There's always the Europa League

[Holtspur]

You have got me thinking GK 

[taimedowne]

It is a fair point. I would not be against using EL as a proving ground for our kids. As you say they do not get much of a chance to play so throwing a few youngsters in with some fringe players might be a decent plan. I just dont want to see us playing 1st team regulars in games that are really of no consequence. The Europa League has an image problem caused by letting teams who are not Champions into Champions League. Once upon a time you had the European Cup, UEFA cup and Cup Winners Cup, these all had a value and to win them was an honour worth having. The Europa League is for also rans, and as such will never have any real Prestige. They even devalue it further by letting teams knocked out of CL in as a consolation prize twice during the course of the competition.   

[Gareth Keown]

its a subjective matter, you think its devalued and I think its a good tournament composed of teams usually fielding up and coming new players and teams not usually seen on tv here.... how many times must we see the same old same old from Spain (the big 2), England.... thanks to Sky we see these same teams/players week in week out.... just hanging a new label on another competition to see them..

I can honestly say I've been very impressed by selecting very good match-ups from many games on a variety of 'free' channels the last 2yrs in the Europa League..... more so than watching Chavski v Marseille  or Utd v Valencia and such like (that feature all the old familiar faces)... in fact I seldom watch CL games with Utd or Chavs as I actually dont find the games very watchable or interesting..

[taimedowne]

I agree with you entirely about the CL I only watch the Spurs games these days myself. All the teams seem to play the same brand of cagey football and it has no entertainment value whatsoever when you dont care who wins. In the Prem Man U and Ars*nal play attacking adventurous football, Put them up against a French or Italian side and they are as exciting as watching wood warp. The Mrs likes Holby City and demands to watch it (unless it is Spurs when she knows better)  I cant remember the last time I even bothered to argue when she wanted to switch over from a Champions League game. And as often as not Holby is more interesting.

[Gareth Keown]

I dont even bother to watch Prem games that much anymore either.... theres just too much football on tv these days.. I remember the old frisson of excitement in the old days when a match was televised eg. England-Scotland or the FA Cup, European, Uefa and Cup-Winners Cup Finals.... England games were on tv sometimes too and I remember far more interest in the intlls. then...

I dont want things to back as they were, but I do think half the games shouldnt be shown on tv.... if ppl wanna watch THEIR teams they can now follow on the internet without clogging up tv-broadcasting time so much..

[taimedowne]

God yes do you remember when Cup Final day was a big deal. Coverage started at about half ten they went on the coach with the teams, had all sorts of nonsense like it's a knockout. The build up was usually better than the game. Now it comes and goes like all the other games and unless Spurs are playing most of us couldn't care less. It was the highlight of the year but the abundance of football has reduced its significance to almost zero. You can certainly have too much of a good thing.