European football next season | United - Europa League, Chelsea - Conference League, wee club in the north-east - feck all!

[izec]

Conference league is bad, because you play against some absolute terrible teams on Thursday in no mans land. There is nothing to be gained there, the money is irrelevant in that competition for us. With ETH, we would still play first teamers as well.

 

[Maluco]

Winning what? They can win the games in the league. You only feel this way as the team is so crap, you want literally more chances to win because we're a .500 team

The fact is, we should be in the CL, but INEOS sat on their hands. Any competent interim gets us CL football. Spurs and Villa are as average as they come and we running on fumes.

We threw the whole season away along with our prospects for next season to stick with someone who will never be right for the club and has condemned us to no Europe whatsoever.

It’s a new low for the club.

 

[Shane88]

Conference league is bad, because you play against some absolute terrible teams on Thursday in no mans land. There is nothing to be gained there, the money is irrelevant in that competition for us. With ETH, we would still play first teamers as well.

I wouldn't say so with the way we burn through money. I researched how much we could make from it in the Conference League thread.

Group stage participation in the Europa Conference League is awarded a base fee of €2,940,000.

A victory in the group pays €500,000 and a draw €166,000.

Also, each group winner earns €650,000 and each runner-up €325,000.

Reaching the knock-out stage triggers additional bonuses: €300,000 for the round of 32

€600,000 for the round of 16

€1,000,000 for the quarter-finals

€2,000,000 for the semi-finals

The losing finalists receive €3,000,000 and the champions receive €5,000,000.

So if we're perfect in it, we stand to make about €15/16 million, which would cover Rashford's wages for the year.

 

[Bertie Wooster]

I can't get into Europa. Usually just start watching around quarters unless there's a big opponent, like Barca last year.
Playing in conference would seem like a punishment rather than reward.

I just don't give a shit who our opponents are - unless the issue is whether we have a better chance of winning, in which case I'd much prefer an easier opponent.

But the idea of only 'getting into' a match based on who the opponents are or the competition? I don't care about that. I'm up for the game because it's United playing in a competitive tournament with a trophy at the end for the champions. I don't need the opponent to be Barcelona or Real Madrid to be nervous and excited about the game - I just need United to be involved in it! I'm not going be any less interested or eager for us to win depending on the size of the opponent.

And I'm amazed to read so often on here how so many United fans seem to regard a United game as irrelevant unless they're excited by the opponents / competition.

 

[Chumpsbechumps]

Conference league is bad, because you play against some absolute terrible teams on Thursday in no mans land. There is nothing to be gained there, the money is irrelevant in that competition for us. With ETH, we would still play first teamers as well.

Id say the game revenue will pinch. Prob 10-20 million lost.

If of been ok in conference, to give minutes to squad players. Also now we will only be in 2 cups next year.

Can be a slow season when you aren’t in Europe

Also, cup winners cup was one of my favourite early memories of supporting United. Never dissapointed to win cups and it’s not like we’ve won much the last decade. Don’t think as fans we are in a position to be picky given where the club actually is and I think it can be good to build momentum by winning lessor cups.

 

[PoTMS]

I wouldn't say so with the way we burn through money. I researched how much we could make from it in the Conference League thread.

Group stage participation in the Europa Conference League is awarded a base fee of €2,940,000.

A victory in the group pays €500,000 and a draw €166,000.

Also, each group winner earns €650,000 and each runner-up €325,000.

Reaching the knock-out stage triggers additional bonuses: €300,000 for the round of 32

€600,000 for the round of 16

€1,000,000 for the quarter-finals

€2,000,000 for the semi-finals

The losing finalists receive €3,000,000 and the champions receive €5,000,000.

So if we're perfect in it, we stand to make about €15/16 million, which would cover Rashford's wages for the year.

That's feck all. We'd drop by at least two league positions by playing Thursday/Sunday football too which would end up being the same cost.

 

[Jaae]

Only 9 points away from CL football. But of course we had to do things the ‘United way’ and stick with Ten Hag who should have been sacked at the end of last year. Who knows where we could have been.

