I agree wholeheartedly with Libertine. Ajax has always had a very good youth system and basically their last CL title (1995) was kind of the point when their top youngsters would leave the club for financial purposes. Players that were 'raised' in that system would not stay there past the age of 25, and that's pushing it. It's a nice mix of Dutch young and old and foreigners, but there's no real 'superstar.' That's another thing that I appreciate it. It's kind of like the Detroit Pistons of 2001-2008, when they were contenders in the NBA. When they won the title in 2004, they were made up of solid, talented players but none of them were flashy superstars and their budget wasn't nearly as big as a number of the other top teams, not just the Lakers who they crushed in that year's championship.
I also agree with Hitch. The times are such where money rules above all. The teams that spend the most don't always win, but they are more stable these days, because they can rely on money and transfer windows to add to the roster or move those they feel aren't performing well. In the past, top players stuck to their original team longer than they do now. We as fans have to get used to this, it's going to be like this for the foreseeable future. To me it's annoying and disheartening to see, but it's reality. Being a fan of Liverpool, I am obviously happy to see them going for the title in three weeks time, but on the other hand it's a bit weird to see the English getting all patriotic when the majority of the team are foreigners. The only local lads are Trent Arnold and Curtis Jones. Jones is a recent addition to the senior squad. Clubs like Liverpool are worldwide brands. There is more fandom outside the UK then there ever was, and that's understandable and logical, but it would be nice to see more local talent in LFC, and elsewhere. Top leagues tend to have the nations top players in them, but still, there's more movement than there's ever been. It's not so Scouse anymore. In the past, fans in would mainly support their local clubs, because strength of the top top clubs wasn't as great as it is now. The Eastern and Central European teams had far more success in the past. Some reasons are obvious, others are not so black and white. The top clubs in lesser leagues lose fans and lose money. A lot more people follow the top leagues nowadays. To me it's sad for the leagues not named EPL, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A. Ligue 1 in France has PSG and occasionally Marseille and Lyon that can make some noise in in either the CL or EL, but that's it these days. The Dutch have Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord, all three have won the CL, but Ajax hasn't won in 24 years and the other two are not that strong now. The Germans have a problem where Bayern buy all the top players of other Bundesliga rivals (Dortmund, Schalke, Stuttgart, Bremen...) and they've dominated the league recently with the occasional title from Dortmund. The Italians are not as strong. They've had corruption problems, economic issues and it's had an effect on their national team's performances since 2006. The last time an Italian team won the CL was 2010 when Mourinho led Inter to a treble. Juventus has been flying the flag for Serie A since then.
I am not going to dissect every sentence that Libertine wrote, but in respect to the qualifying for the CL, it makes sense to go back to the old system, where the champion of each league goes to the CL automatically. That would be more than fair. That said, for the same reason that we criticize the fact that a 4th placed EPL or La Liga or Bundesliga team makes it in automatically, we would also be critical of them not being there with the old system and we would complain that there is less quality in the field because not all the top teams are there. But again, that 4th placed team could be a Chelsea or Arsenal and they alone have as much money as teams 7/8-20 have combined (I exaggerate, but who knows...).
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram