[RedForceRising]

For sporting reasons, winning the Champions League trophy is the most prestigious prizes in European Club football.

BUT from a business point of view, if a club has a big stadium and finished near the top of a "strong" European league, than that club could actually make more than the finalist.

I got this from uefa.com
http://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/651628.pdf

It's their financial report for 2006/2007

I will need to explain the Market Pool column. It is calculated by the strength of the club's domestic league + the position the club finished the season before + the number of seats in the stadium.

KEUR means 1000s of Euros, so 10 000 KEUR is actually 10 000 000/10million Euros.

Manchester United almost made as much as the losing finalists Liverpool by reaching the semi-finals and PSV Eindhoven did the same by only reaching the quarter-finals!

Chelsea actually made more than Liverpool event hough they lost the semis, because they had a bigger share of the market pool, because they won their domestic league the year before. Which happens to be the strongest domestic league in Europe.

Taking into account that Manchester United were the winners of the prem last season and that there's probably a bit more prize money this season, we will probably receive 40million Euros on our way to the finals.

Not a bad return for a season's work.

Add to the additional revenue from increased marketing and merchandise sales and that's a lot of money!

Please Fergie, take that money and buy a star or two.

 

[Red Devil]

Winning the Premiership means a hell of a lot more to me than beating Chelski in Moscow. I will say exactly the same thing every season.

 

[Keano!]

If I could choose either, I'd take the Prem.....simply because its what we work for all through the season!

 

[marty davidson]

i would choose the prem as well

 

[haggler]

i want the cl more than the title .
i want both obviously but the feeling after barca 99 has never been matched by any title other than 92/3

 

[Forever_United]

Winning the Premiership means a hell of a lot more to me than beating Chelski in Moscow. I will say exactly the same thing every season.

100% agree with u my friend.

 

[Red Devil]

This season would be the best yet, of all of them.

 

[fazman]

For me its the champions league I dream of this every year but I must admit the league is so important

 

[antdevil78]

This season would be the best yet, of all of them.

erm wot bout treble season.

 

[sparkic]

I just want both!

 

[yangch0000]

17 and counting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hope we can get our 17th next week

 

[ManUtd08]

i want both coz all hard work dey did 4 us

 

[Stephen]

Winning the Premiership means a hell of a lot more to me than beating Chelski in Moscow. I will say exactly the same thing every season.

Yes I agree.

However, for this season alone, I would like the European Cup ahead of the league. 50 years, what better way to remember them, than to win what they set out to?

 

[fazman]

I pray for the day we win the champions league again it would mean loads to me

 

[Jazz 16]

Yes I agree.

However, for this season alone, I would like the European Cup ahead of the league. 50 years, what better way to remember them, than to win what they set out to?

Good point but we all know that we want the 2 trophies.
Only winning the Prem last year when we had a good chance of the treble
was a bit disappointing, especially when we lost the FA cup final to you know
who. The Prem is in our grasp now and if Newcastle do us a favour, then we
wont be sweating at Wigan next week.

If we won just the CL then obviously Id be very upest at how we ended up
losing the League.
If we only won the Prem, then Id be clearly gutted/distraught that Chelsea
beat us in another final.....
Basically I want both and I think we can do it.
CMON UNITED!!!

 

[Jay007]

I'm greedy and want both.

But winning the League means your the best in your country. Winning the CL doesn't necessarily mean your the best in Europe. The only thing that proves you've been the best in Europe is if you win both.

So the Prem for me everytime. Well, unless we ever play Liverpool in the CL final .

 

[RedForceRising]

Good point but we all know that we want the 2 trophies.
Only winning the Prem last year when we had a good chance of the treble
was a bit disappointing, especially when we lost the FA cup final to you know
who. The Prem is in our grasp now and if Newcastle do us a favour, then we
wont be sweating at Wigan next week.

If we won just the CL then obviously Id be very upest at how we ended up
losing the League.
If we only won the Prem, then Id be clearly gutted/distraught that Chelsea
beat us in another final.....
Basically I want both and I think we can do it.
CMON UNITED!!!

The interesting thing from a business perspective is that we might make as much as Chelsea even IF we were to lose the final *knocks on wood*, because we finished first and have a bigger stadium. - Eye-opening isn't it?

Regarding the FA Cup final, Rooney was immense in that game and the ref was calling most of the important decisions in Chelsea's favour.
According to some reports at the time, that ref, I believe it's Rob Styles, is on the board of directors of a construction company, who do work for Abramovich's properties. Now am I the only who finds that dodgy?
Here's alink to the story:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=476739&in_page_id=1779

What's worse is that we're playing Chelski in their own backyard in the final. My AC Milan-supporting colleague, says Roman is going to have some russian babes welcome the ref when he gets off the plane.

I have great believe in Fergie and the boys though and Fergie recently said in an interview that he believes in God and that fate will regard the rightful party. I happen to believe that too. Let's hope we are the ones who deserve it!

 

[Red Devil]

Be careful what you conspire to in this forum. I do not say you right, I do not say your wrong, but you leave yourself open to litigation by your comments.

 

[RedForceRising]

Noted!

So I rephrased it a bit and put a link to reference the story.

 

[Dynamite]

Be nice to win both, after all it's fergie's desire to win the C.L again & it would be nice to bt liverpoo's record, the fate lies over these 2 week's