Prioritising the Champions' League - is it right?

[ashton287]

Champions league can suck my dick.

It is a symbol of everything that is wrong in modern day football.

[Hutch's Shoulder]

Ok, you’ve started me now. I could have a very long rant about the Champion’s League because it irritates me, but I will content myself with a shorter one to spare you all. And before I do so, I will make it clear that none of this should be taken to mean I don’t recognise the importance of the competition to the club and to other people…..

It had an excellent format when it was the European Cup with champions from each league drawn randomly against each other, but they messed it up for extra games for TV, by combining a group league format with knockout and letting in teams who are far from champions (yes, like us for two of the last three years). And then seeding – that’s always the refuge of a tournament that’s over stretched itself. Either everyone plays everyone else and best team wins or it is luck of the draw, not some cobbled up system in between. But filling it up with teams who don’t deserve to be there, then seeding the draw to try to make sure they don’t cause an upset and justify their inclusion!

Then there’s the ‘iconic’ music that is so pretentious, and having to vacate my season ticket the season before last because of some silly rule to let people who I’d never seen before and will never see again sit there. And the commentators telling us at every game how great it is, when clearly it isn’t.

And there being so much money involved and the players demanding qualification to sign for you so much that we can’t tell them where to stuff it. And the players falling over every few minutes because it is so crucial to get through to the knock stages that it justifies cheating.

In the interest of balance, I have to say I enjoyed my visits to Lokeren and Copenhagen in the other European competition, and I would have gone to Plzen if I could have obtained a ticket because I was off work that week. And yes I will still go tomorrow because it’s City and I am working near home that day, and yes, I will jump up and down if we win, and vaunt our progress to opposing fans. I don’t claim to be always rational and consistent; it’s not a totally bad competition just ludicrously over-sold.

So there you are; my apologies for beginning so many sentences with ‘And’ or ‘but’ - that is mandatory in a rant. I bet you’re glad you didn’t get the full rant eh?

[Im_Spartacus]

Prem for me too. I don't even think CL is a good tournament until the knock-out stages, being too drawn-out and of variable quality. I'm pretty sure those who run the club think differently though.

I agree totally with this - as a kid I was transfixed by the big names in the early 90s, but the last 10 or 15 years i've found the group stages to just be utter tedium.

I'd much rather watch fulham vs west ham, than chelsea vs x for example.

League for me any day, but we are just fans, and the suits will have positioned pellegrinis bonus or even survival in such a way tt the champs league does seem to be coming first

[RodneyRodney]

Me too , I cannot stomach that WANKY bloody song

[Tim777]

Definitely and definitively the Premier League.

On the subject of polls, has there ever been, or has anyone ever thought of starting a poll like this:
"If City never existed"
If you were to align yourself with any of the other 19 league teams, who would you choose?
Practically everyone's knee-jerk reaction would be none (shock, horror, disgust), but which team would come the closest if you had to choose? There could be some interesting results and comments.

[Blue Since 76]

PL for me. I'd happily win that every season and not qualify for Europe. However, I think our business plan required us to make a name for ourselves in Europe.

[Blue Since 76]

Definitely and definitively the Premier League. On the subject of polls, has there ever been, or has anyone ever thought of starting a poll like this: "If City never existed" If you were to align yourself with any of the other 19 league teams, who would you choose? Practically everyone's knee-jerk reaction would be none (shock, horror, disgust), but which team would come the closest if you had to choose? There could be some interesting results and comments.

If City had NEVER existed and it had to be one of the current PL clubs, then I'd be a rag. They're my other local club, so supporting anyone else would just make me, well, a rag.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Ok, you’ve started me now. I could have a very long rant about the Champion’s League because it irritates me, but I will content myself with a shorter one to spare you all. And before I do so, I will make it clear that none of this should be taken to mean I don’t recognise the importance of the competition to the club and to other people…..

It had an excellent format when it was the European Cup with champions from each league drawn randomly against each other, but they messed it up for extra games for TV, by combining a group league format with knockout and letting in teams who are far from champions (yes, like us for two of the last three years). And then seeding – that’s always the refuge of a tournament that’s over stretched itself. Either everyone plays everyone else and best team wins or it is luck of the draw, not some cobbled up system in between. But filling it up with teams who don’t deserve to be there, then seeding the draw to try to make sure they don’t cause an upset and justify their inclusion!