 

[Leftback99]

That's feck all. We'd drop by at least two league positions by playing Thursday/Sunday football too which would end up being the same cost.

There's nothing to really back that up though. Villa have just done a season in the conference league and comfortably finished 4th in the end.

We've been garbage since January despite having no Europe.

And there's match day revenue on top were missing out on.

 

[Sandikan]

The Conference would have been farcical, but it's a shocking result to not end up in Europe.
Still the FA cup to go of course, but that will need an absolutely perfect performance from us and a drop off from them.

 

[PoTMS]

There's nothing to really back that up though. Villa have just done a season in the conference league and comfortably finished 4th in the end.

We've been garbage since January despite having no Europe.

And there's match day revenue on top were missing out on.

Maybe but the embarrassment of watching us in the ECL is worth it. EL is our level.

 

[izec]

I wouldn't say so with the way we burn through money. I researched how much we could make from it in the Conference League thread.

Group stage participation in the Europa Conference League is awarded a base fee of €2,940,000.

A victory in the group pays €500,000 and a draw €166,000.

Also, each group winner earns €650,000 and each runner-up €325,000.

Reaching the knock-out stage triggers additional bonuses: €300,000 for the round of 32

€600,000 for the round of 16

€1,000,000 for the quarter-finals

€2,000,000 for the semi-finals

The losing finalists receive €3,000,000 and the champions receive €5,000,000.

So if we're perfect in it, we stand to make about €15/16 million, which would cover Rashford's wages for the year.

To me, the costs of participating with Ten Hag would equal or surpass the money we could get. Travelling, injury and squad wise, i dont trust him.

The only way it would make sense if we used it for players to get match fitness, play the bench and reserves, give youth a chance. Experiment a bit with tactics and try out new things. In the end of the competition , we could take it seriously, but at the start, we could experiment and use it to keep the squad happy. That is the theory. In praxis, ETH would play half of the first team and with his training, we would be tired and injured mid season.

I am still not confident we will sack him, so that is why i still say ETH and next season. Since we arent in it, no point to discuss it in detail anymore.

 

[black country red]

I grew up in an era when European football was a privilege be it in any of the three competitions united had no European football between 1969 and 1976 it was embarrassing for the former European champions and showed how far we had fallen so I can’t understand peoples relief at not playing European competitions

 

[Bertie Wooster]

Id say the game revenue will pinch. Prob 10-20 million lost.

If of been ok in conference, to give minutes to squad players. Also now we will only be in 2 cups next year.

Can be a slow season when you aren’t in Europe

Also, cup winners cup was one of my favourite early memories of supporting United. Never dissapointed to win cups and it’s not like we’ve won much the last decade. Don’t think as fans we are in a position to be picky given where the club actually is and I think it can be good to build momentum by winning lessor cups.

I grew up in an era when European football was a privilege be it in any of the three competitions united had no European football between 1969 and 1976 it was embarrassing for the former European champions and showed how far we had fallen so I can’t understand peoples relief at not playing European competitions

Yep, that's my view on it as well.

It's a real shame how so many fans nowadays look down on so many cups. It's just the League and CL, with the FA Cup just about clinging on in there. All the rest are seen as irrelevant or burdens in the season that just get in the way of the 'proper' competitions.

Winning a competition is still a big thing for me - and far better than winning nothing, or the 'Top 4 Trophy'. It's very sad that so many now just dismiss most of the cup competitions.

 

[Mike Smalling]

Only 9 points away from CL football.

That's actually crazy. We've thrown away so many points.

Hang on to the lead vs. Chelsea (3 points), hang on to the lead vs. Brentford (2 points), hang on to the lead vs. Burnley (2 points), beat Fulham at home (3 points). We've been ravaged by injuries, that can't be ignored, but the opportunities have been there.

 

[Dr. StrangeHate]

Using the conference league to play our kids and reserve team would have been great. I actually prefer watching that compared to watching the first team go out in the group stage in the CL.

 

[MancunianAngels]

Nah, it's selfish fans who look at their own enjoyment over the benefit of the club.

