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Everybody has their favoured format for Uefa’s tournament but few want to see it evolve into a European Super League
“Europe,” Sir Alex Ferguson said, actually a little before Manchester United’s 1999 success in the Champions League helped bring a knighthood his way, “ought to be the cherry on the cake. No one wants it to be the whole cake – that would spoil everything.”
Ferguson was responding, a couple of decades ago, not only to non-champions being allowed into the hallowed event – he would mellow on seeing United go all the way in Europe after finishing second behind Arsenal in 1998 – but to Uefa tweaking the format once again to introduce a double group stage involving more matches. In the event that modification proved short-lived, lasting only until 2002-03, though there are still influential voices, the former United CEO David Gill among them, who consider a second mini-league a more attractive and competitive prospect than the present last 16, where group winners usually find it easy to reach the last eight. Continue reading...