Then there’s the ‘iconic’ music that is so pretentious, and having to vacate my season ticket the season before last because of some silly rule to let people who I’d never seen before and will never see again sit there. And the commentators telling us at every game how great it is, when clearly it isn’t.

And there being so much money involved and the players demanding qualification to sign for you so much that we can’t tell them where to stuff it. And the players falling over every few minutes because it is so crucial to get through to the knock stages that it justifies cheating.

In the interest of balance, I have to say I enjoyed my visits to Lokeren and Copenhagen in the other European competition, and I would have gone to Plzen if I could have obtained a ticket because I was off work that week. And yes I will still go tomorrow because it’s City and I am working near home that day, and yes, I will jump up and down if we win, and vaunt our progress to opposing fans. I don’t claim to be always rational and consistent; it’s not a totally bad competition just ludicrously over-sold.

So there you are; my apologies for beginning so many sentences with ‘And’ or ‘but’ - that is mandatory in a rant. I bet you’re glad you didn’t get the full rant eh?

Couldn't agree more mate.

I mean, I've been to few of these European games and it's good fun but I miss the old European competitions. I really do.

[Socrates]

Ok, you’ve started me now. I could have a very long rant about the Champion’s League because it irritates me, but I will content myself with a shorter one to spare you all. And before I do so, I will make it clear that none of this should be taken to mean I don’t recognise the importance of the competition to the club and to other people…..

It had an excellent format when it was the European Cup with champions from each league drawn randomly against each other, but they messed it up for extra games for TV, by combining a group league format with knockout and letting in teams who are far from champions (yes, like us for two of the last three years). And then seeding – that’s always the refuge of a tournament that’s over stretched itself. Either everyone plays everyone else and best team wins or it is luck of the draw, not some cobbled up system in between. But filling it up with teams who don’t deserve to be there, then seeding the draw to try to make sure they don’t cause an upset and justify their inclusion!

Then there’s the ‘iconic’ music that is so pretentious, and having to vacate my season ticket the season before last because of some silly rule to let people who I’d never seen before and will never see again sit there. And the commentators telling us at every game how great it is, when clearly it isn’t.

And there being so much money involved and the players demanding qualification to sign for you so much that we can’t tell them where to stuff it. And the players falling over every few minutes because it is so crucial to get through to the knock stages that it justifies cheating.

In the interest of balance, I have to say I enjoyed my visits to Lokeren and Copenhagen in the other European competition, and I would have gone to Plzen if I could have obtained a ticket because I was off work that week. And yes I will still go tomorrow because it’s City and I am working near home that day, and yes, I will jump up and down if we win, and vaunt our progress to opposing fans. I don’t claim to be always rational and consistent; it’s not a totally bad competition just ludicrously over-sold.

So there you are; my apologies for beginning so many sentences with ‘And’ or ‘but’ - that is mandatory in a rant. I bet you’re glad you didn’t get the full rant eh?

I want the full rant next time please, no half hearted in-between measures.

[AG7]

Definitely and definitively the Premier League. On the subject of polls, has there ever been, or has anyone ever thought of starting a poll like this: "If City never existed" If you were to align yourself with any of the other 19 league teams, who would you choose? Practically everyone's knee-jerk reaction would be none (shock, horror, disgust), but which team would come the closest if you had to choose? There could be some interesting results and comments.

Yup would be interesting ... someone set it up pls.

[dick dastardley]

premier league for me, if we cant beat the likes of villa and cardiff how the hell do we beat the best in europe?
getting out of the chumps lge group is a must, but first we must learn how to play in away games hold a lead or scrape wins by the skin of our teeth, we aint mastered that yet!!!.

[sheblue]

premier league for me, if we cant beat the likes of villa and cardiff how the hell do we beat the best in europe?
getting out of the chumps lge group is a must, but first we must learn how to play in away games hold a lead or scrape wins by the skin of our teeth, we aint mastered that yet!!!.

dont compare the champions leauge to the premier leauge they are very different competitions. In the cl there is far less 'blood and thunder' or 'dogs of war' football which we often get when away from home in the premier leauge. Bayern wont do that, neither will 90% of the teams in the cl. It is very early days but it may be that pelligrini is at this stage more comfortable with the champoins leauge type football rather than the premier leauge type football. But he will adjust and that will change.