Take Andy Mitten, I really like him but on his podcast, he's saying how great Conference league would be because of how many new away grounds he would get to go too.

So it's because he's a match going fan, he wants it, when everything points to it being a much better result for the team to avoid the Thursday Sunday grind and focus on the league.

I'm sorry you won't get to tick off Merkur Arena off your list, but well just finish 7th again and get to a semi final in a tiny competition.

This is absolute nonsense.

There's zero benefit to United not being in Europe next season.

Look at some examples from this season. Chelsea and Spurs have hardly been adverts for the benefits of not being in Europe either. All that extra time to train and they only finished 5th and 6th.

 

[Nickelodeon]

I wouldn't say so with the way we burn through money. I researched how much we could make from it in the Conference League thread.

Group stage participation in the Europa Conference League is awarded a base fee of €2,940,000.

A victory in the group pays €500,000 and a draw €166,000.

Also, each group winner earns €650,000 and each runner-up €325,000.

Reaching the knock-out stage triggers additional bonuses: €300,000 for the round of 32

€600,000 for the round of 16

€1,000,000 for the quarter-finals

€2,000,000 for the semi-finals

The losing finalists receive €3,000,000 and the champions receive €5,000,000.

So if we're perfect in it, we stand to make about €15/16 million, which would cover Rashford's wages for the year.

What I take from this post is that we should get rid of Rashford.

 

[Dazzmondo]

There's nothing to really back that up though. Villa have just done a season in the conference league and comfortably finished 4th in the end.

We've been garbage since January despite having no Europe.

And there's match day revenue on top were missing out on.

While Villa obviously deserve massive credit for having an excellent season, I don't think it's correct to say they comfortably finished 4th. They really struggled in the 2nd half of the season, particularly the final 3rd of the season, and dropped a lot of points, only 3 points above Spurs in the end, who dropped a lot of points themselves. Today they got beaten 5-0 by Palace, they only won 3 of their last 11 league games, and they got knocked out of the ECL by Olympiakos who they really should be beating. Personally, I'd say their run in Europe had a lot to do with these drops in performances, as the squad struggled to deal with so much football.

I think there are enough examples over the years to show that extra European games often has a negative impact on clubs that don't have big enough squads to handle it. Newcastle also seemed to struggle in the 1st half of the season with the game pile-up. It's fine for a stronger squad like City or Arsenal, but I do fear our squad will be too thin to cope well with the extra European games.

 

[Abraxas]

I would always rather be in Europe than not. Even if it's the Conference league.

Can't understand as a fan why you would not want to. This is Man United, you're supposed to have a squad, an academy, tiredness is no reason. They're valuable fixtures for developing players as a minimum, some mid week entertainment, and the closer you get to the end the more important the chance to get silverware is.

What are we doing otherwise... playing just to come 4th and get into a competition we won't be winning in the next half decade? Trophies are always something.

 

[Nickelodeon]

This is absolute nonsense.

There's zero benefit to United not being in Europe next season.

Look at some examples from this season. Chelsea and Spurs have hardly been adverts for the benefits of not being in Europe either. All that extra time to train and they only finished 5th and 6th.

There have been other examples though. Chelsea finished 10th in 2015/16 but won the title in 2016/17 since they got to implement a new, high energy style in the absence of European football. The subsequent season they were back to lowly positions.

 

[PoTMS]

I know our players have Champions League wage reduction clauses in their contracts but I hope to God we have the same clauses for not even reaching the fecking Europa/Conference League.

 

[Beachryan]

Totally depends on how INEOS react. If we get a new manager in, it'll give him more time each week to coach the players in a new system. It also means we can get by with a smaller squad.

If we stick with ETH, then the only upside I see would be offloading a couple more high wage earners.

 

[Leftback99]

While Villa obviously deserve massive credit for having an excellent season, I don't think it's correct to say they comfortably finished 4th. They really struggled in the 2nd half of the season, particularly the final 3rd of the season, and dropped a lot of points, only 3 points above Spurs in the end, who dropped a lot of points themselves. Today they got beaten 5-0 by Palace, they only won 3 of their last 11 league games, and they got knocked out of the ECL by Olympiakos who they really should be beating. Personally, I'd say their run in Europe had a lot to do with these drops in performances, as the squad struggled to deal with so much football.

