My Man United friends are fuming. They have even said they will start supporting Dartford. Somehow I cant see it. They will either carry on 'supporting' Man United or they'll start supporting Leicester
Or any club outside a 100 mile radius from which they live?
They sound like the type of supporter that after a bit of bluster will be lapping this superleague up
Yep. Bang on. The messages this morning have made me giggle. For years they have been boasting about how they are the richest club etc etc. Every year they are excited to see sancho, haaland etc in a Man Utd kit.
This morning they are saying 'the premier league need to have a better fit and proper test when it comes to our owners, allowing billionaires to run our club' diddums.
We had a bald egg head spending hundreds on a haircut ffs .
None of these owners give a solitary shit about the fans, guaranteed these fixtures will be played out around the globe in the Middle East, China, the US
This will undoubtedly go ahead and the football authorities won’t have the gumption to do anything other than work with the breakaway clubs. It’s been coming for years. The PL was formed and stuck two fingers up to the FA. The FA could do nothing about it. Now the ante has been upped and its UEFA getting the v sign. Enough revenue will flood in from the Far East which is the target for this league. Sky and it’s competition will go along with whatever happens as long as it’s making money. I’m willing to bet that the hordes of armchair fans will support this in enough numbers to make it work. The PL will go ahead in tandem but be devalued and for the Super League clubs will be the secondary competition. Once winning the domestic league is secondary, football as we know it is finished. I have enough problems with the Premier League let alone countenancing this bollox.
We should start getting used to the idea that West Ham are the biggest team in London, Everton are the top team in Liverpool and Rochdale are the best team in Manchester
London has other PL clubs, and Liverpool still has Everton, but there's a chasm between United and City and the other Greater Manchester clubs. The likes of Bolton and Wigan could benefit from this, as ex PL clubs with decent sized stadiums and facilities
If it goes through, it won't be the end of football. We may have something left that is better. What we don't need is clubs like Leicester and Everton trying to screw the other clubs and instead we need them to buy into a competitive league. If we can get back to a sustainable league system where a well run club can be successful and every fan has hope of their club winning something big, like Forest did decades ago, it surely is gong to make it a better product.
The hardest part will be the initial stages where clubs geared up to certain incomes will have to manage their expenditure downwards. Ultimately, it could see the end of all what we see as being wrong with the game after the initial pain. There could be a structure like they have in Germany. But the proper fans of these six clubs will not be happy. For many of them it will be like their club is dying. This is a move where they will suffer more than we do.
I think it will go ahead for one reason. The upfront money will make it a no lose venture for the owners. If I owned Arsenal and only cared about money, I could sell the club to a Saudi Prince and pocket a billion for myself. Sod the tradition, the fans and the game, they ( a small number) will be quids in.
According to source, some of those involved in ESL call traditional supporters of clubs “legacy fans” while they are focused instead on the “fans of the future” who want superstar names
And without in any way attacking or suggesting that he is doing something wrong look at my thoughts on the Sandgaard/Bromley Addicks meeting where I comment on international fans and sponsorship.
Every club would be daft not to want to extend their fanbase. It is when they seek to do it at the expense of the core fans. Whilst no proper football fan will be feeling good, I expect those feeling worst about this will be the proper fans of the six clubs involved. The ones where there is a family history of supporting the club.
The ones looking forwards to World Cups and Euros where they can support their country too.
I just had a flick through the Spanish press. It's a slightly different football world here, most supporters of smaller clubs also have a Real Madrid/Barcelona preference. The major sports newspaper Marca had an online survey, but critically failed to ask if voters were in favour or against the new set up, merely whether it would work, and whether PSG or Bayern would eventually sign up. Generally it isn't being well looked on, but there is a lack of the anger the English fans are showing. Most sickening I guess would be the new president and current Real Madrid president Florentino Perez who is quoted over and over again that this is being done to help football. No one seems to have yet collared him to ask if maybe just a teensy weensie bit of the planning for this was to further load these clubs with more cash and influence. F**k it, I've thought it through. Instant 20 point deduction for all the clubs involved plus a painfull fine, instant expulsion from all UEAF/FIFA competitions the moment we see contracts signed and these clubs going ahead, and anyone playing for these clubs to be banned from international UEFA/FIFA competitions. England, Spain and Italy can form their own world cup too, played in places that will pay the earth to hold it, like Saudi Arabia. It'll hurt the game, but these twats are holding it to ransom, while claiming to be helping. get rid of them.
If it goes through, it won't be the end of football. We may have something left that is better. What we don't need is clubs like Leicester and Everton trying to screw the other clubs and instead we need them to buy into a competitive league. If we can get back to a sustainable league system where a well run club can be successful and every fan has hope of their club winning something big, like Forest did decades ago, it surely is gong to make it a better product.
The hardest part will be the initial stages where clubs geared up to certain incomes will have to manage their expenditure downwards. Ultimately, it could see the end of all what we see as being wrong with the game after the initial pain. There could be a structure like they have in Germany. But the proper fans of these six clubs will not be happy. For many of them it will be like their club is dying. This is a move where they will suffer more than we do.
