Liverpool F.C. in Champions league

[dane_stone]

Liverpool have been awarded a place in next season's UEFA Champions League first qualifying round.

 

The European champions will start their qualifying campaign on 12/13 July - with return legs to be played on 19/20 July.

 

 

[Guest Terry S]

best news I had all day

[blert596]

Glad to be in, but.......

 

To put the holders in the first qualifying rounds. Disgraceful.

 

I dont know how much people know about this whole sorry state of affairs but Uefa, and the FA in particular, have acted attrociously in this.

 

Personally, I would have preferred to do the Uefa Cup and sod Uefa and the FA. Really messed up our pre season tours, and start the season a month earlier. may not even go to the away Euros if its in Azerberzhan or other dodgy place.

 

And the rest of the qualifiers mean we'll be playing and travelling to loads of games, also to fit in around Uefas money w*nkfest of the Super Cup and World super Club Cup or whatever they call it this season.

 

Ins in I suppose. But disappointed and angry.

 

Annnnnddd relax.

[Bobbeh]

At least they are in there. I think its a fair result.

[CJ]

At least they are in there. I think its a fair result.

I agree B. In fact, I think it is more than fair. At the end of the day, everyone knew the rules in the begining of the competition. Uefa stated the criteria for qualification and everyone agreed to those rules. If Liverpool fans now moan that they shouldn't be in the qualifying stages then really they should wake up and smell the coffee.

[shaf]

woooo hooo

 

hopefully we will do better in the champions league next year

[CJ]

I dont know how much people know about this whole sorry state of affairs but Uefa, and the FA in particular, have acted attrociously in this.

How?

[BigRoy]

Milan were robbed:D

[J4CK50N]

I'm glad Liverpool are in. They deserve it. But i also agree that it should be at the first qualifying round. This is due to the fact that they did not qualify through the league so should have to do the whole thing.

 

However once they get through all that, and they will get through all that, how satifying will it be to maybe go on and repeat having come in right at the beginning.

 

Plus playing competitive games is much better than stupid preseason friendlies. Although saying this I dont think i'd like to be playing in some of the places they may have to go!!!

 

Being in the UEFA cup is a waste of time these days as it has been treated as a second class citizen much like the Carling Cup which I think is a sorry state of affairs.

 

At the end of the day the good news for English Football is that we have 5 teams in the Champions League!!! :D :

[Bobbeh]

Milan were robbed:D

 

Indeed, but its happened to us (English teams) over the years I've lost all sympathy

[CJ]

Milan were robbed:D

Now where is that wooden spoon smilie when you need it eh?

[blert596]

How?

Quite simple really.

 

When the 4th place rule was "intimated" by Uefa as opposed to stated directly, it was with the direct intention that the holders would be allowed in at the expense of 4th place. This ultimately was a folly, as lets face it the FA are hardly competent in anything they deal with.

 

The fact that this was the intention was borne out when Real Madrid won it and were finished 5th in La Liga. Zaragotta were dropped out automatically by the Spanish and Real Madrid were given TOP SEEDING and placed directly into the GROUP STAGES as HOLDERS. This was irrelevant to where they finished in the League. As they were holders they got top billing.

 

The further point that backs up Uefas intention of the holders being entered is the sudden change of rule after this occurred. From now on the holders will qualify automatically for the group stages. (Ala Real Madrid). So it has taken LFCs win to get Uefa to admit the poor wording of the rule and make it decisive. At least thats a good result...no more ambiguity now.

 

As for the FA? Well the FA have played a blinder. They have taken no decision apart from a self serving one to get more English teams into the CL, thereby increasing Englands points quotient. They passed the buck back to Uefa by stating that 4th place (irrelevant that its the Bluenoses) would go through regardless. However they would campaign for a 5th entry into the competition. They should have stated that if LFC won it then 4th place would drop to Uefa, as had been done before and was intended to be done. Or they could have said nothing and hoped we didnt win it.

 

One last point on the FA. Their own website stated with regards to last year (Arsenal - Chelsea), that should neither qualify in 4th place but go on to win the competition then they would be entered automatically. That was published on their website and was pulled when it was brought to the medias attention. They since came out and stated thet it was a junior employee who had posted it and was "not our actual policy". Strange how it had been on the official website for 8 months.

