geneva_ger 9,412 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Ok so Brenda has been in the country a couple of weeks and he's blowing off about the Gyrodome Galactico's getting some kind of preferential consideration from UEFA when the new Champions league format is designed in September, due to the size of the club and someone once-upon-a-time saying "it's a great experience coming to porkheid". Perhaps in his designs for Scottish (Irish) clubs to be invited, he would be better to suggest a wider selection to include the most successful football club in world football, and perhaps to manage his own dregs through qualifiers such as Gibraltar Red Imps with a little more commanding results before spouting off. The Champions league motive is purely financially driven and therefore I get his point that both these clubs would draw enormous viewing figures and would fill the stadiums to boot, but please get together with your counterparts to give an argument that would be more difficult to refute (ya wank). Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cushynumber 25,178 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 they dont want us or them. 4 teams from the top nations automatically qualifying - I bet anything in future they increase that so that teams 5 and 6 go into the CL play offs. Thats potentially 24 teams from the big 4 countries into the CL. The CL is dead for teams out with these countries. Begging at the table for scraps is not the way forward. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capital Blu 615 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 UEFA are shit scared of the "big" clubs doing their own thing and setting up their own league/cup, so they will ultimately cave in. Scotland (and Scottish teams) will have no sway in any discussions. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace 3,556 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 http://www.espnfc.co.uk/blog/marcotti-musings/62/post/2930404/uefa-champions-league-structural-changes-as-explained-by-gab-marcotti UEFA is set to approve some major structural changes to the Champions League, the highlight being automatic group stage qualification for the top four teams from the top four leagues. Gab Marcotti reviews what this might mean and how this happened. Q: So, from 2018-19, the Champions' League will have 16 of 32 clubs coming from the top four leagues? When did that happen? A: It hasn't -- yet. It needs to be approved by UEFA's executive committee later this month, but that's part of the compromise that was hammered out between UEFA's club competition committee, headed by Portugal's Fernando Gomes, and some of Europe's big clubs. Given that it's been agreed, I think we can expect it to be rubber-stamped. Q: So how is it going to work? A: There are plenty of details yet to be determined. But what we do know is that the top four leagues, according to UEFA coefficients (right now it's Spain's Liga, Germany's Bundesliga, England's Premier League and Italy's Serie A), will each qualify four teams directly to the group stage. That's a big change. Right now, the top three leagues get three guaranteed spots in the group stage plus they enter another team in the playoffs. The fourth league gets two spots, plus another in the playoffs. Q: It doesn't look like a good deal for any league which isn't in the top four... A: It isn't. In fact, it's a bit of a screw job. This is not just about the fewer spots available to everybody else, it's also the advantage that goes to the team that goes to the big league. It removes the uncertainty of the playoff stage, which allows you to raise more money from sponsors and makes it easier to plan. The rich will get richer; there's no escaping that. Q: So why did UEFA do this? What are they thinking? A: They found themselves between a rock and a hard place. Some of the big clubs from the big leagues had been lobbying for this for a while. Most of the revenue that comes into the Champions' League comes from broadcast and sponsorship rights. And, obviously, sponsors and broadcasters pay with the expectation that they'll see a Juventus or a Real Madrid or a Manchester United in the competition. If you can guarantee that, they figure it guarantees a certain level of audience. Therefore, they're happy to pay more. If there's a greater risk that instead of, say, Barcelona vs. Bayern we get APOEL vs. BATE Borisov, that won't be as attractive. One of the clubs in favor of these changes reckons that it could generate an extra 20 percent in revenue per season. The big clubs argue that because they invest more in their squads and generate more revenue for the competition, they should get more back and their participation should not be in doubt. They were threatening to do something about it unless the system was changed. Q: Like what? A: Remember the breakaway Super League talk? It wasn't just idle chitchat. There were clubs threatening to pull out of the Champions League and set up their own competition. And they were serious about it. Q: How realistic was the threat? A: Realistic enough that UEFA's lead negotiators -- Gomes, Michael van Praag from the Dutch FA and former Manchester United chief executive David Gill -- believed them. And they were probably right to do so. Imagine the damage that could be done if the likes of Real Madrid, Juventus and half a dozen other blue-chip clubs decided to sit out a season or, worse, set up their own competition. I'm told that negotiations went on for six months and, at times, got rather nasty. Once they agreed to stay in, the clubs asked for a whole bunch of other things, beyond the guaranteed Champions League places. Q: Such as? A: They talked about having "wild card" entries for "historical merit," which is another way of taking a club like Manchester United or Milan and allowing them into the competition because they're a historically big club. They wanted to look at playing some Champions League games at the