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Originally Posted by theasfl
may I ask why? Not that I disagree or agree specifically. Is it due to the more teams/shorter time group format? longer knockout stage? Less rich teams?
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The main reason is that you have a team that could possibly have finished 4th in their own countries league becoming Champions of Europe when they aren't even champions of their own country, when Liverpool won it they finished 3rd or 4th I think.
The UEFA Cup imo is now tarnished with having group stages and all it is, is to make money it's not for the good of the game just the good of the bank accounts. The fans are voting with their wallets that they also agree that all these group games don't work, look at Newcastle last night, one of the best supported teams in England and they filled about half their ground for a UEFA Cup game.
I know it seem's strange to say being a football fan but imo there is just too much football and with ticket prices going up all the time they are pricing the hardcore out who would go and watch every game but who are now picking and choosing their games, Latics this year have raised their prices by alot compared to last year and it's already shown by them not filling the stadium for the Man Utd game last Saturday, the chairman and the club wont suffer as I think they were stated as making something like £150,000 more from the game on Saturday than they did the same game last season even though last season was a bigger crowd so in the end the bank balance doesn't suffer but the fans who can't afford to go do suffer.
It's only time before football faces a financial meltdown and it's already started as more and more teams struggle to fill their grounds.