European Football

[Eton White]

Is it all it's cracked up to be?

I keep seeing posts about how qualifying for Europe will help us attract players and how it will get Marco to stay.

My question is, will it really?

As a player, do you really want to be playing all the extra matches? Maybe with a team like Man City, where you have a huge squad and there's a real chance of winning the tournament, you might be happy to.

But for a team like Fulham, all you're doing is stretching the squad, increasing the likelihood of injuries and there's little chance of you actually winning the tournament.

If I was a Premier League player I'd personally just be happy staying up and hopefully qualifying for Europe when we' re ready.

Anything beyond that,is pretty meaningless IMO.

[St Eve]

The answer is yes. Managers want to manage against European opposition, players want to play against European teams and fans want to watch it. On top of that is the added revenue. You can attract and afford a better caliber player and afford a deeper squad. One of my greatest memories was watching Fulham in the final in Hamburg.

[Eton White]

Yeah, reading my post back, it was a pretty daft question! 

[john dempsey]

The quality in the European conference is pretty poor,
 just seems a way of milking the cash cow for more money.

[FFCAli]

The quality in the European conference is pretty poor,
 just seems a way of milking the cash cow for more money.

In a year or 2 they'll introduce another level of European competition.....and then another.....and another and every team in the Premier and half the Championship will qualify. 

[Whitestone]

The quality in the European conference is pretty poor,
 just seems a way of milking the cash cow for more money.

There are some very inferior teams in the Champions League and Europa League too in the early rounds. The Premier League in comparison is very strong when compared to most of Europe. It's probably no surprise that Premier League teams have won the Conference League in three of the five finals to date. The bonus of winning is a place in the following seasons Europa League. That's what makes it so disappointing that Fulham didn't get over the line this season.

[Woolly Mammoth]

In

The quality in the European conference is pretty poor,
 just seems a way of milking the cash cow for more money.

In a year or 2 they'll introduce another level of European competition.....and then another.....and another and every team in the Premier and half the Championship will qualify. 

Including Adults Open Age Sunday Morning Football.

I can see it now :-
Kings Head 5th XI v Outer Mongolian Ballers
Venue 1st Leg Hackney Marshes.
Venue 2nd Leg  Gobi Desert, Southern Mongolia.

[SP]

Despite Palace's 'West Ham' levels of celebration, I still have no interest in the Conference League. Never heard of most of the teams & some of the grounds look non-league standard.

[legana]

My counter-question would be do we really want to sign players that aren't bothered about playing?

[Whitestone]

Despite Palace's 'West Ham' levels of celebration, I still have no interest in the Conference League. Never heard of most of the teams & some of the grounds look non-league standard.

And that's exactly what makes it so intriguing. It may not be for everyone but I would love the opportunity to travel to the away games and visit other places.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Despite Palace's 'West Ham' levels of celebration, I still have no interest in the Conference League. Never heard of most of the teams & some of the grounds look non-league standard.

And that's exactly what makes it so intriguing. It may not be for everyone but I would love the opportunity to travel to the away games and visit other places.

Absolutely and we might even see some proper football.

[Twig]

I've said it before, my greatest memories as a Fulham supporter were during our run to the final in Hamburg. I travelled to some fascinating matches and saw some incredible Fulham performances. By the time we hit the group stages the opposition was mainly well known clubs but in the early stages it was, so called, "inferior teams", did that make it any the less exciting? Not bloody likely! Every win was huge for us knowing that by beating the lesser teams we would eventually end up measuring ourselves against some European greats. The same would very likely be true in the Conference, I say bring it on!!!

[acji]

I've said it before, my greatest memories as a Fulham supporter were during our run to the final in Hamburg. I travelled to some fascinating matches and saw some incredible Fulham performances. By the time we hit the group stages the opposition was mainly well known clubs but in the early stages it was, so called, "inferior teams", did that make it any the less exciting? Not bloody likely! Every win was huge for us knowing that by beating the lesser teams we would eventually end up measuring ourselves against some European greats. The same would very likely be true in the Conference, I say bring it on!!!

Entirely agree. It was and still is the prospect of seeing Fulham win and get somewhere that matters.

[SP]

The quality in the European conference is pretty poor,
 just seems a way of milking the cash cow for more money.

In a year or 2 they'll introduce another level of European competition.....and then another.....and another and every team in the Premier and half the Championship will qualify. 

Wouldn't surprise me either Ali. We'll definitely qualify for the 'safely mid table relegation avoiders cup' - bring it on.

[SimonDaviesEnjoyer]

From a fan's POV I'd love to have more European nights.

And I'd say we have a genuine chance of silverware... English teams dominate the EL and Conference League.

[Jules]

I just want us to win a domestic trophy.Carabao, FA Cup would be amazing. I'd like us to qualify for the europa league. Not that fussed about the Conference league though.

[SuffolkWhite]

Trips to Europe following Fulham are great, I'll never forget Basel away. And the calibre of teams we played in the Europa were very high quality. The Conference is still worth winning ask any Hammers or Palace fan!

[Twig]

Trips to Europe following Fulham are great, I'll never forget Basel away. And the calibre of teams we played in the Europa were very high quality. The Conference is still worth winning ask any Hammers or Palace fan!

Absolutely.

[General]

Despite Palace's 'West Ham' levels of celebration, I still have no interest in the Conference League. Never heard of most of the teams & some of the grounds look non-league standard.

I agree, I'm not really impressed by anyone winning the conference league, everything about it wreaks of substandard...

The stadiums, the quality of Teams, the fact its referred to as a 'conference league'...

There are only two real upsides to it.. one, if you win it then you play in the Europa League (which is arguably just as obtainable by focusing on the PL and not sacrificing performances in it), and two, if you win it, then it can be a basis for potentially claiming you've won a 'major' trophy.. and can push on and claim to be winners... though in real terms it simply dilutes that for me as the quality of opposition is so low and so is how they're resourced.

[Twig]

I don't get this argument that the stadiums, the teams, etc all reek of substandard.  Yes, there are some real minnows qualified, but nobody can tell me the following are substandard: Atalanta, Brighton, Getafe, Monaco, Ajax, Braga, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Partizan.  And there are plenty of others.

Some of these are "big" clubs that are curently having a tough time for one reason or another but they are still clubs with great hisotry and clubs I wuld be delighted to travel to and watch Fulham in action. 

Frankly it's arrogant to write off the competition as substandard or beneath us. We would struggle aganst a fair few of the qualified teams.