I think it will go ahead for one reason. The upfront money will make it a no lose venture for the owners. If I owned Arsenal and only cared about money, I could sell the club to a Saudi Prince and pocket a billion for myself. Sod the tradition, the fans and the game, they ( a small number) will be quids in.
But it won’t be big, it’llbe some half arsed cup without the major players, it’ll mean sod all ...
jordan reckons it won’t happen , so does Wenger.
Our only hope is that this is significant poker face to get a bigger chunk of the euro purse, pushed forward by a global pandemic.
Make no bones about it, if this goes through it is a catastrophe
Robert Elms (QPR fan) made a very good point on Radio London.
Fans of Chelsea and Arsenal should be worried about this because they are no longer important and London is no longer important. They are franchises that can be based in Dubai or Florida or Kuala Lumpar or anywhere.
Yes, let them sod off but it will hurt all the other clubs in the short term and when the Sky TV money drops drastically, perhaps long term too.
And we won't know how committed owners of clubs, who bought them thinking they could sit at the same table as the "big six", will be once that has prize has disappeared or how realistic those business plan are now.
Just look at League One. New owners at Wigan, Sunderland, Ipswich and yes, Charlton. Not saying any of them will pull out but it's not the same pyramid nor are there the same potential financial returns that they anticipated if they could bring on the field success.
Yes, English football needs a reset but like breaking you leg, that reset hurts and takes a long to recover from.
If it goes through, it won't be the end of football. We may have something left that is better. What we don't need is clubs like Leicester and Everton trying to screw the other clubs and instead we need them to buy into a competitive league. If we can get back to a sustainable league system where a well run club can be successful and every fan has hope of their club winning something big, like Forest did decades ago, it surely is gong to make it a better product.
The hardest part will be the initial stages where clubs geared up to certain incomes will have to manage their expenditure downwards. Ultimately, it could see the end of all what we see as being wrong with the game after the initial pain. There could be a structure like they have in Germany. But the proper fans of these six clubs will not be happy. For many of them it will be like their club is dying. This is a move where they will suffer more than we do.
I think it will go ahead for one reason. The upfront money will make it a no lose venture for the owners. If I owned Arsenal and only cared about money, I could sell the club to a Saudi Prince and pocket a billion for myself. Sod the tradition, the fans and the game, they ( a small number) will be quids in.
I like your post, @MuttleyCAFC , but it does tend towards the idealistic. I'd actually love to see tottenham go bust. Levy is a shitweasel anyway, and their inclusion smacks of a little kid allying with the school bullies so he doesnt get picked on himself. Eventually the bullies will turn, and the little kid will be friendless. Similar is true of Arsenal, who are a just as much of a spent force.
If the rest of football had any balls, which it doesnt, they'd chuck them all out. I'd also say to the players of the prospective ESL that you can play in whatever league your employer establishes because you are contracted, but if you extend your contract past its expiry, then you are banned from playing in the EPL or EFL. No need to ban them from playing for their country - leave it unspoken, and just never pick them.
Could eventually be a great opportunity for the EFL and EPL to market themselves with a properly separate identity, drawing upon the traditions and history of the game. Real Football. Real Clubs. Real Supporters.A huge market of disaffected big 5 plus tottenham supporters to be tapped.
But of course, football doesnt have the balls, and this will end in a fudge with the slow creep of big six cementing their economic power incrementally, pulling up the drawbridge as they have been since 1992.
The revolution is most people will lose interest in football. I am not remotely interested in European competition and never watch it or look out for the results.
These teams might as well fuck of to Asia and China now. That is where they think their fan base is now in all honesty. I doubt they care in their fans here either.
The football league was a superb competition. This one is not even a competition. As for Arsenal, they are not even in the top six.
Why so many English clubs in it anyway ?
4 Champions League spots open for the so called Big 6. Leicester now consistently take one of those. So 3 of the Big 6 miss out on CL every season. That’s why the 6 English clubs presumably want this super league. Guaranteed money and playing against the top sides.
If the intention is MidWeek Super League, Weekend Prem, the next thing would be that we need to reduce the size of the Premier League because there cant be any midweek games. Let them fuck off and play there stupid league with its own special anthem, sponsored by Gasprom, Mercedes etc.
Does the Premier have a rule that clubs have to take up European places if they qualify? If so, kick out the clubs that go for this, and tell them there's a space reserved for them 5 or 6 divisions below the EFL as & when they decide to come back. Might focus their minds a bit.
I've been assuming that this is all about forcing UEFA to turn the CL into an actual league. And if so I suspect it will succeed. If they've gone public, the clubs involved have presumably got their tactics worked out pretty thoroughly so it's unlikely to collapse in a heap immediately.
Yes, they can have a World Cup like American football has!
