Would you prefer to win the Premier League or the Champions League first?

Well...

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Has to be the Premier League especially with Liverpool winning it so recently.

The CL is a lovely bonus but the best team doesn’t always win whereas the best team always wins the PL.

if we did win the PL with a strong team I’d want to go on and win the CL then.
 
Premier League

The CL can be won on the luck of the draw and a decent run.
Winning the PL means that a team has played consistently well (or shown enough fight to get a result when not playing well) week in week out over 9 months and to me that’s the measure of a good team.
Plus we need to put some daylight between us and Liverpool now we’re back to 20 and 19 league titles each.
 
You can win the CL despite not being the best team or even one of the best teams, you only win the premier league by being the best team in England and we need that back asap.
 
As a marker of consistency (particularly for a team that's a work in progress and trying to re-establish itself in the elite rungs), being crowned Premier League champions would be a wonderful accomplishment (as it's the most formidable domestic league system right now), but I've always preferred Old Big Ears (and still do).
  • It was the holy grail for both Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson, and there are a lot of intense emotions and “magic” associated with this cup in particular; the current manager has some unfinished business from 2019 too.
  • United was the first English club to enter the European Cup as well as the first English club to win it. In a lot of ways, the history of the club (including the highest of highs) is intertwined with the competition.
  • Clubs like United and Juventus have underperformed in the European Cup (relative to what they have accomplished in the First Division or Serie A), and bridging the gap with Milan, Bayern, Liverpool (:mad:) would be quite nice.
  • While there have been some fluky (and undeserving?) winners, landing the Champions League title is the testament of greatness as it's the most prestigious competition in club football. Narratively, we would be overcoming the collective might of the continental elites — that sounds quite appealing.
Though as mentioned previously, it's easy to understand why many (most?) prefer the Premier League — it's a slogfest, and the domestic winner is more regularly and rigorously tested over the course of an entire campaign.
 
Champions League without doubt….

a: The CL is more difficult to win.

b: Nobody cares (or possibly even knows) who won the the league title outside their own country, whereas the whole of Europe would know who won the CL.
 
Premier league, easily. Because it's generally a better indicator of the potential for further success.
 
Voted PL and will always vote so. Local league is always the priority.

I bet that Real Madrid fans hate the current season with passion, and suffer greatly because of the gap in the league from Barcelona.
Yes, even after they thumped Barcelona in the cup, and also after Barcelona failed this season quite badly in Europe.

Xavi gets plaudits for this season and very rightly so.

Inter are a whisker away from being at a CL semi-final, all the while sitting 5th in Serie A. You could bet your ass there are a lot of their fans who would have liked for the manager to get the sack based on the league campaign.
 
Invictus said:
As a marker of consistency (particularly for a team that's a work in progress and trying to re-establish itself in the elite rungs), being crowned Premier League champions would be a wonderful accomplishment (as it's the most formidable domestic league system right now), but I've always preferred Old Big Ears (and still do).
  • It was the holy grail for both Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson, and there are a lot of intense emotions and “magic” associated with this cup in particular; the current manager has some unfinished business from 2019 too.
  • United was the first English club to enter the European Cup as well as the first English club to win it. In a lot of ways, the history of the club (including the highest of highs) is intertwined with the competition.
  • Clubs like United and Juventus have underperformed in the European Cup (relative to what they have accomplished in the First Division or Serie A), and bridging the gap with Milan, Bayern, Liverpool (:mad:) would be quite nice.
  • While there have been some fluky (and undeserving?) winners, landing the Champions League title is the testament of greatness as it's the most prestigious competition in club football. Narratively, we would be overcoming the collective might of the continental elites — that sounds quite appealing.
Though as mentioned previously, it's easy to understand why many (most?) prefer the Premier League — it's a slogfest, and the domestic winner is more regularly and rigorously tested over the course of an entire campaign.
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I think there's also an element of 'greatness' when a team manages to win the Champions League as well as winning their domestic league in the same season. We're the only club to do it, and we've done it twice.

I'd also say that our CL successes came in the middle of winning the PL 3 times in a row - that for me is the marker of a truly great side.

