[aries22]

While acknowledging that the Europa League is often more trouble than it's worth, and financially it costs participating clubs far more than they can recoup from it, can any Albion fan honestly say they wouldn't enjoy a European awayday, or playing a continental side at the Hawthorns for the first time in thirty-five years?

I'd like European football, but not through the Europa League. The two finalists will each play about 18 games, which is about 10 games too many and causes fixture congestion. Uefa is too obsessed with mini leagues to stop teams being eliminated straight away and keep interest going but which only end up become knock-out competitions anyway. I'm all for inclusivity, but half the teams playing in Europe just aren't worth paying to watch. Re-name the Europa League the Uefa Cup again, choose 32 of Europe's best second-rate teams and make all rounds two-legged and the final a one-off game, making 9 games in all to win it. And why not revive the old European Cup Winners' Cup? That could take another 32 teams, same format. Let's have the Champions League, the Uefa Cup and the ECWC instead of trying to shoe-horn everyone into two crowded competitions. Then I'd be interested.