Fiorentina v West Ham - Thoughts?

I consider it to be a credible trophy. There used to be three competitions, European Cup, uefa Cup and cup-winners Cup. I don't think the cup-winners cup suffered from any lack of esteem.

It's not like the Intertoto or Anglo-Italian.
 
Just can't bring myself around to support West Ham.
Expect Trevor Brooking, Harry Redknapp and Julian Dicks to be wheeled out.
Will give this game a miss.
 
They qualified for the competition by finishing 7th on 56 points.

Our UEFA Cup final run was enabled by us finishing 7th on 55 points.

It's daft for Boro fans to try and be dismissive of it.

We faced a bunch of relative minnows in the group stage, and the "giants" of Steau Bucharest and Basel and scraped past them both, admittedly in stunning fashion, but it was still scraping past.

Obviously Stuttgart and Roma were tougher opposition, but for the main part our run that we like to big up so much was against fairly unimpressive teams, in a competition that neutrals were dismissive of, so I don't think it's a great to then do the same for a competition most Boro fans would give an arm to be in now.
 
Paterson said:
I consider it to be a credible trophy. There used to be three competitions, European Cup, uefa Cup and cup-winners Cup. I don't think the cup-winners cup suffered from any lack of esteem.

It's not like the Intertoto or Anglo-Italian.
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Agreed, and I think it'll grow in stature over time. Its the only realistic chance of Euro glory for the vast majority of clubs across Europe's top divisions as the 'elite' clubs will rarely be seen in it, so won't dominate it. Those clubs who do qualify for it will take it seriously, like West Ham have this season.
 
TeaCider said:
They qualified for the competition by finishing 7th on 56 points.

Our UEFA Cup final run was enabled by us finishing 7th on 55 points.

It's daft for Boro fans to try and be dismissive of it.

We faced a bunch of relative minnows in the group stage, and the "giants" of Steau Bucharest and Basel and scraped past them both, admittedly in stunning fashion, but it was still scraping past.

Obviously Stuttgart and Roma were tougher opposition, but for the main part our run that we like to big up so much was against fairly unimpressive teams, in a competition that neutrals were dismissive of, so I don't think it's a great to then do the same for a competition most Boro fans would give an arm to be in now.
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Good post.

I wouldn't belittle the competition - if fact I would give my right arm to be in West Hams position now.

The Conferene is an opportunity for clubs outside of the the boring mainstay big guns to experience pretty special nights - I'm all for it.
 
I'd go back to the European Cup Winners Cup and replace this Conference format.
Domestic Cup winners or runners up play in that.
Top league finishes in Champions League. As currently.
Next league finishes in Europa League. As currently.

Whatever way you look at it this West Ham final is a distant third tier of current European competition.
Of course it is not the Anglo Scottish or Anglo Italian level, but it is below the UEFA Cup (now Europa League) that we played in.
 
Jedi boro said:
Well that’s certainly one view of it.

Wow
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It's a fact.

Even you can't try and pretend that AZ Alkmaar, Litex Lovech, Dnipro, Grasshoppers, Basel and Steau Bucharest were particularly prestigious opponents.

Steau Bucharest winning the European Cup in 1986 is the only particularly notable achievement of the lot, and even then they had a very kind run to the final in that.

None of those sides would look out of place in the Conference League that people are mocking.

Roma and Stuttgart were solid teams, both bigger than us, but I already said that and you've cut it out.
 
Were we to qualify for Europe again I would prefer to qualify for this one rather than the uefa cup. It's a European trophy and it would be easier to win than the uefa.
 
MichaelDebeve said:
Good post.

I wouldn't belittle the competition - if fact I would give my right arm to be in West Hams position now.

The Conferene is an opportunity for clubs outside of the the boring mainstay big guns to experience pretty special nights - I'm all for it.
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This one is probably the most interesting to watch. It's between football clubs rather than nation states. And teams other than Sevilla win it.

Better options would have been to reinstate the cup winners cup as knockout, or have a European competition which the big five leagues are not invited.
 
I think when I look at who was in the knockout stages, there's definitely a place for this 3rd tier competition.
Certainly not something I would turn my nose up at being part of if the chance presented itself in the future.
 
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