Friday 24 May 2013

Eureka! UEFA save the Europa League but stamp all over Spurs' toes in the process

UEFA must be having a laugh at Tottenham's expense.

With our wounds still fresh from Arsenal nicking fourth spot last Sunday, Europe's footballing governors choose now to announce plans that will give the Europa League winner a Champions League spot.

It's all a bit annoying for Spurs as we embark on a third consecutive season of struggling to motivate our players to take part European football's thankless second tier.

The rule would come into place for the 2015-16 season, meaning that the first team to benefit would be lining up for European Cup football at the start of the 2016-17 season. By which time we will be firmly entrenched in Champions League tradition (*cough*).

On a positive note, the decision will save the stricken Europa League.

The promise of a Champions League spot for the winner - or possibly even for a losing finalist, if the winner has already qualified through the league - will transform the Europa League from a footballing backstreet dentist into a silver travelcard to the metropolis.

But why has this Eureka moment taken so long when it makes so much sense?

UEFA's second-tier competition has for years been sneered at by the big clubs ("Thursday nights, Channel 5" goes the chant). And this easy fix was always available but completely ignored - in favour of tarty new names and ineffective rebranding.

Managers of clubs involved have for years seen scant reward in the contest's gruelling 16-game format. They brave long-haul flights to Baltic states to play in cryogenic temperatures in front of hostile, sometimes racist crowds. 

All that, only to be accused of devaluing the competition when they field a weakened side to protect their league season.

And for what? The opportunity to come back and do it all again next season? No thanks. 

Can you see this year's winners Chelsea fighting tooth and nail to defend their title? No, not least because they will have to get themselves knocked out of the Champions League to get the chance.

But who is to say that dangling the Champions League carrot at the end of the painstakingly long Europa League stick will have such an immediate effect?

For a start, it is an admission of the Europa League's rightful place as a second-tier contest. Teams have for a long time been "relegated" from the top tier, but never promoted to it.

The chance of promotion alone gives the tournament a full identity, a much-needed purpose - to find a champion among underdogs and nearlyclubs and thrust them into the European elite - and, dare I say it, even a bit of romance.

Most importantly, it gives those involved the potential of progress, always top of the agenda for modern football clubs.

No longer will UEFA and supporters need to fight tooth and nail to convince viewers of the tournament's importance.

The hope, glamour, extra sponsorship and added clout injected by the possibility of a European Cup place will sell the advertising space all on its own.

And you can bet your left winger it will not be back on Channel 5.

Away from Europe, a positive knock-on effect should ripple down to domestic cup competitions. An indirect route into Europe's top table could even be what the FA Cup needs to be able to hold it's head up and look its proud history in the eye.

With UEFA also poised to change the law  that saw Chelsea nick our Champions League spot, the whole thing seems set up purely to rile Spurs fans.

All the talk is that the European Cup winner will be allocated a seperate spot, so as not to step on the toes of teams who qualify fairly over a full league season.

Nice one, so not only have we been forever falling foul of soon-to-be defunct laws but, if we ever get our own back on either of our rivals, then their backstreet dentist experience may not be so brutal.



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