Sport

Looking forward to a different future Champions League

Kenny Archer

Kenny Archer

Kenny is the deputy sports editor and a Liverpool FC fan.

Dundalk could be taking part in the Champions League group stages or even quarter-finals under a radical proposal.
Dundalk could be taking part in the Champions League group stages or even quarter-finals under a radical proposal. Dundalk could be taking part in the Champions League group stages or even quarter-finals under a radical proposal.

IN these dreadful times, it’s worthwhile keeping a sense of perspective – and a sense of humour.

You have to laugh, for example, at those who have been flooding social media since Friday, insisting that only the outcomes of fully completed seasons can be respected.

At a time when we need science and logic more than ever, these poor people resolutely refuse to accept that a team which is 25 points clear of its closest ‘rivals’, with the latter only having the possibility of winning 30 more points, will not be overtaken.

‘But but but a team that has dropped only five points out of 87 might not pick up six out of the next 27, yer know. And the other lot who have dropped almost a third of their potential points so far might win all the rest of their games, la’.’

That’s all mathematically possible, of course - but so is alien life, and we’re still waiting for the little green/grey men to rock up.

The people I really pity are those who support both Celtic and Everton, twisting themselves into knots trying to explain why the former should be confirmed as ‘nine-in-a-row’ Scottish champions – but that Liverpool definitely shouldn’t be ‘given’ the English title. And/or those who follow follow (or lead) Rangers and the ’Pool and argue the opposite.

Just for chuckles, let’s follow that ‘completed season’ logic through.

If you can’t declare one position – top, first, champions, whatever you want to call it – even when it’s abundantly clear what the outcome will be, then you can’t declare any.

You certainly can’t decide to say three other teams are ‘second’, ‘third’, and ‘fourth’ and allow them to go forward to the next Champions League, whenever it takes place.

Nor can you turn back the clock and go with the teams that finished in those top four positions at the end of the previous season (even if three of the four are the same sides again at present).

Where would ‘the integrity of the competition’ be then?

Similarly, it just wouldn’t be right to run off the current (on hold) Champions League and Europa League in some sort of truncated, blitz format just to get them done.

Competitions have to be completed fully, with all matches played, after all.

That clearly applies to the divisions below the top flight too.

Looking forward, it’s evident that the integrity of the next English Premier League must not be damaged by suddenly expanding it to 22 teams either.

Obviously titles, Champions League and Europa League places, promotion and relegation issues ideally do all have to be settled in every major European soccer league.

How that is to be done is up for serious, sensible debate in what is now far from an ideal world.

Well, apart from one certainty.

No matter what happens from now on, one team – and one team only - has already guaranteed its place in the group stages of the next Champions League, whenever it takes place: Liverpool FC, the reigning champions of Europe and the world.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that Liverpool simply be handed that next Champions League trophy.

That would be silly.

This isn’t just about Liverpool FC, of course.

The next Champions League should also include the other 13 clubs who have already qualified for the competition as they have completed their seasons and topped their tables, namely:

Astana (Kazakhstan), Djurgardens (Sweden), Dundalk (Republic of Ireland), Dynamo Brest (Belarus), Flora Tallinn (Estonia), KI Klaksvik (Faroe Islands), KR Reykjavik (Iceland), KuPS (Finland), Molde (Norway), Riga FC (Latvia), Sherriff Tiraspol (Moldova), Suduva (Lithuania), and Dinamo Tibilisi (Georgia).

The format for the next Champions League would be simple: one of those 13 teams gets a bye and the other dozen face each other in two-legged ties, sending seven sides through to join Liverpool in the group stages.

Two groups of four would be a nod to the first ever Champions League, back in 1992/93, which also had limited involvement from the ‘Big Five’ leagues – no English team involved, no German, no Spanish.

Or, with eight teams, you could go straight to quarter-finals. Either way, this innovative approach would help reduce fixture congestion in the future as football tries to get its calendar back into some sort of order.

It would also ensure the distribution of much-needed TV money to clubs who normally receive much less from Uefa.

What a refreshing Champions League that would be, a major change from the same old same old sides, instead being a throwback to the European Cup days when teams you’d barely or never heard of made it through to the last eight – never to be heard of again.

It would also include among its competitors the holders, as was the case for the old European Cup, but not the Champions League, not until a certain club forced that principle to be enshrined in the regulations 15 years ago. Yep, them Scousers again.

All 14 of those clubs have undoubtedly earned their Champions League places for when the competition makes a fresh start – and who could argue against that?

Clearly, finishing off seasons which are already around three-quarters completed would be the most sensible option.

Yet there is a strong possibility that getting seasons completed just may not be possible, if the awful effects of coronavirus continue as long as is feared.

If that’s the case, so be it.

Although the majority don’t seem to understand it, legendary former Liverpool boss Bill Shankly wasn’t serious when he quipped that football wasn’t a matter of life and death, that it was “much more important than that.”

Yet if there is to be an asterisk placed beside the name of Liverpool FC for season 2019/20 it will be followed by something like this:

* So dominant that only a global pandemic prevented them from romping to a record-breaking margin of victory.