ECA meeting

[simplythebest 0]

 

 

 

CHIEF Executive Charles Green and Head of Administration Andrew Dickson rubbed shoulders with some of the worldâ??s top clubs today at the European Club Association conference in Qatar.

 

A total of 153 clubs were represented at the fifth annual conference in Doha chaired by the legendary Bayern Munich and German figure Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

 

A number of key points were discussed but the most interesting was the massive support in the room for the current structure of European football.

 

Flying in the face of proposals by UEFA president Michel Platini who wants to amalgamate the Champions League and the Europa League, the top clubs backed the current set-up.

 

A staggering 92 per cent said they want the two competitions to remain in tandem and there was also a 75 per cent backing to the structure of the two competitions.

 

However, there were 61 per cent in favour of the Europa League winners gaining direct access to the following seasonâ??s Champions League group phase.

 

Of course, right now it is a major ambition of Rangers to get back to European football in a few yearsâ?? time rather than an impending prospect.

 

However, it was very useful for Green and Dickson to network with the most powerful clubs in Europe.

 

The club was granted associate membership of the ECA in December despite the Third Division status as Rangers were founder members.

 

Other main topics on the agenda were the Financial Fair Play rules imposed by UEFA which will kick in next season in terms of clubs being run fiscally prudently and the problem of Third Party Ownership of playersâ?? rights.

 

Tomorrow there will be workshops with non-European clubs â?? like Corinthians and Santos from Brazil and Boca Juniors from Argentina â?? who have been invited to the conference for the first time to share ideas.

 

http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/3305-rfc-at-doha-meeting

 

Look, they don't have us down as Sevco. Rangers supporting ECA bastards!

 

 

 

 

RANGERS will rub shoulders with Europeâ??s elite clubs for the next two days in Qatar at the annual conference of the European Clubs Association.

 

Chief Executive Charles Green and Head of Administration Andrew Dickson will attend the event in Doha.

 

Rangers were granted associate membership of the ECA last December despite the clubâ??s current status given their previous involvement.

 

Indeed former chairman John McClelland was a leading light in the ECA in recent years.

 

Green told the official web site: â??We are delighted to be attending the ECA conference and I feel it is important that the club is involved.

 

â??We were very pleased last December when the ECA board decided that as Rangers were founder members they should be an associate member despite the clubâ??s current Third Division status.

 

â??There will be discussions on the changing shape of European football and the impact of media and TV so itâ??s vital that we continue to be involved while we try to return to the top of Scottish football on merit.

 

â??In turn I think there is a lot of interest from other clubs on what has happened at Rangers so we can relate what has gone in that regard.â?

 

The Chief Executive has made the short journey from Dubai where he met supporters yesterday.

 

He said: â??We had a very worthwhile meeting with the fans in Dubai where we discussed a number of topics â?? including stadium naming rights â?? and we had a Q & A session too.

 

â??The fans in Dubai are very passionate and as some will know they donated £20,000 to the Fighting Fund last year which indicates their supportiveness.â?

 

http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/3298-mixing-with-the-elite

[aweebluesoandso 290]

Hope those Arabs have been more hospitable than their Scottish Arab cousins.

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