was years ago.

and get rid of the seeding. if the top rated spanish team gets drawn against the top rated german team then so be it.

 

But the whole thing is structured so that some weaker teams in Eastern and Northern Europe get a few good paydays against bigger clubs, and therefore it won't change. It ends up with too many games involving too much travelling, and our clubs end up playing weakened teams to conserve their strength for the league. If we qualify, we won't be an exception to that. You can forget about going all out to win the thing.

 

The CL is the competition that really opens doors for a club and that has to be our priority. My thinking is that if we can get this close with the team that we've got, if we can strengthen our weaker areas then we should be in with a solid chance next season.

you see it as opening doors, i see it as pulling up the ladder.

 

It opens the door to pulling up the ladder.

[Segun Oluwaniyi]

The thing is that non-English sides don't seem to have a problem taking it seriously.  Look at the last 8 most seasons and there are some big foreign sides still in it.

 

I think it's almost become the main tournament in countries that have basically been priced out of the Champions League - particularly Portugal who almost have a monopoly on it, but also Russia, Holland, Ukraine, even Germany to an extent.

It helps a nation looking to improve its CL status as well. The dominance of Portuguese sides in the Europa League and the continued lacklustre and rubbish showings by French sides have led Portugal to pass France in the UEFA coefficients despite French sides probably having slightly better performances in the Champions League the past few years.

Yeah, it should just be straight knock out like it was years ago.

and get rid of the seeding. if the top rated spanish team gets drawn against the top rated german team then so be it.

An unseeded knockout draw is possibly the worst way of deciding anything. I actually enjoy the way it is formatted now. The group stage can potentially be tedious, but the five rounds of knockout football are usually a very interesting mix of good teams (not rubbish from parts unknown as they are eliminated in qualifiers and the groups) playing a good amount of fairly even matches. Definitely more entertaining than the CL.

[Cronky]

Yeah, it should just be straight knock out like it was years ago.

and get rid of the seeding. if the top rated spanish team gets drawn against the top rated german team then so be it.

 

But the whole thing is structured so that some weaker teams in Eastern and Northern Europe get a few good paydays against bigger clubs, and therefore it won't change. It ends up with too many games involving too much travelling, and our clubs end up playing weakened teams to conserve their strength for the league. If we qualify, we won't be an exception to that. You can forget about going all out to win the thing.

 

The CL is the competition that really opens doors for a club and that has to be our priority. My thinking is that if we can get this close with the team that we've got, if we can strengthen our weaker areas then we should be in with a solid chance next season.

you see it as opening doors, i see it as pulling up the ladder.

 

I think it's a shame that the CL has achieved such importance. The huge financial bonus of qualifying tends to create a self-perpetuating elite.

 

If someone can impose a fairer distribution of revenue between the CL teams and the rest of the Premiership, and between the Premiership and the other divisions, then great. Until such time, clubs are going to continue to prioritise promotion to / remaining in the Premiership and getting into / remaining in the top four - all at the expense of other competitions. That's the reality, and if we qualify for the Europa League, we'll be playing the same game.