Back to back bollocks

[sten_super]

But Surely if one of the main complaint's from you is that
' build 12 or 14 clubs up into an invincible closed shop of money-hoovering leviathans.'
Wouldn't a league of just champions create the same affect, I like the Knock-out idea though I have always believed that is the best format.
Shall we agree to disagree.

No, for a couple of reasons;

1) the income from one year of the competition would not be significant enough to give them an advantage over their domestic rivals, therefore you can expect different teams to win the domestic league over time and feature in the Champions League, spreading the money around
2) the teams would not be guaranteed the same number of games. The ridiculous half-league, half-knockout is currently done to guarantee teams a certain amount of TV exposure. Make it a straight knockout and you could find Man Utd out to Real Madrid in the first round after only 2 games of TV revenue.

 

[Barry]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Champions_League

Didn't realise Cardiff City had won it 15 times

 

[Austrian Gull]

That a decent team like Standard Liege as league champions from a country with a good football heritage has to go through 2 qualifying rounds is a disgrace.

That they had to beat Liverpool (a team who hasn't won their domestic league for 20 years) this season to qualify makes it even more unjust.

 

[Herne Hill Seagull]

But Surely if one of the main complaint's from you is that
' build 12 or 14 clubs up into an invincible closed shop of money-hoovering leviathans.'
Wouldn't a league of just champions create the same affect, I like the Knock-out idea though I have always believed that is the best format.
Shall we agree to disagree.

Nope. If, for example, four or five of the big boys get knocked out by each other early doors (or if one of them has a bad couple of games and loses to a smaller club), there's an opportunity for, say, the champions of Denmark or France to make a run to the quarters or later, pumping money into a club from outside that little group.

We're constantly told that 'fans want to see the best clubs in action' but I don't recall ever being asked, rather I'm fed a diet of the same clubs playing other repeatedly in a competition which has been designed to look after them, with little opportunity to see anybody else.

Just look at the list of the finalists in the days when it was the European Cup, and compare the diversity then to the list of finalists from, say, the last ten years. Porto v Monaco is starting to stand out like a sore thumb, and that is going to get worse - we already very nearly had the same two clubs in the final as last year, Chelsea were one minute from it. Can anybody ever remember that happening in the European Cup? And who doubts that Utd, Chelsea and Barcelona will at least make semis again next season?

Now that's tedious.

 

[Wozza]

Indeed. Think of everything that's great about the FA Cup. The randomness of the draw. The fact that anyone can win on the day and progress to the next stage.

The Champions League is the polar opposite. It's contrived shite, designed to make money and serve the Europe's biggest football companies (or 'clubs').

A few more years of the same clubs and the same quarters and semis, and even the idiots will start to see it. Maybe.

 

[chimneys]

Far from tedious, it was actually a lot less predictable, and didn't simply build 12 or 14 clubs up into an invincible closed shop of money-hoovering leviathans.

Clearly not when United could be the first back to back winners under the new system whereas, as shown in the opening post on this thread, a number of clubs under the old system won in consecutive seasons. More predictable now-I dont think so!

 

[Happy Seagull]

Clearly not when United could be the first back to back winners under the new system whereas, as shown in the opening post on this thread, a number of clubs under the old system won in consecutive seasons. More predictable now-I dont think so!

10 countries won the old european cup, only 5 have won it since the revamp

 

[Easy 10]

There was far more scope for a SHOCK under the old knockout format. Bollocks it up in one tie and thats yer lot. Nowadays though, the big teams can afford a slip-up or two in the group stages against one of the lesser lights, and still progress serenely through to the knockout stages. Its a safety net designed to ensure the biggest teams are given the best possible chance of staying in the competition to the latter stages, so that they and UEFA can wring as much money out of sponsors and TV money as they possibly can every year.

Just makes it terminally DULL for everyone until the final group games and the knockouts.

 

[Happy Seagull]

Lets not forget the seeding which means even if the underdogs scrap through the qualifying rounds, they'll almost be out before a ball is kicked.

 

[User removed 4]

Real Madrid 1956,1957,1958,1959,1960
Benfica 1961,1962
Internazionale 1964,1965
Bayern Munich 1974,1975,1976
Liverpool 1977,1978
Notts Forest 1979,1980
AC Milan 1989,1990

That is all.

didnt ajax win it 2 or 3 times in the seventies ? not sure if it was back to back though.

