The looming spectre of.....The Conference League

The last week's results is making this a very real possibility now.

6th: United: 49
7th: West Ham: 48 (Played a game more)
8th: Newcastle: 47
9th: Chelsea: 44

I was hesitant to include Chelsea but they can make ground with their game in hand.

If England gets 5 CL spots then 6th gets EL and 7th gets the Conference League (I think that's how it works?)
If we win FA cup it’ll mean Europa too won’t it? Also if city beat us in final im not sure if loser also gets Europa or does an extra spot go to league?
 
If we win FA cup it’ll mean Europa too won’t it? Also if city beat us in final im not sure if loser also gets Europa or does an extra spot go to league?

Good question. Do Chelsea "get" a European place as Liverpool have already qualified for the CL?
 
If England receive five CL places, does the Conference spot go down to eighth?
Yes, it does - provided the domestic cups are won by those finishing inside the top seven as seen last season, with Manchester United winning the Carabao Cup and Manchester City winning the FA Cup.

Based on last season, eighth-placed Tottenham would have qualified for the Europa Conference League and Aston Villa would have been promoted to the Europa League

https://www.skysports.com/football/...ier-league-how-extra-team-can-qualify-in-2024
 
Good question. Do Chelsea "get" a European place as Liverpool have already qualified for the CL?

Goes to 6th place rather than league cup runner up if winner already makes Europe as Liverpool have obviously done now.
 
If England receive five CL places, does the Conference spot go down to eighth?
Yes, it does - provided the domestic cups are won by those finishing inside the top seven as seen last season, with Manchester United winning the Carabao Cup and Manchester City winning the FA Cup.

So, does that mean we have to throw the FA Cup and the rest of our fixtures so we can avoid it?
 
So, does that mean we have to throw the FA Cup and the rest of our fixtures so we can avoid it?
I think the main thing is not to be playing the first XI in the Europa League next year.

Get a decent first XL for the premier league, play the kids/reserves in early League Cup and Europa League/Conference League
 
If we have to do with Europa, we better pray Nice make the CL or they themselves go down to the ECL, else it's conference league for us.
 
I think it's us or Newcastle for 6th
Chelsea have the most difficult set of fixtures, West Ham I think will have a downturn after Leverkusen put them out
 
Whatever.

I’d rather just play a lot of youth players if we get Conference League. There’s jack shit incentive to win it for a club of our stature so why not just treat it as an outlet to blood youth players, and focus on winning the league game that week.
 
I think the main thing is not to be playing the first XI in the Europa League next year.

Get a decent first XL for the premier league, play the kids/reserves in early League Cup and Europa League/Conference League

Isn't there some rule that you have to play your strongest XI or risk a fine?
 
I think it's us or Newcastle for 6th
Chelsea have the most difficult set of fixtures, West Ham I think will have a downturn after Leverkusen put them out

If we don't lose at home to Newcastle 6th should be semi comfortable. But it's us, and we are shit. So predictions are silly really.
 
Nowadays it’s just about how much money the owners will get.

Until United start playing well who cares what night of the week they play in Europe.
 
If we have to do with Europa, we better pray Nice make the CL or they themselves go down to the ECL, else it's conference league for us.

Are Ineos outright 100% owners?
Or can they sell a stake? Like City will inevitably do with Girona..?
 
Are Ineos outright 100% owners?
Or can they sell a stake? Like City will inevitably do with Girona..?
Well, as far as I know the teams cannot be in the same competition and the higher finishing one gets priority (unless we win the FA cup).
 
It's humiliation regardless of the sub-CL cup we're in. There's no upside with being in the Conference League but hardly any more salt in the wound if that's our fate and the relevant goal anyway will be returning to the CL the subsequent season.
 
Goes to 6th place rather than league cup runner up if winner already makes Europe as Liverpool have obviously done now.

Ah, cheers.
So what's the run down? 6th Europa, 7th Europa unless a team outside the top 6 has won the FA Cup and 8th the Conference League?
 
Ah, cheers.
So what's the run down? 6th Europa, 7th Europa unless a team outside the top 6 has won the FA Cup and 8th the Conference League?
1. CL
2. CL
3. CL
4. CL
5. CL if England finish in top 2 of European leagues, EL otherwise.
6. EL
7. EL if FA Cup winner finishes in top 7 AND England finishes in top 2, ECL otherwise
8. ECL if FA Cup is won by a top 7 team and England finishes in top 2, nothing otherwise.

