Europa League Draw

[crodonilson]

Historic occasion today, group stage for the inaugural Europa League. Promises to be a great tournament, the young fledgling sister of the Champions League if you will. This competition will be looking to build on the success of the UEFA Cup with a vibrant new format, thursday evenings will never be the same again.



12pm on SSN, and BBC Website if anyone wishes to follow it.

 

[Southwick_Seagull]

Yawn, Pointless Competition. Does anyone even remember who was in the final last season without looking?

 

[The Wizard]

Do you really get this excited over tinpot cups?

I Bet your literally peeing your pants at the thought of Barcelona VS Shaktar tonight...

 

[ATFC Seagull]

Yawn, Pointless Competition. Does anyone even remember who was in the final last season without looking?

Erm, Shaktar Donetsk against someone...

Say its pointless to the 50,000 Celtic fans who went to Seville (or the fantastic Porto team that won it that year) or the Rangers fans who trashed Manchester last year. Or the night Liverpool won that epic against some Spanish team.

Its a shame that all that f***ing over-hyped bollocks from yesterday has overshadowed what used to be an exciting and well-respected competition -which most of the CL teams should be in anyway!

 

[ATFC Seagull]

Do you really get this excited over tinpot cups?

I Bet your literally peeing your pants at the thought of Barcelona VS Shaktar tonight...

How old are you? The UEFA Cup is not "tinpot". And you'd know that if you'd watched football more than a few years.

 

[Djmiles]

You wouldn't be calling it a tinpot cup if you were travelling to the likes of Ajax, Lazio and Valencia week in week out.

 

[Mendoza]

How old are you? The UEFA Cup is not "tinpot". And you'd know that if you'd watched football more than a few years.

you have to admit it is a bit bad when BOLTON WANDERERS field a weakend team to try and get knocked out

I do like European football, so hopefully this league will spice things up a little bit. At least it guarantees teams more than one two legged game in Europe.

 

[Djmiles]

Also note there are 5 officials for the group stages of the Europa League.

1 Referee
2 Assistant Referees
2 Penalty Box Officials

Should be interesting to see how it goes.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

you have to admit it is a bit bad when BOLTON WANDERERS field a weakend team to try and get knocked out

I do like European football, so hopefully this league will spice things up a little bit. At least it guarantees teams more than one two legged game in Europe.

I think it seems to have got a little bit messy over the last few years with a weird format and odd kick-off times which hasn't helped its prestige, but it is a great trophy to win historically.

It was great when it used to be just knock-out, and sides who are now making up the numbers in the Champions League used to compete in it and take it very seriously. Hopefully the new format will bring some respect back to it but we will see.

On another note, its also the European tournament that we might one day be lucky enough to see the Albion in, so lets not talk it all down too much eh?

 

[Fourteenth Eye]

is it just me or do most of us wish that the money men & greedy clubswould just bugger off & let the european competitions revert back to the way they used to be ? You know when only the CHAMPIONS of each country could play in the european cup ??

Bring back the straight knock out competitions !!!

 

[The Wizard]

How old are you? The UEFA Cup is not "tinpot". And you'd know that if you'd watched football more than a few years.

27 mate, I just don't see the point of it & never have done.
I Just think the whole competition is a shambles, utterly ridiculous format, teams like Aston Villa, Bolton, Everton fielding weakened teams, quite obviously not valuing the competition, it seems like its more of a nuisance to teams nowadays.

 

[Fourteenth Eye]

Never understand this argument.

Why should only the footballing giants get to represent the nations?

why call it the champions league when you can get into it by finishing 4th & not actuallly be the champions of anything ??

Thats what the uefa cup is for !!

The days of when teams like Nottinham Forest & Malmo contest the european cup final are long gone

 

[withdeanwombat]

is it just me or do most of us wish that the money men & greedy clubswould just bugger off & let the european competitions revert back to the way they used to be ? You know when only the CHAMPIONS of each country could play in the european cup ??

Bring back the straight knock out competitions !!!

Abso-bloody-lutely.It would also end "Ooooh,we've got such a tight schedule,it's unfair to play on Saturday after a European game midweek,it's only Accrington so we'll field our youth team cos we're away to Uzbat Poitre next Tuesday week."

 

[les dynam]

is it just me or do most of us wish that the money men & greedy clubswould just bugger off & let the european competitions revert back to the way they used to be ? You know when only the CHAMPIONS of each country could play in the european cup ??

Bring back the straight knock out competitions !!!

it's not just you - the 'champions' league league format has ruined both the european cup and the uefa cup, not to mention the old cup winners cup. nice work fellas.

english football should consist of 4 divisions called divisions 1 to 4. winners of division 1 go into european cup, runners up enter uefa. job done.

 

[Spun Cuppa]

Platini's latest brainwave is to have a Cup competition for all the teams NOT in the Champions League and Europa League