Smiley Culture Posted January 16, 2020 Share Posted January 16, 2020 https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/champions-league-set-overhaul-four-21292762.amp I despair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan Posted January 16, 2020 Administrator Share Posted January 16, 2020 Terrible idea and obviously purely instigated by UEFA for how much money it can gain. Thankfully Premier League clubs opposed to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlr Posted January 16, 2020 Share Posted January 16, 2020 Should keep 32 entrants, bin off the group stages, go straight for two-legged knockout rounds from the off (seeded until you reach the last 8 if you want) and use the two less gameweeks to spread the tournament more evenly in the autumn. This gives the poor darlings more rest, domestic calendars more flexibility and chips away at the amount of games over the year, which practically every top tier manager in Europe moans about. Better quality, more competitive fixtures and every last match has something riding on it. Can see the appeal for the Leicesters, Atalantas etc., who make a genuinely decent addition and break the group stage monotiny mind. The above won't happen of course, but there we are. I honestly don't care anymore. I used to be the first on the outrage bus when these things came out, but the relentless pursuit of money, commercialisation and other riches just amuses me now. Every party involved in this sort of shit deserves every last ounce of what they will get when the whole job falls apart. I can't fucking wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber Dan+ Posted January 16, 2020 Subscriber Share Posted January 16, 2020 Funny how people always swallow the bullshit about winter breaks and stuff. They're very clever when it comes to these things. It's all just bullshit to free up space for more games or any other measure to suit the latest clan of executives or whoever. UEFA are abysmal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber Dan+ Posted January 16, 2020 Subscriber Share Posted January 16, 2020 22 minutes ago, tlr said: Should keep 32 entrants, bin off the group stages, go straight for two-legged knockout rounds from the off (seeded until you reach the last 8 if you want) and use the two less gameweeks to spread the tournament more evenly in the autumn. This gives the poor darlings more rest, domestic calendars more flexibility and chips away at the amount of games over the year, which practically every top tier manager in Europe moans about. Better quality, more competitive fixtures and every last match has something riding on it. Can see the appeal for the Leicesters, Atalantas etc., who make a genuinely decent addition and break the group stage monotiny mind. The above won't happen of course, but there we are. I honestly don't care anymore. I used to be the first on the outrage bus when these things came out, but the relentless pursuit of money, commercialisation and other riches just amuses me now. Every party involved in this sort of shit deserves every last ounce of what they will get when the whole job falls apart. I can't fucking wait. Yep. It's always instigated by people looking to make a quick buck. Long term damage for short term gain - lead by people who will only be affected by the short term gain. The super league is another. It would fall to pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFCMike Posted January 16, 2020 Share Posted January 16, 2020 (edited) That second group stage was shit. There's a reason it was fucked off Edited January 16, 2020 by LFCMike 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiley Culture Posted January 16, 2020 Author Share Posted January 16, 2020 We’ve seen France scrap their League Cup, the Spanish have scrapped two legged Copa Del Rey games, they’ve expanded their Super Cup to four teams, bastardised it and flogged it to the biggest bidder (Saudi Arabia) and the Italians have had their Supercoppa held in the US, China, Qatar and even bloody Libya. There’s even been the slow signs of change in English Football with replays scrapped after Round Five and the League Cup going straight to penalties after normal time. There’s been signs of domestic football being influenced by certain clubs and certain influences whom also hold a standing within UEFA for years. We’ve even seen change Internationally with the extended Euros competition in France four years ago, that was shit, the introduction of the Nations League (though International Football certainly needed something, we’ll see how this crosses over with the Euros) and plans for extended World Cup’s. There’s been changes happening slowly in Football at UEFA level at club level and Internationally. Some are good for the game as a whole and others are clearly bad and morally wrong. I think this is just another step towards a European competition(s) taking precedence in Football with domestic football playing second fiddle, a bit like it does in Cricket with the International game ruling the roost and domestic cricket being a bit of an after thought. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 On 16/01/2020 at 19:51, Smiley Culture said: We’ve seen France scrap their League Cup, the Spanish have scrapped two legged Copa Del Rey games, they’ve expanded their Super Cup to four teams, bastardised it and flogged it to the biggest bidder (Saudi Arabia) and the Italians have had their Supercoppa held in the US, China, Qatar and even bloody Libya. There’s even been the slow signs of change in English Football with replays scrapped after Round Five and the League Cup going straight to penalties after normal time. There’s been signs of domestic football being influenced by certain clubs and certain influences whom also hold a standing within UEFA for years. We’ve even seen change Internationally with the extended Euros competition in France four years ago, that was shit, the introduction of the Nations League (though International Football certainly needed something, we’ll see how this crosses over with the Euros) and plans for extended World Cup’s. There’s been changes happening slowly in Football at UEFA level at club level and Internationally. Some are good for the game as a whole and others are clearly bad and morally wrong. I think this