ADRIAN DURHAM:-- United BELONG in the Champions League and if they finish fifth or sixth they should snub Europa Its for Losers

#askaroundnow
From where they are now, it will be a seriously impressive achievement if Manchester United finish in a top-four place.
If they don’t, then they could end up fifth or sixth. 
But there’s no way they should slum it in the Europa League. United are way too big a club to be involved with the minnows, so they should just refuse to enter.

Elite: Manchester United have earned the right to be in the Champions League, which they won in 1999

Game on: Teddy Sheringham celebrates after equalising in stoppage time against Bayern Munich

Fine margins: Chelsea's John Terry slipped in the 2008 Champions League final, allowing United to win on pens

 

Instead, they should follow through with the idea mooted last week –United should set up a series of friendlies against top European sides through the course of the campaign.
I would be surprised if these games didn’t attract bigger crowds than Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool get for proper Champions League ties next season. 
Back in the 1950s Wolves, English champions and pioneers of big European nights under the floodlights in this country, played to packed houses at Molineux and on live television across the nation when they hosted the likes of Real Madrid, Celtic and the Hungarian giants of the time, Honved.
These games were all friendlies, but they were all massive.
English clubs were denied the chance to play in the European Cup when it first started back then because the people running the game in this country assumed an air of superiority over the rest of the continent. 
United belong in Europe’s elite and it’s almost unfair that because of a change of manager, and a tricky transition, they will be denied Champions League football. It’s equally unfair that the Champions League will be without United, one of the biggest clubs in the world, and one of the biggest draws in Europe. 
They have been England’s most successful representatives in the competition for the past 10 years and we will miss their participation.
There will be plenty of United haters scoffing at this, but the truth is the Red Devils don’t belong in the Europa League. Neither do the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. 
The elite shouldn’t be forced to enter this meaningless competition. And that includes United.
So I hope United attract the cream of Europe to Old Trafford for friendlies, rather than take part in the Europa League.
It’s a tournament for losers. One difficult season doesn’t mean United are losers.

History boys: Sir Matt Busby (centre), Paddy Crerand (left) and George Best hold the European Cup

Come here, you: Cristiano Ronaldo (right) Carlos Tevez (left) and Sir Alex Ferguson celebrate in Moscow