weekend so that TV revenue could be maximized. They even talked about setting up a new company to run the Champions League in which UEFA and the clubs (just the big ones, obviously) would be equal partners. When you consider all that, UEFA might have done OK to limit the damage and say no to all this. It could have been far worse. Remember that UEFA don't have a president and haven't had one since Michel Platini was banned last year. All they have is an interim general secretary, Theo Theodoridis, and he's only there because his predecessor Gianni Infantino is now FIFA president. A strong UEFA president with political clout, visibility and a broad mandate might have been able to avoid this. Plus, time was running out. The deal to cover the 2018 to 2021 cycle had to be completed by the fall. The big clubs had UEFA over a barrel and this deal at least limits the damage and keeps them in the tent. At least for now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shuggy 1,308 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Cartel basically. So they want 16 out of 32? Wasn't it 14 last year from Spain, Germany, England and Italy? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
To Be A Ranger 4,032 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Time for European leagues if the big boys want guarantees they can take part in euro competition each season. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris182 6,343 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Money hungry, corrupt arseholes. This is not a good thing. Will cut-off and l kill small leagues off completely Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capital Blu 615 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 10 minutes ago, To Be A Ranger said: Time for European leagues if the big boys want guarantees they can take part in euro competition each season. I'm not sure it would work that well once the initial novelty factor was gone. Let's say there were a couple of 16 team Euro Leagues created by invitation only. I think Scotland would struggle to get a place in the second tier. However, would you still want to go along to games if the team was struggling in say 12th place in a second division? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigo 32,597 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 All of the other countries should just pull out and leave them to it. Form their own competition. There's little point in the CL as far as the countries outside the 'big 4' go now. It's ceased to be a genuine competition and become a money-generating cartel. Leave the bastards to it and hopefully everyone will eventually become bored of their repetitive shite. I have already. I really hope the big 4 countries fuck off, actually. UEFA should stand up for themselves and start representing everybody else and force them to make the decision to fuck off or be more competition oriented, but then, UEFA people are only concerned with their cut of the CL cash, so that won't happen.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corky True Legend 2,682 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Call their bluff. UEFA only need to say that any club participating in an unofficial competition, and any player taking part, will be banned from regulated football. That would meanthat a player from, eg., Man U coud not drop down to, say, Burnley, once MU replaced him. It would also mean that their players would be ineligible for Internationals. Remember what happened to Kerry Packer's cricket circus. Didn't last long. This could end up like a Harlem Globetrotters exhibition cup. Also, UEFA could threaten any broadcast deal. They presently ban any televised matches when their official games are on. I am sure that they could come up with some effective sanction. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDFM 3,809 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Hope this leads to OF lobbying ferociously to enter the English football pyramid at a respectable level in a few years. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bears 794 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Time to remove the 'Champions' bit from the name of the competition. How about the 'Greedy Clubs Cup'? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopCat 4,511 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 10 minutes ago, Bears said: Time to remove the 'Champions' bit from the name of the competition. How about the 'Greedy Clubs Cup'? Nail. Hammer. Head. Money has ruined football tbh. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrLaudrup 4,719 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 22 minutes ago, Bears said: Time to remove the 'Champions' bit from the name of the competition. How about the 'Greedy Clubs Cup'? Totally agree. For a long time it was the pinnacle of club football. For the last 10 years or so it has all been about money and an increasing cartel of clubs behaving to exclude others. The CL for me should be automatic qualification for all countries champions and nobody else. The cup winners and top 2nd place teams can go into the UEFA cup. Look at Arsenal, won bugger all for 10 years but raking in hundred of millions from Europe and TV money. There is no incentive for them to win the league. It is ruining competitive football. Look how raging we got when King said "2nd is realistic". Imagine "4th is what we will aim for". It is a joke and makes a total mockery of competitive sport. It fuels inflated transfer fees/primadonna culture in players and has created situations where teams have no players from their own country/area playing for them losing their regional identity - Man City are the classic example currently. Everyone is delighted that Leicester are there this year and quite right...kiss goodbye to that if they get their way. I seriously would probably not support or watch CL football if that sort of deal was done. I hate to say it but I agree with celtic on this one.... Much as I love watching them get pumped by some amateur plumbers every year, by winning the league they deserve to be there, as do the plumbers for that matter. It incentivises us to beat them to claim the prize and the rewards. It is what sport is all about. