I'm interested to know - given the choice of one or the other, would we rather secure Champions League qualification for next season or win the Europa League knowing it condemns us to another season in the same competition?

 

Are you an Arsene or a Robbie D?

Champions League qualification, of course. The economic necessity can't be overstated. By no means would I bottle the Europa League matches, but they can't be the priority. That'd be mental.

CL every day. For the money alone, which is a necessity if we are going to comply with FFP.

 

+ IMO we are not good enough to win the Europa at the moment. We should be good enough over the season for 3rd or 4th, but i cant see us beating some of the big guns in the Europa.

Champions league qualification by a significant mile, simply because it is far more highly thought of than the Europa League. Winning the Europa league would be nice, sure, but I'd rather have guaranteed CL qualification.

"Are you an Arsene or a Robbie D?"

 

That's a leading question surely?

 

All I will say is my heart says Europa League and my head says Champion's League qualification.

Not leading enough clearly - I think you've summarised the dilemma quite well though.

CL qualification. All day. Every day.

Id go for EUROPA WIN....Nice new shiney cup.....If we had qualified, i believe we wouldnt have won it this term...Hence shiney new cup WINNERS

I've gone for CL qualification, purely on the clubs fiscal future and capacity to entice a top manager & players in the summer.

CL every time.

This is a very good & thoughtfull question to be honest.

 

At first I said Champions League,because that brings in the dough,which is good for the club,isn't it?.

 

But,then I thought as a supporter, free from 'CL is king' brainwashing & then I rememberd.....well, we did get well turned over by the Europa League winners.

 

And that's supposed to be Europe's inferior competition.

 

Regrettfully, I think Madrid (& Falcao) would have been a better opponent for Corinthians today.

 

So maybe therefore, just being better than any other European team is more important,at any level ?.

 

We lost to Athletico Madrid in the Supercup,we've lost the World Club Cup & Englands international players are,err,mostly sh*t to be honest.

 

Maybe we need to look at competeing more at club level in Europe,day in & day out.

 

We earned our Champions League success,over many seasons,but that's gone.I would like in the future to be able to go toe to toe with any European side, much more than the Stokes,Wet Spams of this world.

 

Things change & I think that's just the way of the future.

 

Maybe we need to catch up,sharpish.

CL every day. For the money alone, which is a necessity if we are going to comply with FFP.

 

+ IMO we are not good enough to win the Europa at the moment. We should be good enough over the season for 3rd or 4th, but i cant see us beating some of the big guns in the Europa.

 

Call me pedantic but, it's not a necessity in order to comply with FFP, otherwise everyone would need to qualify to meet FFP. It is a necessity to be able to afford to seriously compete with City and United (whilst meeting FFP rules).

 

Anyway, I'd say Europa League. Anyone that would take 4th over an actual trophy would be well suited to supporting Arsenal.

Call me pedantic but, it's not a necessity in order to comply with FFP, otherwise everyone would need to qualify to meet FFP. It is a necessity to be able to afford to seriously compete with City and United (whilst meeting FFP rules).

 

Anyway, I'd say Europa League. Anyone that would take 4th over an actual trophy would be well suited to supporting Arsenal.

Anyone who'd rather see their club decline may as well support Liverpool. We simply need UCL money if we're to remain financially stable and compete. For us CL qualification is a necessity, as if we don't get it, we can't afford our wages and we can't afford to spend lavishly in the transfer market. You'd rather see us decline as a team and end up out of Europe altogether for the mickey mouse trophy of Europe.

 

Simply put, CL qualification each and everyday..

Edited December 16, 201213 yr by Damo810

Who wants their team to decline? Who said that? So if we didn't qualify for one season we would never qualify ever again? We qualified this years but it hasn't done us much good has it? And I'd expect that winning the UEFA cup pays as much if not more than going out in the group stage of the ECL.

 

Nope, a final in Amsterdam, a trophy, a chance to put right the Super Cup display. That'll suit me.

