With the season fast approaching, it is a very exciting time for any football fan. A season of new hope. A season of title ambitions. A season of European conquest for some. Wigan are one such side and it seems likely that they are going to be the ‘people’s choice’ of English clubs to do well in Europe.
The club that is mocked for its sparsely-filled stadium entered through virtue of winning the FA Cup last season, and in dramatic fashion it may be added. Ben Watson’s injury-time goal won the trophy, just days before relegation from the Premier League.
The Europa League has a similar reputation to Wigan: not many fans, clinging on to a ‘top-level’ status for a year too long and unlikely to ever hit great heights if it remains as it is. Whilst Wigan would be in need of bigger finances to go further as a club, the Europa League is in need of revitalising in many departments.
For one, it has become the League Cup of Europe. The lack of respect for it, especially from English clubs, is ridiculously low. No team likes the amount of games involved. If a team were to start from the first qualifying round and reach the final, they would be playing an additional 23 games a season. English clubs, who qualify via the league, have to play up to 17 matches. Why are there so many games in such a sub-standard cup?
If a team like Wigan were to win the EL, it would send a message to Michel Platini and his cronies at UEFA: this competition is for small clubs and it is not even considered a goal for big clubs. Admittedly, there are some exceptions to this rule. Chelsea won it last year, but Benitez knew he was only in charge for the rest of the season, so he probably only wanted to bolster his CV. Clubs that finish higher up in smaller leagues, such as Portugal, also normally take it quite seriously, as a way of enhancing their reputations.
It is also worth noting that Chelsea were by far the strongest team in the Europa League, which is one way of saying that the quality is pretty poor. A club who couldn’t qualify from their own Champions League group, despite being the top seeds in it, waltzed to the second-tier European crown with not much of a sweat. They had even played over 60 games that season, due to Club World Cup commitments and other competitions. Is this what the old favourite UEFA Cup has become?
If Wigan were to progress, without giving too much thought into the competition, it would leave great cause for thought amongst UEFA. Whilst many of us could enjoy it as a true underdog story, it would lose so much money for the European football governing body and that is the last thing they want. Maybe then they’d re-evaluate the competition that has become such a boring, over-protracted task to be a part of.
Considering money is a huge part of the competition’s value to UEFA, it is not reflected in prizes. Teams are spending millions upon millions of pounds and euros on squads and other things for the team, so how can such a feeble reward system be seen as an incentive for clubs to put out their best sides, whilst a domestic season is in motion? The prize money that is given to a team who goes from the group stage and wins the competition is €9.9m at most, if a club wins every single game. This is £8.44m in current exchange rates. In comparison, QPR, after finishing in 20th in the Premier League, were given £33.8m in prize money alone. TV money gave them another £5.8m and this was the joint lowest TV revenue in the league.
The Champions League, admittedly being a much bigger money-spinner, has a prize pot of €37.4m (£31.9m) to a team winning every game from group stage to final. The group stage alone grants a base-prize, without a single match being played, of €8.6m. Neither the Europa League or Champions League prize funds mentioned includes TV revenue, but that is all relative to the club. It is well known however, that TV revenue in the Champions league can fetch £40m+ for English clubs.
Furthermore, the competition means more to smaller clubs. Because of the lack of effort placed in it by top sides, smaller sides tend to think they have a bigger chance of progressing. UEFA need to realise it is a competition to make a mark on Europe, and not a competition to establish teams.
The idea of a smaller club winning the Europa League could breathe some life into the flagging competition as it becomes the fall-back option for a club that takes a shock exit from the Champions League. The gulfs in quality are becoming larger and larger, so why not inject a bit more cash into it, develop the brand and make it a fierce competition that isn’t too far behind its big brother.
Of course, the only way this could happen is if UEFA were willing to cut their profit margins or, god forbid, actually make a loss by giving larger prize funds and helping improve sides. The long-term is not an option for this cup, which means it will suffer, the longer it goes on. Managers have already spoken of not really wanting to qualify for it, and it has seen some amazingly weak sides turnout, even in the latter stages. Eventually it will reach a stage where transfer fees are reaching heights too big to even bother with a competition of this financial muscle, and clubs will boycott it. Fines mean very little in today’s football, and what else can they do? Ban them from UEFA competitions? It will cause a club versus governing body crisis.
UEFA are too spineless to ban a club that could potentially make them money, so it will never happen. They’ll just scrap what was once a beautiful cup. So for the love of this cup, support a team who can make a difference to its future. Support Wigan, support a club who will benefit from the prize money, support football where it is needed.
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