Judging by the early responses to the Season Expectation Survey, I may be preaching to the choir here, but I’m going to state my case for hoping Aston Villa have a good craic at the Europa League this season regardless. (I apologise unreservedly for the atrocious pun. Read on if it’s not obvious.)

Not everyone holds the second tier European competition in such high regard though, I may have seen it referred to as the “Europa LDV Vans Cup” or suchlike more than once, so why do I care about it?

Here’s my top five reasons why the Europa League matters:-

1. Prize Money/Prestige

UEFA did a good job of not only revamping the competition format last season, but also recognised how badly it had fallen behind the Champions League in terms of prestige, never mind money.

Increasing the prize money probably helped, but I’ve a feeling that it’s seen by an expanded global TV audience now with improved marketing and interest has naturally followed suit. Fulham’s run to last May’s final in Germany definitely helped restore a little magic from the English perspective, but that vibe seems to have spread further afield too.

It would require a decent performance, or at least a deep run into the competition, naturally, but Villa are a side that could really benefit from being seen as a strong player in this tournament. The prize money on offer can be akin to the FA Cup, so, with the logistical burden considered, it could be argued that it’s not as valuable, but the global exposure that the Europa League is beginning to offer must surely trump the odd solitary “picked for TV” FA Cup tie beamed around the world should Villa be fortunate enough to be drawn against a side so small and obscure that it makes the broadcasting criteria for its curiosity value.

2. Format

I know a lot of fans wistfully recall the days of a pure and simple knock out competition, but that’s highly unlikely to happen again and I’m fine with that. The last time we were in a group stage, two seasons ago, it was under the old system involving groups of five teams, each team playing the other teams once, two opponents at home and the other two away.

Now we have a traditional four team group, just like the Champions League, just like the European Championships, just like the World Cup, just like almost all tournaments. Each team plays the others in the group twice, once at home and a reverse leg away, making six games in total each.

That gives us a guaranteed three European nights under the floodlights at Villa Park and at least one, more likely two, of the opponents will probably be pretty tough. A tasty prospect of some classic European nights.

And, of course, that also means three European trips away too. While I understand some of the complaints from the fans who travelled to Moscow and don’t want to dwell on that, they were given the opportunity to watch the Villa in Russia, not Scunthorpe. No offense to Scunthorpe, natch.

3. Experience

We already know that MON intends to use the Europa League to give some of the youngsters and periphery players some playing time, the factor of valuable experience should go without mentioning.

I don’t believe that MON intends to field teams entirely composed of youngsters, hopefully just blend some of the reserve lads into the first team. That also means that he’ll have to consider giving some of the first team regulars who do play in the UEL some extra rest in the domestic competitions, forcing some of that rotation so many fans crave. That’s my theory anyway.

The experience stretches beyond the pitch too. Although last season’s European adventures ended prematurely, this will be our third straight season competing against foreign teams and that doesn’t happen without organisation and planning from the staff behind the scenes. Don’t discount the usefulness of that experience if and when it needs to be translated to Champions League competition.

Obviously, as a club, Aston Villa is not without experience and pedigree in Europe, but we haven’t had European competition to contend with after February since the quarter final defeat by Atletico in 1998. The world changes, football included, at an amazing pace. A deep run in the Europa League could only be beneficial experience for everyone involved.

4. Silverware

It almost speaks for itself, doesn’t it? As great as it would have been to see Petrov lift the Carling Cup last season, for me at least, it couldn’t be quite as special as seeing an Aston Villa side conquer Europe, albeit on the second tier.

It ties in with the first point about prestige, but it’s also clearly a tougher competition both logistically and in terms of the opponents, some of which have played Champions League in the past, will again in the future and, in some cases, will have been playing in it this season until dropping through the trapdoor into the Europa League.

Since I mentioned that trapdoor, it isn’t something that I’m huge fan of, at least not after the group stage, but I think we have to understand why it’s there and accept it. Perhaps with teeth gritted in any case.

5. The 2011 Final will be held in Dublin

Do I really need to elaborate? (Hence the terrible pun in the opening paragraph)

Didn’t think so!

That’s why it matters to me, I hope it does for you too. If you’ve already taken the time to let me know what you think in the Season Expectation Survey, thank you very much, if not, your opinion and time would be very much appreciated.

Dedicated Europa League Section

I felt the same way last season and went to the trouble of creating a dedicated Europa League page, only for to see us fall at the first hurdle and took it down, quick, before anyone noticed. I’m confident that they won’t make the same mistake twice so I’ve updated it, jazzed it up a little and brought it back. It contains fixtures and key dates right through to the final and will be updated with scores, standings and links to match reports. There’s a link in the tabbed menu bar and in the sidebar too.

Just in case you are not aware, both the Champions and Europa Leagues are already underway – currently half way through the second round of qualifying – and as you’ll see on the Europa League page, it won’t be long until we’re involved, so I’ll be following this post up with a brief overview of the format and key points of the calendar soon.