Is a top-four finish more important than winning domestic trophies in the modern game?

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There is a myth in English football that winning a trophy is far more important than qualifying for the Champions League.

Depositing a trinket in the trophy room and a day out at Wembley is what English football should be about, right? Fans and players in the media of a certain age certainly believe this to be the case, but they might be wrong, very wrong.

Football has changed, and players want money and success yesterday. Few are willing to put hard graft in and patiently perform at high level while a club builds a team capable of meeting their own lofty expectations. Short cuts to success are always open for footballers who can make a difference.

Players want to be involved in the Champions League, and will do anything to get there. Only for so long will a cup win keep a player interested in playing for a side out with Europe’s premier competition.

Players and their agents will always squeeze as much cash out of a club that they can, but once that is achieved, the demand of needing to play in the Champions League is triggered. A player/agent exit strategy that holds clubs to ransom. Keep an unhappy player on a lucrative deal or sell for a healthy profit before his contract runs down is the dilemma that managers and owners eventually find themselves in.

Agents want their players to play for Champions League clubs as they know how lucrative the competition can be for a club. A club that is in the Champions League has more money, and therefore has less risk when awarding contracts on silly money. If there is less risk financially, it is easier to justify awarding ridiculous contracts out to the very best players. Keeping them and, in-tandem, the supporters onside makes life easier for owners and boards.

Only one team can win the title, but finishing in the three places below is paramount to holding on to your best players. The hypocrisy of former players and supporters now comes to the fore. A team finishing outside the top four with, or without, a cup is used as a pretty big stick to beat the manager with. Fans fear the best players will leave for the reasons given above. Finishing in the top four is met with a sigh of relief from within the boardroom and in the stands.

A relaxed summer, knowing that players will want to stay, and, more importantly, your club is now more attractive to the top talent playing elsewhere. This is why people may be wrong with perception that silverware trumps a top four place.

Celebrating a top four place may not be the cool thing to do, but neither is celebrating the much maligned league or FA Cups. Winning a trophy gives a short term bounce, but qualifying for the Champions League allows for a longer term strategy, enables the chance to build a quality squad quicker, and returns/maintains your club’s elite status.

Players wont stay on the basis of a club being competitive in domestic cup competitions alone. Qualifying for the Champions League is not the same as an open top bus ride round your city with a shiny pot, but it is far more essential for sustained progression and, if met with quiet satisfaction in public, there is no need to be embarrassed about it.