The Premier League is widely acknowledged, especially by the British press, as the most entertaining if not the best league in the world. It has the most money, the best players, superb stadia, a passionate, knowledgeable fan base and a watching worldwide audience that isn’t far short of billions.
Given these massive advantages, the BPL should, in theory, be the dominant force in European competitions, but it isn’t and it’s extremely puzzling!
Since 1990 when English clubs returned to European competition after the Heysel ban, only Liverpool and Manchester United have won club football’s greatest prize, the Uefa Champions League. Liverpool had the ‘Istanbul’ miracle in 2005 while United profited from those three minutes at the Camp Nou in 1999 and the John Terry slip thre years ago. They were three memorable victories…but certainly not a dynasty for the British Isles.
In the other two tournaments, including the now defunct Cup Winners' Cup, United, Chelsea and Arsenal triumphed in the 1990s while in the Europa League, the old Uefa Cup, only Liverpool has lifted silverware.
Seven titles in 22 years of European football! This is a staggeringly poor record no matter how you spin it.
Coming into this season hopes were high that this would be the year of the European sweep, but as we enter the last stages of group play in the Champions and Europa Leagues that is far from the case. Incredibly, only Arsenal and Stoke (who would have thought that in August?) have booked their passages to the knockout round to date.
Meanwhile, the top four in the Premier League have ties with different degrees of difficulty.
Chelsea can’t afford any mistakes versus Valencia while Manchester City and Tottenham are on life support as their dreams of continental supremacy are turning into nightmares. Even last year’s finalists, Manchester United, will be out of the Champions League if they do the unthinkable and lose to Basel.
One has to wonder if the English domestic game is poor preparation for European football and I think on the evidence above you’d have to say it is.
Spanish, Italian, French and to a lesser degree German football all resemble the style of play you see week in, week out in the Europa and Champions Leagues. It’s based on possession and tactics, not the 1000-miles-an-hour strap-your-seatbelts-on-stuff.
It feels like in crunch matches, when the result is the most important thing on the line, that English clubs revert to type and lose the ability to think in European terms. This irrational behavior even affects the continental players in the respective squads of Chelsea, Man City and Spurs.
It's as though Premier League-style soccer has an all encompassing grip because no matter how much the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson, Andre Villas-Boas, Roberto Mancini and Harry Redknapp preach patience and conservatism, once the passionate English crowds start driving their teams forward, European pragmatism is thrown out of the window.
Seriously, think about it. English domestic football is exciting, fast paced, all action and that’s the way we like it but it doesn’t transfer to the way the game is played on the continent.
You would think that if United, Chelsea, City and Spurs took their weekend performances into their next European matches there could only be one possible outcome – comprehensive victories for the English clubs. However, we all know that just isn’t going to happen.
Now, I’ve heard it said in some quarters that the English game is about to experience a downturn much like the leagues of Spain, Germany and Italy felt over the last 20 years. In my opinion that is utter rubbish. The English game has never been stronger but unfortunately it’s only strong on the island.
For those of you who are nostalgic about the days of Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa winning the European Cup in consecutive years you need to get real. Something like that is just not going to happen anymore and until clubs figure out a way to become more adaptable it will always remain nothing more than a black-and-white memory.
Any mention of England returning to the throne is laughable despite the resources currently flowing through the domestic game. To me that is nothing short of criminal. English football should be ruling the European landscape.
