That's entirely understandable Keith. I've always thought competing on Thursdays severely impacted our domestic form when we were in it. It's punishing particularly when it feels like it involves longer treks across Europe than the CL.
The Europa League only comes into value at the very latter stages and even then you still have to win the thing to get your moneys worth.
Sometimes you just need that season out of Europe and that sole focus on domestic matters to remould yourself.
All the European finalists last season were from the EPL. Chelsea won the UEFA Cup and finished 3rd. So it didn't affect them much.
The mancs were crap before they even started playing in Europe. That club is just badly run from the top down, of people taking bad decisions that don't work. There is no patience in that club, no stability, no strategy, everything is short term. And when that doesn't work, the pressure increases on those in charge into taking more bad decisions, which they then do, and the cycle repeats itself. Where they are in the table now is arising from years of short sighted mismanagement, not because of a few Thursday nights in the UEFA Cup.
We all know what it's like to be rooted in mid-table not that long ago, and we had to put up with it. Now it's their turn. I hope they continue tripping themselves up. It's more laughter for us, for me, and more importantly, more years when they can't win the league.
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