Re: Champion's League Draw (Beasley, Nguyen, Rossi, Feilhaber, Jamil Fearrington) You can't exclude Norway and Denmark, even if their bottom table teams are low-medium quality Colaship squads at best (and maybe even League One). There's still Brondby, FCK, Rosenborg, Valerenga, Brann, etc. and they probably in the top 100s (i.e., 120'ish or so) of the Euro teams overall. Now, what you do with Estonia and Latvia is up to you.
Re: Champion's League Draw (Beasley, Nguyen, Rossi, Feilhaber, Jamil Fearrington) Well they're not excluded, they just don't get specific teams, just general ones. IE, all results by any Danish team in the Champions League are treated as if it's the same team. I _have_ to exclude some countries and any more than 16 would stretch me. If I thought either were one of the best 16 leagues, I'd include them. As it is Bulgaria and Switzerland have had better recent luck in Europe than either of those countries have had and they're not in either. As for those squads being in the top 100 in Europe, I would say it's doubtful. The proxy ratings seem to suggest all but the best of the Swiss 1st, Bulgarian 1st and Spanish 2nd division would finish out of the top 100 for leagues not included in the 16. Furthermore, 15 leagues sent two teams to the Champions League this year, all 15 of those leagues are represented. The 16th is Romania whose recent results in Europe simply demand their inclusion. I don't see how I could include those countries and stay under 16 teams.
Re: Champion's League Draw (Beasley, Nguyen, Rossi, Feilhaber, Jamil Fearrington) If this is the case, then Scotland should be excluded for sure, since their mid and bottom table teams are surely of poorer quality than the bottom teams in both the Danish and Norwegian league. Proof ?.. Just look at the Scottish EC results the past many years. This season Hibernian was quite easily eliminated by OB Odense (Den) in the UEFA intertoto qualifier for the UEFA cup, while Derry City (Irl) had no trouble eliminating Gretna FC in the UEFA cup 2nd Qualifying Round. Last season even Celtic got eliminated in the 2nd Qualifying Round of the CL by unknown FC Petrzalka from Slovakia, while Dundee United got eliminated in the UEFA cup 2nd Qualifying Round by MyPa-47 from Finland. If we go even one more season further back, then it was the Scottish participant Dunfermline getting eliminated by FH Hafnarfjordur from Iceland, also in the UEFA cup 2nd Qualifying Round where the Scottish teams enter the tournament. .
Re: Champion's League Draw (Beasley, Nguyen, Rossi, Feilhaber, Jamil Fearrington) Christ almighty, celtic got knocked out by artmedia bratislava who then beat porto to a uefa cup spot. Gretna are in the scottish FIRST DIVISION, etc etc on and on. But last season rangers were in the last 16 of the champions league and 2 seasons before that celtic were in the uefa cup final. Take the good with the bad.
Re: Champion's League Draw (Beasley, Nguyen, Rossi, Feilhaber, Jamil Fearrington) Perhaps, but I was not trying to debate how well Celtic and Rangers do for Scotland.. or Brøndby, FC København and Rosenborg are doing for Denmark and Norway for that matter. It was about the general quality of the mid and bottom table teams. Hibernian finished 4 in the Scottish PL last season, but was not all that much of a threat to a very amputated Odense team without a single real forward available in their squad, while Dundee United and Dunfermline got eliminated by part-time professionals from Finland and Iceland. Proving that the average Scottish league team is hardly better or even as good as the mid and bottom table teams in e.g. the Norwegian and Danish league, if you look at the Europa cup results the past few seasons. Atleast average Norwegian and Danish team usually progress a few rounds, while the average Scottish team usually seem to get eliminated straight away. .