David Moyes fumes at FA Cup proposal to help ‘Big Six’ clubs get into Champions League

West Ham United manager David Moyes fumes at the much talked about FA Cup proposal to help ‘Big Six’ clubs get into the Champions League.

He is the first manager to say he doesn’t agree with plan that would see only ‘Big Six’ clubs who win the FA Cup qualify for the Champions League, and that it should be fair for all teams to receive equal opportunities.

The Telegraph reported on Sunday that FA Cup winners could potentially advance for the Champions League from 2024 under new rules being considered by UEFA, but only if the clubs have a record of success in European competition. Rubbish news for anyone really deserving to qualify through final position in the Premier League and those bidding to get into Europe that rarely do so.

The proposals will see the two extra places in a new 36-team Champions League awarded on the basis of coefficients – the formula UEFA uses to measure historic success in the competition.

‘We talk about being inclusive in football, that means to give all the teams the opportunity to get there,’ Moyes told reporters after Sunday’s 2-1 Premier League win over Everton.

‘If a smaller side won it, we’d expect to be treated the same way,’ he added.

‘Maybe if I was at a top-six regular, would I want that? I don’t think most people see that as the correct format to go. It should be on merit.’

West Ham currently sit sixth in the Premier League table, with 51 points after 31 matches, and are just three points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who have played a game less.

The Hammers host Lyon in the first leg of the Europa League quarter finals on Thursday night as they plot to continue their journey in the Europa League.

West Ham aren’t giving up hopes of finishing in the top four but Moyes is satisfied that their progress is evidenced by them still chasing into April.

‘It could have been a bit cleaner at times but at this stage of the season you’re happy to get the points,’ said Moyes.

‘Being back in the European bracket shows in the main we have had a good season, and we have to keep it up.’

As David Moyes fumes at the FA Cup proposal to help ‘Big Six’ clubs get into the Champions League, social media users had their say with this topic trending…

@KeithProudfoot: If they’re not good enough to qualify they are no longer “elite”. Simple as. 🤷‍♂️

@srhlufc74: And they wonder why we think they’re looked after by the biased organisations, uefa and the premier league bend over backwards to accommodate the ‘big 6’

@lw_cta: Too many teams knocking on the door in recent years and currently outside the 6, they need that door shutting. How UEFA see this any different to SL plans is strange too.

@KGBOO1: Time to let them go and create a super league before it’s 11 subs and timeouts. They’re destroying the game for the rest.

@BrianHodgson3: Overheard in a playground in 2024 “My teams got a bigger 5 year UEFA co-efficient than yours, “yeah but my teams expected goals per game is higher than yours”

@dazza_nics: What % of clubs in the Champions League are actually Champions of something?

@robweaverwm: That has to illegal, right? Or at least open to challenge in court. Makes me laugh that people can be so anti ‘unfairness’ in sport (insert drugs, trans athletes, private school etc) yet merrily cheer financial doping in football.

@tonythemanc: Trust me as a City fan it stinks , basically it’s a Cartel club rule to make sure they always get in , oh by the way City are not a cartel club

@VillaWayne: And this is why I no longer enjoy professional football. Until we have someone in power who loves and understands the game over their own personal gain and prestige and stops pandering to the “elite” clubs the game will be lost

@dracus1971: It’s the next logical step after seeding for the revenue-banking non-Champions League group stages that no-one watches. It’s all designed to get the same 16 teams to the lucrative knock-out stages. The Golden Goose is slowly being strangled.

@DLRbrts: It’s just yet another case of the richer clubs trying to load the deck in their favour. How long before they try to get a vote for a reduction in grass length on the pitch, as that’s the latest thing they seem to endlessly wang on about these days?

@Rocket_Sauce13: As a City fan I find it appalling. This is the true financial doping of the sport that started the th PL and CL inception. Now the so called elite clubs aren’t doing well on the pitch, they try to change the rules. I said that UEFA weren’t the good guys over the SL situation 💁‍♂️

@lufcgilly: It’s just one step towards ESL by another name. CL qualification biased in their favour, 5 subs biased in their favour…

@rhodrirowland: Even as a Liverpool fan I think that’s wrong!

@JnathanN: I love the idea that the FA cup winner gets a champions league spot, or the runner up if the winner is already in via the league. But this bullshit about historic performance can’t be allowed to go ahead – it’s the super league in a different format.

@AdzField: Can’t be allowed to happen. No better than the super league. If winning a cup gives you a CL place, that’s fine – but that has to be the same reward whether your Man Utd or Norwich, or Accrington Stanley for that matter!

@SmithersJones6: I’ve really lost interest in the Champions League. So engineered already. This will just make it worse.

@CFC_M20: Fans of clubs that used to compete (Everton Leeds Forest Arsenal etc) bang on about history. Now that having a good history in a competition means something, they don’t like it

Proposals mean that if Chelsea, Liverpool or Man City finish outside the top four this season BUT win the FA Cup they would qualify for the Champions League due to ‘5 year UEFA Coefficient’, but if Palace won it they wouldn’t. Even as a Brighton fan I think that’s appalling. https://t.co/qpMZYX117h

— Price Of Football (@KieranMaguire) April 4, 2022