For a long time we were nowhere near getting into the Champions League so it wasn’t a goal for us. Consequentially, we, as a set of fans, were able to look at it objectively for its own merits.
We saw that the number of CL places offered to some leagues and not others, and seedings for the Group Stage separating the best teams from each other, all just made it look like a gravy train for the G14 and the top few leagues. Meaning the prestige of the competition increasingly diminished.
It made sure that the same teams were able to play in the competition even if they had a poor domestic league season, always earning more money than the rest of their own league; and also made sure that the same leagues were always dominant over other leagues as the same teams were always qualifying for the Knock-out Stages and going deeper into the competition, always earning more money than the likes of CFR Cluj.
Everyone being kept in their “place”, decided on by a committee of clubs who wanted to keep all the money and all the chances of success between themselves. A cosy little cartel, carving the market to suit them, putting their men at the top jobs in their domenstic leagues and within UEFA (cartels are illegal).
And this was evidenced as the CL money kept getting higher from the early-00s onwards when the Sky Four (Arsenal Chelsea Liverpool United) finished as the top four in five out of six seasons from 2003-04 onwards.
The Polish Ekstraklasa, for example, would never be able to move up the ladder and become one of Europe’s top leagues. Historical points ranking systems would always keep other leagues ahead of them so none of their clubs could ever earn enough money. This is despite clubs like Górnik Zabrze getting regular 100,000 attendances in the 1960s and 70s, taking the piss out of attendances of some of the so called European elite.
The gravy train was cementing everyone in their place. It wasn’t about prestige anymore, it was just about control and money.
The only way to get rid of that was by clubs getting investment. There was a feeling of increasing ambition across different clubs and leagues, as well as many being sick to fucking death of the same-old-same-old. The Russian and Ukrainian Premier Leagues saw a rise in the rankings because their clubs started to get invested in... Malaga... and then there was obviously City and Sheikh Mansour!
Feeling threatened by this new investment the Cartel thought up Financial Fair Play. The Russian and Ukrainian leagues were halted in their rise... Malaga’s rise was eradicated... but City’s wasn’t (even though, time-and-time-again, they tried)!
After those stupid Sky Four years (if they had carried on could have alienated fans from all the other clubs from the sport), Liverpool didn’t qualify for the CL for six out of the next seven years (possibly again this season); and United didn’t in five of the last eight years.
So they kept coming at us. Look at that CAS case last year. Evidence at its most extreme that we were seen as an outsider even after a decade of playing in the CL. We broke up the Cartel and they didn’t fucking like it, they wanted us out.
All this with the media in tow with them all the way. With bitterness, petty name calling, a downplaying of our achievements, our achievements even being ignored, a complete lack of enthusiasm and negativity when talking about us or commentating our games (and always fucking mentioning United and Liverpool), all the way up to lies and slander on a perpetual basis from the media. All because we dared to break up the gravy train.
But they failed!
Arsenal Chelsea Liverpool and United, the G14, UEFA, the media, even the daft fuckers at Spurs Leicester Wolves Newcastle and fucking Burnley... you have not stopped us! We are here to stay, we encourage more investment into clubs like Everton and West Ham, and other leagues, to fuck you all off even further, you set of cunts!
All of this, however, has fuelled anything between ambivalence to apathy amongst our fans towards the CL. I know lads who go home and away, and lads who’ve gone to home games for decades, who don’t attend CL games.
So I completely understand why ⅓ of the votes in this poll say “No” to whether the CL is important to them or not.
The thing is though, despite the prestige of winning this competition being nothing like it used to be or should be; you’ve just got to think about how sweet it would be to win this competition, not just for our own enjoyment, or for the players and the club, but to stick it to every **** who’s tried to stop us along the way!
