is the champions league losing its pull

[MSP]

Continental sides have become weaker, and I think that contributes towards the competition not having the level of excitement that used to surround it. Real Madrid/Barcelona/Bayern Munich/Juventus/Milan clubs aside, I can't really think of any side on the Continent that poses a serious threat to the English clubs if they were to meet in the knockouts.

Eh.. Napoli, Benfica, basel, Bilbao, Sporting, Dortmund.... were pretty serious threat to some English, pardon Manchester clubs only.. more of them for other ones too

There are loads of European clubs who are able to kick shit out of most if not all English clubs, and loads of those who can give game to any of them.

 

[kiam06]

The only reason it will lose it's pull is because of this corrupt seeding or as I prefer to call it match fixing system they have in place. There are too many meaningless games that are not worth watching unless of course you are City!

I must admit I also find all the diving, time wasting and poor refereeing annoying and I do not enjoy the football, it's not hard to see how the rags have done well over the years as they thrive when it comes to dirty tricks.

 

[tidyman]

It lost all its credibility for me when you could get 4th in England meet 4th in Spain in the final of the CHAMPIONS league.

To me, playing in Europe was always a little bonus. A reward for a succesful season. A trip into the unknown. Seeing sides you knew little or nothing about, playing football differently to the way we played it.

Now, for some clubs, it's the cornerstone of their season. Their automatic right to play in it and the revenue it generates is built into their budget. When United fell in the group stage last season, the big story wasn't how a plucky underdog had knocked out one of the big boys. It was how much money United had lost by not qualifying. It's like a football version of the Million Pound Drop where the big clubs think they start with an entitlement to the money that comes with getting to the semi's or final and anything stolen off them on the way, needs to be questioned and steps taken to ensure it can't happen again.

Of course I hope City win tonight.
Of course I would celebrate if we ever won the competition.
But I could quite happily live with it not happening and although it would never happen for financial reasons, I would be happy if City put it just below the League Cup on their list of priorities.

 

[kunaguero10]

It lost all its credibility for me when you could get 4th in England meet 4th in Spain in the final of the CHAMPIONS league.

which year was this?

 

[tidyman]

It lost all its credibility for me when you COULD get 4th in England meet 4th in Spain in the final of the CHAMPIONS league.

which year was this?

COULD

 

[kunaguero10]

It lost all its credibility for me when you COULD get 4th in England meet 4th in Spain in the final of the CHAMPIONS league.

which year was this?

COULD

ah ok. its far too early

 

[tidyman]

which year was this?

COULD

ah ok. its far too early

Fair do's. If I remember correctly though, when United beat Bayern Munich in '99, it was the first time the final had been contested between two sides, neither of which had won their domestic league the previous season.

 

[manchester blue]

73k is an excellent crowd but my question is where are all these 600m who have stated for years they don't go because they can't get a ticket. Well guess what, they were giving them away on countless radio shows yesterday and they are still sat at home, in Manchester, giving it the big one on Facebook, text etc. It's these "fans" that are the worst of the worst.

 

[GSW Blue]

73k to see Braga on a tuesday night is pretty good going.

they are forced to go. they also jump the figures up, they've been on the rasdio begging for people to buy tickets.

the op is right, its losing its appeal, mainly due to prices but this money making sham is being found out. the draw every year is nothing short of farce, its well loaded to keep the cartel safe and make it as hard as possible for other teams to progress ,when clubs new to the comp start making headlines and progress they even sometimes knock the big boys out (god forbid) they change the rules and allow more weaker clubs/countries in, more cannon fodder. wont be long before tns and co are allowed in.

the champions cup/league should be exactly that, for champions, whether we qualify or not. there should be no pots, no seeding, you draw who you draw, just like villa liverpool and forest did years ago, to be fair the rags too in 68 and the lions of vienna in 67.

it also of course dilutes the europa league by stealing some good sides from it.

Nat Lofthouse never played in 67.

 

[whyalwaysLee]

Bloody hell, some spoilt bellwhiffs on this thread. 15 years of dreaming about just getting into the champions league by any means possible. Knocked out at first sniff, then knocked out of the Europa by "canon fodder" teams, but apparently it's far too easy to win??

What about benchmarking yourself against the best teams in the world. What about the games against Madrid and Dortmund this season, sitting on the edge of your seat as some of the best players in the world go toe to toe? What about every player to a man fulfilling their dreams?