THE Champions League will be a more exciting place next season now the second group stage has been scrapped.

Football has finally won one battle in the war against clubs' greed with the abolishing of one of the most boring ideas in world football.

The European Cup used to be worth watching when it was a true cup competition when every round was a straight two-legged knockout.

When they replaced the straight knockout format with a group stage the competition started going downhill in terms of interest and thrills if not the quality of football.

Clubs enjoyed the extra wealth the league set-up brought them by virtue of having more games but the excitement generated by one team going through and the other going out - the very essence of any cup competition - was replaced by the drudgery of a string of meaningless games at the end of which the favourites almost always progressed to the next round.

If that wasn't bad enough they brought in a second group stage and yet more dull, tactical games often ending in the stalemate of a draw. Since when did a cup game ever end in a draw?

Every fan will welcome the u-turn of replacing the second group stage with a straight knockout. It has not gone down well with the top clubs who are complaining about losing revenue from having fewer games which is ironic as these are the same clubs who are forever moaning that they have to play too many games in a season.