Something like that. Complicating it is West Ham if they win the EL and finish outside the top 4/5 and Aston Villa if they win the ECL and completely collapse and finish outside the top 8/9/10
 
1. CL
2. CL
3. CL
4. CL
5. CL if England finish in top 2 of European leagues, EL otherwise.
6. EL
7. EL if FA Cup winner finishes in top 7 AND England finishes in top 2, ECL otherwise
8. ECL if FA Cup is won by a top 7 team and England finishes in top 2, nothing otherwise.

Something like that. Complicating it is West Ham if they win the EL and finish outside the top 4/5 and Aston Villa if they win the ECL and completely collapse and finish outside the top 8/9/10

In that case, there could be 9 maybe even 10 English sides in Europe next season.

If England gets the extra Champions League place.

West Ham would qualify as an extra Champions League side (like we did in 2017) if they win the Europa. So 6 English teams in Champions League.

If Villa were to lose basically all their league games and finish 8th but won the Conference League, England wouldn't have an extra Conference League place as Villa would go in Europa. The Conference League place wouldn't drop to the team in 9th.

If Villa finished 9th (very unlikely but still Mathematically possible) the team in 8th would get Conference League with Villa going into Europa as Conference League winners.
 
In that case, there could be 9 maybe even 10 English sides in Europe next season.

If England gets the extra Champions League place.

West Ham would qualify as an extra Champions League side (like we did in 2017) if they win the Europa. So 6 English teams in Champions League.

If Villa were to lose basically all their league games and finish 8th but won the Conference League, England wouldn't have an extra Conference League place as Villa would go in Europa. The Conference League place wouldn't drop to the team in 9th.

If Villa finished 9th (very unlikely but still Mathematically possible) the team in 8th would get Conference League with Villa going into Europa as Conference League winners.
On the Football Manager subreddit, I've seen 10 teams enter Europe in many seasons. 11 teams in fact is possible

4 CL Places normally to the top 4
2 EL Places normally
1 ECL Place normally.
+1 CL Place for England finishing in the top 2 leagues.
+1 CL Place for the CL Winner finishing outside the top 5
+1 CL Place for the EL Winner finishing outside the European spots
+1 EL Place for the ECL winner finishing outside the European spots.

Examples of 10 teams (1) (2) (3)

10 teams seems very common on FM but 11 teams is possible

https://theathletic.com/4866115/2023/09/19/premier-league-top-four-european-places-how/
 
On the Football Manager subreddit, I've seen 10 teams enter Europe in many seasons. 11 teams in fact is possible

4 CL Places normally to the top 4
2 EL Places normally
1 ECL Place normally.
+1 CL Place for England finishing in the top 2 leagues.
+1 CL Place for the CL Winner finishing outside the top 5
+1 CL Place for the EL Winner finishing outside the European spots
+1 EL Place for the ECL winner finishing outside the European spots.

Examples of 10 teams (1) (2) (3)

10 teams seems very common on FM but 11 teams is possible

https://theathletic.com/4866115/2023/09/19/premier-league-top-four-european-places-how/

I'm not sure all of that is correct.

If the Champions League winners were to finish outside the top 4 (or top 5 depending on how many places we have) the team in the last Champions League spot would drop out unless they won the Europa.

Spurs finished 4th in 2012 but missed out because Chelsea who finished 6th won the competition.

The maximum overall for European qualification is 10. Maximum now for UCL is 6.

Hypothetically could work out like this. Only change would be 8th wouldn't get UECL if someone outside the other European places won the Carabao Cup.

1st - UCL
2nd - UCL
3rd - UCL
4th - UCL
5th - UEL
6th - UCL - qualified as holders
7th - UCL - qualified as UEL winners
8th - UECL
9th - UEL - qualified as FA Cup winners
10th - UEL - qualified as UECL winners
 
If we get a load of new signings and offload a few, this competition could actually be useful in bedding then in for the PL games. I'd rather this than the Europa League weirdly.
 
If we get a load of new signings and offload a few, this competition could actually be useful in bedding then in for the PL games. I'd rather this than the Europa League weirdly.

Totally

It’s nearly the perfect season to be in it in some ways. Gives INEOs a season to sort out whatever they are gonna do with manager/players.

From what SJR said, there’s gonna be a big focus on youth development, so more Hoijland types of signings. This is the perfect year for a purge.

I don’t get the EL hate. It’s great for fine tuning a squad , it’s not like we have been anywhere near challanging for a league or CL. We’ve needed a proper reboot for sometime , now with INEOs actually making changes the weasels couldn’t (or wouldn’t) I’m really hoping we at least qualify for it.
 
ah-shit-here-we-go-again-ah-shit.gif
 
My order of preference would be Europa league, no European football, Europa conference.

I like the Europa league, this is a step too far. They should have never got rid of CWC if they wanted a third European competition.
 
