You get prestige by winning trophies, not finishing in the top 4, money on the scale it's at now has ruined football and is unsustainable IMO
Maybe prestige isnt the right word but you club becomes more attractive for better players when the club is participating in the CL. Players really do care about playing in the CL. Take Ajax as an example. The reason they were able to sign players like Antony and Martinez was because Ajax is participating in the CL and some players prefer that over siging for a mid table team in a better league.
That’s just not true though. It once was, but it’s not now. The Champions League has been broken for a long time now. It’s revenue generating but what’s the point in just floating through a season, getting to the Round of 16 and then signing slightly better players to do exactly the same thing the year after?
Only 8 teams have won it in the last 20 years, and 13 in the last 30. It’s a closed shop. There are no real surprises. The last being Porto, and they needed the worlds best manager (at the time) and an accidental and large collection of players that went on to be world class.
Qualifying for it doesn’t really improve your chances to actually win it. You’ve got to be insanely rich, or slightly less rich and be an Historic huge club with a huge pull to be in with a chance.
It’s a far worse competition year on year. It’s been managed into a space that rewards and maintains the status quo.
Well if you keep signing better players than eventually you should be able to perform better. Round of 16 first, sign better players and get an extra round the year after. In theory that is, you just need to prevent your best players from being poached from your club. If you play in the CL the chances of your best players staying also increases.
But you are right, the winner is likely one of the clubs you think that will win it before the CL actually starts. This year there will be a Milan team in the final, Ajax and Monaco had some good runs and Spurs even made a final. There are still some suprises.. No suprise winner though. I doubt the new format will help with getting a suprise winner either...
Floating through the season might be pointless to you but many clubs do it. You should ask their supporters what the point of supporting their mid table club is. I think its also about the enjoyment of watching your favorite team play football and maybe even causing an upset from time to time.