So, I'd want to win the PL first...and use that as a springboard for the CL.
 
sparx99 said:
Yeah, it’s one those annoying quirks. Several things have contributed to that record.

- early years of Fergie’s success had some crazy rules for foreign players. We had to leave out Cantona or Schmeichel if I remember rightly.
- it took Fergie a while to wise-up in Europe. Even 1999 we weren’t as smart as some European rivals. It was years too late when he started to play 3-man midfields in the knockout phase.
- Our best period of success coinciding with Pep’s Barca is just unlucky.
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Also there's the small matter of the Munich disaster. It's very possible that team would've won some European titles.

Plus English teams were set back many years by the Heysel ban, so when our period of dominance started in the 90's we had to play catch up.
 
We need a PL title to break the streak

Dont get my wrong the CL is massive but in our current situation we need a league title
 
The PL for me as it’s a test off character over a long period against various opponents.
The CL can rely on the luck off the draw and possibly winning it with as little as eight goals scored and maybe three scoreless games.
 
Invictus said:
As a marker of consistency (particularly for a team that's a work in progress and trying to re-establish itself in the elite rungs), being crowned Premier League champions would be a wonderful accomplishment (as it's the most formidable domestic league system right now), but I've always preferred Old Big Ears (and still do).
  • It was the holy grail for both Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson, and there are a lot of intense emotions and “magic” associated with this cup in particular; the current manager has some unfinished business from 2019 too.
  • United was the first English club to enter the European Cup as well as the first English club to win it. In a lot of ways, the history of the club (including the highest of highs) is intertwined with the competition.
  • Clubs like United and Juventus have underperformed in the European Cup (relative to what they have accomplished in the First Division or Serie A), and bridging the gap with Milan, Bayern, Liverpool (:mad:) would be quite nice.
  • While there have been some fluky (and undeserving?) winners, landing the Champions League title is the testament of greatness as it's the most prestigious competition in club football. Narratively, we would be overcoming the collective might of the continental elites — that sounds quite appealing.
Though as mentioned previously, it's easy to understand why many (most?) prefer the Premier League — it's a slogfest, and the domestic winner is more regularly and rigorously tested over the course of an entire campaign.
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Agreed 100%
 
If the PL drought was 5 years I'd probably say CL, but it's 10 years now and it's time to get back.
 
He have three European titles and twenty domestic ones, pretty simple choice for me.
 
It's all about the league title for me.

As Fergie said: "the name of the game at this football club is winning the league"

Growing up, I was already accustomed to only winning the Champions League occasionally (and don't get me wrong, it's the most special achievement a club can have (unless you're Real Madrid!)) - but we always regularly won the league, and when we didn't we were always in the title race.

10 years without a league title is a travesty for a club as big as United. It needs rectifying as soon as possible.

So for me, that's the priority.

Another thing I want to add is... Whenever a team wins the Champions League but finishes quite poorly in their domestic league (Liverpool 2005, Chelsea 2012) - it feels slightly hollow to me.
 
LInkash said:
If we are good enough, we will win the Premier League sooner rather than later. I'd like to think Ten Hag has got us on the right track and it's just a matter of time.
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I think we all have to accept that we might not win a Premier League any time soon, even if Ten Hag does a good job. It's definitely not just a matter of time. There's every chance we won't win a title for another decade or more. We'd need to get recruitment absolutely 100% spot on over a period of several years to get anywhere close and even then nothing is guaranteed. You need 90+ points to win the league and we surpassed 75 once in the last decade.
 
Bebestation said:
We have only won the European Cup 3 times right?

It’s something that irritates me at how little we have won.
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Had some annoying missed ones as well,the two which spring to mind immediately is Dortmund in 97 and Porto in 04
 
Premier League is always more important, you have to be the best in your own country.
 
Always the Champions League. We need more than 3 CLs, we're better than that.

PSV said:
If the PL drought was 5 years I'd probably say CL, but it's 10 years now and it's time to get back.
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Fair but CL drought is 15 years and counting though. We haven't even made the semi-final since 2011. If we still want to be seen seriously as a top club then we need to be making the latter stages of the CL very soon.
 