I think there are enough examples over the years to show that extra European games often has a negative impact on clubs that don't have big enough squads to handle it. Newcastle also seemed to struggle in the 1st half of the season with the game pile-up. It's fine for a stronger squad like City or Arsenal, but I do fear our squad will be too thin to cope well with the extra European games.

People that actually researched it say otherwise
https://www.keele.ac.uk/natsci/facultynews/2019/february/mythbusting/football.php

 

[RoyH1]

I just don't give a shit who our opponents are - unless the issue is whether we have a better chance of winning, in which case I'd much prefer an easier opponent.

But the idea of only 'getting into' a match based on who the opponents are or the competition? I don't care about that. I'm up for the game because it's United playing in a competitive tournament with a trophy at the end for the champions. I don't need the opponent to be Barcelona or Real Madrid to be nervous and excited about the game - I just need United to be involved in it! I'm not going be any less interested or eager for us to win depending on the size of the opponent.

And I'm amazed to read so often on here how so many United fans seem to regard a United game as irrelevant unless they're excited by the opponents / competition.

Agree. It's the kind of poster that would probably enjoy the European SuperLeague because there they'd get the rivals they want (Madrid, Juventus, Bayern, PSG) guaranteeed yet are probably very vocal about being against it (earn it on the field bollocks).
It is what it is and you play and win against the opponent in front of you. That's what the sport is about.

 

[CallyRed]

Sad to be missing out on travelling to the likes of Lincoln Red Imps or Sloven Liberec.

 

[Abraxas]

Sad to be missing out on travelling to the likes of Lincoln Red Imps or Sloven Liberec.

Do you pilot the aircraft on European away days..

Not sure what kind of explanation this is supposed to be, what has the travel to said clubs got to do with anything?

 

[Rightnr]

I wouldn't say so with the way we burn through money. I researched how much we could make from it in the Conference League thread.

Group stage participation in the Europa Conference League is awarded a base fee of €2,940,000.

A victory in the group pays €500,000 and a draw €166,000.

Also, each group winner earns €650,000 and each runner-up €325,000.

Reaching the knock-out stage triggers additional bonuses: €300,000 for the round of 32

€600,000 for the round of 16

€1,000,000 for the quarter-finals

€2,000,000 for the semi-finals

The losing finalists receive €3,000,000 and the champions receive €5,000,000.

So if we're perfect in it, we stand to make about €15/16 million, which would cover Rashford's wages for the year.

It's more about match day revenue with the extra fixtures.

 

[Botim]

Sad to be missing out on travelling to the likes of Lincoln Red Imps or Sloven Liberec.

The final of the Conference League is between teams from Firenze and Athens, those are pretty good city trips

 

[Leftback99]

I just don't give a shit who our opponents are - unless the issue is whether we have a better chance of winning, in which case I'd much prefer an easier opponent.

But the idea of only 'getting into' a match based on who the opponents are or the competition? I don't care about that. I'm up for the game because it's United playing in a competitive tournament with a trophy at the end for the champions. I don't need the opponent to be Barcelona or Real Madrid to be nervous and excited about the game - I just need United to be involved in it! I'm not going be any less interested or eager for us to win depending on the size of the opponent.

And I'm amazed to read so often on here how so many United fans seem to regard a United game as irrelevant unless they're excited by the opponents / competition.

Agree. Personally having any kind of game to watch on a Thursday is better than none at all. The 14/15 season (when we had no Europe and went out of the league Cup early) was boring.

 

[Dazzmondo]

People that actually researched it say otherwise
https://www.keele.ac.uk/natsci/facultynews/2019/february/mythbusting/football.php

Fair enough, but there are definitely examples of this not being the case. I also would like to know what they mean by "teams at a similar level" because obviously teams that have finished high enough to get Europe the previous season are probably stronger than most teams that finished below them. If they're comparing a team like Liverpool with a team like Brighton, this is obviously a flawed system. I'd be more intrigued to see how often these teams in Europe have finished on a higher points total than their previous season where they qualified for Europe. Also, this isn't a very good article tbh, because they provide no evidence, they basically just say take our word for it. Showing the data would have been much more helpful.

