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Author: sandersmit
Date: 23-05-2007, 10:55
| Reading finished at the 8th place in England but still they cannot participate at the intertoto cup but why not? |
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Author: mjwillan
Date: 23-05-2007, 11:58
| Reading (& Portsmouth) turned down the opportunity of playing in the InterToto Cup - they were worried that the extra games with a small squad might mean they got dragged into relegation trouble (as happened with West Ham this season - although they only had 2 UEFA Cup games).
Reading also stated before the last round of games that if they had qualified for the UEFA Cup they would have played there reserve team in the UEFA Cup games.
With the TV money in the Premier League next season, getting relegated will cost a club an estimated 60 million pounds and a UEFA Cup run wouldn't compensate for that. |
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Author: Kaiser
Date: 23-05-2007, 19:37
| The only reason: rookies are afraid to take part in Europe. Another example: Atalanta. And if Bochum is higher that Hamburg, imho they'll reject the spot too. |
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Author: spoonman
Date: 23-05-2007, 22:19
| Bochum would not have refused to take part in Intertoto. But of course Hamburg is in front of them in the final Bundesliga table, so that's purely academic now. |
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Author: Floridian
Date: 23-05-2007, 23:07
Edited by: Floridian
at: 23-05-2007, 23:08 | There is a big difference between a club unwilling to participate in UIC for their own reasons and a club that was refused UEFA license to play in European cups. |
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Author: abzpablo
Date: 25-05-2007, 12:51
| If I was a Reading fan, I'd be seriously annoyed about this attitude (especially if they had qualified for the UEFA Cup). |
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Author: mjwillan
Date: 25-05-2007, 14:41
| But if you were a Reading fan and you had a UEFA Cup run ending with a losing semi final, and you ended up relegated how would you feel?
The problem is the money available each season just for being in the Premier League is massive - this is why many teams are now playing their reserves in the FA Cup and League Cup to rest the first teamers for league games. The situation won't improve unless the Premier League gives a lot of money to the Football League.
The same situation is why there's virtually no chance of the Premier League cutting back to 18 teams to give the England team a better chance in major tournaments. |
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Author: abzpablo
Date: 25-05-2007, 14:59
| This attitude of 'what if' fear is nonsense - just get out there and play and try and win as much as possible. |
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Author: Overgame
Date: 25-05-2007, 17:36
| "The same situation is why there's virtually no chance of the Premier League cutting back to 18 teams to give the England team a better chance in major tournaments."
Non-sense.
Italy is better than when they played with 18 teams. The top 4 have a league with 20 clubs, and Germany, with 18 clubs, is worst than before.
20 clubs = better for your best teams (you can give some playing time to your B-team, keep the condition, etc). And you're playing against different kind of plays. |
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Author: moro
Date: 25-05-2007, 18:14
| "Non-sense" means the words have'nt sense. That they are blind. Is it? |
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Author: badgerboy
Date: 25-05-2007, 18:59
| ""Non-sense" means the words have'nt sense. That they are blind. Is it?"
Actually it's usually written as one word - nonsense but you're right about the meaning.
Although it can really be used any time you disagree strongly with someone even if what they say isn't actually nonsense.
Examples:
"The English league is better than the Spanish league". Reply: "Don't talk nonsense". It's an argument - there is no right or obvious answer just opinion but the phrase might still be used by one person disagreeing strongly with another.
"With just a bit more luck Anderlecht might have at least reached a CL final in the past five years." Reply: "Don't talk nonsense". Clearly here the first person would be talking no sense at all as Anderlecht haven't even been close so the use of the word would be far more justified. |
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Author: eldaec
Date: 30-05-2007, 19:40
Edited by: eldaec
at: 30-05-2007, 19:40 | Fact is the UEFA cup makes a trivial amount of money in return for a lot of travelling to play sides that Reading's supporters aren't that interested in watching.
The structure of the competition needs to change - so it stops being a pale imitation of the CL, and starts doing its own thing.
Personally, I'd get rid of the stupid group stage, make the whole thing knockout, add the one extra round needed to double the number of participants from every country, and remove all seeding from round 1 onward.
The occaisional random big matches in the early part of the season (when the CL is still in the tiresome group stage) would help draw viewers into the UC, and lack of seeding might add a little romance to the competition, which it certainly needs right now. |
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Author: panda
Date: 31-05-2007, 11:13
| It's true; every fan would be glad to see their team play Barcelona or AC Milan, but when it is teams that are not so famous, they often don't turn up for UC matches.
So a team not sure of continued EPL survival (which is worth much more than even WINNING the UC) is not going to prioritise the UC when it means extra games.
Even the CL is not paying as much as the EPL domestically; however, for 'brand identity' as it's called, and to get the margin that the extra money from playing and doing well in CL brings, the biggest clubs must try always to qualify for CL and pass the GS. |
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Author: MalcolmW
Date: 31-05-2007, 20:39
| Steve Coppell is one of the most intelligent managers in the EPL. I'm a little surprised that he said openly that he would field a reserve team if they reached the UEFA Cup. But Reading Reserves won the EPL Reserve League South convincingly and then beat Northern winners (Bolton) 2-0 in a play-off (one match, and at home).
I don't think snubbing the IT place was a good move. What would have happened if they had qualified for UEFA by the Fair Play route? The competition would have started 3 days earlier!
As it happens Reading (and also Bolton) are travelling to South Korea in July to take part in the Peace Cup. Reading will face River Plate and Lyon plus an Asian team, while Bolton face Chivas and Udinese plus an Asian team, with the group winners meeting on 21 July - same weekend as the IT fixture in Poland!.
I've looked back at the attendances for Bolton's home games in the Uefa Cup season (05-06). The EPL attendances were all 23,000 or more, with ManU, Liverpool and Chelsea drawing over 27,000.
The League Cup matches had 10,927 and 13,067, and the FA Cup 13,326 (for a 1-0 win) against Arsenal and 17,120(last 16) against West Ham. The Uefa Cup matches produced 19,723 (round 1 agaist Loko Plovdiv - first Uefa match for Bolton), 15,905 (Zenit STP) and 15,623 (Sevilla - a match Bolton needed to win to top the group but actually drew to finish third) and 19,228(Marseille in last 32).
It will be interesting to see what next season brings. |
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Author: MalcolmW
Date: 31-05-2007, 20:46
| I've just seen the final Fair Play rankings. Excluding direct qualifiers leaves Aston Villa 8.52, Charlton 8.42, Watford 8.41, Reading 8.40. |
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