04/25/24
June 10, 2005
They're in : After much talk and UEFA apparently disagreeing with itself, Liverpool have been granted a special exemption to play in next year's Champions League.
posted by Mr Bismarck to football at 05:42 AM - 10 comments
This is tremendous - "meaningful" pre-(premiership)season games instead of marketing-department-driven tours to Japan can only benefit the rest of the season. To win it for a second year in a row, having started at the back of the grid, would be even more satisfying. That said, it could prove a curse in disguise, and a distraction from doing well domestically again, but I'm too red to think that way.
posted by JJ at 06:03 AM on June 10, 2005
I'm not a fan of soccer, but I thought it was extremely bizarre that the Champion of a tournament would have already (on the day they won) failed to qualify for next year's tournament.
posted by mason at 06:05 AM on June 10, 2005
It does seem odd, but that this is the first time it's come up suggests that it wasn't a problem - a team that won was good enough to qualify automatically in their country. I don't know my Champs League history well - does that really mean no big underdogs have ever won?
posted by kokaku at 06:09 AM on June 10, 2005
In the days where it actually was the Champions Cup, you had to have won your country's domestic league to get in, so there were no real big underdogs. Since they opened it up to include as many big teams from as many big revenue countries as possible, the chances for the minnows have been all but removed. It was much easier to be "up" for a game or two when it was the old straight knock-out format, but the league format almost assures minnows are squeezed out, as it's much harder to combine little team playing up / luck / big team off days, over the course of six games, rather than two. Of recent finals and winners, the Porto-Monaco final was a surprise, perhaps but other than that you have to go back to Dortmund's 96/97 win and Ajax's triumph in 94/95 to find anything other than a truly huge team winning.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 06:22 AM on June 10, 2005
What Bismark said - if it does happen (that a team wins the thing but hasn't qualified for the following season) it's usually because they have under-performed in their domestic league rather than over-performed in the Champion's League. Real Madrid won it in 2000 having finished their domestic season without qualifying. The Spanish FA put them in instead of the lowest placed Spanish team that year. The only better bit of news today is that Glazer really IS going to wreck Man Utd!
posted by JJ at 08:24 AM on June 10, 2005
Glazer does look set to shaft the Devils, yes. He is, allegedly, aiming for a 54% increase on ticket prices over five years, with an immediate 25% hike on champions league tickets next season. There's also talk of a hard £25m limit on transfers, per year, with any required extra cash coming from player sales. Go on Malc!
posted by Mr Bismarck at 09:06 AM on June 10, 2005
First, congratulations to Liverpool and their supporters. It would have been a shame for the champion not to be able to defend their title and I'm actually surprised UEFA changed their rules to allow Liverpool in, but it's the right thing to do. So the other four English teams receive a little less money...Chelsea and United don't need it, Arsenal might and Everton definitely does, but all in all, this seems like the right decision. Glazer's raising of ticket prices was inevitable. This exact thing happened over 20 years ago in the NFL, when the owners really understood what a money machine the league was. Slowly but surely, the regular Joe could have been edged out of the stadium by ticket prices and to a certain extent, that did happen. But people always seem to find a way to support their team and once the United supporters groups join the real (capitalist) world, they'll pay the price to see their team. I don't like Glazer, believe me, but I think the guy deserves a chance. England, welcome to the world of supply and demand.
posted by Texan_lost_in_NY at 09:35 AM on June 10, 2005
I hate Glazer... I hate Man U now... Liverpool are in, just as it should be... Too bad Everton didn't get kicked out though...
posted by StarFucker at 10:24 PM on June 11, 2005
That would have been a perfect week: Liverpool in Everton out Man Utd bankrupt
posted by JJ at 03:44 AM on June 13, 2005
Looks like the reds may have to alter their pre-season plans, as they try to play through six games, starting July 12/13, just to reach the league stage of the competition. One of the possible consequences of the exception is that Liverpool, shorn of the usual country "protection", could end up playing Everton or Manchester United in one of the qualifying rounds.