by Joe Walton

Martin O'Neil and Harry Redknapp last night showed why they are such well regarded managers by masterminding their clubs' safe passage out of the UEFA Cup.

Both managers sprung selection surprises to bamboozle their opponents into victory. The policy of selecting youth paid off to wow the fans who have paid hundreds of pounds following their teams around the continent in a gloriously unfulfilling campaign.

Speaking after the game O'Neil said: "We had to make changes to the team to ensure that we left Europe in order to concentrate on our league position and qualify for Europe." Villa picked a team lacking 8 regular starters for the away tie against CSKA Moscow, one of the best teams in Eastern Europe, to ensure they were fit for the mouth-watering visit of Stoke on Sunday.

Redknapp was equally aware of the need to prioritise, he said: "Look, I had to make changes to my team. I wasn't going to risk my best players for a second rate competiton, I need them for the Carling Cup." The Carling Cup represents something of a failure for Redknapp, his team meet Manchester UTD in the final despite his best efforts. Who can forget the brilliant way a weakend Spurs team conceded first to Watford, only to blow it all and come back to win.

These two managers must be applauded for taking these tough, long term decisions. After all what do we expect of these mega-rich, super-fit football players? For them to play football?

 by Joe Walton 

Campaigning for the UEFA Presidency almost two years ago, Michel Platini campaigned on the grounds of change, a common tactic for anti-incumbents. The major specific change that Platini wanted was the promotion of smaller, less fancied teams in the Europe competitions. A week after the announcement concerning the future of the UEFA Cup, it is a good time to analyse to what extent Platini’s has enacted change to promote Europe’s smaller clubs.

Last Friday UEFA announced that the UEFA Cup will undergo a major rebranding to follow up last years decision to introduce Champions League-esque groups stages. The statement on the UEFA website was full of marketing initiatives like “centralised broadcasting contracts”, “an official matchball” and “centralised sponsorship contracts”, however it is unclear how this chimes with Platini’s smaller club crusade.

Yes there is more television and sponsorship money, but the millions spent on rebranding will ultimately be pointless unless the football (or the product in marketing speech) improves. The reason the UEFA Cup has seen its popularity plummet, is not because of its logo, or decentralised sponsorship, but because the football is all too often poor.

The Europa League will never compare favourably with the Champions League because it is a second rate competition, so for UEFA to make it increasingly similar runs counter to Platini’s pledge. If he truly wanted to reinvigorate the competition whilst promoting smaller clubs he should have pushed to make the set-up a straight knock-out. This would make it stand out as its own competition and lessen unfavourable comparisons, whilst allowing smaller clubs more of a chance to progress. When the Champions League scrapped the second group stage, the chances of less established teams winning increased, the same should be applied to the Europa League.

UEFA will never truly implement this type of change because the bigger teams wouldn’t stand for it. One double-headed qualifying game followed by a lucrative group stage is far more appealing to clubs who have failed to make it to the Champions League, especially with more sponsorship. Platini doesn’t care about the smaller clubs, instead he is another suit more concerned with marketing the game than improving it.

by Stuart Gillespie

So, where are we at? Well so far Cherno More have beaten Sant Julia 9-0 on aggregate, Man City have played about 15 games (all unconvincingly), Young Boys have spunked on some Hungarians at the Wankdorf, and it has been announced that this 38th edition of the mind-boggling competition will be the last.

And we haven't even reached the group stage yet.

Are our teams likely to get there? Let's find out...

Aston Villa (3) v Litex Lovech (1)

Put simply, yes, Aston Villa are likely to get through. It was a kind draw and the Premier League high flyers have gratefully placed one-and-a-half feet in the group stage at the expense of the unknown Bulgarians.

Man City (2) v Omonia Nicosia (1)

Omonia Nicosia may not be a household name, but they are no mugs and City did well to leave Cyprus with a first leg lead. Of course a lot has happened since then, with defeats to Brighton & Hove Albion and Wigan seeing Sulaiman-ia dampened somewhat. But with that crucial advantage from the away leg and the talent they have at their disposal, City should have no problems progressing to the next phase.

Motherwell (0) v Nancy (1)

Mark McGhee's side did well to hold relative giants Nancy to a one-goal advantage in France, though they remain underdogs going into the second leg. But despite their struggles in the SPL this season, Well have a good group of players and are by no means out of this tie.

Standard Liege (2) v Everton (2)

Everton look to have the toughest task ahead of them if they want to reach the group stage. Their lack of summer spending has seen them eclipsed by rivals Villa, Man City and Portsmouth in the Premier League, and their uncharacteristic defensive frailty this season was evident in the first leg draw with the Belgians. Liege came so close to putting out Everton's city rivals Liverpool in Champions League qualifying and will rightly be confident of piling more misery on already worried Toffees fans.

Vitoria Guimaraes (0) v Portsmouth (2)

Harry Redknapp's men have a good advantage from the first leg, but in that match Guimaraes missed a penalty at 1-0 that would have given the Portuguese an intriguing away goal. As it stands they'll still be a danger at home, though it'll be a surprise if Portsmouth are unable to finish the job.

Wisla Krakow (1) v Spurs (2)

Where to start with Tottenham? Much has been written elsewhere (including on this blog) about their horrific start to the season. Whoever's to blame (and, as usual, it's probably a combination of factors), things won't be any easier in Poland tonight. Between 2001 and 2006 Wisla went 73 matches unbeaten at home, and although they haven't had much success in European competition recently, a tricky trip to Krakow is undoubtedly one of the last things Spurs need at the moment. Of course successful negotiation of this tie could kick-start Tottenham's season. But, on current form, the more likely scenario is the overturning of their slender 2-1 lead and yet more pressure being heaped upon on Juande Ramos.

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So there we have it. Britain should have a few representatives in the asymmetrical group stage, and possibly more than a few. But the competition is in desperate need of next year's long overdue revamp. The Europa League may be more of a gentle tweaking than the rebranding suggests, but the changes should be for the better. The Intertoto Cup will be absorbed into the qualifying rounds and the group phase will come at the beginning of the competition, rather than in the middle, featuring even numbers of teams with home and away legs. 

Cherno More? Unfathomable format no more, with any luck.