To win: FA cup or EL?

soapythecat

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We’ve been a pretty decent cup team these last few years. But which would you rather win this season? FA Cup or EL?

For me, the FA cup. I think given where we are squad wise and what we need to do this summer, having EL football next season makes us attractive and it’s a competition which we are clearly capable of doing well without getting embarrassed.

If we were to win the EL this season, whilst I’d celebrate it hugely, I feel it could be a problem for the club in this stage of a big rebuild. Yes, CL money would be good next season and help us attract good players in the summer but the downside to the CL is the 25% wage increase for players - so Casemiro and Rashford will be back on ballistic wages and totally impossible to shift (Rashford will be back, I’m sure). The competition would just be too strong for us currently - even if we were to get 3/4 good players in the summer (which I doubt). We will struggle and probably not make the play off so we are back to being shite on the big stage and left with a squad on huge wages…again.

Winning any cup this season would be huge and would need a massive change in playing style or fortune but it’s possible. I just feel CL qualification next year through winning the EL could be a hindrance. Thoughts Caf?
 
FA Cup - Would mean that Liverpool/City etc don't win it... and I'd also probaly rather we were in the ELthen CL next season - we're not ready for CL football.

The cash for CL football would be good though I suppose.
 
Europa any day. A European trophy and gets a ticket to CL
 
When you factor in, I think, is it 25% drop in salary if we don’t get CL, is there really a massive financial loss if we don’t qualify? Like I think that’s 80mil we save on wages and it’s not like United have been getting to latter stages of the tournament when we are in it.

I think from an actual stage we are at POV, Europa is a better competition but understand why CL would be the target.

If we beat city and Pool again on way to FA cup final win it would be more impressive then beating anybody in the Europa. That said, it would be nice to win Europa.

So I think either would be nice.
 
Europa for me. CL football and the money that comes with it.

A super cup to look forward to or dread depending on what state we are in :lol:
 
We get more revenue being part of CL too - so how is this a question?
 
FA Cup - Would mean that Liverpool/City etc don't win it... and I'd also probaly rather we were in the ELthen CL next season - we're not ready for CL football.

The cash for CL football would be good though I suppose.

Fundamentally agree with this but since being a modern football fan is all about being a little accountant I suppose the correct answer is Europa League.
 
Europa League should be the easiest of the two and we need income from Champions League. No champions league teams enters it this year.
 
When you factor in, I think, is it 25% drop in salary if we don’t get CL, is there really a massive financial loss if we don’t qualify? Like I think that’s 80mil we save on wages and it’s not like United have been getting to latter stages of the tournament when we are in it.

I think from an actual stage we are at POV, Europa is a better competition but understand why CL would be the target.

If we beat city and Pool again on way to FA cup final win it would be more impressive then beating anybody in the Europa. That said, it would be nice to win Europa.

So I think either would be nice.

Does that drop in salary count for consecutive seasons without CL football? Very much doubt it - no-one would agree to that. Especially at a club like ours that now only rarely gets into the CL.

To answer OP, Europa all day.
 
FA Cup - Would mean that Liverpool/City etc don't win it... and I'd also probaly rather we were in the ELthen CL next season - we're not ready for CL football.

The cash for CL football would be good though I suppose.
EL obviously because we need the CL money. We are going nowhere worrying about what Liverpool /City are doing.
 
It’s got to be EL. We’d get battered in CL but would love to be back in it. Also a big boost to the finances and potentially for attracting players.

I don’t think we’ll qualify for any European football next season at all based on our league position. Which is unfathomable.
 
EL obviously because we need the CL money. We are going nowhere worrying about what Liverpool /City are doing.

I spend most of my time worrying what Liverpool are doing this season.

There's a fairly decent chance they could win everything.
 
FA Cup - Would mean that Liverpool/City etc don't win it... and I'd also probaly rather we were in the ELthen CL next season - we're not ready for CL football.

The cash for CL football would be good though I suppose.
Mad.

Europa. Give us something to look forward to next season.
 
Europa League by a mile, I get it that we're not ready for Champions League but the financial benefit outweighs being a challenger and we should make it to the post-league knockout round.

