Why do people keep likening last nights UEFA cup final to the last cup winners’ cup? I had a night of this could be the last cross field pass or the last time someone kisses the trophy from ITV’s pointlessly over the top wannabe poet commentator Peter Drury. The reality is it is just getting re-branded just like a company changing its name, it’s the same thing with a little facelift to maximise revenue.

 

Anyway I digress, I thought the final was poor it had a 15-20 minute spark each half but for the most part there was no intensity from either side, it didn’t feel like a final just an exhibition game.

 

The reason why for me was the location of the final, now I have no problem with Istanbul holding finals the problem was that for this second tier competition the final needs to be in the most accessible places, that is west/central Europe. This is because the competition despite being important doesn’t inspire the imagination in the same way as the champions league final in so far as people sell their cars to make it, as it’s a once in a lifetime experience.

 

This lead to 30,000+ neutral fans creating an atmosphere like the 2002 World cup (irrelevant/horrible) and the game was similar. If both teams were represented by a sizeable travelling support the atmosphere would’ve inspired the players but the game felt dead and summed up the last breaths of the competition in this guise. I am worried for the Bucharest final because if the competition is more on its knees than it is already then even less clubs will take it seriously especially as a Wednesday in Bucharest is nowhere near as appealing as one in Istanbul.

 

It may seem like I’m being anti Eastern European but the facts of the matter is that finals are for fans not neutrals. Eastern Europe is hard to get to and expensive and the UEFA cup (Europa League) doesn’t have enough appeal or clout to persuade the regular fan to part with the best part of a fortune to see it. Therefore keep it west until the legacy is built or it dies, the latter is more likely.