Tuesday 29 September 2015 16:45, UK
Gary Neville believes the importance of the Premier League means the Europa League has never taken off in England.
Premier League sides have struggled to make an impact in European competitions in recent years and last season no club reached the quarter-final of the Champions League or Europa League.
This has weakened England's coefficient ranking and means and a repeat performance this season could see the Premier League lose its fourth Champions League for the 2017/18 campaign.
Neville, speaking on Monday Night Football, thinks it is difficult for the likes of Tottenham and Liverpool to win the Europa League because of the standing placed on England's top flight by clubs and fans alike.
In England it has never caught on. It has never established itself, and I don't think it ever will because the Premier League is so important.
"For some reason the Europa League has never established itself," Neville said on MNF.
"And the reason is because you see a load of absolutely garbage matches, on a night where nobody is really interested in football.
"In England it has never caught on. It has never established itself, and I don't think it ever will because the Premier League is so important."
Liverpool and Tottenham are the Premier League's representatives in the Europa League this season following the early exits of West Ham and Southampton.
Spurs started their campaign with a 3-1 win over Qarabag, while an under strength Liverpool drew 1-1 in Bordeaux.
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher does not understand why teams do not place more emphasis on winning the competition.
He told MNF: "[The Europa League] is disrespected. But there are only two teams each year who can say they've been successful in Europe; the Champions League winners and the Europa League winners.
"This thing where teams throw the competition away, or play weakened teams, I just don't understand it."
A repeat of last season's performances in Europe from English and Italian clubs would see the Premier League lose its fourth Champions League spot to Serie A for the 2017/18 season.
Manchester United and Arsenal suffered opening defeats against PSV and Dinamo Zagreb respectively, while Manchester City lost at home to last season's runners-up Juventus.
And Carragher, who won the Champions League with Liverpool in 2005, thinks Premier League clubs should be doing better in European competitions with the money invested into the game in England.
"If we continue the way we're going, it's going to happen," Carragher added.
"We've had it so good for so long with four teams. We've always been there, always had someone going so close to winning it. When we were playing two or three of the teams would always be in the semi-finals.
"Those days are gone at the moment, and you would think with the money coming into the league, we should be dominating that competition and the Europa League," he added.
"What we're producing in the first round of the Champions League, and what we look at coming up in the next round, you're thinking we almost have to win, otherwise sides are under massive pressure to even get out of the group.
"I know the Premier League is maybe more physical and maybe takes more out of you, but with the money our teams have got, we should have better players than other countries to deal with the extra competitions."
