Perverse incentives in Europa Qualification

[toffeestillidie]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/column...-in-limbo-over-european-qualification?cc=5901

interesting read, apparently if city win the final, it'll create some messy scenarios. we personally don't have any perverse incentives but we may be victims of them.

stoke play manchester city again after the fa cup final, and if they lose the cup final they have no incentive to win in the league, as losing would help city claim a champions league spot, thus helping stoke get europe.

if liverpool manage to build up a point buffer between themselves and us, they'll want to lose to spurs to help them qualify for 6th.

i don't understand how the fa can **** things up this badly, and if liverpool are somehow the beneficiary of this nonsense again i will lose my mind. i will be equally mad if stoke end up throwing the game against city, putting them in the champions league and us out of the europa league, despite claiming 6th.

 

[Brennan]

Well the only way we can qualify for Europe is if City win the cup, Spurs finish 4th and we finish 6th. At the moment i see all of them being likely. And having thought about it i wouldn't even be that disappointed if we didn't qualify for the Europa league.

For one you end up having a very busy schedule if you progress far into the competition, you play a lot of Sunday games and of course there is a much larger chance of injuries. At this point i'd be far more interested in having a good league run next season and forgetting about Europe until we have a squad with the depth to last the entire season.

Having said that, i wouldn't be sad if we did get into Europa, i just don't think it's necessarily in the best interests of the team in the long run.

 

[Tubey]

The only possible (and sensible) way of avoiding this is moving the FA Cup final to the last game of the season as it used to be. There's no other measure I can think of implementing.

 

[Brennan]

The only possible (and sensible) way of avoiding this is moving the FA Cup final to the last game of the season as it used to be. There's no other measure I can think of implementing.

Or they could just do what they do in La Liga and give the European spots to the top 7 teams in the league. That would also make the middle of the table a lot more exciting than it is currently. I don't see why teams need extra incentive to win the FA Cup and Carling Cup anyway.

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

I don't see how it's the fa's fault, they couldn't have known when the fixtures came out.

It's actually UEFA's fault as it is they who have moved the CL to a saturday, and forced the FA Cup final to be played earlier.

So in essence ....... FECK OFF PLATINI !!

 

[billycopper]

Well the only way we can qualify for Europe is if City win the cup, Spurs finish 4th and we finish 6th. At the moment i see all of them being likely. And having thought about it i wouldn't even be that disappointed if we didn't qualify for the Europa league.

For one you end up having a very busy schedule if you progress far into the competition, you play a lot of Sunday games and of course there is a much larger chance of injuries. At this point i'd be far more interested in having a good league run next season and forgetting about Europe until we have a squad with the depth to last the entire season.

Having said that, i wouldn't be sad if we did get into Europa, i just don't think it's necessarily in the best interests of the team in the long run.

I mostly agree with you. The benefits of Europe would be the potential extra income, experience of foreign competition and keeping players sweet who are looking for evidence of the club progressing. The extra demands on a small squad could hinder our domestic campaign though.

 

[formerly manx toffee]

Don't see us finishing 6th. RS run in is better than ours. And we have to gain at least two more points han them. MUFC and Chelsea fo us too. They would have to blow up.

 

[manxtoffee]

The lack of ambition on here is frightening..

 

[Brennan]

The lack of ambition on here is frightening..

What lack of ambition ?

 

[manxtoffee]

What lack of ambition ?

Not wanting your club to qualify for Europe.

 

[Brennan]

Not wanting your club to qualify for Europe.

That's not a lack of ambition mate, it's called priorities.

 

[formerly manx toffee]

The lack of ambition on here is frightening..

Not ambition, realism.

Liverpool have the following run in

Birmingham. Home
Newcastle. Home
Fulham. Away
Spurs. Home
Villa. Away

Everton run in is

United. Away
Wigan. Away
City. Home
West brom. Away
Chelsea. Home

Even if we get an improbable 11 points from that lot I can't see the RS getting. 8 or less. Can you ? We are playing teams with stuff to pay for lpool have higher proportion of teams that have finished for the season


just how I see it.

 

[Cookachoo]

Its not, not wanting us to qualify. Its not a perceived lack of ambition, its ****house fence-sitters covering both bases. If we get it then its magic, we're in European competition and we finished above Liverpool. But if we miss out then its a **** competition, not worth competing in and a drain on our already miniscule squad in the long run. Ridiculous.

I want us to qualify, and i'd hope everyone else would too, but as i said weeks ago, i don't think we will.

They'll get 10-12 points from their games. We'll get 6-8 points from ours. If we can beat Wigan and West Brom and get draws in the other three, we might have an outside chance.

 

[manxtoffee]

That's not a lack of ambition mate, it's called priorities.

Sorry mate, but what priorities do have in mind? Regardless of squad depth Davey Moyes, the board and plenty of others concerned with running the club would rather Everton in Europe because it brings in the money to move forward. Wishing the club to take a step back/stand still when others around us are constantly trying improve their standing to get there. Barking..

 

[Brennan]

Sorry mate, but what priorities do have in mind? Regardless of squad depth Davey Moyes, the board and plenty of others concerned with running the club would rather Everton in Europe because it brings in the money to move forward. Wishing the club to take a step back/stand still when others around us are constantly trying improve their standing to get there. Barking..

How much money do you think the Europa league brings in, exactly ? Because it's nothing compared to the Champions League, which is why i would much rather concentrate on finishing fourth next season. We have shown fourth is possible in the past with a weaker team than we have now. How's that for ambition ?

I mean sure, if you want to spread the team thinly over four different competitions on the slim chance we would win the Europa League and NOT mess up our league position in the process, then call that 'ambition,' to me it just smacks of stupidity.

If you win the Europa league you get 3 million Euros. If you just qualify for the group stage of the Champions league you get 3.9 million Euros.

Here's the crucial thing though. For every place higher you finish in the Premier league, you get a cool million euros or so. So unless you plan to win the Europa league and still perform at 100% in the PL, FA Cup and Carling Cup then the financial argument is redundant.