I like having European football to watch midweek, as do millions of others.Originally Posted by splott parker
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I like having European football to watch midweek, as do millions of others.
And millions don’t bother watching the group games, many of them dead rubbers. A bit contradictory managers & coaches complaining about too many games yet condone the present system. It’s all geared to the television fan. With our 24 team division we’re very often in action anyway on Champions League nights, so we’re either down the City or, if we’re away, watching us in our houses rather than a European match.
I rarely watch a Champions League group game and as for the other Euro competitions, never.
Not really, (Close your eyes Sludge) I know quite a few lads from Merthyr who follow Liverpool everywhere and the group stages gives them at least 3 european trips most seasons. Judging by the amount of fans English clubs take abroad I imagine they are happy with the group stages too.
Then theres the clubs who dont get into Europe every season, the group stages are great for those clubs and the fans who follow them.
They might be a bjt boring for the teams that always reach the quarter finals onwards but in the main I think the group stages cater well for the rest.
As a TV fan of the Champions League though I dont really bother until rounds 5 or 6 of the group stages.
Yes, I agree that fans of clubs may enjoy the group stages and I’d love us to be involved. But I’d find it annoying if our manager, if it ever happened, then complained that we were playing too many games and the players were tired.
It would be more exciting for fans of the not so glamorous clubs having a chance of progressing through the old two legged system. Unfortunately the days of Malmo, Hamburg, Forest, Bruges etc are long gone. Cup games and competition should be all about ‘on the day’ not a long drawn out execution.
Sadly those days are long gone regardless of the format. The big European clubs now snap up the very best young european (and south american too) talent from a very young age. Gone are the days the very best talent in Holland all coming through the Ajax first team at the same time.
There was a good article in The Athletic on the subject recently, in particular the eastern bloc teams of the past and how we wont see that again.
In some respects thats why the Europa League is a bit more interesting for the neutral and football romantic come the latter stages, although Seville started to ruin that by winning it every year!!
They are I know. I’m just reminiscing about the competitions of my youth, through rose tinted specs as well, no doubt. Perhaps us older fans are lucky in a way that we’ve seen most formats in our day. None of us witnessed the original FA Cup format though, when it was the FA Challenge Trophy. The winners of the previous season were automatically in the final the next season, waiting to be challenged by the team who got through the preceding rounds. Wanderers had to play a series of friendlies to warm waiting to see who they faced in the final TV would be apoplectic nowadays
Thats mentalThey are I know. I’m just reminiscing about the competitions of my youth, through rose tinted specs as well, no doubt. Perhaps us older fans are lucky in a way that we’ve seen most formats in our day. None of us witnessed the original FA Cup format though, when it was the FA Challenge Trophy. The winners of the previous season were automatically in the final the next season, waiting to be challenged by the team who got through the preceding rounds. Wanderers had to play a series of friendlies to warm waiting to see who they faced in the final TV would be apoplectic nowadays
Youve probavbly already seen it but if not theres docu drama series called "The English Game" on Netlfix which is a good watch. From 2020.
Mainly about the start of the pro game and the first proffesional players and teams back in the 19th century.
As a football romantic I enjoyed it.
Neil Warnock has tweeted about the magic of the FA cup.
It's a shame that when he was here he didn't seem to give two hoots about it
Here in Denmark, cup games are always played at the lower ranked sides ground, until the much later stages. No replays, straight to extra time and penalties. Works quite well.
Scrapping replays is probably the right thing, as already said there's too much football. Get rid of the stupid group stages of European competitions too!
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