Europa League – Reward or Punishment for Manchester United?

Article by Tony Gillies

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Is the Europa League seen as a punishment to English teams rather than a reward for finishing high enough in the table or winning either domestic cup competition? Or in Hull City's case regardless of whether they beat Arsenal in the FA Cup Final or lose it, they will participate in the competition next season.

This article hasn't really got anything to do with United but given our poor season with two games remaining we could find ourselves in the competition next season, unlikely as I think Tottenham will get the draw they need on Sunday to finish above us, although we still need to win our final two games to be in with contention. But are we really that bothered about not being in Europe's 2nd competition next season? I'd hazard a guess that 95% of United fans would rather us finish 7th and have a campaign without any European involvement.

This has got me thinking. Are teams restricted in their approach to improve themselves every season due to the fact nobody wants to find themselves in this competition? Let's be honest, even the bonus of the winners next season automatically qualifying for the following years Champions League isn't enough to whet anybody's appetite because I don't think Everton, Tottenham and Hull City have the necessary resources to win the competition and given the fact that the Portuguese and lesser Spanish teams take this competition very seriously makes it a difficult trophy to win, although Chelsea won it last season, they went into it by default and had a big and decent enough squad to balance the League commitments and Europa League.

I was talking to a Newcastle supporter who wouldn't ever want to see them back in this competition due to the fact, it almost got them relegated a couple of seasons back, which led me to write this article. Let's face it the top 7 teams in the Premiership haven't really changed in the last 5 years of so, yes their final positions may have varied slightly but United, Chelsea, City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham and Everton have all found themselves inside the top 7 more often than not so after speaking to this Newcastle fan it made me realise that teams like them are happy to finish mid-table year after year because they know they are not good enough to finish in the top 4 and the thought of finishing 5th-7th is restricting them from progressing because nobody wants any involvement in the Europa League because it could as it nearly did with Newcastle cost them their Premiership status the following year and I think if Hull City make it into the group stages next season they will be a lot closer to relegation next year than they were this.

This could bring up the need for a winter break in the English league and I've been dead against the idea for years but if it's stopping the progression of teams in our country then maybe we do need to look at it in a bit more detail. Benfica have made the last two finals, the semi-finals this year involved two Spanish teams; Sevilla and Valencia, Benfica and the mighty Juventus all of these leagues have mid-season breaks which must refresh the body given the fact we play nearly 6-7 matches over a two week period while these players are enjoying Christmas with their families or just taking light training sessions. As fans we love Christmas, wall to wall football while we sit back and stuff our faces with food and drink but this is the first time I have ever considered that a winter break would benefit teams in both European competitions and would benefit the league and could see a change of fortune with the national team. Don't get me wrong a break may not affect any of this but surely it has to be worth a try? Or is our league paying the price for the lucrative TV deals which run our fixture lists?

Or why can't UEFA move the Europa League fixtures to a Tuesday night like the old UEFA Cup? Or even run them parallel with the Champions League on a Tuesday and Wednesday night? Again because of TV rights? Probably. But to make this competition more appealing to everyone surely something has to change?

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