How important is the Europa League to the club's future?

Our run of fixtures is not kind. March and April will be brutal.
 
We looked really leggy in added time yesterday and most of the same players will have to play. Gonna be tough.
 
As absurd as it sounds, I think it is better to avoid European competitions in the next (or maybe 2) season. If we make it to Europe, we will just repeat the cycle from past seasons... We need a fresh start to build a completely new squad. So, it makes sense to have a small squad and focus primarily on PL, using one of the two domestic cups to introduce some of the youngsters.
 
gregor said:
As absurd as it sounds, I think it is better to avoid European competitions in the next (or maybe 2) season. If we make it to Europe, we will just repeat the cycle from past seasons... We need a fresh start to build a completely new squad. So, it makes sense to have a small squad and focus primarily on PL, using one of the two domestic cups to introduce some of the youngsters.
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So the club should just continue to slide into irrelevancy and lose more money and sponsorships?
 
The Mitcher said:
So the club should just continue to slide into irrelevancy and lose more money and sponsorships?
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What is the difference between losing money by not qualifying for Europe and losing money by giving stupid contrats to average players and overpaying for the transfers?
 
Its unbelievably important for us to win it. We need the CL money desperately to have any chance next season

But we won't. I cant see us getting past Sociedad.

Its going to be dire times in the years ahead. The level of debt they are in is unsustainable. And with the interest going up in 2027 its only going to get worse.
 
gregor said:
What is the difference between losing money by not qualifying for Europe and losing money by giving stupid contrats to average players and overpaying for the transfers?
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The difference is not qualifying for europe reduces the amount of genuinely good players who will come to th club, and the increased revenue can help with PSR and FFP, the debt etc. You are advocating for the suicide of the club.
 
It's irrelevant because we aren't going to win it.

Being out of Europe next year at least means we should be able to manage our threadbare injury-prone squad more easily because I don't see us having a big rehaul
 
The Mitcher said:
The difference is not qualifying for europe reduces the amount of genuinely good players who will come to th club, and the increased revenue can help with PSR and FFP, the debt etc. You are advocating for the suicide of the club.
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Liverpool failed to qualify for Europe for 4 seasons in a row between 2010 and 2013, and they look very much alive at the moment.
Also, the past decade has taught us that more money doesn't also mean more success. In United's case, it is rather the opposite.
 
I find it rather amusing that people actually think we have a chance at the Europa when the 11 usual clowns we have in a United shirt often struggle to produce one decent performance for the duration of 90 mins.
 
Jacob said:
Our run of fixtures is not kind. March and April will be brutal.
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That's why I wouldn't be too concerned with the league matches- we're not going to get relegated now and in any league week with a European match, the league has to be less of a priority.
 
EireRed_GS said:
Its unbelievably important for us to win it. We need the CL money desperately to have any chance next season

But we won't. I cant see us getting past Sociedad.

Its going to be dire times in the years ahead. The level of debt they are in is unsustainable. And with the interest going up in 2027 its only going to get worse.
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Unfortunately, I agree with every line of this.
 
Ditto what's been said already - Thursday is absolutely huge for the future of this club - likewise the 6 games that may possibly come afterwards too.

The issue is not the quality of the players, but whether the players actually want to put the effort it to win this damn thing. We do have the quality to win it, there isnt any doubt about that, but they just aren't showing it at the moment.

Id go as far as saying the next 3 months are as big as any in United's recent history for the future of this football club.
 
gregor said:
Liverpool failed to qualify for Europe for 4 seasons in a row between 2010 and 2013, and they look very much alive at the moment.
Also, the past decade has taught us that more money doesn't also mean more success. In United's case, it is rather the opposite.
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There are a few problems with your theory:
- Liverpool were a laughing stock until 2017-2018. Failing to qualify for the Europe 4 years ago is unlikely to have any bearing on their successes from 2018.
- The 2010-2013 didnt help Liverpool to build a better squad. Players bought during those years played no role in any of the Liverpool winning sides. Some left even before Klopp came. Others were all sold under Klopp.
 
