Liverpool FC Forum

[J*o*n*D*o*e]

i`m still hopeful we can get both,  but if i had to choose i would say 4th

[Reg]

4th.  Not just cos its all about the money bit the simple matter of winning a tournament that your only in cos you were not good enough in the big tournament means very very little.  finishing in the top 4 has more credibility.

Its like those 5 a-side tournaments you played as a kid.  The best teams get out the group in the top 2.  The rubbish drop into the 'shield'.   Nobody gives a damn about the 'shield'

Shanks would be spinning in his grave if he heard you say that.

ALL cups are worth winning, by winning the small ones you gain experience when you play in the big ones.  We have no god given right to play in CL, we need to relearn humility and start winning the Milk Cup again, the FA Cup, the UEFA cup and THEN we´ll be ready for CL.[B]

[account deleted by request]

4th.  Not just cos its all about the money bit the simple matter of winning a tournament that your only in cos you were not good enough in the big tournament means very very little.  finishing in the top 4 has more credibility.

Its like those 5 a-side tournaments you played as a kid.  The best teams get out the group in the top 2.  The rubbish drop into the 'shield'.   Nobody gives a damn about the 'shield'

Shanks would be spinning in his grave if he heard you say that.

ALL cups are worth winning, by winning the small ones you gain experience when you play in the big ones.  We have no god given right to play in CL, we need to relearn humility and start winning the Milk Cup again, the FA Cup, the UEFA cup and THEN we´ll be ready for CL.[B]

I am not sure if he would Reg, we didn't even ENTER for the League cup for years under Shankly mate.

[Greavesie]

4th and many of my reasons are already stated

[tubby]

If we win the UEFA Cup do we qualify for CL?  At the end of the day its about $$$.

No mate we don't. It should be that way though. Seems like a much better incentive and would make sure all teams really go for it.

I think we get a fair bit though if we do win it. Something like 30Mil? Not sure of the exact figure but I don't think it's peanuts but not great either.

[stmichael]

the thing is as well, everybody says 4th, even though all that means is you go into the qualifying round which is now isn't seeded either. in the past you could guarantee a decent draw in the qualifiers. now you could draw anybody.

[tubby]

That doesn't really matter tbh mate. If you are in then you are in, it's up to you to beat who they put in front of you. This team has beaten the likes of Barca, Real and Inter away. We can beat anyone on our day so that sort of thing should mean nothing really.

[account deleted by request]

made a right balls of that 

[account deleted by request]

If we win the UEFA Cup do we qualify for CL?  At the end of the day its about $$$.

No mate we don't. It should be that way though. Seems like a much better incentive and would make sure all teams really go for it.

I think we get a fair bit though if we do win it. Something like 30Mil? Not sure of the exact figure but I don't think it's peanuts but not great either.

You get 2.5 million euro's fo winning the Europa league mate. Obviously you get add ons along the way for progressing, but its not anywhere near as much as for the CL.

page eight onwards

Champions League teams made almost €600 million combined last season, while the UEFA Cup teams combined for a meager €37 million.

Just for entering the Champions League group stage a team gets 3 million Euros. For getting into the group stage of the UEFA Cup last season teams got €215,000. That’s a massive difference right there, and really means the difference between a smaller team being able to buy 4-5 new players, and only being able to supplement wages for the players.

There is then a participation payout that Champions League teams get, which is €400,000 per match, equaling €2.4 million, assuming a team plays all 6 of their group matches (why wouldn’t they?). However in the UEFA Cup, there is no participation cash, just a performance bonus. CSKA Moscow got €160,000 for winning all 4 of their group stage matches.

Of course though, the Champions League has performance bonuses too, €600,000 per win, and €300,000 per draw. Lucking out and winning a single match in the Champions League nets you more money than all but 8 of the UEFA Cup group stage teams. Of the eight teams who made over a million Euros, four of them came from the Champions League group stages.  The other four were well sized clubs from England, Germany, Italy, and France.

There is also the added factor of drawing massive European teams to your home stadium in the Champions League, which of course brings more revenue. Bringing a team like Barcelona to your stadium is certainly going to give you more ticket revenue than probably any of last years UEFA Cup teams (save for AC Milan).

There is one final monetary payout the both competitions have, and that is the Market Pool. The description of how it’s formulated is a little confusing, but I’m assuming it has to deal with the distibution of TV money and various other things. However it’s dealt out, it’s dealt out in large sums.

PSV Eindhoven, who won 1 match and came in last in their group got €19 million. Don’t let that fool you, because eventual champions Barcelona got just €8 million of the Market Pool money. However, the market pool money only went to the final eight UEFA Cup squads, and maxed out just under €5 million for some clubs.


full article

[tubby]

They need to restructure the money in these tournaments. If they wanted peope to take the Europa League more seriously then they need to make more money available as prize money ect...

[Sir Roger]

If we qualify and get the money would we trust him to buy good players? And would he play them in their best positions?

[SouthCoastShankly]

If we qualify and get the money would we trust him to buy good players? And would he play them in their best positions?

Obviously not. He would however "promise" to finish fourth.

[Big Niall]

4th, the other thing means nothing to me.

[shawnk]

Not only on the prize money. The big teams are in it as well and they play interesting football. I'm sure any footballer would prefer to compete/show off their skills in a tournament as big as CL football than European Coca Cola Cup.

[Owzat]

There has been much talk of Rafa switching his attention to winning the Europa League, saving/resting players in the Premiership etc. Im just wondering if people think that it's fair enough (if indeed he is) as it would at least give us a decent chance of a trophy for the first time in four seasons.

So there it is, are we switching focus? Should we be switching focus? What is the main motivation for the switch in focus, if indeed we are?

To me it's fairly obvious Mick.

I think Benitez suspects that he won't be here in the Summer and he's focusing on the Euro cup as a future bargaining chip. HIS future bargaining chip.

It'll allow him to say that that while the team were rubbish for the season, he still managed to steer them to a European cup win.

His future destination, after all, is Europe.

IMO, we should be focusing on both. It doesn't HAVE to be either one or the other.

But, I would place more umph in getting 4th.

I have to agree. If he felt that fourth was attainable he wouldn't have taken Torres off nearly as early as he did. I feel he plays percentages too much, it's not as if Torres would have died playing another 20 mins and the next game is home in Europe so he should have given all on the brum game rather than trying to protect key players in a game we really needed to win.

If we do finish fourth it will be down to incompetence by other teams, not because Rafa prioritised it. For me it would be nice to win a cup, but can we afford not to be in the Champions League? That said perhaps we could dip out of Europe altogether, that might improve our prospects of winning the league no end with no European distractions.......................