View From The Sphere

Is there any point of us qualifying for the Champions League?

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Arsenal_logo_at_the_Emirates_StadiumSome of the pessimists among us look ahead to our second leg of the Champions League and anticipate a deeper drubbing at the hands of Bayern, and they also make the mistake of conflating our struggles in the Champions League with a reason for why we should not even bother with qualifying for next year. After all, their reasoning seems to go, why qualify for a competition that we will only get dumped from in its second round and have no hope of winning?

This line of thinking, as I’ve already implied, is sorely lacking on a number of fronts. At its lowest, qualifying for the Champions League is entirely different from competing in it. For some teams, in fact, qualifying is the only issue that matters. Some teams, like Bayern, Barcelona, and Juventus, arrive with realistic expectations of making it all the way to the final, if not winning the whole thing. Others, like Dynamo Zagreb, Olympiakos, or Man City, are lucky to be there, even if they know they’ll go winless and leave with a -4 goal differential. For this latter group, the thrill and the prestige of qualifying is rewarding enough. To have a chance to go the Camp Nou or Old Trafford might just be a player’s lifelong dream – so what if his team gets absolutely blitzed? He got to shake hands with and maybe even nutmeg (or get nutmegged by, more likely) players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi or Andrea Pirlo? Thirty years from now, that’s a memory he can cherish and share with his children and grandchildren. At the risk of sounding too sentimental, it gives a team a rare chance of glory – actually beating one of the giants of the world, as Celtic did to Barcelona this past November. I cried after that game.

The financial rewards are so obvious that they barely need explaining. Chelsea, not that they need it, earned £51.7 million through their victory. A team doesn’t even have to win to bring home some coin. Just appearing in the group stage is enough to earn one £6.2 million. God forbid you draw or actually win a group-stage game – one group-stage win earns ‘only’ £690,000 for some of those smaller teams, £6.2 million is enough money to sign some higher-profile talent. We at Arsenal might turn up our noses at such meagre sums, but this can be enough to vault a team to its league championship.

For us, however, the matter is somewhat different. The financial benefits are nice, to be sure, but there are other issues at stake. There’s the relatively trivial matter of our streak – 15 years in a row qualifying for the Champions League is nothing to sniff at. All streaks must end, of course, and continuing a streak is not in and of itself reason enough to trying to maintain it. A related issue, and one that we must attend to, is how appearing in the competition confirms our standing in European football and related issues of player signings. If we fail to qualify for next year, we run the risk of becoming known as an also-ran of seeing our reputation tarnished, and it’s a long slog to come back from that. Look at Liverpool, who won the Champions League in 2005 and finished second in 2007. They’ve missed qualification ever since and almost went bankrupt. Once one of the ‘Big Four’ of British football, they now sit in 7th place, with even the Europa League just beyond them. Let’s see who stays and who signs for them over the summer. And it’s with that issue that we return to our own prospects.

If we have any expectation of signing players like David Villa or Victor Valdes, who have become accustomed to Champions League football, or signing players like Edinson Cavani or Stevan Jovetic, who aspire to play on that stage, we can make a much more compelling case to them if we qualify for the competition next year. Heck, we might even be able to get away with more of a low-ball offer. If we fall out of the Champions League however, the chance of signing players of this calibre don’t necessarily disappear, but it does become more remote. A second dilemma is that we might see players of our own who look to sign elsewhere – certainly a problem we’ve had quite enough of in recent years, thank you.

Is Champions League qualification a path to a trophy? Perhaps, if only indirectly.

Qualify = money = prestige = transfer signings = stronger squad = possible trophies.

Again, the difficulty of competing in the Champions League is not to be confused with the importance of qualifying. Despite all of our recent struggles, there are few teams that can claim to have done as well for as long as we have at this level and that’s saying something.

Did AC Milan destroy us last year? Yes, but then we very nearly returned the favour.

Did Bayern give us a bit of a thrashing in the first-leg this season? Hell yes. But we’re still standing, and that’s something that only 15 other teams in all of Europe can claim. Not too shabby.

