Trophy Holder's right to defend?

[RubinsCube]

This is something which occurred to me in the aftermath of Wednesday's win and when watching many of the post match interviews. I have not seen it discussed elsewhere.

We all know we got stiffed by powers that be in Europe, and we all know the profile/standard/rewards for doing well in the Conference League is lower than the main two European competitions.

All that said, we ended up where we ended up - in the Conference League rather than the Europa League - and then we went and won the thing.

Now - barring some inconceivable issue even more ridiculous than the multi club ownership / Textor one - we will be in the higher profile Europa League competition next season.

My initial reaction to all this was "great - that was what we earned after winning the FA Cup!" and many sentiments eg OG in his last interviews echo this sentiment. I also think that if Aston Villa can win it then why not someone like us? So all that is great.

But now we've won the trophy does anyone else think not having the right to defend it is somehow not right? Maybe it's a good thing (Macclesfield!) but perhaps clubs who win it should have the right if they want to to defend the trophy they've won. Or maybe not - you could have some clubs with "8 European Titles" skewing football history. What do we think?

 

[Linford]

Nah, this is better. Going again in UECL isn't enough reward for the winners IMO. Plus, as you rightly mention, those returning clubs would most often be favourites the next season and could enter a farcical loop.

This trophy will always have a different winner than the last year, that makes it more interesting.

The only one where it makes sense is with Champions League, obviously there isn't anything bigger than the Champions League, both the points above don't apply.

I wonder what Unai Emery thinks about the new format. Maybe he would rather re-enter the Europa League 😁