 

[Bertie Wooster]

Sad to be missing out on travelling to the likes of Lincoln Red Imps or Sloven Liberec.

You can downplay the calibre of any league or cup by deliberately picking the least glamorous teams in them. These types of teams also compete in the CL / EL as well if you just want to single out the early qualifiers. Same as dismissing the FA Cup by focusing on the amateur teams that compete in it at some point.

Looking at the later stages of the Conference League, there's a good number of teams there that you wouldn't be surprised to see in the CL group stage / EL knockouts. There's absolutely no guarantee that we'd be beating the likes of Fiorentina, Olympiakos, Fenerbahce, Lille (3rd in France), Aston Villa (4th in PL), etc, in our current situation.

And the last two show that you can still compete in Conference League and it not effect your league form - as finishing 3rd and 4th for those are very strong seasons.

 

[Leftback99]

Fair enough, but there are definitely examples of this not being the case. I also would like to know what they mean by "teams at a similar level" because obviously teams that have finished high enough to get Europe the previous season are probably stronger than most teams that finished below them. If they're comparing a team like Liverpool with a team like Brighton, this is obviously a flawed system. I'd be more intrigued to see how often these teams in Europe have finished on a higher points total than their previous season where they qualified for Europe. Also, this isn't a very good article tbh, because they provide no evidence, they basically just say take our word for it. Showing the data would have been much more helpful.

There will always be outliers either way.

 

[thegregster]

Agree. Personally having any kind of game to watch on a Thursday is better than none at all. The 14/15 season (when we had no Europe and went out of the league Cup early) was boring.

You would only be crying about every game. Even if we were winning every group game 5-0 you would be going on about how we will lose to Roma in the semi.

 

[Leftback99]

You would only be crying about every game. Even if we were winning every group game 5-0 you woukd be going on about how we will lose to Roma in the semi.

If you say so.

 

[Robertd0803]

Regardless of what tournament it is, not qualifying for Europe in any fashion is so beyond whats acceptable.

 

[Shane88]

I know our players have Champions League wage reduction clauses in their contracts but I hope to God we have the same clauses for not even reaching the fecking Europa/Conference League.

No CL - 25% reduction.
No EL - 50% reduction.
No Europe at all - 100% reduction. You pay to play.

 

[CallyRed]

The final of the Conference League is between teams from Firenze and Athens, those are pretty good city trips

Very true indeed.

 

[Coops73]

It’s a fecking ball ache watching United right now but I’d rather watch us twice a week than once a week.

 

[MancunianAngels]

There have been other examples though. Chelsea finished 10th in 2015/16 but won the title in 2016/17 since they got to implement a new, high energy style in the absence of European football. The subsequent season they were back to lowly positions.

That Chelsea period of going 1st - 10th - 1st was a freak though.

In 14/15, United scraped 4th and were knocked out the League Cup by MK Dons which was the last time we had no Europe. Not exactly massive progress (especially given the money that was spent in the summer of 2014.)

I also object to the original post that Andy Mitten is almost selfish for wanting a few interesting away trips wanting United. Also, if multi millionaire footballers can't handle playing Thursday - Sunday instead of Wednesday - Saturday then they need binning off immediately.

 

[thisisnottaken1]

I grew up in an era when European football was a privilege be it in any of the three competitions united had no European football between 1969 and 1976 it was embarrassing for the former European champions and showed how far we had fallen so I can’t understand peoples relief at not playing European competitions

I’m much younger than you (I’m 25 so a difference of 39 years) but I agree. Playing in Europe is good thing. For younger fans like me, it’s a given for this club to make European football, so to not do so is really bad.

It’s a fecking ball ache watching United right now but I’d rather watch us twice a week than once a week.

Same. It’s a massive blow. It’ll be like LvG’s first season. Very boring.