Liverpool ALLOWED to defend CL title...

Tim7

Tim7

Retired Footballer
6 May 2003
Gravesend
Charlton Athletic FC
BBC Sport said:
Liverpool will be given the chance to defend their Champions League crown after being given a place in the first qualifying round for next season.

The Reds won the competition against AC Milan in May but were not guaranteed a place next time around.

However, Uefa changed its rules after a meeting of the executive commitee and Liverpool will play in the opening round of qualifiers.

Their first leg will be on 12 or 13 July with the second on 19 or 20 July.

The Uefa Cup spot which Liverpool had earned for finishing fifth in the Premiership will not transfer to another English club - meaning disappointment for Manchester City, who would have taken it.

The decision of Uefa's executive commitee - which did not include Football Association chairman Geoff Thompson - means the Premiership has an unprecedented five clubs in next season's Champions League.

Manchester United and Liverpool's neighbours Everton will enter at the third qualifying stage - with first legs on 9 or 10 August - while Chelsea and Arsenal are already guaranteed a spot in the competition proper.

Liverpool will now probably have to cancel scheduled friendlies against Bayer Leverkusen and Cologne.

If successful in that first qualifying round, they will probably also have to cancel a pre-season tour of Japan, where they are due to play Shimizu S-Pulse and Kashima Antlers, as this would clash with the next round.

Uefa must now decide how to allocate England's share of the Champions League television revenue.

Splitting the money five ways rather than four could mean Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Everton losing as much as £5m each.

POTENTIAL FIXTURE CONGESTION
Champions League
12-13 July: 1st round, 1st leg
19-20 July: 1st round, 2nd leg
26-27 July: 2nd round, 1st leg
2-3 Aug: 2nd round, 2nd leg
9-10 Aug: 3rd round, 1st leg
23-24 Aug: 3rd round, 2nd leg
Pre-season
16 July: v Bayer Leverkusen
22 July: FC Cologne
27 July: Shimizu S-Pulse
30 July: Kashima Antlers
Super Cup
26 Aug: v CSKA Moscow
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Good luck guys!
 
The assholes are robbing our TV revenue money. And we need everything we can get since Glazer has arrived.
 
"Splitting the money five ways rather than four could mean Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Everton losing as much as £5m each."

Cheeky Scousers! Always on the rob! :)
 
Joystick said:
"Splitting the money five ways rather than four could mean Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Everton losing as much as £5m each."

Cheeky Scousers! Always on the rob! :)
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:) But I am glad they are in, its the right thing to do.
 
Apparently it now says they will get a smaller slice of the TV revenue, and they may get to meet either Man U or Everton in the 3rd qualifying round!!
 
What aload of bollocks i cant believe they havnt give us your UEFA cup place surley that would be the right thing to do aswell!
 
jamie_mack said:
What aload of bollocks i cant believe they havnt give us your UEFA cup place surley that would be the right thing to do aswell!
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Come someone move those straws away from Jamie_mack otherwise he's going to just keep on clutching at them ;)
 
oh come on , in the first round ? well , seems like they have to chancel the whole pre-season and even then it will need a lot of work to reach the championsleague again, having to play and win 6 games shurely isn't what i would call "allow the champion to defend his title" ...
 
jamie_mack said:
What aload of bollocks i cant believe they havnt give us your UEFA cup place surley that would be the right thing to do aswell!
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I dont really understand the reason why Man City dont get the UEFA cup spot. Why not if theres a team missing in the competition?
 
exactly! Not that im agaist you getting your CL place its just that its not even about defending the title if Liverpool had won the UEFA cup this year and finished 4th therfore qualifying for the CL Im sure you wouldnt turn around then and say no we dont want the CL we want to defend our UEFA cup title....
 
Also if they have made another spot in the Champs League Quals for us who are we gonna play? Surely another team needs to be added
 
Or maybe a team will be taken out of the CL and given a UEFA cup spot.
 