is just another step towards a European competition(s) taking precedence in Football with domestic football playing second fiddle, a bit like it does in Cricket with the International game ruling the roost and domestic cricket being a bit of an after thought. Yeah, never mind the fact that there is a serious flippin civil war going on in Libya, it's money that comes first for UEFA! Seriously, I like the current CL format, it's almost perfect and there is no need to change it. Having the group stage at the start with 4 teams in each group, followed by the knockout stages is entertaining. Having more teams in 1 group or more teams in general would just spoil the competition. There are enough teams involved as it is. Internationally, I quite like the current format of the European Championships. The Nations League was clearly another competition created to generate money, but it was a good substitute for friendly matches as there was a competitive aspect to it. UEFA though should stop meddling and trying to change these competitions when they don't need changing. The CL and the Euros have enough teams competing in them, any more and it will just make these competitions less attractive for the viewers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiley Culture Posted February 2, 2020 Author Share Posted February 2, 2020 1 hour ago, Michael said: Yeah, never mind the fact that there is a serious flippin civil war going on in Libya, it's money that comes first for UEFA! Seriously, I like the current CL format, it's almost perfect and there is no need to change it. Having the group stage at the start with 4 teams in each group, followed by the knockout stages is entertaining. Having more teams in 1 group or more teams in general would just spoil the competition. There are enough teams involved as it is. Internationally, I quite like the current format of the European Championships. The Nations League was clearly another competition created to generate money, but it was a good substitute for friendly matches as there was a competitive aspect to it. UEFA though should stop meddling and trying to change these competitions when they don't need changing. The CL and the Euros have enough teams competing in them, any more and it will just make these competitions less attractive for the viewers. I dunno, I think there is quite a disparity between the top clubs and the “lesser” clubs in the group stages of the Champions League and I find the group stages boring. They’ve improved a bit with the new seeding that they’ve done but it’s still not perfect. How you fix that though, I’m not sure. I don’t think we needed a third European competition, which we’re getting the year after next, I think. Unless it was to sort out the qualification process, which it isn’t, it’s not needed and just more games away from domestic football. Internationally, the Nations League was brilliant. I was sceptical but having watched live England games at Wembley, there’s a distinct improvement in quality, mentality and atmosphere as soon as you offer points. I’m also looking forward to an extended version and thus, even fewer friendlies. That said, the qualification process for the two major tournaments needs an overhaul, I think. They’re largely monotonous and predictable and without that jeopardy, they’re often training ground routines for the bigger nations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan Posted March 30, 2021 Administrator Share Posted March 30, 2021 Sadly these changes talked about at the start of last year are due to be accepted and ratified https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56573883 Quote A new Champions League format, featuring a 10-match first phase from 2024, is expected to be agreed by Uefa on Wednesday. The proposal, which has been under discussion for almost two years, will be finalised on Tuesday and then signed off by Uefa's executive committee. Under the new format, the current group phase will be scrapped. In its place, the number of qualifiers will be expanded from 32 to 36, with space for two 'wild card' entries. The wild cards will be reserved for clubs with the highest Uefa co-efficient - points used to rank clubs based on past European success - who have not qualified for the competition through their league position. If the format was being used now, based on the current table it would mean Liverpool would gain a Champions League spot despite being seventh in the Premier League. There has been opposition to the plans, in particular from the European Leagues organisation, who said it would create a "de facto closed shop". However, Uefa officials and representatives from the European Club Association have backed the new arrangement, which former Manchester United keeper and current Ajax chief executive Edwin van der Sar is credited with suggesting. Under the new format, each team will play 10 matches against opponents varying in strength, with the results forming an overall league table. Those in the highest eight positions will move on to the knockout phase, with those from ninth to 24th going into a play-off round. The new format will cause a problem for the English game and in particular the EFL Cup as the additional fixtures will need the mid-week slots usually allocated to the secondary cup competition. Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish previously said the 36-team Champions League would have "a devastating effect" on the English game. It is 99% certain these proposals will be ratified, which will give those responsible for running English football a problem. Firstly, the new format will require 19 match rounds, rather than the current 13, although as the current last-16 schedule has games spread across four weeks, only four additional midweeks may be required. In a non-coronavirus affected English calendar, the only way of achieving that between the beginning of September and Christmas is to use the dates reserved for the third, fourth and fifth rounds of the EFL Cup, and the midweek slot the Premier League claims around the end of November and beginning of December. If the EFL Cup is to be preserved, one option would be to follow the example of this season, when the first four rounds were played before the group stage of European competition began - in a 