gumps

I'm not really looking forward to them but like Cath I'm an eternal pessimist. I can only hope that the "european" Liverpool turns up and at least give Chelski a decent game. When the draw was made, I wasn't too bothered as I'd rather play them in the groups rather than a 2 legged KO round. I doubt that the special atmosphere from the semi last season can be repeated anyway, as that match was the culmination of what had gone on between the teams last season (tapping up Gerrard, lucky wins in the league games and the Carling Cup final)and was a bit of a grudge match.What pisses me off is the whole media hype about Chelski's revenge and all that. So what! We won when it mattered. Win, lose or draw, Chelski can never change history.

That access table has been like that for a while now, cuz I checked it a few weeks back before all this came to a head. I think that the title holder, ie , winner is granted access subject to the overiding rule of max 4 teams from any association.

Yeah, I'd read that in the papers. Thats what started me looking into this. Just more ammunition for the shite :lol:

Thanks guys. Seems the precedent is set that the winners would take preference :biggrin: I know its highly unlikely, but I hope the FA are prepared for the most bitterest whinging etc. :eek:

Sorry if this has been debated already. It was my understanding from a few years ago that the Champions League (CL) winners automatically qualified for the next years competition (named "Title Holder"). Because of UEFA's rules about a max of 4 teams from any one country, this meant that the title holder could qualify at the expense of the 4th placed team, if the title holder finished outside the top four. I think this actually happened a few years ago to the Spanish teams when Real won it but finished either 4th (when Spain only had 3 qualifiers) or 5th (when they had 4 qualifiers). Sorry can't remember the exact details and not sure if my memory is playing tricks on me. :dunno: I've recently checked UEFA's website for the access list for 2005/2006 (list of available qualifying spaces) and it still has a space for the Title Holder. Whats really annoying me is all this bollocks in the papers about how the FA will have to choose between Liverpool and Everton if this scenario arises. any thoughts????

It was even on the radio sports news this morning, that Blackburn were likely to get Celtic. These european draws are becoming a bit of a joke lately, with so much seeding.

http://msn.skysports.com/skysports/article/0,,1860-1065348,00.html

Hindsight is a wonderful thing eh? Is Dion Fanning a pseudonym for Giles or Dunphy?:-D With my own gift of hindsight, if Owen and Baros had been picked from the start, would they have made any difference given the fact that the rest of the team backed off, tackled like girls and let Valencia play their pretty football. I think probably not. BTW, its been a bit quiet the last few days on here, everyone taking a breather, building up to wednesday?

According to the TV, they said there was about 2000 away fans. Would this be right?. What are the allocation rules for CL?