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Sorry for cut and paste and its origin just thought it was good football article by Martyn Samuel.
Tottenham and Arsenal fans are greatly dismayed that their derby has been arranged for Thursday, May 12.
They should make the most of it. By the time UEFA and their co-conspirators at the European Club Association have done their worst, games like that won’t matter at all.
It does seem rather convenient that, each year, one giant fixture gets shoehorned into the final two weeks of the season. Neither Tottenham nor Arsenal have been in Europe this year and both were eliminated from the FA Cup by March 2.
Surely the fixture could have been arranged before mid-May. Apparently not. And the knock-on around it shoves Arsenal to Newcastle on Monday, May 16, and Tottenham to Liverpool late on Saturday, May 7. All very inconvenient.*
Yet at least the match still means something. It’s a hot item for broadcasters because it’s viewed as a fourth-place decider.
Once the new Champions League format is minted, however, the same situation would be pretty much a dead rubber. Fifth will be the new fourth, mediocre the new competent. Historical qualification places are a game-changer. And not for the better.
This has never been about improvement. What the elite of Europe have always desired is protection from consequence. Even the best of them.
One day, Manchester City will have to survive without Pep Guardiola, Liverpool must get along without Jurgen Klopp. Chelsea are already feeling an icy wind without Roman Abramovich. Do you think these clubs want to leave the future to chance?
They’ve all seen what happened to Manchester United once Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down. They’re not as smart as they would like you to think, these guys. They’re worried it will fall apart.
On the continent, it’s the same. Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus didn’t want a Super League because they think they’re the best. They’ve been overtaken, commercially, by the Premier League, they are under attack from within by supposed inferiors like Atalanta and Villarreal. They wanted to protect their traditional status. They wanted to make history work for them.*
They should make the most of it because by the time UEFA are done, it won't matter anymore.
And UEFA granted that wish: two historical berths each year to the Europa League qualifier with the best co-efficient. Might be a fifth-placed team, or even an FA Cup winner. The only criterion is a historic European presence.
So West Ham, or Wolves, in fifth would stay where they are; but Tottenham, Arsenal or Manchester United would almost certainly be elevated. Crystal Palace, if they won the FA Cup, would remain a Europa League side; but Chelsea, if they slipped outside the top four but won at Wembley, would maintain Champions League status.
So superiority becomes self- perpetuating. Champions League co-efficient points have greater value than Europa League, so the same clubs keep returning as fifth is no longer the near-miss for them that it is for others.
Under that system, Tottenham’s meeting with Arsenal would be meaningless. The winner comes fourth and qualifies automatically, the loser gets fifth and does the same.
Freeze frame the season now and historical places would go to Arsenal and Roma, two clubs who have made such a stunning contribution to European football that they muster a single UEFA-recognised trophy between them, Arsenal’s 1993-94 win in the now-defunct European Cup-Winners’ Cup. Neither have won a single competition that exists today — either the European Cup/Champions League or the UEFA Cup/Europa League. Some history.
And some form. What UEFA’s acceptance of historic places suggests is that their marquee competition misses the team who lost 3-0 to Crystal Palace on Monday, who lost 2-0 at Brentford, 2-1 at Everton, who have gone down 8-0 to Liverpool on aggregate across four matches this season and 7-1 in two versus Manchester City.
There is a giant gulf between Arsenal and the best English clubs qualifying by right. And, historically, they deserve squat. It was 12 years ago when they last reached the final eight of the Champions League.
As for Roma, their claims are equally risible. Beaten by relegation-threatened Venezia this season, mid-table Verona and Bologna, they are lucky to have got a second crack at Bodo/Glimt in the Europa Conference League quarter-finals — because they lost 6-1 to them in the group stage.
As for Champions League history, it consists of a semi-final run in 2017-18 and a quarter-final in 2006-07 and 2007-08. Roma reached the final of the old European Cup in 1983-84, but Dundee United made it to the semis, and no one is thinking of giving them a place. Nottingham Forest have got more European history than Arsenal and Roma put together.
Of course, it no longer matters and nor should it. Nottingham Forest are not of Champions League quality now but neither are any club who cannot finish top four in their own league.
This is supposed to be an elite competition, not a halfway house for also-rans. Did the endless safety nets for World Cup qualification benefit Italy? No, they made them entitled and complacent.
What will happen to Stan Kroenke’s plans for Arsenal once fifth is good enough? It’s not a motivation to build back better, you can guarantee that.*
Stealthily, this also constitutes another attack on the worth of the Premier League. One of its great selling points is that six into four doesn’t go. Now UEFA have chipped away at that jeopardy.
You don’t have to be top four to succeed. You can come fifth, or win a cup populated by reserve teams.
Not all of you, of course. Some of you. Maybe it is our mistake. Maybe we should have just let them all go, with their facades of wealth, and strength, and history, and competence.
Why do UEFA feel they need to appease the big clubs to keep them on board? We saw what happened last year when they tried a breakaway. Just tell them to f*ck off. The Champions League is already practically a closed shop, this just makes it even more so. And the Premier is just behind it...
somewhat further down the football ladder the Welsh FA have denied current leaders of the Cymru South , Llantwit Major, the chance of promotion as they do not met their criteria.
What you do on the pitch would appear to be secondary to having a god only knows what.
At all levels, this simple game is being made more complex and frustrating to those just love to play or watch.
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