Roger Myerson said:
There are a few problems with your theory:
- Liverpool were a laughing stock until 2017-2018. Failing to qualify for the Europe 4 years ago is unlikely to have any bearing on their successes from 2018.
- The 2010-2013 didnt help Liverpool to build a better squad. Players bought during those years played no role in any of the Liverpool winning sides. Some left even before Klopp came. Others were all sold under Klopp.
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It think they learned a lot from the seasons when they were struggling. They went from saying "next year is our year" to the realization that they need to do some more drastic changes in the club. I would say it played an important role in their success.
Reading coments here I get a fealing that people think: ok we need CL money to sign a few expensive players and we will be great again... But this is not the case, it will be a long process before this club is back to the ways it was 12+ years ago. If we miss out on Europe in the next two seasons it will not be the end of the world. But we need to use this time to carefully rebuild the squad. We need to bring in the right players for the right money. We need to build a team, not a bunch of good individuals, which is what the club has done in the past.

And considering current form and performances there is not much chance they actually win the Europa League.
 
If we don't qualify for Europe and finish in the bottom half of the premier league it will wipe 100m off revenue meaning we will ultimately have to sell Garnacho or Mainoo for 50m to balance the books. The club have already leaked this anyway to pave the way for such a scenario.
 
On current turgid form we will be out in the next round. The club desperately need the money from European football. Its a bleak prospect without it.
 
Ruben Amorim: “We lost last week in the FA Cup, so people consider the Europa League as the only competition we can win, there is also the link between winning the Europa League and the Champions League, but to tell you the truth, I think we have more important things to think about.“I know it's strange to say this, but it's something we're trying to build here that will be more important than winning a cup right now. I know we have the responsibility to fight for every trophy, but right now we're trying to build something that will last longer than any trophy this season.”
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He gets it.
 
gregor said:
He gets it.
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He doesn't get anything other than he knows he can't do any better. Can you explain what these bigger things are than a cup that can get us champions league football if we win? Said champions league football means more revenue, access to better players, and a bigger transfer budget. At the moment nothing looks like anything is being built towards, and if he is building towards something why would he dismiss something that could be the biggest boon to that? Be honest, he's lowering expectations because he expects a defeat.
 
gregor said:
Ruben Amorim: “We lost last week in the FA Cup, so people consider the Europa League as the only competition we can win, there is also the link between winning the Europa League and the Champions League, but to tell you the truth, I think we have more important things to think about.“I know it's strange to say this, but it's something we're trying to build here that will be more important than winning a cup right now. I know we have the responsibility to fight for every trophy, but right now we're trying to build something that will last longer than any trophy this season.”
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gregor said:
He gets it.
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However, he also said "But I understand that winning the Europa League can change everything”, before finishing up with “We are going to do it,” he said at the end, applying a pause before adding: “Or not, we will see.”

Would it be permissible to observe that he often comes across as a tiny bit scatterbox in his comments? He says things, then contradicts or qualifies them, then pivots back to where he started and amplifies that and in the end it's not really very clear what he's saying.

In this case, if we assume that his main message is the one that made you write "he gets it", I don't think his messaging really adds up. Because if it's true as he's said on other occasions that we are facing a long haul back to the top and that we can't buy players without selling, then it obviously matters hugely if we can get into the CL or not. Regardless of how much we care about the EL trophy as such. If that doesn't matter fundamentally to the longer term project, then it can't be true that we can only buy after selling. It doesn't add up.
 
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The Mitcher said:
The difference is not qualifying for europe reduces the amount of genuinely good players who will come to th club, and the increased revenue can help with PSR and FFP, the debt etc. You are advocating for the suicide of the club.
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I’ve been saying the exact same thing.

If we don’t win the Europa League now the re-build will take an extra few years.
 
Failing to win the Europa League will destroy the clubs finances and probably leave it in serious financial difficulty due to the loss of not only the revenue from European football next season but also a huge loss of money from the clubs sponsors
 
gregor said:
As absurd as it sounds, I think it is better to avoid European competitions in the next (or maybe 2) season. If we make it to Europe, we will just repeat the cycle from past seasons... We need a fresh start to build a completely new squad. So, it makes sense to have a small squad and focus primarily on PL, using one of the two domestic cups to introduce some of the youngsters.
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European participation will play a huge role in us building the squad.
 
Garethw said:
European participation will play a huge role in us building the squad.
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That is the big factor but as I've said before, although I think it wouldn't 'save' the season it would be something positive for the fans, what with the protests around the club, all the staff redundancies and the horrific league form. It's never been this dire in the premier league era. Winning it would genuinely be such a morale boost for the club/fans and the players.
 
Irwin99 said:
That is the big factor but as I've said before, although I think it wouldn't 'save' the season it would be something positive for the fans, what with the protests around the club, all the staff redundancies and the horrific league form. It's never been this dire in the premier league era. Winning it would genuinely be such a morale boost for the club/fans and the players.
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I don't think appeasing the fans is important currently.
 