'normal' year, that would be August. However, at least one English club will be involved in European qualifiers, which this season led to Tottenham having to play on Tuesday and Thursday in the same week, which Jose Mourinho was furious about. Another option would be to scrap FA Cup replays and reduce the EFL Cup semi-finals to one game for each of the two ties to create space in the calendar. A third would be to allow Premier League teams also in Europe to select under-23 teams for the EFL Cup, although even that could be met with opposition from Uefa, who claim primacy over midweeks for television purposes - and have 55 countries to fund with their broadcast contracts - and would not want any overlap. The nuclear option would be to abandon the EFL Cup completely, an argument which has been made by some for a while now. But that would rob the Football League of its greatest money maker, generating cash which is distributed across all three of its leagues. EFL chairman Rick Parry has been aware of this looming problem for a while now, which is why he was so keen to embrace the controversial Project Big Picture proposals last year. The Premier League are working on their own strategic review now - but Uefa's impending decision will frame the conclusions and how they are implemented. A great safety net for the likes of Liverpool, Man Utd & Chelsea if they have a shit time of it domestically, knowing they can potentially qualify through a wildcard option in to this competition. A slap in the face to any club that wants to try and make a name for themselves or become established like those big clubs that once had success in the competition. Elite football's door slowly closes to anyone not already in that select group of teams. The marketability of football overrides the importance of competition and underdog stories or a smaller club wanting to break the glass ceiling, now, sadly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskey Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 There was a time I'd lose my shit over this, but now I'm not that arsed. Football has been killed slowly for a while now and is only going to get worse, in 20 years we will have one big Super League and instead of having home/away games there will be "wildcards" in Shanghai, Doha, NYC and Abu Dhabi. I genuinely think in such time I could be one of those people that starts following non-league football in and effort to restart the romance of what the sport is all about - it's just a cash cow now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoRoss Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 The move for more greed is scuppered because they aren't greedy enough... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan Posted March 30, 2021 Administrator Share Posted March 30, 2021 1 hour ago, ScoRoss said: The move for more greed is scuppered because they aren't greedy enough... Uncancelled! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiley Culture Posted March 31, 2021 Author Share Posted March 31, 2021 Feel quite sad about this. Thinking about it, some of my biggest memories of my formative years following football were Champions League on ITV related. United in ‘99, Leeds’ run in 2000, United losing to Bayer Leverkusen with Sir Alex desperate to get to Glasgow for the final, the introduction of Mourinho and his Porto side, the Zidane goal in the Final, Arsenal getting to a Final, Istanbul and just general random memories of teams and players like Deportivo La Coruna and Juninho. This will make me lose a bit of interest. Don’t get me wrong, I still like the Champions League and the big games will continue to be interesting and pull me in but it’ll be a bit tarnished by the power grab by those with the loudest voices. I think we’ll be lucky to see your Leicester’s or Werder Bremen’s in the Champions League again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber RandoEFC+ Posted March 31, 2021 Subscriber Share Posted March 31, 2021 Can't wait for Klopp and Guardiola's annual bitchfest about the League Cup next season while they say nothing about the extra fixtures proposed by the new Champions League format because they definitely don't pick and choose when more games is bad and/or dangerous for the players. English football has managed to stem the tide on this for long enough but each year, the proportion of people looking out for the interests of the majority of clubs and fans in football over the increased wealth of a select few clubs who already enjoy huge advantages over the rest gets smaller and smaller. The League Cup will eventually get reformatted to the benefit of the small handful of teams that are already best equipped to deal with the extra fixtures and at the expense of the other 90 teams in the league pyramid. It's a shame and in the long run you have to ask where the line gets crossed between the current situation where the big teams have massive advantages but are still fallible and teams like Leicester, if they get everything right for several seasons, can get in amongst them, to a situation where the shop really is 99% closed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiley Culture Posted March 31, 2021 Author Share Posted March 31, 2021 The ramifications here won’t be felt just yet either. The League Cup format will be changed or the whole thing will be scrapped. I can’t see the FA Cup replays coming back, unfortunately, either, all for the benefit of the big clubs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber Dan+ Posted March 31, 2021 Subscriber Share Posted March 31, 2021 On 30/03/2021 at 13:14, ScoRoss said: The move for more greed is scuppered because they aren't greedy enough... It really says it all. Football is just far too riddled now with people with no love or care for it. Platini might just be the worst thing that ever happened to football as he came from the category of people who you would hope have some real feel for it, yet he was just as corrupt as the rest of them. Football is gradually eating itself. This is the first step along the way to clubs having a guaranteed safety net in competition terms. There's always been too much reward for failure but this is a rule that is quite literally introduced to do that, and solely that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber