Champions League and English football teams.

[CityAcrossThePond]

There is an interesting analysis in todays Financial Times that I can't link to because it is behind a pay wall.
However it compares English clubs in Europe with the big 5 continental clubs and suggests that a big reason for English clubs lack of success is the increased competitiveness of the League.
It compares the wage bill adjusted for average league wage and suggests that this is a much better predictor of champions league performance (as measured by performance points) than wage bill alone and also compares the length of time teams are two or more goals up domestically and shows that this is much longer if your wage bill is higher than the domestic average .
Not really proof of anything but it does indicate that perhaps the premier league is genuinely more competetive than other leagues and this has an effect on European performance.

Although behind a paywall you can some FT articles free if you haven't already read more than two in a month try googling
Champions League eludes English teams after draining season

I can't view the article you're referring to.

But it sounds to me like this is totally missing the point.

Madrid/Barca/Bayern are hugely successful, top top clubs, with huge buying power (Madrid and maybe to a lesser extent Barca) or big buying power with a huge reputation (Bayern).

If Madrid/Barca/Bayern want to sign a player, right now, that player will sign for one of these clubs, generally speaking (club loyalty, wanting to be sure to start, long term career objectives, etc., might play a mitigating role but by in large, the 3 mega clubs sign any player they want).

So for the past 6 years the EPL have been up against 3 teams with excellent management who collectively will sign the very best footballers in world football - generally speaking - every single starting player on these 3 squads - with a few exceptions - are among the very, very best footballers in the world.

The only thing preventing the likes of Madrid/Barca/Bayern winning it all - is possible lack of team chemistry/motivation or fluke luck by some other side or extreme excellence in recruiting unknown talent coupled with highly skilled/unknown managers who nonetheless are extremely good and will challenge the 3 super teams (Dortmund, Atletico, Juve).
===============
Competitiveness of the league might well be a contributing factor - but for me, the main factor for why English clubs aren't fairing well in UCL over the past 6 years or so - is that they simply aren't good enough - player for player, manager for manager - just not good enough.

The disparity between English sides and the current top 3 world football sides is narrowing as of late though - I think that the EPL now has world class managers in its top 6 sides (maybe Wenger is an exception) - and for sure other top managers are out there - but, our squads are improving, fueled partially by the excellence of contending sides within the EPL.

 

[CityAcrossThePond]

I can't create new threads - so I'll ask this question in this thread...

Does the EPL homegrown rule improve the England national side? Or does the homegrown rule hamstring EPL clubs in the CL? Or maybe it's a bit of both; what do you think?