VillaJ100 Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 On 19/02/2016 at 07:28, Genie said: 5 Teams in the Champions League from 1 country is bonkers. Off topic but how do we think the landscape of football would change if it was truly only Europe's champions allowed in it? Would it create an even crazier arms race for the title? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 On 06/02/2016 at 12:26, Zatman said: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 37 minutes ago, VillaJ100 said: Off topic but how do we think the landscape of football would change if it was truly only Europe's champions allowed in it? Would it create an even crazier arms race for the title? I'm not sure, but going even further off topic, kind of, just how shit is the Europa League??? Nobody cares about it, and that includes the clubs taking part. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 3 minutes ago, Genie said: I'm not sure, but going even further off topic, kind of, just how shit is the Europa League??? Nobody cares about it, and that includes the clubs taking part. English clubs don't care about the europa league, even with the CL place now. In fairness I can understand Spurs maybe not taking it seriously now as it's a once in a generation chance to win the premier league for them this season. Plenty of other good european clubs care about it, I'm sure Dortmund, Villareal and Napoli would all like to win it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 2 minutes ago, VillaChris said: English clubs don't care about the europa league, even with the CL place now. In fairness I can understand Spurs maybe not taking it seriously now as it's a once in a generation chance to win the premier league for them this season. Plenty of other good european clubs care about it, I'm sure Dortmund, Villareal and Napoli would all like to win it. There are just so few "glamour" ties I think is the problem. Really difficult to get excited about. I often think during the day about a CL game I'm gonna watch on the night. Europa league... no chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 There were some good ties in the week...Villareal-Napoli wouldn't look out of place as a CL game (certainly more watchable than Gent-Wolfsburg) and Bilbao-Marseille was a good tie aswell. Must say I've hardly watched any euro football this season but that's only due to it being on BT and think the viewing figures generally reflect that. The problem with the europa league to me has always been how long it is. Teams starting in July have to play 20 games if they want to reach the final, it's too long. To me it was perfect in the 90s...1st and 2nd in champions league....cup winners in the cup winners cup and then Uefa Cup had some good teams aswell....Barcelona and Inter Miland won it I think in the mid 90s. There was balance then, the champions league wasn't the be all and end all for clubs like it is now. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 6 minutes ago, VillaChris said: There were some good ties in the week...Villareal-Napoli wouldn't look out of place as a CL game (certainly more watchable than Gent-Wolfsburg) and Bilbao-Marseille was a good tie aswell. Must say I've hardly watched any euro football this season but that's only due to it being on BT and think the viewing figures generally reflect that. The problem with the europa league to me has always been how long it is. Teams starting in July have to play 20 games if they want to reach the final, it's too long. To me it was perfect in the 90s...1st and 2nd in champions league....cup winners in the cup winners cup and then Uefa Cup had some good teams aswell....Barcelona and Inter Miland won it I think in the mid 90s. There was balance then, the champions league wasn't the be all and end all for clubs like it is now. Exactly. The UEFA was a real high quality competition back then. Those days are gone now, its all about finishing 4th in your domestic league now at all costs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimzk5 Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 I'm not sure of the current figures but when we were in the EL a few years ago per game we got £80k for a win, in the champions league teams £500k just for playing. they should just scrap the EL. It serves no purpose. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 I haven't seen us win a trophy live so one of my favourite memories was our run in the Uefa cup in 1998. Straight knock out then (it should be like that now with the group stage abolished). In the first round we narrowly beat Bordeaux who were a good quality french team. Second round was Bilbao who I believe finished 2nd in La Liga that season. Then Bucharest in the next round, fair enough an unknown team but knock out tie made it far more memorable than a group stage meeting. And then the near miss against Atletico Madrid who had Vieri upfront. The final that season was between Inter Milan and Lazio. Ronaldo was the best forward in the world at the time and he wasn't even playing champions league. Nowadays you have to play about 12 ties even before the quarter final stage, it's too long and there isn't enough decent games to stimulate the interest like our run in the 90s. