So Werder Bremen play Shakthar Donetsk in the UEFA Cup final. Someone on another forum I go on suggested the winner would become the "second greatest in Europe", except that isn't even close to being true. Why not? Well because three of the four UEFA Cup semi-finalists and BOTH finalists were in the Champions League group stages and only finished third. Hamburg are the only one of the semi-finalists that didn't drop out of the CL into the UEFA Cup.
So how can the winners of the UEFA Cup be the second best in Europe when they weren't even among the best/last sixteen in the Champions League? It's about time UEFA stopped pandering to TV companies and making a mockery of the European competitions. Let's go back to the days when it was straight, two-legged, knock-outs and have only the Champions and maybe runners-up in the European Cup.
Gartside wants to reduce the number of domestic matches with his daft proposition, only to replace those four Premiership games with International friendlies. I can't see the Premiership clubs going for that, why not simply scrap the group stages of European competitions and reduce fixtures that way? As for the old (and in)firm joining the Premiership, I suspect that would require a complete change in protocol. I don't believe there is an "election" system in existence anymore and so to by-pass having to go up through the non-leagues to reach the Premiership, Rangers and Celtic would have to be granted dispensation to join the top flight without X promotions first. Now surely that would require the approval of the majority of EVERY English club in the league and non-league, not just the Premiership elite? Besides anything else having 36 teams in the top two flights would mean demotion/relegation for 8-10 teams or a restructure of leagues one and two to accommodate the extra teams.
Currently (96) : 20 in Premiership, 24 in Championship, 48 in Leagues 1 & 2
Proposed (96+2) : 18 each in Premiership 1 & 2, leaves 60 other teams not including Celtic and Rangers who would boost the total to 98
Oh cleverdick Gartside, all that to bring in SCOTTISH clubs to ENGLISH football and to reduce the top flight so ENGLAND can get together and/or play more football. So what for the excess teams left over from what used to be the Championship? They and the leagues below them have lots more teams and fixtures in them or do TEN league clubs drop down a league, in fact ten league clubs in each league drop down a league. So if it affects everyone, why should only the elite vote on it?
And if Rangers and Celtic join the Premiership, do they have to waive their right to play in the Champions League that season or will the Premiership have SIX teams in the Champions League? (two through SPL, four through England)
It ain't broke, don't fix it. The European Cup and UEFA Cup are broke, fix them.