The absolute minimum that every club received for participating in the group stages of the Champions League, even if they lost every single match, was 7.2 million euros. However, each win granted a performance bonus of 800k euros and each draw 400k euros. On the other hand, for winning the entire Europa League, Atletico Madrid only earned 10.5 million euros. The difference is night and day between the two competitions. 

I don't understand why anyone would even remotely consider winning the Europa League as better than Champions league qualification....

Interesting question as I think the players could really do with winning something, anything this season and the Europa Cup wouldn't be anything to sniff at.

 

however, if we want to continue to attract top players then we have to be able to offer CL football.  I am pretty sure that players would come to play CL football, and not to play for "Current Europa League Cup Winners!"

The absolute minimum that every club received for participating in the group stages of the Champions League, even if they lost every single match, was 7.2 million euros. However, each win granted a performance bonus of 800k euros and each draw 400k euros. On the other hand, for winning the entire Europa League, Atletico Madrid only earned 10.5 million euros. The difference is night and day between the two competitions. 

 

I'm not having a go mate but your post just about sums it up.

 

Is it appears to be cash first before quality but if that is the only measure of success, then how come we have been well beaten by the Europa League winners?.

 

After all,Athletico Madrid are skint aren't they?.

 

And Corithians are hardly awash with CL cash but they seamed pretty keen today.

 

There's no point in earning millions of future Champions League cash if it only goes to players who are paid £180,000 per week not to give a sh*t,(in my opinion).

Ah bollocks to it. Modern football fans are all souless accountants. Who gives a f**k about how much you get for winning stuff. I bet half of you sit at games with a f**king calculator.

 

You lot can keep your modern financial competition. I will always have the memories of a time when Chelsea and all other clubs were still football clubs. I was there when we were sh*t and it was a much better time than it is now or will ever likely be again. I'd rather knock back a gallon of tinned lager in a mini-bus on my way to watch us f**k about at Notts County than consider the financial implications of finishing 4th.

 

What a sh*t day. We lose a football match that would have given us another trophy and a title that could never be taken away but in the end it all just comes down to whether it was tax deductable or something.

 

Hail John Neil. Hail the real concrete Shed End! And hail the Full Members Cup!!!

I think it depends what you want out of football. Given the choice, I like great memories, to see us win things and have something tangible to show for a season, ie silverware. If last season we'd taken the attitude that CL qualification is the be all and end all of football, then we'd have played the reserves in the second leg against Napoli in order to concentrate on qualifying for the CL again next year.

 

Look what that attitude has done for Arsenal. Eight years of 'stability' (ie finishing 3rd or 4th every year) and CL money but not actually winning anything hasn't done much for their competitiveness or stopped all their best players leaving. Now they're stuck in a winless rut they can't get out of, most of their fans have had enough and certainly won't be looking back on this era with any fondness.

 

As it is, I don't think our squad is strong enough to win the Europa anyway. Depending on how much we strengthen in January, it's hardly out of the question that we could do both though. After all, in the past decade we've managed to reach a multitude of CL, FA Cup and League Cup semis and finals whilst still maintaining our top 4 place.

Not interested in the money side of things, I'll leave that to Arsenal who are on course to win the English Football Bookkeeping award again. Give me a weekend in Amsterdam and first English club to win all three major European trophies, another bit of history and Roman can balance the books easy enough. Trophies first, good housekeeping a distant second.

Why not both. Considering every team around us have been poor, it would be crimial if we don't hold on to the 3rd spot. Mind you, performance last night was criminal. I'm not too fussed about Europa League, but getting KOed by some mid table team is not going to help anyone

If i had to choose i would go for Champions League, but i don't see why we can't do both. With the players we have we really should be capable of it.

I think it's a really sad state of affairs when the overwhelming majority would want something just for the financial side of the game, than they would win a trophy...

Of course we can do both, it was a hypothetical question.

I've been thinking about this and I'd prefer to see us win the Europa League. f**k the accountants. Players like winning trophies too (just ask any gooner).

Edited December 17, 201213 yr by bluedave