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Younger readers out there, you’ll have to trust me on this
one. Once upon a time, when the draw for the last 16 of the European
Cup was made, you couldn’t help but feel a real buzz of excitement.
Which is odd, because back in the day, when the world’s biggest
trophy resided permanently in England, the last 16 was only the
second round of the competition.
But it was the European Champions’ Cup back then and you actually
had to win your league to be involved, rather than arbitrarily being
named “Champions” because of the size of your bank account.
What’s in your wallet these days Mr. Liverpool, Mr. Real, Mr.
Ajax? A “get out of jail and into the Champions League free”
card? That’ll do nicely.
I know it’s an old fashioned view these days, but wasn’t
football better when you only succeeded by winning football matches?
When you had to have won your league to take your place in the Champions’
Cup? When the European Cup had the same kind of romance as the FA
Cup has? Or had. Which is another story.
But that meant there was a possibility that the big clubs who, as
we know, survive on a financial shoestring compared with the giants
of Torquay, St Johnstone or Chievo, might actually lose a game early
on in the competition and lose out on a wodge of money.
Even worse, they might not ever qualify for the patently unfair
reason of not being good enough to win their own league. That just
goes against the whole ethos of sport doesn’t it, the ideals
that those Athenian Olympians espoused those thousands of years
ago.
They did say that that the small should be mercilessly crushed into
the dirt by the big, even if the big really isn’t very good
didn’t they? Because otherwise, how can the big get any bigger?
There will come a day when you can get entry into the Champions
League by collecting the tops off the boxes of corn flakes. Solid
gold boxes obviously, just to ensure you get the right kind of collectors.
Look at the last 16 that are going to slug it out now. You could
have hand picked them before a ball was kicked pretty much, couldn’t
you? Is there a surprise package in there, other than, perhaps Celtic
who generally mange to find a way of committing footballing suicide
at some point in the group stage. Maybe Lille? But let’s remember
that they probably wouldn’t be there either if it wasn’t
for the fall out from the Italian bribery scandal.
Cast your mind back to 1983/84 for example, the year Liverpool won
their fourth European Cup. They won it fair and square by winning
the First Division the season before, then overcoming a number of
teams in the knock-out competition before beating Roma, always knowing
there was no comeback from a bad result, unlike the group stage.
When they won it for the fifth time a couple of years back, they
weren’t the best team in England - not even close - much less
the best in Europe. Barmy.
People like you and me look at pictures from a war zone, from the
world wars of the 20th century and say, “Never let it happen
again.” That’s what the giants of European football say
when they think about Nottingham Forest winning the European Cup
twice.
The semi-final draw in that 1983/84 competition included not just
Liverpool and Roma but Dinamo Bucharest and Dundee United. Chances
of those two clubs, or clubs of their type ever getting through
to that stage again? Nil. Which for the behemoths is priceless.
No wonder Mastercard are one of the competition’s “partners”.
At least now we’ve reached the knock-out stage, the football
might just get a bit better instead of the tedious procession of
the group stage, which still offers a consolation prize to those
only good enough to finish third of four - a place in the UEFA Cup.
How, in the name of God, did we allow this to happen?
Enjoy your Champions League beanfeast, all you overfed guardians
of the game. The game that was our game and is now yours. May you
choke on it.
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