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10 comments

  • Leon says:

    Oh bollocks – we have been qualifying for this competition for years and look at the CRAP that idiot has brought to the club – Mertesacker, Diaby, Denilson, Santos, Ramsey etc – the Champions League revenue has done little for Arsenal FC and a great deal for the board of directors

  • FoolishGooner says:

    My two cents; If we don’t qualify next year, may be something will change. As disappointed as we all are with the current state of AFC! I hope this is rock bottom (getting bounced out from both cups, having no chance of competing for a League title, and usual Champions league capitulation).
    The lost to the Spuds wasn’t a big deal. It just became huge demoralizing lost, because everything else. The mad Professor (much respect) perhaps lost it. He trusts players too much and hopes them to do well instead of covering his own Aaarsse. He doesn’t buy a great defender available, because he has (Per, Vermaelen, Kolc, Johan ETC) he is afraid to hurt their feelings.. where is the competition? The same applies to all areas.

  • g clarke says:

    No British team are doing better its there and there is money in it that’s what people go to work for and that is what the team plays for a cup would be nice when you grow up this is what you’ll find that matters

  • jessie says:

    champions league qualification is not a trophy. Wenger sees CL as trophy, and he is contented with that. If we dont qualify for CL, wenger will not have any thing to boast of to cover his sins. I dont think wenger vision for now impresses any arsenal fan. He has to change his vision. We need trophies. For now I prefer lifting the FA cup than qualifying for CL.

  • ivorstephens says:

    Realistically our time in this seasons champions league is over.So well have gone as far as utd and further than chelsea and city.English teams got found out this year as they’re short of quality big time.Anyhow id like to see us in next seasons cl as it would mean chelski or spurs miss out and if you’re not in you can’t win.As regards attracting players money is the main motivator.How else would you explain yaya toure leaving barcelona for man city or any of a myriad other transfers.ps i see rvp was completely outplayed by 19 year old varane last night.As for a long time with us when really needed he didnt step up

  • edward owen says:

    The only thing arsenal get out of it is more money for our wonderful coach and his board.

  • Dave a says:

    So qualifying helps us attract players that we cant or wont pay there wages or transfer fees,I wonder how many players we missed out on because we tried to get them cheaper or to play in different positions that they prefered.No disrespect but this article is predictable as are the endless transfer speculation articles doing the rounds,you would think all of a sudden we have turned into a buying club of a bottomless pit.We wouldnt have to follow the norm if we had kept the players that was good before.Now we pay Mr Wallcot more,is this because he is the finished article or because he is our best player.Dear oh dear somethings amiss,surely it would have been better to keep the players we had.What a mess we are.

  • Terry says:

    The Champions League qualification issue is an excellent example of how we are being peddled a lie. We don’t spend the money. Therefore we don’t need it. We play average teams in the early stages, freeze our butts off at the Emirates and go out to the first decent team that we face. Not qualifying for the Champions League has little effect on players signing for us – just ask Liverpool, Newcastle and, dare I say it, Tottenham. We are being fed a lie. Chamions League qualification just enhances the investments of our board of directors. Meaningless to us fans. Ha! We’re the TRUE Arsenal. Not Kroenke et al. Arsenal fans, get a grip! It’s so obvious we are being treated as idiots. We’re being cheated by the board. CHEATED! And the football club that I love should not cheat its own supporters. But money talks…

  • gunner4ever says:

    Liverpool have been in the cl wilderness for a number of seasons. According to reports,they have made aloss of some 40 million.The gunners could be in the same boat. Of coursethe ES could cushion some of the losses.
    Then there is the question of sponsors. The latter want to be associated with clubs in the limelight.Playing in thecl will improve the gunners and make them aware of the different playing styles ,unlikely to be encountered in the epl.
    Of course it will be a blow for the Arsenal brand not to be involved. Nothing is guaranteed. Some top teams have not been playing in the epl and the gunners are no exception. However to be successful,the gunners need cl to compete with the best.

  • MkeF says:

    What pisses me off most is Arsenal’s two major share holders have MORE wealth then Roman Abramovich
    Usmanov who holds around 30% has more money then Abramovich so if they wanted they could invest more of their own money like Abramovich did and buy who ever Arsene Wenger wanted to get.

    Stan Kroenke is a Businessman is invested in Arsenal the Business and brand and looks to make a profit. Abramovich is a football Fan invested in Chelsea the football club and wants his team to WIN.

    That is why Arsenal are in the situation they are in. Chelsea may not be in a great position this season and also are struggling for constancy the difference is Abramovich sees when things are not going well and at least takes action to change things I a not eve sure Kroenke even attends games the guy invests in sports teams financially but NOT emotionally If things are to change Arsenal need a owner that is invested the Arsenal FC emotionally who loves the Game and cares more about the team’s Stats on the pitch and less about the balance sheets.

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