It’s a ‘kick in the nuts’ to teams that are progressing domestically for Manchester United or Tottenham to access next year’s Champions League by winning the Europa League, Ian Ladyman has argued on the latest ‘It’s All Kicking Off!’ podcast.
Reflecting on another poor weekend showing from both Ange Postecoglou’s and Ruben Amorim’s sides, Ian Ladyman told co-host, Chris Sutton, that the automatic Champions League qualification on offer if one of them were to win the Europa League is unfair to teams like Brighton or Aston Villa who have ‘built in the right way’.
Since its inception in 1971, UEFA has promised a Champions League spot to the winner of its sister competition, the Europa League.
‘When you win the Europa League, you get automatic entry into the group stage, you don’t even go into the qualifiers’, Football editor Ladyman said.
‘That is fundamentally wrong and unfair. The reason being is that, if you are Manchester United or Tottenham, your fourteenth and fifteenth in the Premier League.
Ian Ladyman: ‘All UEFA wants is traditionally big clubs in their big competition. The clubs with the biggest fan bases that will draw the most TV viewers.’ Listen here
Ian Ladyman: ‘It’s elitism in its purest and dirtiest form.’ Listen here
‘If you’re a Brentford, or a Fulham or a Villa, teams that have built their football clubs in the right way, hired the right coaches, signed the right players… and you discover that one of football’s traditional elite clubs has got a route into the Champions League despite bombing in the Premier League – it’s absolutely wrong.’
The last four winners of the Europa League and therefore recipients of the contentious Champions League place have been Sevilla, Villarreal, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Atalanta.
Most recent winners Atalanta, finished ninth in the Champions League group stage, only missing entry to the knockouts by losing to Club Brugge in a play-off.
Ladyman added that the money awarded for competing in the Champions League worsens this sense of unfairness.
‘By guaranteeing entry into the group stage, it gives clubs somewhere in the region of £90million. That makes a huge difference to the recruitment policy of smaller clubs if they can do it,’ he said.
‘It’s a kick in the nuts for those teams that are progressing in the Premier League. There’s no justification at all for Europa League winners to be handed a free pass and all the money that goes along with it.’
Most recent Europa League winners Atalanta, finished ninth the group in the Champions League group stage
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Former professional player turned pundit Chris Sutton disagreed with his co-host, arguing that because United and Tottenham won the right to compete in the Europa League through domestic performances last season, automatic qualification is not unfair.
‘You call them traditional or elite clubs, but that doesn’t matter’, Sutton declared.
‘They earned the right to play in the Europa League last season – the way that competition works is not their fault.
‘You may not like it if they win, but it’s the same for everyone else across Europe. It’s just the way it is – if that’s wrong, then the Champions League play-offs are wrong.’
Ladyman then went further, adding that the awarding of the Champions League spot is a form of ‘elitism’ meant to give big clubs an easy route through to Europe’s premium competition.
He said: ‘All UEFA wants is traditionally big clubs in their big competition. The clubs with the biggest fan bases will draw the most TV viewers.
‘The Europa League usually sweeps up any of the big teams that might have had a bad season… it’s elitism in its purest and dirtiest form.’
Listen to Ian Ladyman and Chris Sutton’s clash over the Europa League on the latest ‘It’s All Kicking Off!’, available now, wherever you get your podcasts.
