Five English teams in the Champions League would be an insult to Busby, Clough and Paisley
Even from the sofa, Wednesday’s Champions League game between Manchester City and Real Madrid felt like an event. The stakes were high and so was the quality of the football.
Pep Guardiola’s City swarmed over their opponents like bees only for Real to show the courage and energy to draw their sting. Man of the match was probably Real’s former Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger and there is nothing wrong with that. Defending is an art form at this level too.
And all this, I would imagine, is something close to what the French journalist Gabriel Hanot — editor of the esteemed L’Equipe publication — had in mind when he successfully petitioned UEFA to put on the inaugural european Champions Club Cup in 1955.
The clue — as it still is — was in the title. It was for the champions, the very best of each country. It was then and indeed still was by the time Celtic and Manchester United became the first British clubs to win what was by then called the european Cup in 1967 and 1968 respectively. Yes, a tournament for champions.
What a very quaint idea that seems now as english clubs prayed last night for unexpected twists in the europa League and europa Conference League results that would ease our UEFA coefficient into such a position that it would be us, and not Germany, that would be offered five rather than four places in next season’s Champions League.
It’s not hard to wonder what the likes of Jock Stein, Sir Matt Busby and other fabled winners like Bob Paisley, Brian Clough and Ron Saunders would make of that now. All those men triumphed first in their domestic leagues and then flew the flag for their nation across land and sea — often in difficult conditions — to lift that most beautiful of club trophies. Yes, the european Cup took some getting into back in the Sixties, Seventies and eighties and then it took some winning too.
It’s still devilishly hard to win. That has not changed even though the format has. But in terms of entry, the door has long since been left swinging open. For a short while there were two teams from the established european leagues — the champions and runners-up — and that felt about right. Football has grown over the years. So has the appetite for glamorous european fixtures. It’s natural to want more of a good thing and we understand that. Real, it’s worth noting, finished second in La Liga last season.
But now we are here, with four threatening to become five, and it’s much harder to square the circle. There are only 20 teams in the Premier League. So to even consider offering a quarter of those clubs places in the Champions League feels a little like an insult to the values and heritage of this great old competition.
TOTTENHAM will not care for this sentiment. Currently it would be Ange Postecoglou’s team standing to benefit from a fifth spot. The London club have travelled well under their charismatic Australian coach this season. A joy to watch and all that.
But as it stands now, Tottenham have lost exactly a quarter of their 32 league games. A quarter. Champion form? Champions League form? not even close. But then the quality of their blue riband competition has long ceased to matter to UEFA.
Forget the substance, just have a feel of the size of it and the value. Like a sports car with a big engine, two exhausts but cheap plastic seats inside, UEFA are threatening to pump up their prized asset so far that at some stage we can only expect it to skid off the road.
next season the tournament will look different with 36 teams lumped into one league. The top eight will go through to the last 16 while eight more will join them after a series of knockout games. More games. More Tv. More money. We know who will be there at the death. The same teams, the same names, and this is exactly what the big clubs want. Guaranteed access to their favourite tournament. It’s the closest they could get to a european Super League and for now they will take it.
This time next year the latter stages of the competition will doubtless feel much the same. They will carry the same ‘zing’. So why should we care? Well those of us who believe in truly elite sport know that dilution will only ever point you in the opposite direction. So, yes, we care.
Champions League? It may be time to call it something else.