Although the Premier League is more difficult to win, there is just something truly special about big European nights. I will always remember the Ole win away in Paris more than any of his big matches from the PL.
 
I find it hard to explain what I will feel like when we win the Prem again. C League would be amazing too of course, but I would ride the Premier League high for longer... ;)
 
Prem. A CL win is rarer and maybe more valuable in the grand scheme (looking back in some years the CL will probably stand out more) but I would prefer the prem right now because it is a statement that we are back at the top as a squad and as a club. It requires a sustained high level of performance and generally bodes well for the future. While a CL is just a once off good run. Probably the following season I could prefer a CL
 
Generally the league, as a league is always harder tp win than a cup.

The question could be made a lot harder by who you'd be losing to.

Say lose the league to a Chelsea, but beat Liverpool in the Champs league final. That'd be more palatable than lose the league to Liverpool and beat Chelsea in the other.
 
Premier League, always. The CL is just a cup, albeit a massively prestigious one, where anyone can win by virtue of playing well in a few games dotted across a season. Like any cup competition, the best team doesn't always win. If you win the CL and come fifth in the league, you're very obviously not the best team in Europe, or even close to it. You're not even the best team in your own country. If you win the Premier League, you're the best team in the country and you've shown that consistently over nine months.

There is an argument that if you've won the league several times in recent years and not the CL then you might favour winning the CL, and I can totally understand that.

To be a truly great team, you win both in the same season. Our overall CL record is pretty dismal, but I'm really proud of the 1999 and 2008 teams who won both in the same season. Marks them down as all time greats.
 
Surely it's CL, if only to re-establish United amongst the European elite. League titles and worldwide fanbase are all well and good but getting up there with Real, AC, Liverpool and Bayern should be the priority.
 
Premier League, First and Last and Always as the Sisters of Mercy might say. I love a good cup run and winning trophies is what it is all about but I would take a first round exit in every cup competition for a PL title.
 
Premier League - that was our trophy, it's imperative we get it back ASAP.
 
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Champions League victories are a few and far between so that

Although winning the Premier League would probably be a better indication that we've made back to the top
 
Premier League. I see it as a natural progression towards getting the Champions League. It doesn't have to work out that way of course, but it just feels right.

Might make an exception if we came very close to the domestic title a couple of times but if we won the CL next without ever getting within less than a handful of points of the champions that would feel a little odd to me. I'd still be happy of course, but I'd rather at least put in a couple of real title challenges first or even better win it.

I've been buzzing all summer when we've won the league and nothing else in the past and that's more than good enough. CL can wait.
 
champions league always. European glory is very rare for utd

Better yet would be the good old European system of needing to be champions first to enter the european cup but yeah wishful thinking
 
Ideally you want to be consistent and win with style. Winning the Premier League means you're more likely to do that as knockout competitions tend to require more pragmatic football.

Tuchel's Chelsea side were a decent example of a good cup team, but not one who played particularly attractive football or looked like they could win a Premier League title. You obviously take it if you're a fan of that team, but I'd rather watch us blow teams away on a weekly basis.
 
EPL is always the bread and butter for me. Any cup computation can be won by a team raising their game for 1 or 2 games a month but League shows consistency over 10 months.
 
Premier League. Winning that means we're truly back.
 
Hound Dog said:
I created a poll with this exact same question a few years back and was surprised to learn that most people wanted to win the Champions League.

While I expected that topic to go similar to this one, I will never fail to be astounded by people preferring to be champions of England to being champions of Europe (especially after having experienced the latter less times than any other club of similar stature bar Juventus).
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CL is always the last piece of jigsaw, as in the case of Chelsea (few years ago), and City (now). In principle you always have to priortise your squad for CL QF/SF, hence sacrificing your domestic run.

If you are already 5-6 points ahead, so be it. But if you are struggling for 4th, then I doubt it, particularly when the manager can't even rotate squad for lesser FA games. Apart from Chelsea, I can't recall any mid-table team winning the Champions League to qualify.
 
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