The only benefit to winning the FA Cup over the Europa League sees us tie with Arsenal for 14 wins.

That being said, no matter how shit we are, we're still Man Utd and we should be aiming for both.
 
It makes a EUR50m difference to be in the champions league. If even half of that flows to our PSR profits (after accounting for increases wages etc), thats EUR125m of new signings.
 
When's the last time a team that was 15th in their league won the Europa?
 
Both.

Shouldn't be looking at winning just one,
 
If we CL football the following are all back on huge salaries, and I think we would be all happy to seem them sold:
Rashford
Casemio
Antony
Mount
Shaw
None will be moved on because their wages will be too high for any club to take them off our hands.
For all those saying EL I feel we need to look at the bigger picture and see how it could hamper us.
Also, is the CL money that lucrative for the first 8 games - which realistically is as far as we would last? Is a EL long run not worth more? I don’t know but when you consider the wage increase, is it worth it?
 
Europa League by a mile, I get it that we're not ready for Champions League but the financial benefit outweighs being a challenger and we should make it to the post-league knockout round.

The only benefit to winning the FA Cup over the Europa League sees us tie with Arsenal for 14 wins.

That being said, no matter how shit we are, we're still Man Utd and we should be aiming for both.
And it will stop one of our rivals from winning it - I agree with you though, Europa League is the bigger target but we should be aiming for both and to finish as high as possible in the table.

A good end to the season, even if it means finishing 8th could bring some positivity into next season.
 
I'd rather win the EL, but with the cost cutting and the forward line we've been left with as a result, I'd choose to avoid relegation as priority #1.
 
Fundamentally agree with this but since being a modern football fan is all about being a little accountant I suppose the correct answer is Europa League.
This is the right answer. It’s hard to argue the EL is as hard/prestigious when you look at who is in it but the CL place means it has to be the answer.

If Fa cup and CL both had a CL place, it would easily be FA cup for me.
 
If we CL football the following are all back on huge salaries, and I think we would be all happy to seem them sold:
Rashford
Casemio
Antony
Mount
Shaw
None will be moved on because their wages will be too high for any club to take them off our hands.
For all those saying EL I feel we need to look at the bigger picture and see how it could hamper us.
Also, is the CL money that lucrative for the first 8 games - which realistically is as far as we would last? Is a EL long run not worth more? I don’t know but when you consider the wage increase, is it worth it?
I hadn't thought of this, though if Rashford performs well and Villa buy him he's not our problem. Casemiro becomes an issue but he will only have one more year left on his contract. I don't believe the others are on crazy wages that will hinder us too much though.
 
How is this even a question? Of course you would prefer to be in the CL over EL next season, winning EL this year is so so important. If we get in the CL, better pool of players plus more income from TV.
 
We won’t win the FA Cup. Really don’t see us going all the way in the EL either - clueless and toothless up front blah blah.
 
Europa and it's not even close. We would get way more revenue, a European trophy, bigger profitability for sponsor deals, etc. and no more cuts to the adidas deal which would all help us get out of this financial spot.

We could improve in the window enough to be decent in the CL, there are always crap teams in the CL and surprise packages. Who cares if we are not one of the best in it immediately, at least being in it would help us get back to being in it more regularly. The longer we stay out of it, the harder it will be to get back and the more strain we will see financially.

It is ridiculous to want worse club achievements for the sake of a few players wages going up, I don't see how their 25% increase would make them less sellable either. Players like Rashford and Antony will be gone and even if we had to cover some of the wages of players we sold, that would still be less than their total wages at a 25% discount. Most likely, instead of paying 75% of their full wage and having a squad place taken up, we would likely pay something like 25%, so how is not making CL going to save us money on wages?
 
Very easy - EL.

Champions League will help financially and in terms of maintaining the clubs profile.

It would be a brilliant fluke if we somehow managed it.
 
Europa League any day. Even without the CL participation, beating the best of Europe has to offer in a cup competition will always be better than beating the your domestic teams in a cup competition.
 
Not getting relegated. Winning both cups. Can be done. As is the only rational decision now. Work the strikers to do well in europe. Play your best in cup.