Tim Lovejoy - The European Super League is already here

Published: 12 Mar 2010 - 09:56:20

Click To Enlarge

Many moons ago people were talking about an elite league of Europe's best clubs.

"That'll never happen," was the reaction. "We'll never go down that route".

Fast forward a few years and 'Champions League nights' are no more. These days we have Champions League weeks, sometimes even months.

The first knock-out stage of the tournament this year will last almost as long as the World Cup. Five weeks.

So for all intents and purposes the European League has arrived. It sneaked up on us, and we just didn't see it coming. And it's not even a 'Champions League' these days.

Is a good thing? I'm not so sure. I hate to moan about change, but I'm finding it tough to stay interested in a tournament that's so spread out.

Of course it's great to see English clubs doing so well, dominating games and at times winning at a canter. We've got proper teams and they're doing the business.

It's also great to see a club like Real Madrid go crashing out despite spending millions - although I'd quite like to have seen them go a little further if I'm honest.

But the whole thing is too drawn out and it needs to be fixed.

- - -

Meanwhile, the Premier League continues to get better every year.

No one knows who's going to win the title. Arsenal have a good run-in, and they've got as much chance as Chelsea and Manchester United in my opinion.

It's even harder to predict who'll finish fourth. Liverpool, Man City, Aston Villa and Spurs are all in with a shout and there's not much to separate them.

Only once has a team finished fourth or higher having lost nine times, however, and Liverpool are already at that number of defeats.

My money is on Manchester City to snatch it, but it could go to the wire.

READ TIM LOVEJOY EXCLUSIVELY AT FOOTBALL.CO.UK