ml1dch Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Its a joke unless you get to the final stages, the money it returns is nothing in comparison to the champions league. Which is obviously the most important thing. Maybe we should just care about the Deloitte Top 20 instead on the Premier League as well. The money you get is pathetic compared to what you get for being in the CL Again, who gives a toss how much money we get? The money we'll get for being in the FA Cup semi-final will be negligible compared to what we get for playing in the Premier League. Should we not give a shit about that either? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Yes everything isn't just about money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 From a fans PoV it would be amazing, went to hamburg and it's still probably my best football experience, Ajax at home wasn't far off, can you imagine in the new format if we'd have drawn Ajax, hamburg and Prague... The Sunday league games are a ball ache but it would be worth it For us it would be about money, not necessarily prize money but let to fox do his magic with the exposure, said in the Lerner thread that crazily / unfortunately one of the worst decisions he made was to have a charity as our sponsor during the UEFA cup years rather than chasing huge deals, we already punch above our weight sponsorship wise, bet we could double it if we were group stage regulars Then you add in our exposure in terms of the transfer market and the pull it brings with it when trying to sign players, and keep players I think people see Swansea and Everton dip and think it's a hindrance, if we got ourselves run properly then I don't see it that way 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I always felt we could have won that tournament in 2009. Pissed me off playing a full team at home to CSKA and then a reserve team in 2nd leg If look at last 8 that season we probably could have took any of them 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 A great tournament, I would argue it has more interesting games than the CL at times. The club could attract better players and sponsors being in Europe. If rotation is handled properly it shouldn't be a problem. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted March 16, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted March 16, 2015 The Europa League is a bit like the League Cup. It's only good to be in it if you win it. Unfortunately the UEFA Cup lost a lot of it's value when the Champions League started including so many teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCforever1991 Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I look forward to some Europa League matches more than CL matches.. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRS-T Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I rank it below the Champions League and Premier League but above the FA Cup and League Cup. I would rather finish 17th and win the Europa League than finish 5th. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I always felt we could have won that tournament in 2009. Pissed me off playing a full team at home to CSKA and then a reserve team in 2nd leg If look at last 8 that season we probably could have took any of them i didnt, was very impressed with CSKA at VP, no excuse for the shambles in the 2nd leg but we would have to have played out of our skin to have beaten them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I understand MON picking a reserve side as the focus was on getting a top 4 finish but with hindsight it would have been better if he had of picked his strongest team in Moscow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwpzxjor1 Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 its not the hindsight though, Its not the fact of throwing the cup but its the way we did. What was the point of playing a full team in 1st leg with no intention of doing the same in 2nd leg. was pointless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViolaVillan Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I love the UEFA Cup (flat out refuse to use the new name). Got great memories of seeing Villa in it when I was a kid. I think that if handled correctly it can serve as a springboard for further success. Look at Atletico, they won the UEFA Cup a couple of times and then went on to win La Liga and come within minutes if winning the Champions league Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I always felt we could have won that tournament in 2009. Pissed me off playing a full team at home to CSKA and then a reserve team in 2nd leg If look at last 8 that season we probably could have took any of them i didnt, was very impressed with CSKA at VP, no excuse for the shambles in the 2nd leg but we would have to have played out of our skin to have beaten them Yep. They were essentially "leading" after the game at Villa Park, so for us to go to Moscow and get through would've been a huge ask. I don't like MON, but he probably couldn't win either way. Even if he put a full strength side out in Moscow, we won that game - if we didn't win the competition and failed to get 4th, he'd be criticised anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ml1dch Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 I always felt we could have won that tournament in 2009. Pissed me off playing a full team at home to CSKA and then a reserve team in 2nd leg If look at last 8 that season we probably could have took any of them i didnt, was very impressed with CSKA at VP, no excuse for the shambles in the 2nd leg but we would have to have played out of our skin to have beaten them Yep. They were essentially "leading" after the game at Villa Park, so for us to go to Moscow and get through would've been a huge ask. I don't like MON, but he probably couldn't win either way. Not conceding two goals in the last five minutes against Stoke in the game for which he was resting players would have gone a long way to help his case. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 The balance was far better in the late 90s, Champions league was more streamlined, it was just league winners and 2nd place teams and you had the Uefa Cup and Cup winners cup. I loved our run in 98...to me it was more exciting than our FA cup run this season. Look at the quality we beat that season, Bordeaux, Athletic Bilbao (who finished 2nd in La Liga that season), Steaua Bucharest and then just falling just short against an Atletico Madrid team that had one of the best forwards in the world in Christian Vieri. That year Inter Milan won the Uefa Cup and Chelsea won the Cup winners Cup. The previous year Barca had won the ECWC. That was the thing back then, there wasn't this endless obssesion to get CL qualification, teams were happy enough to be in any of the three competitions and there was really good quality spread amongst the three so they didn't feel the inferior competiitons that the europa does now until it gets to the lasy 8. Nowadays what would we get...a group with Azerbaijan pub teams and then endless knock out rounds at which point we'd depressingly be putting out the reserves again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 The cup winners cup was a bit of a waste of time to be fair. Theres more opportunity to get into Europe now than there was in the 80s and 90s. So I'm all for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPower_14 Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 (edited) I dislike the Europa League for the reasons others have said. It puts a big extra burden on upper middle tier clubs that don't have the depth of squad to handle it and makes it difficult for them to put their sole focus on moving up in the league and challenging for CL spots. That said, how awesome would it be to have a Wednesday night fixture against the likes of PSV, Wolfsburg, Fiorentina or Villareal at Villa Park? I'd be happy if we made it. We're a big enough club that we should absolutely be contesting it on a regular basis. Edited March 17, 2015 by ThunderPower_14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDuck Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Ditch the group section and the entry of knocked-out CL clubs and it would be a worthwhile tournament. As it is, it's a bag of shite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Yeah I agree with that, make it a good old fashioned free for all, rather than the bloated attempt at making UEFA extra money whilst paying out very little that it currently is To me in it's current format it just sums UEFA up, money 1st football 2nd fans somewhere off in the distance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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