 

Anyway, I am not actually a bitter Liverpool fan as has been intimated, just a passionate one. I am glad to be in the CL and grateful that Uefa have found a way to let us defend our trophy, although I think they were under severe pressure from the sponsors to do so. I just feel the whole thing could have been done with a bit more forethought so this mess didnt happen.

 

Mind you something to celebrate next year when we become the first team to retain it from the first round of the qualifiers.

[Kopite]

I'm more than happy to be in the 1st Qualifying Round - it might do us good in fact that rather than playing meaningless friendlies, we're playin in a match we must win. Part of the problem with us is that we're too relaxed in too many games. Hopefully when the new season starts, the other teams will be mentally behind Liverpool so hopefully we'll get a decent start to the season

 

I think the FA have been very poor in the whole matter, how can Liverpool get their full support when one of the Executive members is David Davies of Arsenal - he didn't want them losing out on £5milllion by sharing the cash 5 ways. Everton are goin mad up here about losing £5million, i feel quite satisfied right now - the amount of Everton fans goin on about us not bein in it next season even after we won the damn thing was astounding. They're all off sulkin in a corner now

 

i still wish even now that the FA had organised a play-off between Liverpool and Everton for 4th place - could of even sent the revenue for charity as the TV audience would of been huge.

 

Now Uefa have changed the ruling to always allow the holders automatic entry at the expense of 4th place, everyone will know the rules. It's nice to here Uefa say they cocked it up by not granting the winners automatic entry. Having said that, the Champions League is stupid anyway to be honest. 4th place in the champion's league? even 3rd or 2nd to be in it is stupid. Rename it the "European League for the top 1, 2,3 or 4 teams from each country". If the current rules stay, it's still very unfair that the 4th place team might have to miss out. Why does going from having 4 teams from 1 country to 5 from 1 country suddenly become unacceptable? was't it only about 6 years ago that the top 2 only got in? when that went to 3 it didn't cause problems. As Uefa said, you can have up to 8 teams from 1 country in the group stage without problems. It should be a separate thing - keep the Premiership, La Liga, Bundesliga, Seria A etc etc separate from the Champion's League. Champions League winners qualify as do the top 4. It's not that different from the FA Cup. The runners up get into Europe if the winners have already qualified, why doesn't that place go to 8th in the premiership then?

 

I think this is still why it hasn't fully sunk in for me yet, it will probably hit home when we go and have a perv at the dented cup (after baros dropped it! ).

Having said that there's still a VERY special atmosphere around Liverpool right now. Was playing at the Liverpool Academy last night (bit hard with glandular fever but couldnt say no to havin a game there!), lookin around the place and playin in the same place that Fowler, Gerrard, Carragher etc came through was amazing. Was probably the closest it came to sinkin in that we are the European Champions, even more so than bein 2 feet away from the European Cup during the parade!!

[blert596]

Ro,

 

just a quick note mate. Did you know you can get you pic taken with the cup, AND the legend that is Dalglish on Thursday. Part of his wifes charity. £10 for a piece of immortality.

 

 

 

[Guest The Flash]

I don't really want to speak out of turn... and I have supported Liverpool all my life..... but I don't think they should be in next year!

 

The rules were very clear at the start of the season - and the FA also made it very clear (very early on) they were not going to "relegate" the 4th place side if the situation arose. THIS is where the fault lies - with the FA! When a similar situation happened in Spain - it was not UEFA that moved Real up into the places - it was the Spanish FA.

 

Now don't get me wrong - the rules are shite, and of course they have now been changed...... at least we would have been un-defeated champions

 

Other points:

1) Would the FA have made the same decision if it looked like MU, Arse or Chelski? I think they were quietly confident it would prove irrelevant as Liverpool were never going to win.... were they?

 

2) If Liverpool had of been knocked out a lot earlier - I think we would have had a better shout at making the 4th spot..... look at the number of games we lost straight after a European game!! Mind you - that being said - we are now CHAMPIONS... Sounds good don't it?

 

3) Gerrard is worth more in a transfer than we would get if we win the whole thing again next year! One foot on the pitch in early July - and that value will at least halve For the record - I hope he stays and we build around him for the next 3 Champions League victories

 

 

Flash