- I wrote this before the Chelsea-Spurs game – so a quick massive congratulations to Leicester City – faith in football restored.
Taking the train back home after the Leicester game, bar the anger at the last-minute refereeing mishap, there was an overwhelming sense of a season petering out – somewhat confirmed by the loss against Manchester United. Yet I was – not for the first time – wrong to despair and recent victories, combined with results going our way, make the next three games vital for a still realistic push for the Champions League. How wonderful it is that the last game at the Boleyn is not just against a “big club” – but a big club we could overtake if we win.
Yet is the goal to finish fifth or fourth – and even if it is the latter, a top-four place may not guarantee Champions League football if Manchester City win the competition this year.
But perhaps that is not so much of a worry – I have always been sympathetic towards the Europa League and felt its denigration by many fans and pundits unwarranted. For if you look at a club like West Ham – or even Leicester City – is a quick catapult into the Champions League the best for the team’s progression to creating a consistent presence among the elite of English football? I cannot predict how the Foxes will fair – there is an argument that their old-style of English play will knock Europe’s elites off balance.
But regarding West Ham, as we embark on “a new and exciting era” – a phrase I feel has been drummed into our heads relentlessly by the chairmen’s PR team – I don’t believe Champions League is necessarily a jump that needs to be taken so soon. For the Europa League, laughed at or complained about by many, is the perfect tournament to focus on next season – and Slaven Bilic is a man who has shown his appreciation of trophies over league places.
Look at the trophy’s history: yes it has been tarnished since it became called the Europa League, but back in 1994, Arsenal’s Cup Winners’ Cup win arguably set the stage – pre-Wenger – of a team on the up and ready for a Premier League challenge. Chelsea’s victory in 1998 a sign of things to come; and more importantly Liverpool’s dramatic triumph in 2001 surely helped prepare them for the Champions League stage, the player in that final – Gerrard, Carragher et al – all participating in that famous final in Istanbul.
Even more recent than that – Wolfsburg had a strong run in the Europa League last season and it provided European football, as well as exposure, for a certain player called Kevin De Bruyne. Now, a year later, Wolfsburg took Real Madrid all the way in their quarter-final in the Champions League and De Bruyne has been crucial to Manchester City’s best ever run in the competition.
In this age of elites, oligarchs and an abundance of money, trophies – the FA Cup, the League Cup, the Europa League – are being belittled time and time again, as if the only thing worth playing for was the league and the Champions League. How dull and one-dimensional football would be if only those two mattered, rather than understanding the joy that can come from other competitions – and the stepping stone they may provide.
On a final note, if we were to progress into the Europa League, I would actually enjoy the trips to far flung European cities, big and small, and to countries both known and unknown. There is something great about away days as they are – but something even more exciting about the opportunities the Europa League may afford.
Europa may not be seen as desirable – and it could even be seen as something of a disappointment for some who wish for something greater – but for me, it is the perfect competition for this side to learn from.