Is There Value To The Europa League?

I am proud of our English representatives in the Europa league this season. Given the flops of Chelsea and Manchester City in the Champions League group stage this season, and the eliminations of Arsenal and Manchester United in the last-16, there only remained one outlet for British pride in international club competition.
A competition many clubs consider to be beneath their full attention; managers use it to give playing time to their younger players and reserve team in order to keep their best players fit for Premier League action, often with the intent to push for a top four place and Champions League spot next season. This is all well known, a point made over and over again when assessing the value of the competition, measuring it against the Champions League in terms of prestige, financial benefits and appeal to the bigger named players.
However, teams from England come along once in a while and aim to put everything behind the Europa League/ UEFA Cup campaign, opposing the clubs, like Liverpool of recent years, and Tottenham under Harry Redknapp who see it as a distraction in their path to Champions League qualification. We saw Fulham make it to the final in May 2010, defeating Juventus in a thrilling 5-4 tie with a totally committed fight back against a terrific team. Middlesbrough also made it to the final in 2006, putting all effort into their assault on the title, only to be undone by a great Sevilla team.
It is no coincidence that both of these teams have never contested the Champions League, who entered due to either a cup win (Middlesbrough – League Cup) or an exceptionally high league finish (Fulham – 7th). They had little to no experience of European football, and took the opportunity to test themselves against the continent, because such an opportunity would not come along very often.
Clubs like Liverpool, who had won the Champions League in 2005, and had qualified every year until 2009-10 when their decline began and they found themselves in a lesser competition playing against smaller clubs, with less of a financial incentive. They sent out younger players who ground out 1-0 wins over two legs in almost every round. The matches were unbearably boring, lacking in passion, quality or dedication from the players, although not the fans, who still considered it a European night at Anfield. It was so boring to keep track of Liverpool in the competition that I did not know they were out until I saw the Quarter-final draw.
The same happened with Tottenham under Harry. They had their eye on a greater prize, and in all fairness, they did well when they did qualify for the Champs League. But in the Europa League, fan attendances were lower because the best players were not on display. Redknapp would leave out up to 8 or 9 players at a time, and the result was a boring match.
This season has seen a change in the attitudes of the English clubs in this competition, even Chelsea, who had as mentioned been eliminated from the bigger tournament earlier on. Being a man of European competition, Benitez wanted to go for the Europa League; it is one of the only trophies he could go for after the Premier League slipped from his grasp, and because he will not be staying on at the end of the season as manager, he wanted to leave with a couple of trophies to his name and boost his chances of securing a good job after. This is why we saw a spirited display against Staeua Bucharest, and a Chelsea side taking the competition seriously.
Similarly with Tottenham, Andre Villas-Boas has instilled a sense that his side should go for every trophy available, and also with an aptitude for the Europa League having won it with Porto in 2011, he was a good manager to lead his team of European pedigree into the competition. Villas-Boas has displayed his intent to win the Europa League by fielding strong sides in the knock-out phase, brushing aside Inter Milan in the home leg of that tie (unfortunately got pounded in the return leg 4-1, but it was good enough) and the ties involving Tottenham have been interesting for the neutral viewer.
Newcastle have, like Fulham and Middlesbrough, approached the competition from a position of obscurity. Their presence in Europe has not been felt in years and, having only recently been relegated to the championship before beginning a climb back to Premier League level, their run in Europe has been impressive. This season in the Premier League has not been inspiring, with the club sitting only just above the bottom three, and their performances have not been particularly exciting. But in Europe, with England behind them, they have managed to fight their way to the final 8 and earn a tie with Benfica, which will test them, but if ewcastle find themselves some points in the Premier League and pull away from the drop zone, they can focus on this tie and with the quality of their players and no distractions, they can make the semis.
As it stands at the moment, I can see all three Premier League teams progressing to the semi finals. Newcastle have it tough against Benfica, but they can do it. Tottenham vs Basel will be fascinating, with Basel having bested Manchester United recently in the Champions League, but again the quality of Spurs’ squad and the determination Villas-Boas has given his players, I can only see Spurs progressing.
As for Chelsea, Rubin Kazan will be a tough tie, having done well in Europe’s second tier competition for years now, and you never know with Chelsea, whether they will turn it on or not. Squad to squad, Chelsea come out on top, but Rubin Kazan represent Russia solely this season, they will be up for the tie. Being English, my biased opinion is that we will see three sides in the semi finals.
I just hope I have not jinxed it now
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