 

[Napper]

There was far more scope for a SHOCK under the old knockout format. Bollocks it up in one tie and thats yer lot. Nowadays though, the big teams can afford a slip-up or two in the group stages against one of the lesser lights, and still progress serenely through to the knockout stages. Its a safety net designed to ensure the biggest teams are given the best possible chance of staying in the competition to the latter stages, so that they and UEFA can wring as much money out of sponsors and TV money as they possibly can every year.

Just makes it terminally DULL for everyone until the final group games and the knockouts.

This is bang on. What makes me laugh is Platinni etc moaning about English dminance blah blah blah BUT it is his and his cronies new structure to the Champs league that is partially to blame

 

[Dandyman]

didnt ajax win it 2 or 3 times in the seventies ? not sure if it was back to back though.

You are right - 1971,1972,1973 should have put that in.

 

[Albaman]

Man U are just gobby no respect

 

[Herne Hill Seagull]

Clearly not when United could be the first back to back winners under the new system whereas, as shown in the opening post on this thread, a number of clubs under the old system won in consecutive seasons. More predictable now-I dont think so!

That list started in the 50s and ended in 1990 - a near 40 year period, over which you'd expect some teams to have a period of dominance, that's the cyclical nature of the game. We're now talking about a 10 year period (or longer) in which six, maybe eight, clubs will completely dominate.

And it's not just the finals is it? It's getting so you can predict the last four easily, unless one of them knocks one of the other three out. The last eight can usually be called with six or seven of them accurately predicted. Who was the last team that got even to the semis which you thought 'bloody hell, they've done fantastically to get that far', chimneys old boy?

 

[Easy 10]

“It’s unusual that no one’s retained it since the Champions League started, because if you look back at the history of the European Cup in the 1960s and 1970s it was quite common. There were several threes-in-a-row with the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Ajax. We’ve never done it and it’s never been done. We’re good at doing things for the first time and it’s a good opportunity for us.”

SAF

Oh for fucks sake. He ACKNOWLEDGES its been done loads of times before, and in the same breath talks about "doing it for the first time".
The fact that they now have a chance to retain the trophy now that its become EASIER to win is hardly something to crow about is it.

 

[Happy Seagull]

It's certainly getting more and more predictable.

Winners

manc utd (1999, 2008)
ac milan (1994, 2003, 2007)
barca (2006)
liverpool (2005)
porto (2004)
reial madrid (1998, 2000, 2002)
bayern munich (2001)
borussia dortmund (1997)
juve (1996)
ajax (1995)
marseille (1993)

Runners up

chelsea (2008)
liverpool (2007)
arsenal (2006)
ac milan (1993, 1995, 2005)
monaco (2004)
juventus (1997, 1998, 2003)
bayern leverkusen (2002)
valencia (2000, 2001)
bayern munich (1999)
ajax (1996)
barca (1994)

 

[portlock seagull]

What Man Utd fans never get is the reason most 'neutrals' dislike them is because, in the words of Cameron "they just don't get it" e.g. football has become boring predictable since the money revolution.

At least in pre-1992 teams like Brighton used to beat the same sides who conquered Europe on the odd occassion. Soon we won't even have the right to play them if UEFA, Sky, Premiershite etc get their way.

Man Utd win the champion's league? Shock and awe. You mean the most powerful club in the world wins the biggest competition?! Wow, that's so surprising......

 

[withdeanwombat]

Straight knockout.

National Champions only.

NO SEEDING.

Less moans about fixture congestion.

Less crap about the "big" four.

Less money.

More equality.

"Champions" League = tedium.

 

[WhingForPresident]

I think the reason it's the top 4 teams from England is to give teams like Liverpool and Arsenal something to play for, much like the Play-Offs give teams soemthing to play for etc etc.

 

[Mendoza]

I think the reason it's the top 4 teams from England is to give teams like Liverpool and Arsenal something to play for, much like the Play-Offs give teams soemthing to play for etc etc.

Surely it should be them that should go into the Europa League instead of the teams that finish 6th and 7th