PUNISHED!

WHY CITY COULD LOSE OUT UNDER PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

LEICESTER City would be “punished” by one proposal in the new Champions League reforms, club manager Brendan Rodgers has argued.

The chairman of the European Clubs Association, Andrea Agnelli, has said the radical reshaping of Europe’s top competition could be agreed within a couple of weeks. The changes would see the tournament expanded from 32 to 36 teams from 2024, with a Swiss model introduced.

This would see all of the clubs play 10 matches and then ranked in a single league table.

But it is where the four extra sides come from that is a concern to City and Rodgers.

The ECA are pushing for two of the spots to be awarded on the basis of historical performance, as a safety net for bigger sides who have a poor season. These would go to a pair of teams that missed out on qualification through the traditional routes, but because of their Uefa coefficient score, would be promoted back in. If this system was in place for the current campaign, Tottenham would have been one of the two teams put into the Champions League based on their coefficient ranking.

This is despite Spurs finishing sixth last term, one place behind City. However, because Rodgers’ side do not have a great deal of historical success in Europe, they would have remained in the Europa League, while Spurs leapfrogged them into the Champions League.

This creates a slippery slope whereby more spots are awarded based on past success, creating a closed shop, akin to a breakaway European Super League that the reforms are supposed to stave off. The Premier League rejected the particular proposal over historical success, and Rodgers, right, has now set out his views.

“I don’t agree with that,” he said at the end of last month. “You should be judged on how you’re doing in this moment, or else how will teams get the opportunity to grow and develop?

“A club like Leicester, which is superbly run and has been working towards that for a number of years, shouldn’t be punished because of the drop-off of other teams.

“I’ve been involved in big clubs and I understand the politics that go with it, and what may try to be created to help the so-called bigger clubs that maybe have dropped off.

“But for me it’s what you’re doing currently, otherwise how can you grow and develop if you’re being punished for what you haven’t done five or six years ago?

“I’m a big believer… if we finish this season in the top four, we deserve to be there, teams shouldn’t be punished.

“Likewise in a few years’ time, if we’re not in the top four, we shouldn’t get the benefits of it three or four years down the line.”

Part of the reason for the Premier League’s rejection of the proposals was the increase in the number of fixtures, with Juventus chairman Agnelli suggesting compromises may have to be made whereby the top flight has fewer teams in it. The League Cup may also have to be dispensed with.

Agnelli also wants an end to financial fair play in its current form, with clubs scrutinised on their overall balance sheet rather than annual profit and loss.

And he said the ECA had discussed changing the transfer system so Champions League clubs could no longer buy from or sell to each other, instead trading only with lower-ranking clubs.