I mean, the professional American Football league is *literally* called the 'National' Football League (as in 'National' to the US), and their annual trophy is called the 'Super' bowl, not the 'World cup'. But - y'know, you do you.
If the Champions League continues and "lesser teams" win it, in the way that the likes of Forest, PSV, Red Star Belgrade and Celtic won the old European Cup, it might actually create a more interesting competition, rather than the closed shop of a Super League which could easily become monotonous
Imagine a team like Leicester or Villa reaching the CL final, that would be far more of a story than Man U being in another Super League final.
Unfortunately I think you are wrong. The old Division Two is now branded “ The Championship “ and the winners are called football league champions. It is often very competitive with different teams having a chance of winning it or getting promoted. However the media interest in it is minute compared to the Premier League . This new competition is not aimed at football fans who actually go to games but at the millions, indeed billions of armchair “ fans “ not only in Europe and especially in Asia.
I have met, and I’m sure you have, lots of people who claim that they are big fans of American Football. Most of them have never been to America, let alone gone to an actual game. They sit at home watching the telly or the computer soaking up all that lovely advertising, which is where the money is. Whenever Liverpool win something people often joke that there will be dancing in the streets of Torquay. The “ fans” in Japan, Malaya and China ( and plenty in Torquay and Basingstoke ) will love this new competition .
When I was young the FA cup was as big a competition as the then First Division. Indeed for most clubs, their record crowds were for for cup games. Thanks to the money in the Premier League and the Champions League it has been reduced to a sideshow. I believe that purely national competitions in this, and other countries, will be going the same way. A “ Champions League “ final without the biggest clubs in the world won’t have the interest you predict.
Yes, they can have a World Cup like American football has!
I mean, the professional American Football league is *literally* called the 'National' Football League (as in 'National' to the US, and their annual trophy is called the 'Super' bowl, not the 'World cup'. But - y'know, you do you.
Comments
This morning they are saying 'the premier league need to have a better fit and proper test when it comes to our owners, allowing billionaires to run our club' diddums.
We had a bald egg head spending hundreds on a haircut ffs .
It’s the first domino ... instantly the Premier leagues 14 other teams are considerably poorer.
so gutted
?
What the eff is that supposed to mean?
Greenhithe above describes them perfectly it seems to me.
When true fans sing ‘by far the greatest team the world has ever seen’, what effing world?
It will like be a competition between Bluewater, Lakeside, Westfield and the effing Arndale Centre.
The hardest part will be the initial stages where clubs geared up to certain incomes will have to manage their expenditure downwards. Ultimately, it could see the end of all what we see as being wrong with the game after the initial pain. There could be a structure like they have in Germany. But the proper fans of these six clubs will not be happy. For many of them it will be like their club is dying. This is a move where they will suffer more than we do.
I think it will go ahead for one reason. The upfront money will make it a no lose venture for the owners. If I owned Arsenal and only cared about money, I could sell the club to a Saudi Prince and pocket a billion for myself. Sod the tradition, the fans and the game, they ( a small number) will be quids in.
The ones looking forwards to World Cups and Euros where they can support their country too.
Most sickening I guess would be the new president and current Real Madrid president Florentino Perez who is quoted over and over again that this is being done to help football. No one seems to have yet collared him to ask if maybe just a teensy weensie bit of the planning for this was to further load these clubs with more cash and influence.
F**k it, I've thought it through. Instant 20 point deduction for all the clubs involved plus a painfull fine, instant expulsion from all UEAF/FIFA competitions the moment we see contracts signed and these clubs going ahead, and anyone playing for these clubs to be banned from international UEFA/FIFA competitions. England, Spain and Italy can form their own world cup too, played in places that will pay the earth to hold it, like Saudi Arabia. It'll hurt the game, but these twats are holding it to ransom, while claiming to be helping. get rid of them.
jordan reckons it won’t happen , so does Wenger.
Fans of Chelsea and Arsenal should be worried about this because they are no longer important and London is no longer important. They are franchises that can be based in Dubai or Florida or Kuala Lumpar or anywhere.
Yes, let them sod off but it will hurt all the other clubs in the short term and when the Sky TV money drops drastically, perhaps long term too.
And we won't know how committed owners of clubs, who bought them thinking they could sit at the same table as the "big six", will be once that has prize has disappeared or how realistic those business plan are now.
Just look at League One. New owners at Wigan, Sunderland, Ipswich and yes, Charlton. Not saying any of them will pull out but it's not the same pyramid nor are there the same potential financial returns that they anticipated if they could bring on the field success.
Yes, English football needs a reset but like breaking you leg, that reset hurts and takes a long to recover from.
Bit like how the 2 Spanish giants get the lion's share of the domestic tv revenue.
Spurs will sack Mourinho next and appoint Chris Powell.
I've been assuming that this is all about forcing UEFA to turn the CL into an actual league. And if so I suspect it will succeed. If they've gone public, the clubs involved have presumably got their tactics worked out pretty thoroughly so it's unlikely to collapse in a heap immediately.