In Arsene We Trust, that's true. I guess all we can do is speculate on the financial benefits.

Also, I'm sure a team like Newcastle would have no problem selling out for a CL game. Same with Liverpool.

Villa? The qualification won't go quite THAT far.

Also, I'm sure a team like Newcastle would have no problem selling out for a CL game. Same with Liverpool.
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Man city didn't manage to sell out a crucial and must win game against Real Madrid!

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It was bound to happen the amount of English teams reaching finals etc is not on!

Seems they have lost faith in their initial plan to stop this happening in ffp rules . Time for plan B change the competition

I must be in the minority but i don't think this is such a terrible idea.

I am still formulating my opinion on this issue but amidst the sea of negativity, one scintilla of positivity is that it will try and lessen the chasm between the haves (the big clubs) and have nots (the rest), i am not saying it will solve it but anything that addresses (or tries to) should not be derided.

comment by AbdulTacki (U16191) posted 18 seconds ago

It was bound to happen the amount of English teams reaching finals etc is not on!

Seems they have lost faith in their initial plan to stop this happening in ffp rules . Time for plan B change the competition

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Not sure increasing the number of English teams will reduce the odds of an english team in the final!!

In terms of finances and TV revenue, i'm sure that a compeitition of this size would mean more bids from other TV companies coming in, rather then the current Sky and ITV (for England). Other companies will be able to buy the packages, to ensure a the money pot is pretty much as it is now.

Man City rarely sell out. There's a reason their stadium is called the Emptyhad.

Newcastle and Liverpool are a different proposition.

No danger of clubs like Everton or Spurs not selling out seats for CL games. None at all.

But further down the years, if this carries on, will the attendences be as full, as the novelty wears off and the prospect of playing in CL gets devalued?

"I am still formulating my opinion on this issue but amidst the sea of negativity, one scintilla of positivity is that it will try and lessen the chasm between the haves (the big clubs) and have nots (the rest), i am not saying it will solve it but anything that addresses (or tries to) should not be derided."

I view it differently, I think it will actually increase the divide more between them, just that there will be slightly more haves, who will then need to be careful not to cripple themselves by buying players they can't afford to try and compete.

The Red,

How would you see it lessening "the chasm between the haves (the big clubs) and have nots (the rest), "?

I still think UEFA will want to protect the Champions League brand from a sponsorship perspective. Introducing a second tier would be my thought on how they could bring in more teams and potentially more sponsors. .

"Man City rarely sell out. There's a reason their stadium is called the Emptyhad."

In the CL Darren, every PL games has sold out for the past season and a half.

Serial, it hasn't for Arsenal. Why will it for those teams?

It would just mean even more games, the English teams would suffer the most with fixture conjestion etc because the FA are useless.

The competition itself imo would be more interesting and become even harder to win. However there is no doubt in my mind it will devalue it, it would just create a massive sh-t storm and im telling you Uefa Eng FA Etc have not got a chance of riding the storm out for it to work because they fail as it is.

Ah ok, melton.

The current format gives the top clubs 30-50 million quid a year more than those not in the comp.

That's one Torres, Rooney, Rio, Aguero, etc every single year.

The Europa teams get a couple million quid.

So from a financial fairness perspective it makes sense.

But I'd rather they started pooling the TV and prize money from all European comps and spreading evenly among the teams.

The status quo just creates permanent mega money clubs and permanent also rans.

But 7 is too many and it would devalue the comp.

I dont like this idea ,teams can casually constantly under perform and easily make Europe. Where is the common sense of that ? We need competition !

Serial, it hasn't for Arsenal. Why will it for those teams?
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Good point, but the problem for Arsenal is that the board view qualification as the be-all and end-all. It's the only benchmark of success they have given themselves. This means we unable to compete in, what for me, the truely ultimate competition for any club. Their national champion, the Premier League for England.

I still don't understant why if UEFA wants to generate more money, they don't organise an "all star game" type of competition (basket ball). Where each league will select their best players, coached by a selected coach and play in a tournament over the summer of each odd numbered year (no world cup or european championship).
That could be more interesting to watch!

So we can all celebrate finishing 7th soon


Now you might all understand when i say football should be about glory and winning things


give me the FA CUP the greatest oldest cup competiton of all time watched all over the world

It does raise a good point though. The reason we don't tend to sell out in the CL is basically down to money, personally I cannot afford to go to PL and CL games and I know a lot of City fans in a similar situation. Personally, I always choose to go to a PL game over a CL one as it is a weekend kick off rather than a midweek evening one so I can take my son, and the CL game is guaranteed to be on TV.

Football is already very expensive to go and watch at the top level, if you add more fixtures in to that, it probably will be difficult to keep the attendances up wherever you go. Arsenal are a slightly different beast, their fans must be rolling in it considering how much even their cheapest seat costs

Now you might all understand when i say football should be about glory and winning things
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Spot on. Every football club in every land should have winning trophies and titles as their main ambition. The only thing this proposed idea will achieve is removing that ambition to a false one, of getting in the top 7.

The glory and trophies will become a secondary after thought.

Yeah, I can see how it might have a detrimental affect on Arsenal. But for others less so.

Liverpool for example are a club that really need CL football to move forward. Same with Everton and Spurs.

Not saying I want this to happen, but if the financial games are similar to what they are now it would make the teams who cannot compete with the current CL teams a lot more competitive. In theory anyway.

The greed of these people at the top of all organisations makes me sick

lets see how much more we can rip off the fans