The Europa League was supposed to be the prize for a season of achievement to Alan Pardew.
But, after hailing the qualification as the best thing since slided bread, Pardew seems desperate to get out of it!
Newcastle can book their place in the knockout stages with a game to spare on Thursday, but they have never fielded a full-strength side in it – and at certain times it has been anything but.
Mike Ashley seems to see it as a way of "shifting stock" at Sports Direct, as bizarrely Newcastle are yet to wear their famous black-and-white shirt in any of the six games.
This time last year United were third in the table, yet today we are 12th, and obviously some people are connecting the two.
But the competition is one the big boys try to avoid.
The two Manchester giants were parachuted into the knockout stages last season and quickly got out of them to concentrate on a titanic title race.
And it is that "parachute" from the Champions League that has degraded the competition.
In 2003/4 Newcastle lost their Champions League qualifier to Partizan Belgrade and went into the UEFA Cup, and Sir Bobby Robson felt a touch embarrassed by it.
"We will take it," said the Toon manager at the time, "but it's not right is it?
"If you fail in a competition, that should be it. You shouldn't be allowed a second chance, and that cannot give that competition any credibility."
As the Champions League has grown, its little brother has shrunk into the background. Uefa tried a 2009-10 revamp to address that, but only succeeded in making it suffer by comparison.
Allowing European Cup dropouts into the competition – both after the qualifying and group stages – was a big mistake.
At a time when governing bodies are constantly bleating about their precious players being overworked by international and domestic football, the net result is more matches.
This year’s winners, Atlético Madrid, played 19 games in the competition – half a Premier League season.
The Europa League group stage halves the number of teams from 48 to 24. A single round of two-legged knockout would have the same effect.
With a bit of creativity, it could all be so different. Giving the Europa League a different format to the Champions League would add a fresher feel.
More knockout football would mean fewer games and more excitement.
Source: Newcastle United Mad
Source: FOOTYMAD