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 11 minutes ago, VillaChris said: And then the near miss against Atletico Madrid who had Vieri upfront. I went to VP leg and remember Vieri missing a sitter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 59 minutes ago, VillaChris said: There were some good ties in the week...Villareal-Napoli wouldn't look out of place as a CL game (certainly more watchable than Gent-Wolfsburg) and Bilbao-Marseille was a good tie aswell. Must say I've hardly watched any euro football this season but that's only due to it being on BT and think the viewing figures generally reflect that. The problem with the europa league to me has always been how long it is. Teams starting in July have to play 20 games if they want to reach the final, it's too long. To me it was perfect in the 90s...1st and 2nd in champions league....cup winners in the cup winners cup and then Uefa Cup had some good teams aswell....Barcelona and Inter Miland won it I think in the mid 90s. There was balance then, the champions league wasn't the be all and end all for clubs like it is now. I completely agree, it should be a straight knockout competition. It would actually raise interest in the competition and make it worthwhile entering, though I suppose it would make less money so that's that really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 1 minute ago, HanoiVillan said: I completely agree, it should be a straigdivertingut competition. It would actually raise interest in the competition and make it worthwhile entering, though I suppose it would make less money so that's that really. UEFA's fault for diverting so much money towards the CL. They should divide it more evenly to make Europa league worth playing in, and less for the CL makes people risk less to be in it. I think we've fixed the problem right here 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 30 minutes ago, VillaChris said: I haven't seen us win a trophy live so one of my favourite memories was our run in the Uefa cup in 1998. Straight knock out then (it should be like that now with the group stage abolished). In the first round we narrowly beat Bordeaux who were a good quality french team. Second round was Bilbao who I believe finished 2nd in La Liga that season. Then Bucharest in the next round, fair enough an unknown team but knock out tie made it far more memorable than a group stage meeting. And then the near miss against Atletico Madrid who had Vieri upfront. The final that season was between Inter Milan and Lazio. Ronaldo was the best forward in the world at the time and he wasn't even playing champions league. Nowadays you have to play about 12 ties even before the quarter final stage, it's too long and there isn't enough decent games to stimulate the interest like our run in the 90s. I went to all the home games mentioned in your post. The atmosphere against A Madrid was outstanding, especially in the 2nd half. I can't recall Villa Park ever being as loud. Just a quick point re;Bucharest, I wouldn't call them an unknown team. Steaua Bucharest were Champions of Europe a decade earlier! Also won the Super cup and runners up in another European Cup final a few years after their win 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 Audio is awful but you get a feel for the atmosphere 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ml1dch Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 1 hour ago, VillaChris said: Must say I've hardly watched any euro football this season but that's only due to it being on BT and think the viewing figures generally reflect that. Even the final year before BT the viewing figures were the lowest ever. The main thing is saturation. Of course more people were interested to watch Barcelona or Bayern when they weren't able to stream or watch on TV every single moment of every match they play. And obviously the 90s were "better" and more exciting when it was either watch them play an English team in Europe or get up at 6.30am on a Saturday for Transworld Sport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 7 minutes ago, ml1dch said: Even the final year before BT the viewing figures were the lowest ever. The main thing is saturation. Of course more people were interested to watch Barcelona or Bayern when they weren't able to stream or watch on TV every single moment of every match they play. And obviously the 90s were "better" and more exciting when it was either watch them play an English team in Europe or get up at 6.30am on a Saturday for Transworld Sport. I did see in the paper apparently 5m watched PSG-Chelsea last season on ITV and only 1m this season on BT, maybe even not that. Seems the sponsors aren't happy.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 (edited) 1 hour ago, Xela said: Audio is awful but you get a feel for the atmosphere Very fond memories of this one. Yorke was absolutely terrific, so was Hendrie, and Collymore's strike is one of my all time favourite Villa goals! Edited February 20, 2016 by Dr_Pangloss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 I wish I was there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodytom Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 2 hours ago, Genie said: I went to VP leg and remember Vieri missing a sitter. Stan Collymore goal is my favourite ever. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodytom Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 2 hours ago, Xela said: Just a quick point re;Bucharest, I wouldn't call them an unknown team. Steaua Bucharest were Champions of Europe a decade earlier! Also won the Super cup and runners up in another European Cup final a few years after their win Was about to post something similar. In fact they are probably the toughest of all opponents up to Madrid. Not a patch on trabzonpor tho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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