I’m not one for looking back on the past with fond cotton-ball memories, but we definitely need to revert to the old European Cup format to get rid of the same, stagnant Big Four.

Right now we have two ridiculously unbalanced tournaments, the Champions League – a competition that is extremely hard for the less significant teams to get into – and the UEFA Cup, a meaningless non-entity of a tournament – the equivalent of being awarded the prize-winning rosette for having the Fresian with the most pendulous udders at a Shropshire county fair, and with the pitiful prize money to match.

Much has been made of the Liverpool-Chelsea games and how boring they are, but they are a result of giving the most successful leagues four Champions League places. Liverpool, especially, usually approach European encounters in a very calculated manner, and the same goes for league games.

'The gulf between the Big Four oligarchs and the rest of the league is so severe and so pronounced that a superhuman effort is required for an outsider to break into this quartet'


Rafa Benitez knows exactly what needs to be done – a third or fourth-place finish will suffice for him – as that secures entry into the European money printing society that is the Champions league.

In many ways, a fourth-place Premier League position is better than second. All the needless energy to finish runner-up – and what do you get? Extra prize money admittedly, but is that worth the hassle? 

If you exert yourself less and aim for a fourth-place finish, you can save your energy for Europe, and the qualifiers don’t present much of a challenge as all of the Big Four sides have the requisite European ranking to ensure a cakewalk of a tie.

The gulf between the Big Four oligarchs and the rest of the league is so severe and so pronounced that a superhuman effort is required for an outsider to break into this quartet. The only team to achieve this in recent seasons has been Everton – who eschew the rich and exotic layer-cake squads enjoyed by the bigger sides for a tightly-run and shallow squad.

And who did Everton face in the Champions League qualifier but Villarreal, the eventual semi-finalists? If we had a European Cup format - where only the Champions go into it - followed up with an expanded UEFA Cup, it would give other teams a chance to catch up money wise.

The disparity between quaffing champagne at the Champions League top table and playing in the huge quagmire of a tournament that is the UEFA Cup is astonishing.

We have already lost the Cup Winners’ Cup, and now the UEFA Cup is heading the same way in terms of its importance. Perhaps it is an English thing. Fiorentina, for instance, have declared that winning the UEFA Cup this season will be their priority over grabbing fourth place

In celebrating Istanbul, Liverpool have cashed in on the cache of the European Cup  - but the Champions League flatters to deceive whilst the UEFA Cup is astoundingly boring.

Let’s go back to a European Cup knock-out format – with only the Champions participating. Everyone else can play in the UEFA Cup which will grow in importance and glamour, with teams like Juventus, AC Milan, Arsenal, and Barcelona playing it, and therefore in prize money, too.

I know people will say that this is pie-in-the-sky stuff – but the only way to bring back the excitement in Europe, as well as at home – is to do this.