Reds fans' rage overshadows UEFA decision

Liverpool today won the right to defend their Champions League trophy next season but UEFA’s decision to make Rafael Benitez’ side play six qualifying matches led to accusations that they are treating the Reds with “contempt“.

The club will have no ’country protection’ meaning they could face Everton in the final qualifying round; they will receive at least £3m (€4.4m) less Champions League TV money than title-holders usually receive, and the early matches clash with a lucrative pre-season tour to Japan.

Liverpool’s chief executive Rick Parry welcomed the decision but fans’ leaders have been less diplomatic while even the Premier League have been critical of UEFA’s rulings.

Parry told the club’s official website www.liverpoolfc.tv: “We welcome the decision to allow us in the competition next season.

“We wish to express our thanks to all those who supported us and campaigned on our behalf.

“We will now consider the implications this will have on the pre-season training camp and Japanese tour.”

However Les Lawson, spokesman for the Liverpool international supporters club, said: “UEFA have had to sort it out and they have done the minimum possible. They have treated their own champions with contempt.”

Former Liverpool player David Fairclough, a member of the 1978 European Cup side, agreed, saying: “They have given Liverpool the smallest crumb imaginable.”

The club will keep their place among UEFA’s eight top seeds but the first game of three two-legged qualifiers will be on July 12. Liverpool had hoped they would be allowed into the final qualifier in mid-August.

Liverpool have also been told by UEFA that they will be rated as the lowest English qualifier in terms of payments from the market pool – made up of Champions League TV money – earning 10% or 15% of the £20m (€29.9m) instead of being given the 30% or 40% slice normally allotted to defending champions.

There will also be an impact on the other four English clubs who may have to share that pot five ways, as well as a further £20m (€29.9m) from the pool which is distributed according to how many games each side plays in the group stage or beyond.

UEFA spokesman William Gaillard admitted this would be “a burden on the other English-based clubs“.

Liverpool’s lack of ’country protection’ means they can face another English side at any stage of the competition. They would avoid fellow top seeds Manchester United in the third qualifying round and group stage, and Arsenal in the group stage. They could however play Everton in the third qualifying round and Chelsea, who will be among the second group of seeds, in the group phase.

Manchester City’s hopes of taking Liverpool’s UEFA Cup spot have also been dashed, although the Premier League have asked the FA to make fresh representations on this matter.

A Premier League spokesman said: “We are very pleased for Liverpool and in many ways UEFA have taken a brave and correct decision.

“However we do not feel this should have been at the expense of the English game’s third UEFA Cup place, nor the Champions League pool as distributed between the four qualified clubs.

“As a result we will be asking the FA to formally re-nominate Bolton, Middlesbrough and Manchester City in the three UEFA Cup places allocated to the English game.”

At least the Liverpool scenario will not arise again the future. If the European champions fail to finish in a qualifying place in their domestic competition they will come in at the expense of the fourth-placed side.

The rules will also apply for countries who only get three or two Champions League spots, but there will be a special exemption in the unlikely event of a country with one Champion League spot winning the competition but failing to win their own domestic league.

FA chairman and UEFA vice-president Geoff Thompson, who lobbied all his fellow committee members on Liverpool’s behalf in the build-up to today’s telephone conference, welcomed the announcement.

He told the Press Association: “I am very pleased that my colleagues on the UEFA executive committee have accepted that the champions should be able to defend their trophy. Although personally I would like to have seen Liverpool go into the third qualifying round that would have had a knock-on effect on other clubs and this way UEFA no other club is disadvantaged.

“I also think it is absolutely right that UEFA have looked at the rules. They were ambiguous and they did put intolerable pressure on the national associations, particularly those from England, Spain and Italy.

“In the future there will be a level playing field and everyone will be on an equal footing.”