Agree about the CL but that's the world we find ourselves in these days.
It's all about the money. The CL generates the most money and top 4 gets you in
(well, not always. Spurs )

I agree it shouldn't, it should be for champions - there's a clue in the name - but there you go.
Both domestic cups have been massively devalued these days, which doesn't mean I wouldn't be happy if we won one of them.

Graham was working in an era when there wasn't such a big gap between the teams at the top and the middle of Division 1, as was, and in an era where the cups were far more highly valued and if you weren't going to finish at the top then it didn't matter so much where you finished.