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| José Mourinho at the press conference this week source: getty |
I'll start of this post by addressing those quotes. Rio Ferdinand made the "It's embarrassing to be in Europa League" comment after Man United finished 3rd in their champions league group last season. Whats embarrassing here is that Man United failed to get through a group containing Wolfsburg and PSV Eindhoven. For a club from the self proclaimed "best league in the world" you would expect an awful lot better.
"This is not a competition Man United want" well José, suck it up because Man United were not good enough to finish in the top 4 of a very weak premier league last season. Also a bit hypocritical of a man whose managerial career really began to take off by his successful Porto side in this competition's previous guise, the UEFA cup in 2003.
"I think it's a killer..to be frank" Harry Redknapp actually said this about the Europa League when Spurs were gunning for the premier league title. Redknapp's side were eliminated from the Europa league in the group stage that season and guess what, they still didn't win the title.
What I will never get my head around is you would expect utter arrogance from the likes of United, Liverpool, Chelsea and City, you know teams that are in Europe most years. It's the likes of West Ham, Stoke City and Aston Villa turning their nose up at this competition that baffles me. Despite the propaganda the premier league sends out, these teams haven't a glimmer of winning the league (Leicester's title last season is at the moment an outlier, no trends or conclusions can be made from that). Their best chances of trophies are cup competitions and they turn their noses up at them. Last season Swansea's Ashley Williams was "relived" to miss out on the Europa league because he wanted to "concentrate on the league". Why not concentrate on doing well in both competitions?
This excuse that Thursday-Sunday fixtures are hampering teams is pathetic as well. Thursday-Sunday is the exact same as Wednesday-Saturday fixtures for champions league sides. Ah but the champions league has the glamour, money and prestige to be taken seriously.These Premier League sides have a bumper new TV deal to hoover up as many players from around Europe as they want yet they can't get a big enough squad to compete in a few cup competitions alongside the league.
Also this isn't a recent phenomenon. Going back about ten years now when Reading were newly promoted and looking good for a UEFA cup place, their manager at the time said had they qualified for the UEFA cup he would've played the reserves. Needless to say Reading haven't been remotely close to qualifying for Europe since.
The argument of letting the bigger sides forgo taking part in the Europa League is dead in the water because even the small English sides don't even see the point in showcasing themselves in what is at the end of the day a European competition.
Up until the August revelation of the new format for the European competitions (more on that in another blog post) all national leagues in Europe were ranked on performance in the past five years in European competitions. This table has now pretty much been nullified with the plans in place but it was the system used to decided how many places in the champions league a nation got. English clubs with their disdain for the Europa League had slipped to 3rd in the table and were under threat of losing their 4th champions league spot until Italy had lost it's representatives in Europe early. Losing that champions league spot has hit Italy hard and Italy are a good case point here. For years Italian clubs were like the English clubs, they viewed the UEFA Cup/Europa league as a hindrance. Only after Italy lost their 4th champions league place in 2011 have Italian sides began to embrace the Europa League. Perhaps the English losing their 4th place would've changed their mindset?
This is the pathetic attitude of English sides towards this competition and you have the English media banging the anti-Europa league drum as well. What's even more incredible is even the fans are dismissing the Europa League. Some suggesting they'd rather their clubs sacrifice a European run for finishing two-three places higher in the league, like really, are you serious?
The arrogance in English football towards anything non-Premier league is astounding. One only has to flick through comments on match reports of the various English clubs on Europa league nights to see this in black and white. "oh it's only the Europa league", "not even arsed about the result" etc,
There is a lot wrong with modern football but what is really strange is that fans are valuing different competitions their teams play in on the monetary value. Oh the prize money for finishing 10th in the premier league is better than winning the Europa league. As a fan are you seeing any of that prize money?
From a personal point of view Europe is where I aspire my club to be. There is something magical about European games. Your club is testing itself against your counterparts from other countries. The away trips to cities that you never thought existed is part of the charm. I can tell you the memories I got from following Cork City in Europe to Belfast, Gothenburg and Genk this year will stay with me for the rest of my life, hell even our 2015 trip to Reykjavík had it's moments. Sure the club got rewarded for that European run, but as a fan I didn't give a toss. I was more concerned about where we might be going in the 4th round had we got past Genk, not drooling over the €800k the club would get for progressing.
You see I don't get this whole fans turning into accountants for their clubs. The clubs have people employed to look after the finances and make decisions accordingly. As a fan you are there to support the team not count the notes.
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