We should go back to the old European Cup. 2 legged ties, no seeding, no leagues, no keeping the best teams apart and if you get knocked out by FC Krapblackisontia then tough
Agreed, but it'd never get approval, the clubs and UEFA want money and more of it
I only find the group stage interesting if there's two or three decent teams in the same group, personally.
But there never is, the way the groups are seeded will never create drama because the club coefficients barely change every year, it takes 2 or 3 years of sustained success in Europe to increase your coefficient and break the composition of the seedings, through my own unreliable research, I'm pretty certain that at least 20 of the 32 that made the group stage this year were in it for at least the previous 2 seasons. I can almost guarantee that the 8 top seeds from this season's group draw will be the same top seeds in the coming season's draw.
Actually I would. Football is dead.
When death threats are made to a goalkeeper for 2 howlers, when games get moved for tv with a month's notice after tickets have been on sale for 10 days, when over 100,000 signatures on a petition to ask for safe standing are treat as a 'minority', players routinely cheat, commentators call defensive tactics an 'embarrassment' because their 'team of the moment' don't get to thrash their latest opponents, that's when football is dead, and funnily enough, its all happened.