It`ll be interesting to see how high, or low, the attendance is at Craven Cottage this evening for our Europa League fixture against Basel.
With it being our first home fixture in the group stages it`ll be interesting to see just how much enthusiasm there is for our participation in this competition. My own personal estimate is that there will be circa 12,000 tops tonight.
In the shadow of its big brother, the Champions League, the Europa League is always going to struggle and with being a far from generous cash cow the incentive isn`t really there, especially in the early stages, to give it 100%.
Ahead of the game, our club captain and misfield inspiration, Danny Murphy has spoken out about it being the poor relation compared to our own domestic Premier League and comparing it with the Sunday afternoon clash with West Ham United, remarking,
“I don`t think these two matches are of equal value.”
“Every game you want to win because you have an individual and collective pride to win a football match.”
“But Sunday is more important because winning in the Premier League keeps you in it and that`s how the club runs, by staying in the league and getting the finances that come with it.”
“Getting through the group stages of the Europa League certainly doesn`t brig the same benefits. If you said to me now, you`re only going to win one of the two; I`d rather win on Sunday. Simple.”
An opinion that is probably shared by 99% of those who follow our club I`d say or would you beg to differ?
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