I agree that UEFA have done their best to destroy the magic of the European tournaments, in the name of TV money. But they haven't totally destroyed it. I went down to Swansea last autumn to visit their Trust guys. They had just returned from thrashing the ass off Valencia. These were the guys who less than ten years earlier had got together at one minute to midnight to save Fourth Division Swansea, playing in a tip of a ground they didn't own, from total extinction. Can you begin to imagine how they must have felt in Valencia?
I was able to stay for that night's game against St Gallen. Didn't have the same ring about it as Valencia, but it had its own magic, provided by the St Gallen fans. Everybody, including the Swansea police, expected a few besuited Swiss bankers to turn up and politely clap. What they got was 1,500 bloody noisy fans equipped with flares and all kinds of songs you never heard before, who kept up an almighty racket for 90 minutes. Met a couple in my hotel next morning and learned a lot about Swiss footie culture.
I agree that UEFA have done their best to destroy the magic of the European tournaments, in the name of TV money. But they haven't totally destroyed it. I went down to Swansea last autumn to visit their Trust guys. They had just returned from thrashing the ass off Valencia. These were the guys who less than ten years earlier had got together at one minute to midnight to save Fourth Division Swansea, playing in a tip of a ground they didn't own, from total extinction. Can you begin to imagine how they must have felt in Valencia?
I was able to stay for that night's game against St Gallen. Didn't have the same ring about it as Valencia, but it had its own magic, provided by the St Gallen fans. Everybody, including the Swansea police, expected a few besuited Swiss bankers to turn up and politely clap. What they got was 1,500 bloody noisy fans equipped with flares and all kinds of songs you never heard before, who kept up an almighty racket for 90 minutes. Met a couple in my hotel next morning and learned a lot about Swiss footie culture.
That's what it's about and I'm still dreaming
Couldn't agree more and, as I said on another thread, I really don't understand why so many fans dismiss Cup competitions as irrelevant.
I'm really looking forward to the season just started. We've got some exciting players and I'm sure we'll play much better football, especially at home, than in the last two seasons. Notwithstanding the strong finish to our first season in the Championship, we've been in a battle to survive since winning League One and that has created drama, excitement and a glory of sorts, grim watching though it's often been. Hopefully, we'll avoid that struggle this season and the constant pressure that goes with it.
However, on the other hand, a Play-Off place, while always possible, has to be a long shot. When people say "the League is the only thing that matters .... " I'm not sure what they mean. Matters for what? If we want excitement, drama and glory, the Cup competitions have the potential to be a much better bet. Is it really all about "Brighton away in the League" or is the dream of playing Chelsea under floodlights in the Fourth Round of the League Cup more attuned to the emotion which seduces us to spend so much time and emotional energy watching the game we love?
The irony in all of this is that while we rightly accuse the football authorities of "making it all about money", the fact is that they continue to promote the Cup competitions, both domestic and international. It's the fans that eschew Cup matches, prioritising instead the scramble to progress through the Leagues, seeking Premier League riches at the end of a distant rainbow. When I first started watching football, the FA Cup Third Round was one of the biggest days of the season. It's the attitude of the fans which means this is no longer so. In my view our enjoyment of the season is much diminished by this shift in attitudes.
Have to say I don't agree with your last para. The sheer media weight of the FAPL - powered by Sky's financial interest- drowned out the FA Cup within a few years of it starting. Not surprising. The FA had no control over any balance between the tournaments because they had surrendered control over one of them. But of course they made it worse by buggering about with fixture times and the draw, again all in the pursuit of TV money. And then the spiralling ticket prices for the FAPL and the increasing tendency to field weaker teams - can you really blame the poor customers for their choices? As for the changes to the European tournaments, this was again a surrender to a few powerful club owners whose only interest was the TV money - and having permanent access to it. They of course wanted a European league and this was the compromise.
If you have the TV constantly blaring at you that the FAPL is the Best League in The World, except for the Champions League which is the Best league in the Whole World, people succumb. It is basically advertising. And advertising works. For better or for worse.
I agree that UEFA have done their best to destroy the magic of the European tournaments, in the name of TV money. But they haven't totally destroyed it. I went down to Swansea last autumn to visit their Trust guys. They had just returned from thrashing the ass off Valencia. These were the guys who less than ten years earlier had got together at one minute to midnight to save Fourth Division Swansea, playing in a tip of a ground they didn't own, from total extinction. Can you begin to imagine how they must have felt in Valencia?
