Not Relevant To Us (hopefully), But..

[bonetti]

another way of making more money....

Uefa Cup to become Europa League from next season

by Darren Davidson, Brand Republic 26-Sep-08, 14:45

LONDON - The Uefa Cup will be rebranded as the Uefa Europa League next season in a revamp by European football's governing body that will expand the competition and present the chance for one brand to become headline sponsor.

Uefa has also decided to centralise the sale of broadcast rights to the competition, which has been overshadowed in recent years by the more prestigious and lucrative Champions League.

The number of teams will be increased from 40 to 48, and the group stage changed from eight leagues of five, playing each other just once, to 12 leagues of four, playing each other home and away.

The Uefa Cup was introduced in the 1971-1972 season to replace the Inter Cities Fairs Cup and has been the only European club competition to rival the Champions League since the Cup Winners' Cup was dropped in 1999.

Efforts to revitalise the competition have already been made, such as the introduction of a group stage, but the Uefa Cup has struggled under the perception it is a second-rate event compared to the Champions League.

This perception is compounded by the fact that clubs who have failed to survive the group stage of the Champions League continue in the Uefa Cup.

Michel Platini, the UEFA president, said: "These changes will improve this historic competition which is very important for Uefa and for European football, as it gives more fans, players and clubs the thrill of European club football.

"I am convinced the new format will give the Uefa Europa League a successful new impetus."

In the UK, this season's Uefa Cup is being aired by Channel Five and satellite broadcaster Setanta, who share coverage of matches involving British clubs Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Everton, Portsmouth and Motherwell between them.

[Lofty]

Uefa messing around again, attempting to dress up a tired competition that's more bother than it's worth for most clubs. How's this for an idea. Granted they won't allow the Champions League to revert to a purely knockout competion, let alone make entry available to Champions only, because the current format is a money spinner for all involved - but what about making the Uefa Cup a purely knockout competition, and reintroducing the Cup Winners Cup, with entry to the following season's Champions league awarded to the winners of both competitions?

[Maksimov]

The ideal thing would be to have the European Cup as a knock-out competition with just the champions involved in it and then this Europa League would get the rest of the teams that now are eligible for Champions League(for example the teams that finished second, third and fourth in the big leagues). The Europa League would raise its profile as it would be practically the same as the current Champions League. I mean, how many reigning league champions make the latter stages of UCL every year? You could even have the Cup Winners Cup as well and have the Intertoto Cup as a way for the lower finishing teams to reach the qualifying stages of the Europa Cup. Europa League would be pretty much what UCL is now. Even if the champions are missing, the quality of football would still be high...at least higher than the current UEFA Cup) There's no way that would ever happen, though.

[TheWestwayWonder]

I too would like to see the Cup Winners Cup return, and on top of that I would suggest they move the "Europa League" matchdays so that they seem less of a Champions League afterthought scheduled on the thursday after matchdays. Stagger the weeks, or something. Spread the football around, and give the compeition its own slot to get it out of the CL's shadow

[PloKoon13]

I too would like to see the Cup Winners Cup return, and on top of that I would suggest they move the "Europa League" matchdays so that they seem less of a Champions League afterthought scheduled on the thursday after matchdays. Stagger the weeks, or something. Spread the football around, and give the compeition its own slot to get it out of the CL's shadow

This. But we don't want to give it a "Super Cup" feel, either, because that's even worse. :lol:

[TomP]

To be honest, you can call the Uefa Cup, the Europa League or whatever - but in my opinion it is always going to be a second rate competition that Uefa should seriously think about dispanding.

With the top four Premiership teams now getting into the Champion's League, I see no reason why the 5th (and often 6th or 7th placed teams) deserve to compete in Europe.

They need to get their own house in order in the Premiership and establish themselves as a consitant top level team, rather than worrying about Europe. When you look at the likes of Bolton, Everton, Charlton, Spuds, Blackburn etc over the last few seasons - they have one good season, then blow apart their squad and their finances in the name of "strengthening for Europe", then wonder why they are fighting a relegation battle the next season.

I think if these squads could spend the next season consolidating their position in the Premiership, then it would go a long way towards closing the gap between the top four and everyone else.

I would be in favour of bringing back the cup-winners-cup though. I think that if a non-top four club manages to win either the FA cup or Carling Cup, it is a good achievement, and they should be rewarded with a chance to continue their cup run against other European Cup winners.

Get rid of the Uefa cup though - there shouldn't be any reward for finishing 7th.

[2k.]

Uefa messing around again, attempting to dress up a tired competition that's more bother than it's worth for most clubs. How's this for an idea. Granted they won't allow the Champions League to revert to a purely knockout competion, let alone make entry available to Champions only, because the current format is a money spinner for all involved - but what about making the Uefa Cup a purely knockout competition, and reintroducing the Cup Winners Cup, with entry to the following season's Champions league awarded to the winners of both competitions?

I agree with everything in this post, the UEFA cup is nothing short of a joke, i'd be very unpopular with a lot of other Rovers fans saying this, but i really don't see the point in the competition at all. I read somewhere that clubs don't even break even, until they reach they quarter finals, and the money made relatively speaking is a pittance even if you do win the bloody thing. And what do you gain by winning it a crappy piece of silverware. For me it is about as important as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. I'd rate the League cup much higher. If there was a champions league spot for the winner of it then perhaps yes, however as unlikely as it would be, if in the future we were to win it their is very little chance we would get past the qualifying rounds of the champions league anyway.

