edd_jedi said:
Obviously any opinion on this is going to be hevily influenced by your own supporting bias.
This is true, but can you really make a case for re-running this season? Do Spurs deserve another shot at CL given how inconsistent they have been this yr? If I was Sheffield Utd and or Leicester there's no chance I would accept missing out on a season in CL and the money prestige that comes with that. Solicitors would be involved. Look at Leeds and WBA, they have already said they will go down that route if they are denied promotion. Given the money at stake (I think Championship Tv rights are 7m per yr per club, PL are ninety something, plus parachute payments of the same over three years. So 7m or nearly 400m. Hello mr solicitor!) it's a no brainer from those club's points of view. We also have the issue of City's ban. If they are now disqualified from CL who gets their spot? And what happens with the seeding, as league winners they were seeded, should the team that came 3rd (Pool finished second but were seeded cos they won it) the previous year be entitled to seeding in pot 1? Not sure UEFA will go for that. So it has implications even further afield.
I can see next season being Sat-midweek-sat-midweek all year. With cups and Europe squeezed in the midweek slots. It may even be a case of the CL sides are told they may well have a domestic cup game 24 hours before or after a CL game and be left doing what Pool had to do this year when they had the World Club Cup farce, and play the kids. The Sponsors may not be happy but I don't see an alternative. I agree, replays and second legs (for domestic cups) will have to be scrapped.
There is even an argument to make CL a single leg tie in knock out stages.
For me that would make it a bit more interesting, as the competition is very stale and predictable. Assuming you play ties in a neutral venue, or group winner at home then pure pot luck in following rounds, it could work.
I just can't see the logic in scrapping a season you are three quarters if the way through, in favour if starting the next one from scratch.
One additional thought, if you scrap/void this season, what do you do about PL prize money? Do Sheffield Utd get Championship level prize money? Are Huddersfield, who have stunk out the Championship, going to be awarded PL prize money? If you swap out the 3 relegated clubs for the 3 promoted ones, why should Sheffield Utd accept a bottom 3 level of prize money (PL prize money is split depending on where you finish, with an equal lump sum for all clubs based on total TV rights) when they may well have qualified for the CL. The difference is in the region of £25-30million, before we even consider the money they miss by not being in the CL.
That sort of money is prob equivalent to Sheffield Utd's entire budget this season.
If you decide just to put it all in a pot and divide it evenly, is that "fair"? Do Norwich deserve as much as City and Pool? I'm not sure, at least I hope, those two sides would not complain openly if that happened but it hardly seems fair. It will also mean that Norwich have a financial wind fall miles ahead of any other relegated club. It will probably all but guarantee them instant promotion back to the PL, especially with the parachute payments on top. How is that "fair" to the other Championship clubs.
but would you not feel slightly robbed if your team were in the CL final last season, yet out of this seasons competiton and have no prospect of making next seasons competition either?