I was able to stay for that night's game against St Gallen. Didn't have the same ring about it as Valencia, but it had its own magic, provided by the St Gallen fans. Everybody, including the Swansea police, expected a few besuited Swiss bankers to turn up and politely clap. What they got was 1,500 bloody noisy fans equipped with flares and all kinds of songs you never heard before, who kept up an almighty racket for 90 minutes. Met a couple in my hotel next morning and learned a lot about Swiss footie culture.
That's what it's about and I'm still dreaming .
Great post, I enjoyed reading the Swansea anecdote and only makes me dream even more of our imminent night in Europe. Only thing I would say is that although you're right in saying UEFA have cocked up the Europa League a bit and are now only starting to put it right by introducing the CL rule.
I would say they have done the opposite with the Champions League which seems to be getting better and better and is by far the best cup competition in club football globally. It seems to have benefited from everything you said, ie sponsorship and advertisement and is taken so seriously by all clubs involved, more serious then the league sometimes - which didn't work in our favour much remember Fulham v Liverpool? - I look forward to seeing English teams in the Champions League more than ever and find it astoundingly easy to support all of them and generally can't wait for it to start again, especially having Liverpool back. I'd say UEFA have done the complete opposite with Champions League than they have with Europa. The magic of European nights still very much exists but a large percentage of it is in the CL rather than the Europa.
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I was able to stay for that night's game against St Gallen. Didn't have the same ring about it as Valencia, but it had its own magic, provided by the St Gallen fans. Everybody, including the Swansea police, expected a few besuited Swiss bankers to turn up and politely clap. What they got was 1,500 bloody noisy fans equipped with flares and all kinds of songs you never heard before, who kept up an almighty racket for 90 minutes. Met a couple in my hotel next morning and learned a lot about Swiss footie culture.
That's what it's about and I'm still dreaming .
I'm really looking forward to the season just started. We've got some exciting players and I'm sure we'll play much better football, especially at home, than in the last two seasons. Notwithstanding the strong finish to our first season in the Championship, we've been in a battle to survive since winning League One and that has created drama, excitement and a glory of sorts, grim watching though it's often been. Hopefully, we'll avoid that struggle this season and the constant pressure that goes with it.
However, on the other hand, a Play-Off place, while always possible, has to be a long shot. When people say "the League is the only thing that matters .... " I'm not sure what they mean. Matters for what? If we want excitement, drama and glory, the Cup competitions have the potential to be a much better bet. Is it really all about "Brighton away in the League" or is the dream of playing Chelsea under floodlights in the Fourth Round of the League Cup more attuned to the emotion which seduces us to spend so much time and emotional energy watching the game we love?
The irony in all of this is that while we rightly accuse the football authorities of "making it all about money", the fact is that they continue to promote the Cup competitions, both domestic and international. It's the fans that eschew Cup matches, prioritising instead the scramble to progress through the Leagues, seeking Premier League riches at the end of a distant rainbow. When I first started watching football, the FA Cup Third Round was one of the biggest days of the season. It's the attitude of the fans which means this is no longer so. In my view our enjoyment of the season is much diminished by this shift in attitudes.
Have to say I don't agree with your last para. The sheer media weight of the FAPL - powered by Sky's financial interest- drowned out the FA Cup within a few years of it starting. Not surprising. The FA had no control over any balance between the tournaments because they had surrendered control over one of them. But of course they made it worse by buggering about with fixture times and the draw, again all in the pursuit of TV money. And then the spiralling ticket prices for the FAPL and the increasing tendency to field weaker teams - can you really blame the poor customers for their choices? As for the changes to the European tournaments, this was again a surrender to a few powerful club owners whose only interest was the TV money - and having permanent access to it. They of course wanted a European league and this was the compromise.
If you have the TV constantly blaring at you that the FAPL is the Best League in The World, except for the Champions League which is the Best league in the Whole World, people succumb. It is basically advertising. And advertising works. For better or for worse.
I would say they have done the opposite with the Champions League which seems to be getting better and better and is by far the best cup competition in club football globally. It seems to have benefited from everything you said, ie sponsorship and advertisement and is taken so seriously by all clubs involved, more serious then the league sometimes - which didn't work in our favour much remember Fulham v Liverpool? - I look forward to seeing English teams in the Champions League more than ever and find it astoundingly easy to support all of them and generally can't wait for it to start again, especially having Liverpool back. I'd say UEFA have done the complete opposite with Champions League than they have with Europa. The magic of European nights still very much exists but a large percentage of it is in the CL rather than the Europa.