Dan+ Posted March 31, 2021 Subscriber Share Posted March 31, 2021 6 hours ago, RandoEFC said: Can't wait for Klopp and Guardiola's annual bitchfest about the League Cup next season while they say nothing about the extra fixtures proposed by the new Champions League format because they definitely don't pick and choose when more games is bad and/or dangerous for the players. English football has managed to stem the tide on this for long enough but each year, the proportion of people looking out for the interests of the majority of clubs and fans in football over the increased wealth of a select few clubs who already enjoy huge advantages over the rest gets smaller and smaller. The League Cup will eventually get reformatted to the benefit of the small handful of teams that are already best equipped to deal with the extra fixtures and at the expense of the other 90 teams in the league pyramid. It's a shame and in the long run you have to ask where the line gets crossed between the current situation where the big teams have massive advantages but are still fallible and teams like Leicester, if they get everything right for several seasons, can get in amongst them, to a situation where the shop really is 99% closed. Leicester will never be an elite club. Neither will Atalanta, neither will Frankfurt, neither will Real Sociedad. If there's any threat of it, the goalposts would move again. Even if we managed to qualify for the CL 5 years running and then missed out in year 6, making us one of the wildcards, they would have the rules changed before it could be allowed to happen. The only way we'd ever become an elite club is a Man City style takeover and even then we'd still be shunned for others who are already 'big'. It's just the way these people view the game. They have absolutely no feel for the game, have no appreciation for sporting achievement and can only see money. Such people will be furious that Leicester are likely to qualify for the Champions League again this season whilst one of Chelsea or Liverpool miss out. I'm not just saying that because I support Leicester, it's nothing to do with who we are, it's who we aren't, and we just happen to be the ones who put up the best fight, which I'm immensely proud of, but it always leads to a sad reminder of how soulless the sport is now. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted April 1, 2021 Share Posted April 1, 2021 It's quite clear that the 15 or so clubs in favour of this proposal haven't consulted broadcasters or fans in regards to this. Who is going to want to watch PSG vs City, Bayern vs Barca, United vs Real Madrid in the league when its plainly obvious they'll all get through the first league stage? It's going to feel like pre season friendlies in Asia. When you consulted with United fans under Van Gaal, Liverpool fans under Rodgers, Arsenal fans at the minute and Chelsea fabs after Mourinho part II, none of them would have wanted to get in The Champions League on a technicality. They wanted there teams to get there on merit and it was up to the likes of Kroenke, Woodward and Abrahamovich to create a competitive structure to get them there. I imagine it's the same with powerhouses abroad too. It's quite clear the likes of Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid are spoofed by how much they've fucked up seemingly indestructible empires to the stage where they're on the verge of having to enter a period like AC Milan have and the thought of that scares them. Losing to the likes of Brugge, Shaktar, Porto and struggling in their own domestic leagues has really spoofed them. They see teams like Leicester City emerging who are ran very well and have the financial advantage of being in the Premier League and it spoofs the shit out of them. One thing lockdown has emphasised to me is too much of anything is not a good thing. I thought a model whereby you could watch any Premier League game at any time was the future, but I find myself watching less football now than I used too just because its on all the time. Having 180 or so additional pointless European games isn't going to be any more of a turn on to anybody. Look at baseball in America, it's very rare you see a stadium close to full capacity because there's so many games on all the time. Football is in danger of heading the same way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Blue Posted April 19, 2021 Share Posted April 19, 2021 Well, they going to have to re-think all of this now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan Posted April 19, 2021 Administrator Share Posted April 19, 2021 3 minutes ago, Happy Blue said: Well, they going to have to re-think all of this now! Won't take much thinking. Those that joined the ESL should have no part to play in this, shouldn't even be considered. Let them have their cake and eat it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan Posted April 19, 2021 Administrator Share Posted April 19, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiley Culture Posted April 19, 2021 Author Share Posted April 19, 2021 This ones shit, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoRoss Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 (edited) On 19/04/2021 at 20:08, Smiley Culture said: This ones shit, too. All this talk of the Super League being a closed shop, and everyone outside of the major countries in Europe already thinks of the Champions League as a closed shop already. This new plan only benefits the larger leagues again. UEFA need to have some balls and reform it properly. What exactly are the big clubs going to threaten to do? Set up a Super League... Edited April 21, 2021 by ScoRoss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaaay AFC Posted April 21, 2021 Share Posted April 21, 2021 On 19/04/2021 at 18:06, Stan said: The fans won apparently, when in reality these shoddy corrupt organisations have really won. One great thing about the ESL has shown is how shameless these corporations are. Sky streaming Gary Neville and Carragher ranting for free on YouTube and making all their videos available to other regions all of a sudden on Twitter. I hope big changes do happen but I don't believe they will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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