Why your club should embrace those Thursday nights in Europe
WIThouT doubt, if Leicester had been in the Europa League, they would have found it harder to beat Manchester united.
Then again, if Leicester had been in the Europa League, they would have just come out of a last-16 tie with Rangers — and could be anticipating Arsenal in the quarter-finals. And then the winners of Villarreal versus Dinamo Zagreb.
And that’s exciting. Certainly if you’re Leicester. They have played just 11 teams in total in European competition.
Never known the thrill of an allEnglish tie. Never played one from Italy, Germany or France. Reached a solitary quarter-final, and lost that. And they’ve never won the FA Cup, either. Yet they can contest it every year.
European journeys, by contrast, are exotic. When will Aston Villa pass that way again; or Middlesbrough; or Fulham? or West ham?
Yet we are getting to the time of year when clubs of the smaller variety are advised to know their place. West ham are currently fifth which would afford a Europa League spot. Then there is the Europa Conference League for sixth or seventh, which is even more poorly regarded.
These are the competitions that should be avoided, apparently. The likes of Burnley in the past have suffered when stretched by Europe.
Ambition becomes the enemy. Better to buckle in for season on season of mid-table mediocrity. That’s the spirit.
Well, stuff that. Every supporter should embrace the idea of European competition. Every club should hope for the challenge that Thursday night brings.
Leave it all to the elite and what does that make the rest of the League? Cannon fodder. Fixtures to be fulfilled. If the relative success of a top- seven finish is feared by those outside the big six, the only thrill is a successful fight against relegation. Wha-hey, 17th. That makes Newcastle’s year more exciting than what is going on at Everton.
From next season, the Europa League places will be split between two competitions with the winner of the League Cup or sixth in the Premier League going into the Conference. And the
Conference is death. Less profitable commercially than the Europa League, but just as disruptive.
‘The cup winners from Liechtenstein, the second-placed team in the Faroe Islands,’ as one report had it. Well, yes, in the first qualifying round.
But also the sixth or maybe seventh best team from the major leagues, too. Currently Real Betis or Villarreal in Spain; Bayer
Leverkusen or Union Berlin in Germany; Roma or Lazio in Italy. West Ham versus Roma in the London stadium? there is an entire generation of West Ham fans who have never seen a game like that.
not mine. We grew up with West Ham in europe. not often. But four seasons in 17, including two finals, one victorious.
the semi- final at home to eintracht Frankfurt in 1976 is up there with the greatest games at Upton Park. For different reasons, the visit of Dinamo tbilisi in 1981.
What Pep Guardiola is doing with Joao Cancelo and his defenders now, tbilisi did then. It was breathtaking. Like no football being played in england at the time.
and my sons, now men in their 20s, have never experienced such a night. one of their biggest disappointments was to be knocked out of the europa League by astra Giurgiu from Romania in consecutive seasons.
Yet, supposedly, that was a blessing. the road from there went to athletic Bilbao, Roma, Partizan Belgrade, austria Vienna. something you’ l l remember. Unlike coming 11th, which is what happened next to West Ham.
From here, all those mid-table finishes run into one anyway. european nights never do. maybe to followers of manchester United, or Chelsea. they’re probably sick of playing olympiacos in the group stage.
and there is a generation brainwashed into believing Premier League survival alone is success. It isn’t. But if you’ve never done anything more, you won’t know what you are missing. ask your dad.