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danger ranger 922 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Thinking further ahead, I wonder if the champions friendlies were an experiment for the future UEFA cup, with legs being played in foreign countries plus the world wide tv revenues, worth a thought. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalton 1,192 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Being called The champions league should be done for false advertising gone are the days of the European cup when it actually meant something to win it . Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eejay the dj 31,964 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 9 hours ago, geneva_ger said: Ok so Brenda has been in the country a couple of weeks and he's blowing off about the Gyrodome Galactico's getting some kind of preferential consideration from UEFA when the new Champions league format is designed in September, due to the size of the club and someone once-upon-a-time saying "it's a great experience coming to porkheid". Perhaps in his designs for Scottish (Irish) clubs to be invited, he would be better to suggest a wider selection to include the most successful football club in world football, and perhaps to manage his own dregs through qualifiers such as Gibraltar Red Imps with a little more commanding results before spouting off. The Champions league motive is purely financially driven and therefore I get his point that both these clubs would draw enormous viewing figures and would fill the stadiums to boot, but please get together with your counterparts to give an argument that would be more difficult to refute (ya wank). The canvassing that so many are doing ,the fact they are past winners ,the Pedro factor .the fucking easy ride they have had this season to group stages and the riches I'm telling you .These cunts would get in by the back door like always. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMRFC 4,830 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 So England are getting 4 spots when their "big teams" are shite, Leicester won the league last season ffs. Other than the luck that Chelsea had in winning the UCL in 2012 there hasn't been a good English club in the competition since 2008 when Manchester United won it ffs. 8 fucking years ago!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForeverAndEver 71,941 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 4 minutes ago, EMRFC said: So England are getting 4 spots when their "big teams" are shite, Leicester won the league last season ffs. Other than the luck that Chelsea had in winning the UCL in 2012 there hasn't been a good English club in the competition since 2008 when Manchester United won it ffs. 8 fucking years ago!! Was no luck in Chelsea winning it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam English Loyal 945 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 If the rest told the "Big 4" to go and get rooted and set up their own alternative European cup, it would be a breath of fresh air tbh. An unseeded draw for the first round (maybe the 2nd too) where you could have some of Europe's genuinely big clubs drawn against some of the minnows. Then a group stage, QF, SF and final. It would be fantastic for the smaller clubs. For example, the champions of Iceland, Luxembourg, Ulster etc drawing Ajax, FC Porto, Anderlecht, PSG, us. Restrict it to champions only! And give clubs from countries outside the "Big 4" a realistic chance of winning it. It would be brilliant. Like the old European Cup before money ruined everything. Let the English, Spanish, Germans and Italians have the so called 'champions' league. Without everyone else it would soon become like the Anglo-Italian Cup they had in the 80s lol. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeto 112 Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 It is about time that clubs from Scotland, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, Ukraine, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and other 'middle' level countries spoke out and demanded a fair deal from UEFA. The gap has been artificially widened by the so called major leagues and they've basically been gifted four places while relatively big teams from other countries have to fight to even enter one or two teams. It is unfair and maybe it is time that any league of at least reasonable size gets two entrants. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIRB_72 4,072 Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 Aye football is pretty shit now. Only 7 or 8 clubs can reach the very top unless they are bought out by some rich Arab. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capital Blu 615 Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 If the big four leagues want to go their own way then I'd be happy with that, but only on the proviso that all the other nations broadcasters cancelled their coverage of the competition, thus reducing the pot of money available to the clubs involved. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camshy 812 Posted August 18, 2016 Share Posted August 18, 2016 The CL is a joke of a competition and all integrity is missing from it, all about the money. Such a boring competition, I already know who will be playing against who pretty much before the draw is even made.......same teams being the same matches year in year out, groundhog day. They need to take it back to basics, home and away knockout and champions only, anything else is just shite. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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