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a pretty shit set of results this week....

It was not long ago. Then Chelsea won the Champions League.

More of a priority, even more so now. Unless you go balls out to win the thing then the clever money is always with the PL. The CL/EL is just a bonus early on, depending on what you want out of it.

The PL is more exciting than the Spanish and German as it's far more competitive. I'm not sure the quality of the top teams matches that from this countries though.

Sort of agree, but I had to laugh when G Neville compared our defeat to Arsenal's in his commentary last night.
FFS they were playing Monaco without 5 first teamers, whereas we played Barca with Messi, Suarez and bloody Neymar up front!

Mad innit? Berbatov wouldn't get on a Prem side now, but he leads a side to a comprehensive 'up the Arse'
Defies logic really.

The CL is a funny beast at times , nothing is cut and dried . What pisses me off is the fact the media agenda had us down having to win it after only just qualifying for it !

City64 wrote:The CL is a funny beast at times , nothing is cut and dried . What pisses me off is the fact the media agenda had us down having to win it after only just qualifying for it !

Yes the media do like to portray us as failures in Europe. We have qualified for the knockout bit in the last two years and took 10 points in failing to qualify the first year we were in it. Not many teams get knocked out with 10 points. That's a more positive way of looking at the whole thing but the media won't say this.

Ted Hughes wrote:It was not long ago. Then Chelsea won the Champions League.

Won is stretching it a touch !

I'm quite old fashioned when it comes to keeping footballing traditions but imo the new tv deal should have given the prem league the impetus to give a larger slice of the pie to the lower leagues and the grass roots game, get the league cup fucked off and reduce the prem to 18 clubs. less games, more money for the grass roots, more money for lower leagues, better chance of avoiding silly fixture congestion, fresher players, higher level of performance, european success. Easy. Me for FA chief exec.

Not in decline, just very over hyped. For money of course.
If you keep lying, eventually you believe your own lies.

Well, there's a bit of a decline to be sure but I don't think it's that bad. In the last 10 finals, at least one English team has played and only three years ago Chelsea won it.

I think the answer is more complex: The English league is falling behind but not so much because it has experienced a decline but because some teams, primarly Barcelona, Bayern Munchen and Real Madrid, have developed to a completely new level by doing what they've always done, I.E. poaching other German and Spanish teams' best players. A task made much easier, especially in spain, by uneven tv money distribution and the general tanking of the SPanish economy and rich municipalities who have been able to throw economic weight behind these teams to keep them afloat. Also, doping.

IMO, if you want to "fix" this "problem", just give top teams in the English league an even bigger share of the tv earnings and presto.