My order of preference would be Europa league, no European football, Europa conference.

I like the Europa league, this is a step too far. They should have never got rid of CWC if they wanted a third European competition.

Winning in 1991 against Barca was great.

I know what you mean but if you think about it, there is only 4 trophies (if you get Into Europe) to be won. Only one team can win them.

Teams can choose to blood players in league cup, early Fa cup and European group games. I think it’s better for bigger clubs to be in Europe , even if it is a Mickey Mouse one.
 
better to be in this than out of Europa all together....

players like Bayundir, Hannibal, Amass, Kambwala, Antony, Amad etc would really benefit as well as keeping the likes of Maguire, McTominay happy
 
United made 50 million from CL this season and will save 50 million from wages drop next season (25% drop not qualifying). Why is it being reported that we are gonna lose out a fortune by not qualifying ? We will still have games in Europa so Won’t be losing matchday revenue. What is the huge amount of money we are missing out on ?
 
United made 50 million from CL this season and will save 50 million from wages drop next season (25% drop not qualifying). Why is it being reported that we are gonna lose out a fortune by not qualifying ? We will still have games in Europa so Won’t be losing matchday revenue. What is the huge amount of money we are missing out on ?
Possibly (I don't know for sure) sponsor money. I don't know for United but I am aware of deals that include bonuses for more/better brand exposure, so might be that some sponsors pay more for being presented in the CL.
 
Possibly (I don't know for sure) sponsor money. I don't know for United but I am aware of deals that include bonuses for more/better brand exposure, so might be that some sponsors pay more for being presented in the CL.

Yeh I was thinking of that but nowhere does it actually give a decent account of it. Just keep seeing it’s gonna hit us hard but no explanation of why.
 
1. CL
2. CL
3. CL
4. CL
5. CL if England finish in top 2 of European leagues, EL otherwise.
6. EL
7. EL if FA Cup winner finishes in top 7 AND England finishes in top 2, ECL otherwise
8. ECL if FA Cup is won by a top 7 team and England finishes in top 2, nothing otherwise.

Something like that. Complicating it is West Ham if they win the EL and finish outside the top 4/5 and Aston Villa if they win the ECL and completely collapse and finish outside the top 8/9/10

Cheers for that.
 
We generate a ton of cash from home games, so any additional income would be seen as a priority. I doubt we'll just waive it off.
 
United made 50 million from CL this season and will save 50 million from wages drop next season (25% drop not qualifying). Why is it being reported that we are gonna lose out a fortune by not qualifying ? We will still have games in Europa so Won’t be losing matchday revenue. What is the huge amount of money we are missing out on ?
Our highest ever revenue was in a Europa league season. Granted a big part of that was we played the maximum number of home games possible in a season.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/271665/revenue-of-manchester-united/

We will probably have a smaller turnover for this season even with CL football.

A season in the Europa league isnt a big blow to the finances.
 
I'm not sure all of that is correct.

If the Champions League winners were to finish outside the top 4 (or top 5 depending on how many places we have) the team in the last Champions League spot would drop out unless they won the Europa.

Spurs finished 4th in 2012 but missed out because Chelsea who finished 6th won the competition.


The maximum overall for European qualification is 10. Maximum now for UCL is 6.

Hypothetically could work out like this. Only change would be 8th wouldn't get UECL if someone outside the other European places won the Carabao Cup.

1st - UCL
2nd - UCL
3rd - UCL
4th - UCL
5th - UEL
6th - UCL - qualified as holders
7th - UCL - qualified as UEL winners
8th - UECL
9th - UEL - qualified as FA Cup winners
10th - UEL - qualified as UECL winners
My post was based on this season, not hypothetical. The bit in bold is no longer a thing. 4th place no longer loses their position to CL winner.
 
Would we be the first club to win CL / EL / Conference if we did?

I don't hate the thought of it, so long as we play a proper, SAF style second string for the majority of the games.

Cultivating a winning habit is always a useful thing and we aren't exactly in the position to be picky at the moment.

EL would be the preference of course, though I'd expect that to be more draining for the first 11.
 
We are abysmal in the Champions League anyway, we are a Europa League level club.

Nothing huge about dropping down to the Conference League, if we can even manage that.
 
i kind of like the idea of being the first club to win the three and it would be a great competition to play youngsters without much pressure. And if we win it we will even qualify for the Europa, whats not to like? :nervous:
 
Its obvious we're not out of it. We've won 4 out of 5 games at a time when Spurs are falling. So the only remaining question is whether one thinks we can find 8 points on Villa in 12 fixtures.

Easily done. We’ll finish closer to Spurs than Villa.