Aston Villa boss berates UEFA for failing to streamline Europa League

May 12 2009 by Mathew Kendrick, Birmingham Post

Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill reckons tournament organisers have spurned the opportunity to streamline the UEFA Cup during its Europa League rebranding.

O’Neill controversially forfeited Villa’s involvement in last year’s competition after suggesting the number of games placed too much strain on his small squad.

Villa have again qualified for Europe’s second most prestigious cup after the Champions League with UEFA changing it from the UEFA Cup to the Europa League.

The Villa manager still believes clubs must play too many matches if they wish to prosper in the competition with the winners potentially facing almost 20 fixtures.

O’Neill was a staunch supporter of the UEFA Cup having led Celtic to the 2003 final where they were defeated by Jose Mourinho’s Porto.

However, he feels the format is now so long-winded that even when teams make it to the last 32 it is the equivalent of being in the FA Cup third round.

“It’s honestly too many games,“ he said.  “You would have thought the one thing they could have done was that, whoever comes out of the group stage, are in the last 16.

“It should have been like the Champions League, but getting through the group stage and you’re still in the last 32 – it’s a round too many.

“I just felt when they were overhauling it, it would have been really sensible to make changes but I see it’s still the same format after Christmas.