UEFA.. Kiss of death?

[Chris]

I saw Neville this week(before Wigan game) has said he thinks we're in with a chance of getting a UEFA cup spot if we keep on getting results.

I read that with mixed feelings. I mean sure, if we absolutely pull our tripe out yet again and do actually qualify for UEFA yet again, where will that get us? What does it achieve for us?

I'm not trying to be negative really, but I mean, we've been somewhat unlucky with our drawn opponents the last few runs in the cup and ultimately gotten nowhere. The players all get a nice feeling and the fans feel like we're pushing on, but at what cost to our domestic form and the absolute kicking team morale appears to take.

It feels like we're running on the spot a bit. Or like a mouse on a wheel. The players go hell for leather in their games and we get a UEFA spot, then we lose out early in the comp, our domestic games mostly suck for a while and then they pick up. Then someone starts wondering if UEFA is attainable again, but what is the point.
I know 'thats football' etc but its such effort to get in to UEFA only to be dissapointed, only to try it all over again.

We just don't seem good enough to go all the way in UEFA and the cost is huge. I just wonder if the cost is sometimes too much.
It's almost the new year and we are only a few points above the bottom lot and are nowhere near a stable team performance. We're still reeling from our last UEFA upset and already Neville (the team captain) is pondering if we can get in to the competition again. Is he mad? Are we mad?

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

the cost of european succes in uefa comes nowhere near the prize money, and unless you get quite far in c.l. then the samme applies there, unless you go into a campaign having not lashed out on players.

 

[Dom1878]

We wont qualify this season, so i wouldnt worry.

 

[Cahill's Metatarsal]

I saw Neville this week(before Wigan game) has said he thinks we're in with a chance of getting a UEFA cup spot if we keep on getting results.

I read that with mixed feelings. I mean sure, if we absolutely pull our tripe out yet again and do actually qualify for UEFA yet again, where will that get us? What does it achieve for us?

I'm not trying to be negative really, but I mean, we've been somewhat unlucky with our drawn opponents the last few runs in the cup and ultimately gotten nowhere. The players all get a nice feeling and the fans feel like we're pushing on, but at what cost to our domestic form and the absolute kicking team morale appears to take.

It feels like we're running on the spot a bit. Or like a mouse on a wheel. The players go hell for leather in their games and we get a UEFA spot, then we lose out early in the comp, our domestic games mostly suck for a while and then they pick up. Then someone starts wondering if UEFA is attainable again, but what is the point.
I know 'thats football' etc but its such effort to get in to UEFA only to be dissapointed, only to try it all over again.

We just don't seem good enough to go all the way in UEFA and the cost is huge. I just wonder if the cost is sometimes too much.
It's almost the new year and we are only a few points above the bottom lot and are nowhere near a stable team performance. We're still reeling from our last UEFA upset and already Neville (the team captain) is pondering if we can get in to the competition again. Is he mad? Are we mad?

It makes us a more attractive team to join than if we weren't in Europe. If we were competing to sign a player, without things such as wages, location, club facilities etc considered, a player would join the team who was playing in Europe instead of the team that wasn't.

It gives our players European experience so if 1 year we qualify for the Champions League, our players will be much more capable of adjusting to the style of football than if there was barely a player in the squad who'd experienced it before, like when we qualified for the Champions League in 2005.

The overall winner of the competition usually goes on to bigger & better things. If you can win the UEFA Cup it gives you a massive springboard to really progress & challenge at a higher level. You get the title of "UEFA Cup Winners" & that really helps with things such as sponsorship & again, attracting players. Let's not [Poor language removed] about, we had a very real chance of winning it last season & if we hadn't lost on penalties to Fiorentina, we probably would have done.

Finally, it gives the fans some amazing trips. Some of the best experiences of my life have been abroad with Everton & I'll miss them if we don't book our ideas up & get back into Europe again next season.

I can see why you're asking the question but I feel if we have any hopes/dreams of someday challenging at the very top, European football is an essential part the progress we'll have to make. If we have no ambition to ever challenge at the top what's the point? Are we happy to spend season after season sitting in the middle of the table doing [Poor language removed] all? I wouldn't be happy with that at all. Ultimately we all live in hope that 1 day we'll get to the top & stay there & without a stupidly rich investor or gradual, long-term progress, we'll never get there. Regular European football is a vital part of that progress to take us from our current level to 1 that we all hope to reach

 

[Reidy's Bottle Of Grecian]

the overall winner is very often from the c.l. quit putting teams that have failed in one comp into another. hard luck on losing the league cup semi lads, ah well go into the fa cup at the 1/4 finals stage instead.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Get the performances sorted and the results will follow. Always bugged me after England games when someone (usually Beckham) would be interviewed and would say that results are all that matters and the performances will improve when it matters. Needless to say they never did. It simply doesn't work like that. We've been grinding out results post United and have been pretty fortunate over that time. Get the performances sorted and the rest will take care of itself.

 

[Rook]

There isn't the Intertoto this year is there?

 

[The Dude]

I don't think the UEFA cup is the kiss of death at all!

Yes, in purely monetary terms, it isn't worth it, but the "unseen" benefits outweigh this big time.

As has been said, better signings will want to come to us, better sponsorship, we get better known around europe etc etc etc.

But the main point is to think of last seasons campaign - some of those games were the best performances I've seen from our boys.

The prize of "motivation" is a large one indeed, and the UEFA cup is worth it for that alone

 

[Neiler]

I don't think the UEFA cup is the kiss of death at all!

Yes, in purely monetary terms, it isn't worth it, but the "unseen" benefits outweigh this big time.

As has been said, better signings will want to come to us, better sponsorship, we get better known around europe etc etc etc.

But the main point is to think of last seasons campaign - some of those games were the best performances I've seen from our boys.

The prize of "motivation" is a large one indeed, and the UEFA cup is worth it for that alone

Great post mate! Lets face it Europe Qualifcation is a measurement of success and progression, how pissed of would we all be finishing 7th on goal difference instead of 6th.

Its good that the players and manager test themselves in Europe.

 

[bobbyrob]

Remember Mick Lyons at the start of every season we have chance of the league this season ,and every season we would get [Poor language removed] all.

 

[Robin Sisland]

We're still reeling from our last UEFA upset and already Neville (the team captain) is pondering if we can get in to the competition again. Is he mad? Are we mad?

No, football has gone mad. Back in the day you didn't need £billions in mafia cash to buy players from countries that didn't exıst when your dad was a kid, in order to build a team and win stuff.
Clubs used to have youth teams and scouting systems - actually little more than a bunch of old blokes who would watch school and youth club games without fear of being arrested as paedos.
And if you were strapped for cash and still needed someone you bought from the lower leagues, or Scotland.
Wherever they came from there was a good chance they'd move in down the road from you - rather than buy the whole road as part of their property portfolio and evict you.
Managers swore a lot and tactics was dyslexic for little pill shaped mints in plastic boxes. And the cost of standing in freezing rain on the Street End was the equivalent of two or three pints - not three or four bottles of Scotch.
The sooner the clubs that can afford to, bugger off and form the European League we know they're all foaming at the gash to create, the better for the rest of us.