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At the Arsenal AGM this morning Wenger said that qualifying for the CL is much more important to him that winning the FA Cup and the League Cup

You can see why this is, in terms of finances (albeit the sums raised from CL campaigns have not been reinvested back into the team, net, I think)

However, qualifying for Europe and not committing to either domestic cup leaves the club at risk of a prolonged period of no silverware, which is what the club has seen


This isn't an Arsenal question exclusively, but for any PL team in the top ten, where do the various competitions rank in terms of importance, and do you think club and fan interests are aligned in this?

Prem > CL > FA cup >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> League Cup

Although its close might be CL>PL tho  CL is highly unlikely ATM

The Champions League is a means to an end.  If you guarantee to finish top 4 every year then that should finance everything you need.  But at the end of the day if you win nothing at all it's all pretty pointless no?

If as a Watford fan I was offered a single FA Cup win or participation in the CL I would go for the CL, but not because I am desperate to play in it, but more than a CL appearance will give us a better chance in the future of winning multiple FA Cups.

Scrap the League Cup.

Completely pointless now, crowds are just a joke.

Remember back in the day when we also had the Simod Cup?  League Cup nights used to be great.  Shame the competition has died.

Wouldn't a fan swap say two years of CL qualification for two FA Cup wins?

It seems to me that Wenger is implying that it is impossible to compete on all fronts, so he prioritises the CL and PL. fair enough

but shouldn't a club with the resources of Arsenal be competing on all fronts?


(insert name of your manager for Wenger, if applicable!)

While I'm at it, scrap Europa Cup too or make the CL just for Champions.

Scrap international breaks too. Play all the qualifiers at the end/start of the domestic seasons.

Sounds like every country bigger than San Marino will get into the Euro finals from next time, so no point at all in those qualifiers.

As a Liverpool fan the goal is to be up challenging for the league title, and that's where the club wants to be again sometime in the near future. In the meantime, some silverware is nice to have and enjoy the cup runs.  Obviously a run in Europe is bigger than the domestic cups, especially if you're talking about a good run in the CL.

Qualifying for the CL is essential for a club who wants to compete for the league title, as without it you're at a financial disadvantage and you're going to struggle to attract the best players.  In some ways finishing outside the top 4 spots is similar to being relegated, and the task for the next season is to get promotion back into the CL and then from there build for an assault on the league.  I can't ever see a side seriously challenging for the league title without having secured CL football for a good few seasons beforehand.

In realistic terms, Liverpool need to continue to rebuild and the aim has to be a CL finish next season. From there we can look at other things, but until then the domestic trophies can take second fiddle - as we can win both the FA and League Cups this season, but it won't move us on any further.  A run in Europe would be good though, even though it's not the CL, but it shouldn't be at the detriment to that initial goal of getting back in a CL spot in the next few seasons.  Whether or not Liverpool will be able to get a CL spot next season or the one after I don't know - but if they're not a solid contender then I'll be disappointed.

From now looking forward it's:
------
Chelsea
Man City
Man Utd

These three are a shoo-in for a top 4 spot every season.  I don't see that changing any time soon.
------
Arsenal

Spurs, Newcastle, Liverpool, a few others...

Currently it looks like it will be one of these challenging for the 4th spot, with Arsenal obviously the favourite based on their past success at consistently getting a CL spot.
------


I'd want Liverpool to re-establish themselves alongside Arsenal as a club who 'expects' to be in the CL every season, and then have the occasional serious challenge for the title. But that's quite a way off at the moment.

Amazing how quickly Liverpool have dropped from a traditional member of the Big 4 to also rans along with Newcastle.

To be fair Tottenham have fallen away too, but Liverpool were the equals of Man U not so long ago, now not mentioned in the same breath.

You have to either win or finish pretty high in your domestic league to make it into the CL - and that's were everyone wants to be.   The domestic cup comps are just meh,both in Scotland and England. 

4 team play off for the last champions league spot and the europa league spots.

