Europa League

[ItsBoris]

Though we're out of it I really enjoyed our run in it and we played some very good teams. It's a fun competition and I hope we're in it again next season if we don't make 4th.

But the point of the thread isn't to reminisce, I think some fans under-appreciate the benefits of this competition, as I have heard some people saying that they would rather not be in it next season (at the end of every season people pipe up saying this). I think people need to think about the financial aspect of it though - in the Europa league we played 6 home matches, and 3 more home matches than last season. That's a lot of match day income, and although I don't know the exact figures I would estimate that we produce ~£2 million per home match on average. So missing out on ~£12 million just on match day revenue, never mind money for TV appearances and UEFA prize money. I would guess that just the three knockout ties we played this year will push our revenues up to above what they were last season, putting us in a stronger position for this summer.

The other valuable thing of course is the experience the competition provides, playing all sorts of good teams and learning how to play under pressure. I think the way we managed to pull through against Lyon and Inter, and the fight we put up against Basel with 10 men will have been good for the squad's confidence.

Anyway I've grown quite fond of the competition from us playing in it and I found it pretty enjoyable to watch, and I didn't really have the same feeling watching us play in the Europa league as I do when I watch us play in the Premier League. It was more fun and I was more relaxed watching those games.

 

[Francis Gibbs]

took this from the Spurs accounts thread ..........

Main reason for #THFC £19.3m revenue fall is going from Champions to Europa, cutting prize money & gate receipts by £30.7m (37.1m to 6.4m).

we took £6.4m from EL last season

 

[dontcallme]

I enjoy the competition and was gutted when we went out.

I was quite disappointed with how we performed though. We put out a strong team but didn't impress in the group and after taking a good lead against Inter we failed to shut them out at their ground. We have been quite good at grinding out results in the league so it was a little disappointing to see us fall apart against Inter and then at home to Basel.

Financially the EL is obviously less rewarding than the CL but better than no European competition.

My main focus though will always be in the hope of seeing my team win a trophy.

 

[kaz Hirai]

If we are in it, then we shouldn't really bother to burden the 1st team with the group stages, a reserve team of

-------- Friedel

Fryers -Caulker-Dawson-Naughton

----------huddlestone
---parker-----------carrol

siggurdson-defoe--townsend

should be enough to get through without distracting us from our title push

 

[ItsBoris]

took this from the Spurs accounts thread ..........

Main reason for #THFC £19.3m revenue fall is going from Champions to Europa, cutting prize money & gate receipts by £30.7m (37.1m to 6.4m).

we took £6.4m from EL last season

So then we should have more than double that this season given that we played double as many games and against higher caliber opponents. Last season our Europa league games didn't even sell out. Either way £6.4 million is a lot better than 0, nothing to sniff at.

 

[SteveH]

So then we should have more than double that this season given that we played double as many games and against higher caliber opponents. Last season our Europa league games didn't even sell out. Either way £6.4 million is a lot better than 0, nothing to sniff at.

Depend on the overheads for those games. There will I would have thought EL will have been been a positive P/L wise but vastly smaller once overheads are accounted for.

Travel, wages + bonuses and at home all the stadium running costs, which I would have thought quit large.

 

[Francis Gibbs]

So then we should have more than double that this season given that we played double as many games and against higher caliber opponents. Last season our Europa league games didn't even sell out. Either way £6.4 million is a lot better than 0, nothing to sniff at.

that would depend on whether it prevented you from attaining circa £30m

 

[Spurs in Belgium]

Though we're out of it I really enjoyed our run in it and we played some very good teams. It's a fun competition and I hope we're in it again next season if we don't make 4th.

But the point of the thread isn't to reminisce, I think some fans under-appreciate the benefits of this competition, as I have heard some people saying that they would rather not be in it next season (at the end of every season people pipe up saying this). I think people need to think about the financial aspect of it though - in the Europa league we played 6 home matches, and 3 more home matches than last season. That's a lot of match day income, and although I don't know the exact figures I would estimate that we produce ~£2 million per home match on average. So missing out on ~£12 million just on match day revenue, never mind money for TV appearances and UEFA prize money. I would guess that just the three knockout ties we played this year will push our revenues up to above what they were last season, putting us in a stronger position for this summer.

The other valuable thing of course is the experience the competition provides, playing all sorts of good teams and learning how to play under pressure. I think the way we managed to pull through against Lyon and Inter, and the fight we put up against Basel with 10 men will have been good for the squad's confidence.

Anyway I've grown quite fond of the competition from us playing in it and I found it pretty enjoyable to watch, and I didn't really have the same feeling watching us play in the Europa league as I do when I watch us play in the Premier League. It was more fun and I was more relaxed watching those games.

Had some great European away days this season with the lads, gutted we are out

 

[Legacy]

I won't be crying into my coffee at the idea of us being in the Europa League again next year like quite a few people on here seem to be. But Villas Boas needs to make a committed decision next year.

Either we set out to win the competition, which means we play our strongest team whenever possible, or we use it to give squad players a run of games, which means we also rest our key players.

This year, we got the worst of both worlds. We deliberately fielded weaker players in key positions, thus significantly decreasing our chances of progressing, but also fielded our key attacking players who actually could've used the rest.

I really, really, really wanted to win the competition this year. So the constant picking of Friedel and Gallas, despite them regularly showing their decline, was infuriating.

 

[Spurs in Belgium]

I bet most that slag off the Europa don't go to the away games. It is a great experience.

