Gimme Valencia
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Give me whoever, I don’t care as we are winning this cup so we will beat anyone they put in front of us! It’s time to get the new lane rocking again!
Real can't get Valencia...think people might see through the fix if they do....
Too true..Valencia for Chavs, Liezig for Real?
Man city will get there usual easy draw
Just realised that's wrong too Doh! Chavs can't get Valencia so they will both get RB Leipzig!!
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We will get an easier draw now that we have Mourinho. Whether its fixed or its the good vibes that follow him around you can decide fir yourself but i bet we don't draw one of the big three teams,
I usually believe everything is rigged, but the CL draw I have never gotten the sense has any funny business.
The structure bakes in the necessary advancement of big clubs, they don't need to do any hanky-panky on the back end.
The structure bakes in the necessary advancement of big clubs, they don't need to do any hanky-panky on the back end.
Ajax and Shakhtar needed only draws at home to advance.
It is what it is. I don't see it as terrible, just like I didn't see it as terrible that both European finals were all English affairs last season. It goes in cycles & maybe it'll stop teams from selling their players and get other countries focusin on making the infrastructure of their game more sustainable, much like the 5 countries that are represented have done down the years.
I'd like to see a more varied pot but ultimately the clubs in those countries have taken big risks to get there in general, Ajax always sell off and if you continue to do that and not use your strength to try and enhance your league it will inevitably fail. I do hope they go onto win the Europa mind you.
Absurd to act like the opening of a revenue chasm between those five leagues and the likes of Portugal or Holland or Scotland to name a few is somehow the latter countries' fault.
UEFA *could* structure its competitions and prize money to support the broad health of the game across the continent at the local level (which oh by the way is its stated mission). For decades it has done the exact opposite, for the short-term financial gain of the chosen few.
if you pull it all back though can't you say the revenue chasm is a clear obvious in life? You've picked out Portugal and Scotland for example. I don't know the answer to this but when was the last time one of the big guns in those respective leagues didn't win their title? If you continuously sell your gems, sooner or later you won't have enough gems to compete, it's the nature of the beast mate.
For me a League or the country where that League is based needs to find ways of being self sufficient. Revinvesting on big sales, not being reckless, grass roots, scouting, knowing when to retain players, when to keep some. Some countries dropped the ball big time, that's for them to try and find a way to fix it not the leagues that are flourishing. Do that and it's more organic, more real and the reward more satisfying. All larger financial compensation to those not doing as well does is encourage the laziness or the poor management going on, it gives them a reason to be reckless and make mistakes knowing they get a bit of a bail out. That's why although horrible to see I think not saving Bury was the right thing to do, you can't help one without the other because one was recklesss in their decision making, it's sport, it's modern day warfare for the masses and much like Spurs have been I think a club needs to learn how to become self sufficient, it's key to the long term of that outfit and that goes with the leagues who have missed out on the knockout stages IMO.
Ajax always behave like a feeder club, sell of footballers high, investing in new young players with a view of selling them off one day also. Do you think that kind of mindset rolled out too frequently really deserves knockout stages of the Champions League when others have taken big risks in order to get there? FFP now that's a different story altogether but if the countries in question have produced the most competitive and strongest teams, I genuinely have no qualms with that it'll only encourage other countries to take a long hard look at how they operate and why they are currently in a different situation to other countries and leagues.
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Let's be absolutely clear here. TV income rules European football, period. TV money, sponsorship income, and matchday income are the three pillars of revenue for these clubs, and sponsorship income is heavily, heavily correlated with TV money.
The kinds of clubs we're talking about here, the Benficas, the Basel's, the Ajax's are some of the very best run clubs in the world who excel at talent development and always wisely reinvest their funds from sales. But there is no way for a domestic league in a country of 10 million people to generate the same kind of revenue as La Liga or the PL in much larger countries in languages and cultures that are globally familiar, adding even more available market to sell. Those clubs in smaller countries are in the financial position the market has dictated for them.
UEFA, through its wildly popular continental competitions COULD act as a countervailing force, structuring the competitions to make them difficult to be dominated by a handful of clubs and countries and disbursing its enormous revenues with an eye toward supporting the game everywhere.
They do the exact opposite, centralizing all the focus into the CL, ensuring safe passage to all the big brands into those big dollar games, and even having the gall to structure their prize money with a large chunk of it being dictated by the local TV market of the competitors. They emphasize and reinforce the disparity.
Corruption, greed, cowardice, there are many reasons they do it, but it's a terrible detriment to the game. The global audience is fed a steady and ever increasing dose of their glittering Juve vs. Barca type matchups and that revenue just feeds back into creating more of the same, while the heart and soul of the sport, the local interest, the match-going supporters, the community bonds, wither on the vine. It's a mistake.