[Ted Hughes]

I would much prefer to win the Prem, but the owner clearly wants a better performance in the Champions Lg, so Pellegrini will probably put the CL first when the games come next to so called 'winnable' Prem Lg matches, which tbf, our 'squad' players should be good enough to win (but aren't) .

So far it hasn't worked in our favour in the Prem, but if we can scrape through the CL group, then it gives the Count more breathing space & goes part of the way to securing his job, so he will be keen to get it done, whether we agree with it or not.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

I can't understand the indifference on here by some to the CL. We didn't seem to rate it as lowly when we qualified or missed out to Spurs.
In fact we were all fucking gutted when we lost that game to Spurs.
Yet now we're finally in it people don't seem to care as much.

I would love to see us win the CL, perhaps even more than PL ( possibly because we've won the league recently already)
I used to love watching Liverpool and other teams play in the CL later rounds as you could tell the atmosphere was electric.
I remember how incredible the atmosphere was against Hamburg in the UEFA cup. Definitely one of the best atmosphere the stadium has ever had.

We're yet to experience a big night in the CL but I can't wait until we do and I feel the atmosphere and buzz will be as good as anything we've ever had at the Etihad.

[Breks]

Winning the Champions league is the pinnacle for any european club team. Its a fantastic competition, i'm convinced we will get at least to the quarter finals this time. The Count definitely excels when it comes to the champs league.

[Ted Hughes]

A win v the Munes would put us in the driving seat, but they are much better going forward than the scum & their keeper is incredible.

(Sorry wrong thread).

[Michigan Blue]

Given a choice, I'd take a Champions League victory over the Prem since it is the one major honour (okay two counting Europa/UEFA) that we have never won.

Of course, it is very difficult to "prioritise" a cup competition where one bad result can (and probably will) wipe out the entire campaign. Especially when we are nowhere near favorites.

[Hutch's Shoulder]

Ok, you’ve started me now. I could have a very long rant about the Champion’s League because it irritates me, but I will content myself with a shorter one to spare you all. And before I do so, I will make it clear that none of this should be taken to mean I don’t recognise the importance of the competition to the club and to other people….. It had an excellent format when it was the European Cup with champions from each league drawn randomly against each other, but they messed it up for extra games for TV, by combining a group league format with knockout and letting in teams who are far from champions (yes, like us for two of the last three years). And then seeding – that’s always the refuge of a tournament that’s over stretched itself. Either everyone plays everyone else and best team wins or it is luck of the draw, not some cobbled up system in between. But filling it up with teams who don’t deserve to be there, then seeding the draw to try to make sure they don’t cause an upset and justify their inclusion! Then there’s the ‘iconic’ music that is so pretentious, and having to vacate my season ticket the season before last because of some silly rule to let people who I’d never seen before and will never see again sit there. And the commentators telling us at every game how great it is, when clearly it isn’t. And there being so much money involved and the players demanding qualification to sign for you so much that we can’t tell them where to stuff it. And the players falling over every few minutes because it is so crucial to get through to the knock stages that it justifies cheating. In the interest of balance, I have to say I enjoyed my visits to Lokeren and Copenhagen in the other European competition, and I would have gone to Plzen if I could have obtained a ticket because I was off work that week. And yes I will still go tomorrow because it’s City and I am working near home that day, and yes, I will jump up and down if we win, and vaunt our progress to opposing fans. I don’t claim to be always rational and consistent; it’s not a totally bad competition just ludicrously over-sold. So there you are; my apologies for beginning so many sentences with ‘And’ or ‘but’ - that is mandatory in a rant. I bet you’re glad you didn’t get the full rant eh?

Barcelona 2 City 1. I refer the Right Honourable member to my previous answer.

[failsworthblue]

Premier League all day long.

Champions League = Plastic Football run by a cartel.

[clippo22]

I would much prefer to win the prem, it's all about the pride and banter with people every week at work that I enjoy.

I also agree that it's wrong to call it a 'champions league', next year Liverpool will likely be in it and they haven't been champions for donkey's years! They should change it so only the champions qualify. And maybe the domestic cup winners too, at least they'd be champions of something! Plus it would make the cups a lot more competitive!