Now, I know I'm going to get shot down in flames for this, and I'm aware I'm getting way ahead of myself, but if we beat Sheffield United, we will be 90 mins away from Europa League qualification. 90 mins which could be against, say, Wigan or Hull - both entirely winnable IMO.
However, as I understand it there is a huge spanner in the works regarding our club ownership. Assuming that Standard Liege qualify for Europe (which is far more likely than not), that would then make us ineligible.
I know in the past that RD has moved ownership around to family members to get around this problem, but I would question how quickly this could be done in reality, given that entry forms have to be in by the first week of June.
Regardless of people's views on the 'value' of the Europa League as a competition, I for one would be devastated if we qualified for Europe on merit, for the first and only time in our history, only to be excluded on a technicality.
Not sure what the answer is, and 90% sure it won't end up being an issue anyway, but is this something that the fans/Trust should be raising with the club/RD sooner rather than later? It would be interesting to get his take on it.
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I thought the rule had been changed a few years ago. The winner makes Europe but if they are already in Europe, then the allocation goes to the next highest position in the Premier League. Not 100% sure though.
"There are three places in the UEFA Europa League available: the FA Cup winners will enter at the Group Stage; the fifth place team in the Barclays Premier League will enter at the Play-Off stage; and the Football League Cup winners will enter at the Q3 stage.
In the event the FA Cup winners are qualified for the UEFA Champions League the FA Cup runners-up will qualify, but in the place reserved for the lowest ranking Barclays Premier League representative. The place with direct access to the Group Stage will be given to the club that finishes in the highest position in the Barclays Premier League of the clubs qualifying for the UEFA Europa League.
Should the FA Cup winners, runners-up (if applicable) and the Football League Cup winners already have qualified for Europe, their place goes to the next best placed clubs in the Premier League."
Hope that helps.
Yes from the point of view that it is more likely than not that we won't 'qualify'.
No from the point of view that if we wait until it's confirmed, it may be too late to sort out the ownership issue and we will be excluded anyway.
This is Charlton anyway, so if there were a way to cock it up and not get into Europe it's a certainty we'd find it...
Longer than a long shot anyway - our own FA have already done everything they can to marginalise the non PL teams in the cup, giving them the least TV coverage possible when if they're even remotely serious about being fair and sharing the money around then the lowest ranked team in each round would get the highest profile TV coverage - simply doesn't happen - strange innit? or not