It?s safe to say the return of the Europa League this week is generally likely to have been met with little more than a half interested raising of eyebrows.
The standing of Europe?s secondary competition is arguably at an all-time low. Several strong sides, including Sevilla and AS Roma, have already made a half-hearted departure from the competition, while many of those who remain, including Harry Redknapp?s Tottenham, are unlikely to view it as anything but a colossal inconvenience until Easter at the earliest, should they manage to crawl through the group stage.
Put simply, the Europa League needs a kick up the jacksie ? and we mean with real, sensible action, rather than some hackneyed re-branding and a few added bells and whistles to temporarily appease the gawping masses.
Here are a few suggestions?
Revert to a straight knock-out
Perhaps the biggest complaint of the Europa League is the number of matches the winning club must play ? 17 if they enter at the play-off round, where the highest-ranked entrants start their odyssey. For comparison, the top-ranked Champions League competitors only have to play 13 games.
You can see why UEFA introduced the mini-league to the secondary competition ? in an attempt to copy that Champions League cash cow which guarantees each group competitor at least three home games. Trouble is, the fans aren't buying it ? literally. Last season Juventus's three home group games were watched by 10,837, 12,162 and 6,992.
And it's not just those deadest of rubbers at the end of the group stage. Even for their first home group game, big teams struggled to get half the fans they would for a league game. Stuttgart (league average attendance 39,012) started with a pitiful 13,800; PSV Eindhoven (33,494) got 17,500; Sampdoria (23,330) got 12,159.
The group games just aren't attractive. A straight knock-out competition would eradicate uncompetitive dead-rubbers and make every match a must-see (causing much more competition among broadcasters), while also streamlining the whole competition ? much to the delight of managers who wouldn't have to play their second strings in order to concentrate on finishing higher up the domestic league. Speaking of which?
Redistribute money more evenly
When Celtic waltzed to the UEFA Cup final in 2003, it was said they didn?t actually make any money until the final itself. Similarly, speaking in 2001, then-Ipswich boss George Burley expressed concerns that his side would actually lose money by taking part in the competition, rather than turn a profit.
Nobody's saying Europa League contestants should get as much as Champions League participants but currently the divide is frankly startling. This year?s winners will be rewarded with ?3 million, less than half the ?7.2 million doled out each of to the 32 Champions League group-stage teams and way, way short of the ?50+ million pocketed by last year?s Big Cup finalists Manchester United and Barcelona.
Splitting the money more evenly would not only add as a greater incentive to teams competing in the Europa League, but would also help ramp up competition on the domestic front: qualifying for the secondary competition would revert to being a bonus instead of a booby prize.
Move the matches to Tuesday
One of the Europa League?s biggest problems is that it is seen as an afterthought to the week?s Champions League action. After two nights watching the likes of Barcelona, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Otelul Galati, there's substantially less appetite for a third night featuring the continental competitions' ugly sisters in their tatty ball-gowns.
The solution is simple ? switch the Europa League games to Tuesday evening and have the Champions League spread over Wednesday and Thursday. This will allow Joe Public to whet his footballing appetite by watching up-and-coming players at teams on the rise, before tucking into the main course.
Due to the way the Champions League "matchdays" are divided up (with protagonists currently switching between Tuesday and Wednesday), it would also mean fewer domestic matches would need to be switched to Sunday the following weekend, because nobody likes a weird kick-off time. Which brings us to...
Scrap 6pm kick-offs
Since last season, UEFA has staggered Europa League kick-off times in order to allow broadcasters to show back-to-back matches. That?s sort of understandable (although they don't do it for Champions League games), and clearly the broadcast revenue is important to the participating clubs, but it?s a bit of a ball-ache for the fans, some of whom, we?re told, have jobs and stuff...
Don?t parachute in the Champions League failures?
There can be few more disheartening sights for a club who have battled their way through the Europa League group stages than seeing their path blocked by eight sides who have failed in another competition. It seems preposterous that a team who crash out of one knock-out competition can crash-land in another. The "relegation compensation" does little to dampen the notion that the Europa is anything more than a poor relation.
?but give a Champions League spot to the winners
Rewarding those who succeed is quite different from compensating those who fail ? especially in a separate season. Reversing the flow between the two competitions makes perfect sense; much like awarding a Europa League place to domestic cup winners can revitalise those competitions, it add motivation for those in the competition and would certainly dissuade any team considering treating it with disdain.
Keep thinking outside the box for final venues
While we all enjoyed last year?s Champions League final at Wembley, the novelty is likely to have worn off by the time ?the home of football? hosts it again in 2013.
That?s exactly why taking last year?s Europa final to Dublin was a masterstroke. It was the first time Ireland had hosted a major European final, while the same came be said of Romania for this season?s final in Bucharest. This provides an increased sense of occasion, while also spreading the wealth, and indeed love, across the ?UEFA Family?.
Ditch the ?anthem?
There are many Champions League trademarks the Europa League would do well to imitate, but the over-dramatic pre-match ditty is not one of them.
While the Champions League theme sets pulses racing and causes the hair on the back of the neck to stand up, its Europa League equivalent only conjures images of Colin Murray mumbling incoherently on Channel Five. After all, the climactic Champions League anthem lyrics are "Die Besten, les grandes �quipes, the champions"; what's French for "cup-winners" and German for "also-rans"?
Lose the stupid name
?Consignia? Scope? It?s the Post Office and the Spastics Society!? Had Alan Partridge?s rant against renaming taken place a few years later (and if he had given half a hoot about football) he may well have included the Europa League.
Of course, if we?re losing the ?league? element of the competition, it makes perfect sense to revert back to a cup-based moniker. How about ? oh, we don?t know ? the UEFA Cup?
אין תגובות:
הוסף רשומת תגובה