Man Utd were widely regarded as a cup team in the 70's & 80's. We were blocked out of the European Cup due to not being good enough to win the league. Liverpool have had no such restrictions on entering the competition. When they were good they qualified automatically. When they were bad they still mostly qualified as they only had to finish in the top 4.
There has never been a change in the format of the league. It's always been 1st place wins it. Liverpool were never blocked out of the league the way we were in the European Cup.
What about all the times we were champions. It's obvious maths. The less opposition you have the better your chances of winning. We were never given this luxury during our dominant era as we were always competing in the CL era of big fields.
1994 knocked out by Galatasaray in the 2nd round
1995 Failed to get out of group consisting of United, IFK Gothenburg, Barcelona, & Galatasaray
1997 lost to Dortmund in the semi-final
1998 lost to Monaco in the quarter-final
2000 lost to Real Madrid in the quarter-final
2001 lost to Bayern Munich in the quarter-final
2002 lost to Bayer Leverkusen in the semi-final
2004 lost to Porto in the last 16.
That's 8 attempts at winning it as English champions & you didn't even reach one final. & with the exception of 1995, the 7 other occasions you were eliminated in the knock-out stages. Which was the point I made in my earlier post about the CL becoming no different to the old European Cup at this stage. Doesn't matter how many teams are in it because you only have to play so many games to get to the final.
In reference to your first point. Whilst you may not have been eligible to compete in the old European Cup, you did spend a few seasons in the lesser European competitions.
1976/77 - UEFA Cup knocked out in the 2nd round
1977/78 - Cup Winners Cup knocked out in the 2nd round
1980/81 - UEFA Cup knocked out in the semi-finals
1982/83 - UEFA Cup knocked out in the first round
1983/84 - Cup winners Cup knocked out in the semi-finals
1984/85 - UEFA Cup knocked out in the quarter finals
So based on the above, how can you say that you'd have won a competition that only included the champions of each country, when you failed miserably 6 times against the 2nd, 3rd best teams of those countries ?
Alex Ferguson is the most successful manager in the history of the game. That's an undeniable fact. It's also an undeniable fact that with the financial resources he had, along with the added luxury of being able to field a side that consisted of 4 or 5 players that had come through the ranks, he should have done much, much better in Europe. Thankfully he had the good grace not to look elsewhere to excuse his failings. Can't say the same about a few people on this thread.