When we have been involved (and yes we've been sh*t) I personally have wanted us to get knocked out ASAP, I would rather us concentrate on the league, FA cup and the League cup rather than pissing about with meaningless fixtures, playing (and losing to) sh*t clubs from in the arse end of nowhere that no one has heard of. For a small club like ours with limited resources it's pointless, and to hear players & managers constantly banging on about getting into Europe winds me right up. Because in our case it's always affected the league performance... Saying that though our participation in the Intertoto last season I thought helped our start to the season.

And with the matches being (in general) played on a Thursday it means so many teams now have their games on a Sunday and it makes a mockery of the league, for instance Pompey's game kicking off at 5pm yesterday... what the f**k was that about?

Anyway rant over, hopefully my sleeping pill will kick in soon (i need to go to bed!)

Edited October 28, 2008 by 2k.

[Nibs]

I agree with everything in this post, the UEFA cup is nothing short of a joke, i'd be very unpopular with a lot of other Rovers fans saying this, but i really don't see the point in the competition at all. I read somewhere that clubs don't even break even, until they reach they quarter finals, and the money made relatively speaking is a pittance even if you do win the bloody thing. And what do you gain by winning it a crappy piece of silverware. For me it is about as important as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. I'd rate the League cup much higher. If there was a champions league spot for the winner of it then perhaps yes, however as unlikely as it would be, if in the future we were to win it their is very little chance we would get past the qualifying rounds of the champions league anyway.

When we have been involved (and yes we've been sh*t) I personally have wanted us to get knocked out ASAP, I would rather us concentrate on the league, FA cup and the League cup rather than pissing about with meaningless fixtures, playing (and losing to) sh*t clubs from in the arse end of nowhere that no one has heard of. For a small club like ours with limited resources it's pointless, and to hear players & managers constantly banging on about getting into Europe winds me right up. Because in our case it's always affected the league performance... Saying that though our participation in the Intertoto last season I thought helped our start to the season.

And with the matches being (in general) played on a Thursday it means so many teams now have their games on a Sunday and it makes a mockery of the league, for instance Pompey's game kicking off at 5pm yesterday... what the f**k was that about?

Anyway rant over, hopefully my sleeping pill will kick in soon (i need to go to bed!)

That’s your first post for a while isn’t it mate? Always good to have decent visiting fans (so Liverpool fans obviously don’t fit that category)and you’re always more than welcome.

Do you subscribe to a Blackburn forum? What’s the general consensus since Ince “The Guvnor†took over? What are your hopes for this season? Think Hughes was a big loss for you – not so much Bentley but still a loss none the less. Now a lot of talk of Santa Cruz moving on – possibly in January. Must admit, from what I’ve seen, I wouldn’t mind us signing him as he could play in CL and he looks a whole lot better than Anelka. I’ve only seen his best bits but how does he fare week in week out?

How about a swop – hey, we’d even be willing to throw in Malouda!!

[2k.]

Yeah, it's been a while since I was last on here, Uni, house moves, football, gigs etc.... But it's nice to be able to come back here. I was welcomed last time, though my hatred of United, Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal might have helped I think.

The general consensus over the appointment of Ince is completely split. Most people seemed very underwhelmed when he was appointed, but no one wanted Fat Sam who for a while was the bookies favourite or even worse would have been McLaren (who's bizarre new Dutch accent still makes me laugh). Most people back him as he is the manager and until he proves otherwise he will get out support. There still however a large number of people who no matter what he does it is wrong, i'm sure you know the sort. Saying that some of his signings could be seen as suspect Keith Andrews for one, but there are a large amounts of twats that boo him whenever he comes on the pitch, I wish they would just give him a chance, after Mark Atkins was hardly a failure... back in the good old days, i know that things change, but cut him some slack!

I personally think it will take at least year for him to settle in as it's an enormous jump he's made from league 2 to premiership. That said Hughes went from Wales to us without any club experience and kept us up, but as he was a former player people didn't seem to mind as much. Ince does have the advantage that the team is in a much better position now, both squad wise and financially. The main criticism's I have of him are comments made about us as a club after we won the premier league something along the lines of describing us as a "two bob tin pot team" maybe i'm overreacting but us football fans have long memories. ;) The other issue I have is the lack of a replacement for Bentley. What has impressed me with Ince is unlike Hughes he's prepared to give some of the younger players a run. Hughes was quite a conservative manager when it came to this, and whilst he was probably naive initially we were playing some attractive football which possibly bodes well for the future, but I don't think would work with the majority of our players! He's also got the defence a bit tighter and the last few games we haven't conceded as many....

Losing Bentley has been a massive blow for us, one reason I feel he isn't performing well at spurs (other than him being an arse) is at Rovers we are a small team, we lack quality in a lot of area's and when we played we utilised Bentley far more than he'll get utilised at a bigger club. most moves on the pitch involved Bentley at some point, the whole style of play was to fit around Bentley. He won't get that luxury at spurs therefore he won't look as good a player.

The real loser in this is Santa Cruz, he had a phenomenal season last year, but a lot of his goals came from Bentley crosses, without a half decent right midfielder he won't get the service or the goals. Pedersen is sh*t and has been for the past 2 seasons now.

Sorry for rambling on so much, feel quite guilty about talking about my club on your forum, especially in so much detail... hope it makes some sense if anyone reads it all that is... :)

I'd take a comfortable 10th at the minute with no relegation drama's

Mike

[Nibs]

Thanks Mike - even though you chose to ignore my swop suggestion of Santa Cruz for Anelka!

I guess no deal then? ;)

[2k.]

Ex notloB though isn't he :( to be honest I don't think either are good enough for you... And i doubt we'd be able to afford Anelka's wages! Santa Cruz will be off to City in January :( however he signed a new contract in the summer so we should be able sting em' for some serious money :)