I think they also dont want to give the UEFA spot to another English team beacuse it wont be fair on other countries as there would be more ENglish teams than any other country.
 
You do know that they can come up against another English club, coz theyre not seeded. So we might not have 5 teams in.
 
I am pleased Liverpool get to defend BUT I don't think it is the right decision. The rules were known to Liverpool before the start of the season, finish in the top 4 for Champions League football next season. Dudek said in his interview after the game that they were not concentrating on the Premiership, just the CL. Well if that is the case then you can't complain if you win it and not qualify in the League.

I'm all for the rule to change, but I don't really think it should have been changed this season. I also wonder whether if it was a lesser known team that won, say a team from Turkey, whether this decision would have been made.
 
Milanista said:
I think they also dont want to give the UEFA spot to another English team beacuse it wont be fair on other countries as there would be more ENglish teams than any other country.
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But it wouldnt be extra UEFA cup spot now we have one team less in that competition.
 
Pires7 said:
You do know that they can come up against another English club, coz theyre not seeded. So we might not have 5 teams in.
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But they do avoid each other, it is possible that we have two english teams together in the same group stage?
 
A farce.

Liverpool knew the criteria for qualifying, they failed to meet it, end of. Sure it'd be nice to have the holders defend their title, but tuff shit I say. Now, a team has to drop out to accomodate them (how else would they do it?), not to mention Liverpool's seeding will have a knock-on effect for every other team seeded below them (it looks like Sporting Lisbon will be moved down a pot, for example). I think Fenerbahce must now play a qualifying round instead of being in at the group stage.

Not to mention the TV revenue which they are going to subtract from the other English sides - Everton worked hard all season and earned their place, now they'll be £5m down, is that fair?

What about Real Zaragoza years ago, they missed out on CL money which was rightfully theirs by way of league position so Real Madrid could get in, how must they feel?

If Liverpool were to be included, the FA should have been made to punt one of the 4 sides who had already qualified, this is taking the piss. The Spanish FA were forced to do this in the Zaragoza/Madrid case, yet UEFA change the rules when they feel like it.

Look at this:

If the Liverpool situation occurs again and the European champions fail to finish in a qualifying place in their domestic competition however they will come in at the expense of the fourth-placed side.
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So why aren't they doing this NOW?

Can't say I'll be too upset if Liverpool take a pumping off someone next season...
 
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I read that the further you progress in the CL, the more TV revenue you get so smaller teams like Everton could lose upto £15million if Liverpoolget past the group stages.
 
Milanista said:
Liverpool came 5th. End of story.
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Still feeling bitter after the final? ;)

But you're right. Liverpool knew the rules and they knew they didnt qualify so why complain?
Cuz then teams in the future are gonna find new excuses to enter the competition through the back door.
 
bah... Liverpool ended 5th, the regulations clearly stated that the champion does NOT get an automatic place. what a bunch of crap! UEFA changed the rules as they want. It's unfair to other countries if england do happen to have 5 teams in the CL!

Nothing against Lpool or Lpool fans, but I hope you lose on the first round.
(don't ban me CWright:))
 
Lets be realistic. Liverpool arent gonna lose in the first round. CWright would probably ban himself if they lose in the first round.
 
Six games? Thats harsh...
I guess thats the league's down the drain next year.... :(

I fear we'll miss out again on the CL spot and theres a risk that we'll not defend the cup this time round. We'll be back to square -1......
 
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Harsh that you need to play six games to get into the CL?

What about the team which isn't even given that opportunity, a team that will no doubt be a CHAMPION of their domestic league (some small place like Andorra or somewhere)?

This decision is a disgrace, but what's worse is Liverpool fans who are actually not even satisfied with it.
 
ClassicD said:
This decision is a disgrace, but what's worse is Liverpool fans who are actually not even satisfied with it.
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Yeah. I mean, Liverpool shouldnt even be in the competition yet some fans still complain.
But this means that Liverpool's season start in just weeks.
 
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