4th in Prem
5th in Prem
FA Cup winner                                    FA Cup vs 5th
League Cup winner   ----->              League Cup vs 4th   ---->          Final, winner qualifies for Champions League

Heard the above suggestion on the radio a few weeks back. Downside is you could end up with some "poor" teams in the European competitions bringing down the coefficient thingy ma bob if they do not perform well. Not that the English teams are performing very well at the minute anyway  ::)

Not being relegated to Leagie One >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Promotion>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Playoffs>FA Cup>League Cup>Anything Else

There are supporters of 72 teams in the country who will probably have some kind of variation on this.

Mancini obviously focussing on PL this season now

It is impossible to win the Premier League without tons of cash. To get that you either need an Arab or Russian sugar daddy, or Champions League football every year (prize money, TV money, global exposure).

As Arsenal are being run like an actual business, rather than a plaything, they need the money coming in. Their shiny stadium charging London prices for football will give them a good stream of money coming in, but it's not paid for yet, so that's going to drain resources until it's paid off. So they need CL football - without it they will not be able to get top players, or even hold on to the good ones they do have.

Arsenal are playing the long game, and ensuring the survival of the club (Chelsea, Man City and Man Utd could all go bust within a week if their sugar daddies left/Glazers house of cards falls down). That won't help them win the league any time soon. Fans need to realise that the top three are playing in a different league to the other 17 clubs, and concentrate on 4th (which Arsenal should still get, if they play to potential)

Arsenal have a pair of billionaires in charge.

Just turns out they are tight arses.

Yeah - they're running it like a business. Billionaires can be nits too.

I remember our fans saying they would rather win games in division one than carry on losing games in the premiership.  Now I think they'd be happy just winning games anywhere.

I'd love to win the league cup right now.

Bradford City FWIW

CL>PREM>FA>>>>>>>>>>>>REST

As a QPR fan I'd settle for winning just one game in anything.

Spurs fan so FA Cup obv.

Champions' League qualification is the big one this season. We were 4th last season, he notes carefully.

We would need that to build a Prem-challenging team, else we risk losing what we have as well.

Also Wenger has to say CL qualification as it's the only thing he can guarantee being competitive in.

 ;hide;

Used my 2000th post to rinse @r$€nal.

Worth it.

You are not the only one with a long memory matey-boy ;)

I remember a gooner ringing 606 one night early in the 2010/11 season in response to a spurs fan saying we would win the cup because the year ended in a 1. He pointed out that every time we had won, the year had also STARTED in a 1, so we wouldn't win anything for another 8,000 years.

Even I found that funny

^^^^

I so wish that I had thought of that.

CL
PL

CL Qualification
FA Cup

Europa Qualification

League Cup

For some teams I'd agree with that.  But I'd rather see Liverpool win the league ahead of winning the CL again (I'd take either to be honest, but the 'goal' has to be the league, even though it's arguably easier to win the CL?). I might not be saying that if we hadn't won it in 2005.

Think alot is club dependant when you get to the CL qualification v FA Cup win debate - as a Necastle fan I would take the later ainec

PL>CL for me but CL would be a nice consolation prize.

How nice it must be to have the option to prioritise CL over FA cup. 

Would love to see teams playing there strongest team for all competitions (excluding league cup obv). Too much money in the game for that tho.

If you're wanting strongest teams played in all comps you can't then make an exception. Back in the day the League Cup was a prestige competition. Ask Liverpool or Forest fans.

But the European Cup was a very different competition then.

Yeah it's a personal thing. I'm not sure the EPL is as highly regarded outside of England.

I'm not sure any league is that highly regarded outside the country it's played, with arguably the exception of the English and Spanish leagues that attract foreign viewers and followers in large numbers. I'm sure if you asked the 'average' fan across the world how well a particular Italian or  German club was doing they'd probably look to their CL situation as their response; whereas with a Spanish and more so an English club, they will talk about their domestic league situation as well as their European position.

Might be completely off the mark there though and just showing my ignorance of the global football fan.