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The EPL Champions League Play Off Idea : Predictable reactions galore…

Published by Ian John on February 18, 2010

The idea that the fourth Champions League spot, currently awarded to the team who finishes fourth in the Premier League, could be decided by a series of play off games between the 4th,5th,6th and 7th placed sides has been met with a typically predictable reaction by the Premier League’s teams.

See if you can guess which four teams were totally against the idea? Go on… I bet you can’t…Ok I’ll tell you; Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool. Surprised? No, I didn’t think you would be.

And guess what? All the other teams supported the idea! Strange that eh?

Obviously the team most likely to be under threat from this ruling, as things stand, is Liverpool and Rafa Benitez has already ridiculed the idea in his typically understated way. The Spaniard ranted about the seemingly unfair idea of a team finishing with “20 points more” in fourth having to play a 7th placed team. He argued that it would result in more games when there are already too many, that players would be injured more frequently, that the football calendar cannot fit the games in.

Poppycock.

It is self-preservation of the highest order. Laughable, unjustifiable sweeping statements made to ensure that Liverpool still have the best chance to scoff at the Champions League trough each season and deny those teams who are making progress towards gaining that elusive Champions League place, from actually gaining it.

It does make me laugh to hear managers complain about players playing too many games. Given that Benitez rotates his squad as often as he does, and how often Manchester United and Arsenal in particular play second string teams in major cup competitions and perhaps also in lesser league games (especially if teams like Wolves are going to play reserve teams against them). It is an utter nonsense to think that some of these players could not play in two or three extra games a season. As late as the 1990′s many top players were playing 50-60 games a season regularly. In the late 1970′s and early 1980′s when English teams dominated Europe, many players would play in excess of 60 games a season, turning out in EVERY competition. Let us not forget in those days that while the European Cup was shorter, the league was 4 games longer, FA Cup ties were never settled by penalties, often leading to second, third and even fourth replays and the League cup was mostly over two legs, home and away.

Too many games? A fallacy that stands up to no scrutiny whatsoever.

Then there is the issue of unfairness. I’m sorry but it is only the fact that the FA have meekly bowed to Premier League powerhouses that the 4th placed team gets a Champions League place, rather than the FA Cup winners, who I think are far more deserving of a place in the competition as they have actually achieved something. The notion of finishing fourth as being an achievement for Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City or whoever, is simply down to the fact that it means more money by playing in the Champions League. It isn’t something to be proud about, unlike winning the FA Cup. It shouldn’t therefore offer greater reward.

Personally, I’d like to see the winners of the FA Cup and the top two Premier League sides earn entry into the Champions League with the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th place sides playing off for the final place and the Europa Cup places. I think that is fairer and will afford the FA Cup some of the glamour it has lost in the face of the need to qualify for the Champions League for the top four teams.

Lastly, the notion of the games not being able to be fitted into the calendar. What nonsense. The season finishes in early May. An additional two weeks for most teams is nothing. Let us not forget these teams, that play too many games already, are more than happy to travel to Asia, North America, Australia and the like in August to earn plenty of money and play meaningless pre season warm up games against teams which offer them no real test. These tours are just a money making exercise, yet the managers won’t criticise them because of the cash they bring in. It is a joke to suggest that teams play too much when these kind of things happen at the start of every season. If you wanted to, you could play the play offs at the start of the season, or before the season starts.

But teams won’t go for that, as they can’t milk the cash cow that these tours have become.

In the end, this argument boils down to one thing money. The clubs who have that Champions League money now are somewhat reliant on it. They don’t want to share it and the more they get of it, the more they can keep the clubs chasing them for it at bay. Any chance to give these clubs like Villa, Tottenham, Everton, Man City, Fulham etc a chance of this cash at their expense, is a threat because it levels the playing field somewhat.

And we don’t want that do we?

I’m a Liverpool fan. And Yes Rafa I do. I think if we finish 4th (which lets face it Rafa, this season looks a tall order) we should not be rewarded ahead of a team who perhaps wins the FA Cup. If we finish 2nd, perhaps we deserve to go into the Champions League on merit. A play off for the teams who finish 4th-7th is a fair idea and just because the big clubs feel threatened by it, does not mean it should be laughingly dismissed.

Especially when given the state of the Liverpool at the moment, a play off between the 4th and 7th placed teams may be the only chance we have of qualifying for the competition in the next few seasons.

Image Courtesy of ***Alvaro Arbeloa *** at Flickr.com

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