Garethw said:
European participation will play a huge role in us building the squad.
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How much, realistically, though? I note that every time Utd haven’t qualified people always mention the 20% (or 25%) wage decrease that the players get. So I’d be interested to know how much it is worth financially once that is taken into account. I think that *maybe* it will make It’d more attractive to a few better players, but their wage demands will then also become higher.
 
Hammondo said:
I don't think appeasing the fans is important currently.
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I’d say it’s more important now that at virtually any other point. The disconnect between those four entities: fans, players, manager, owners- feels like it’s never been more stark.
 
NicolaSacco said:
I’d say it’s more important now that at virtually any other point. The disconnect between those four entities: fans, players, manager, owners- feels like it’s never been more stark.
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But why is it valuable? How would it help?
 
Hammondo said:
But why is it valuable? How would it help?
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I don't think i've ever seen OT as toxic as its been this year and the manager, the players and the owners are all in the firing line. We're on course to break almost every single negative record we've ever set in the PL era. Winning the EL would unite the club and, aside from the obvious financial benefits, it would restore some actual pride.

Winning the Europa League isn't some magic quick fix, but it would be something good at least.
 
Hammondo said:
But why is it valuable? How would it help?
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I guess it’s what, in international relations, you’d call ‘soft power’. There’s a reason all football clubs, governments, private companies, the monarchy, literally any entity, spends a ton of time and money fostering the emotional link between the consumer, citizen, subject etc, and themselves. One which can’t be defined in terms of monetary gain, points in a league table etc.
 
NicolaSacco said:
How much, realistically, though? I note that every time Utd haven’t qualified people always mention the 20% (or 25%) wage decrease that the players get. So I’d be interested to know how much it is worth financially once that is taken into account. I think that *maybe* it will make It’d more attractive to a few better players, but their wage demands will then also become higher.
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A good run in the CL can generate the best part of £100 million. I can guarantee that Sir Rat will be hoping and praying we win the EL this year.
 
Personally I think winning the EL papers over the cracks yet again. The club needs some time out of Europe. Get a smaller squad, get rid of all players earning over £200k. Realise that the only important trophy right now is the league, I feel this has been ignored for too many years now. There is no point being in the Champions League unless you can win it. The money boost would be nice but we have proved time and time again it doesn’t mean we have a better squad or season. We are more likely to end up with average players earning mega money. What’s the point when we’re embarrassed at the group stage.

Accept the club isn’t where it wants to be right now and we need to start again.
 
Solskjaer got absolutely crucified for downplaying the importance of cup wins. Im not taking a position either way here but interesting how we respond to managers. Solskjaer could make an argument that he went from 3rd, to 2nd, and did seem to be solidifying us as a top four team and we tried to force the journey and aim for a title with Ronaldo. We changed to a football style we weren't ready for and thought we were all too big to just focus on being stable and now look at us.
 
Most of you are talking about money/finances in relation to winning the EL.
I see where you are coming from, but surely winning a trophy in itself should be a good thing?

In 1999 when we won the treble, at no stage was I thinking about the financial benefits. I was wholly focused on the fact that we won the biggest 3 trophies available to us that year.

On a side note, we won't be winning any trophies this year and anybody who thinks we can win the EL should be sectioned for their own safety.
 
Winning the EL would be nice, but just cannot see it. Other teams just have more firepower than us. This club and to an extent it's fans need one fecking big reality check and if no europe provides it then so be it. As has been said it will pare the squad down and might get rid of the glory hunters and leave the fans who truly love this club. It is going to be truly painful, but I will still support them.
 
sunama said:
Most of you are talking about money/finances in relation to winning the EL.
I see where you are coming from, but surely winning a trophy in itself should be a good thing?

In 1999 when we won the treble, at no stage was I thinking about the financial benefits. I was wholly focused on the fact that we won the biggest 3 trophies available to us that year.

On a side note, we won't be winning any trophies this year and anybody who thinks we can win the EL should be sectioned for their own safety.
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It is and the feeling of ending the drought against Newcastle and beating City in a cup final last year was amazing.

But we were all convincing ourselves about those being moments for us to kick on and "foster a winning mentality" and things have only gotten worse and worse, on and off the pitch.

So even if we won the EL, my main happiness would come from us backdooring our way into the CL and it providing some financial stability which gives us a better crack at long term success down the road.
 
After watching Ratcliffe interview, I think it's about important as I thought when I made the thread
 
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