 

[Sp3akerboxxx]

What about match appearance fees , goal bonuses, progression bonuses, match day expenses, increased physio costs, travel costs. Please, some of the teams you have to play early on cost more in plane tickets than you can hope to gain from your 200 seat allocation of 3000 seat stadium where the entry fee is 4 roubles.

It is not £12m profit.

 

[mark87]

I enjoyed it, was gutted when we got knocked out, really wanted us to win it, went to the Lyon and Inter games at WHL, loved them both but loved the Inter game more as we put in a fantastic performance and the atmosphere was BLOODY BRILLIANT. Please can we have that atmosphere for the remaining games of the season? It'll really help the lads perform.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

took this from the Spurs accounts thread ..........

Main reason for #THFC £19.3m revenue fall is going from Champions to Europa, cutting prize money & gate receipts by £30.7m (37.1m to 6.4m).

we took £6.4m from EL last season

We went further this season though. I reckon we doubled that at least.

 

[only1waddle]

What about match appearance fees , goal bonuses, progression bonuses, match day expenses, increased physio costs, travel costs. Please, some of the teams you have to play early on cost more in plane tickets than you can hope to gain from your 200 seat allocation of 3000 seat stadium where the entry fee is 4 roubles.

It is not £12m profit.

The prize money should cover that though, group stage win gets you 200,000 Euro, group stage draw gets you 100,000 and 1.3m Euro just for participating in the group stage.. from the whole thing we have made around 3.3m Euro in prize money..

 

[SteveH]

We went further this season though. I reckon we doubled that at least.

I think we get around £6.4m'sh (not 100% sure) from 2 televised league games. Which puts things in a little perspective.

The EL needs format and prize money needs a re-jig. Chelsea will probably loose money even if they win it on bonuses, but Basel might build a new training ground. An exaggeration may be, but you get the gist. For the lower major league clubs from Spain, Italy Germany and France it still has some real monetary added value, I would think. But the mega rich EPL blows the Europe league out of the water, so EPL clubs are left with we might as well give it a go attitude. That's OK for Chelsea as there squad is blooding huge (they have 20 player out on loan and we are talking mega amounts of money just there), but we IMHO just could not cope this season.

This has nothing to do with the enjoyment of the competition this season, we had some fantastic ties. Its just to do with cutting ones cloth accordingly. We did not, now we will count the cost. I truly hope it does not prove too expensive when we look back.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

I think we get around £6.4m'sh (not 100% sure) from 2 televised league games. Which puts things in a little perspective.

The EL needs format and prize money needs a re-jig. Chelsea will probably loose money even if they win it on bonuses, but Basel might build a new training ground. An exaggeration may be, but you get the gist. For the lower major league clubs from Spain, Italy Germany and France it still has some real monetary added value, I would think. But the mega rich EPL blows the Europe league out of the water, so EPL clubs are left with we might as well give it a go attitude. That's OK for Chelsea as there squad is blooding huge (they have 20 player out on loan and we are talking mega amounts of money just there), but we IMHO just could not cope this season.

This has nothing to do with the enjoyment of the competition this season, we had some fantastic ties. Its just to do with cutting ones cloth accordingly. We did not, now we will count the cost. I truly hope it does not prove too expensive when we look back.

But if we were to make the CL we'd have to learn to cope with both. For me, Europe is the second most important competition for various reasons.

I would like them to stop allowing CL failures into the Europa and for the competition to be slightly better remunerated and marketed, but for a club like us, who usually can sell tickets, it is something I think we should learn to cope with and take as seriously as we can.

I thinkwe could have used our development squad more prudently in this competition this year.

 

[RickyVilla]

I bet most that slag off the Europa don't go to the away games. It is a great experience.

I bet they don't go to any games mate!!

 

[camaj]

If we are in it, then we shouldn't really bother to burden the 1st team with the group stages, a reserve team of

We would have done that this season, I think, if we didn't have so many injuries and we didn't have such bad luck in the early games. Remember our first game we had 2 or 3 goals ruled out. If they stood, and they should have, then we would have been able to field a second string team if we had players fit, which we didn't.

 

[SteveH]

But if we were to make the CL we'd have to learn to cope with both. For me, Europe is the second most important competition for various reasons.

I would like them to stop allowing CL failures into the Europa and for the competition to be slightly better remunerated and marketed, but for a club like us, who usually can sell tickets, it is something I think we should learn to cope with and take as seriously as we can.

I thinkwe could have used our development squad more prudently in this competition this year.

Risk and reward BC.......CL big reward, EL bugger all + far too many games to get to the bugger all.

Chelsea are European Champions and they are very proud of this and rightly - I think the club are looking to save a bit of "European" pride with EL.

I hope I'm wrong regarding us and the top four.

COYS.

 

[tooey]

I can't understand why they don't offer a CL place for the winner (or if the winner qualifies through league position then the runner-up etc). I feel that if qualification for CL was to be included, along with the exclusion of CL teams joining after the group stages, that clubs and fans alike would take the competition a whole lot more seriously and add the extra prestige that the competitions lacking. I'd personally rather focus on the league and finishing in CL than on the EL, I understand that a teams success is gauged by trophies but you have to look at the bigger picture. CL = money, money = better players, better players = a higher chance of silverware and sustained success. People often point out Arsenal as a team who have made the CL every year yet still struggle to win anything, I'd argue that the money they've made from the CL hasn't in the most part been invested in the playing squad. As for the whole "I bet most that slag off the Europa don't go to the away games. It is a great experience", lucky you. Some of us can't afford to fuck off to Italy or Switzerland on a Thursday night. Does that mean that I'm not entitled to have my own opinion as to how I feel is the best way for the club to move forward?