Also there's no real reason for Bayern or PSG to want in. They happily exist in entirely non-competitive environments [carefully curated over decades in Bayern's case] and have essentially no concerns about ever not qualifying for whatever the premier European competition is every season, they have no real need of money either.
Fuck that bollocks, it's got Spurs in it. Already makes it a mockery regardless of who else is joining. That and the fact there is not an equal amount from each country is irrationally annoying me.Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
If PSG want to win the Champions League that bad then I can see why they'd turn it down.
Aside from the obviously highly emotive reactions from all and sundry, it'll be interesting to see the proposed nuts and bolts of this, and if there is THAT much more money that the beneficent overlords can perhaps dole out to the domestic vassal leagues, whether the reaction will be the same when it turns out the whole idea is to gyp the smaller UEFA nations of their share of the pot.
It's odd that you wouldn't have this sort of thing all worked out before leaking it to the world.
If the top teams really do drive all the revenue in football, and commit to putting a chunk of it back into their domestic leagues to make them better off (arf) and the only losers are UEFA/the pissant nations I can see a lot of the outrage falling away. The Champions League already is a closed shop, the new proposals for it make it even more of one. Atalanta are never going to win it. If they can get bunged however many million a year in perpetuity against a once in every X decades chance of earning a fraction more by being part of it (but not winning it) are they really going to be that bothered?
It's an outrage against principle, but of very little practical difference.
Those bungs always dry up though, and unlike (say) county cricket where they all voted themselves into a doom spiral for a cash injection now, I don't think the rest of football is particularly reliant on the big clubs, necessarily, especially not in a world where the pecking order has been blown up with 10 tonnes of dynamite and you don't need to pay people 100,000 a week to compete with the (now absent) big boys.
Is this the consequence of allowing foreign ownership of English Premier League clubs?
Yes it is.
Close thread.
Actually...Levy isn't a forrin.
Re-open thread.
Sky are making Monday Night Football free to air tonight. Should be box office.
Not just that. How the hell are the clubs going to fund this? Going from a 34-38 game league season (plus cup games and European games - So 50+) to a 23 game season. They've only lost £100m in revenue from Covid and the majority of that is gate receipts and matchday experience bollocks. How is halving your home gate going to balance that out?
It's a bizarre move.
Aye, but this is the type of beyond the length of your nose thinking that hasn't existed in the administration of sport for about 3 decades.
It's intended to run alongside (some form of) domestic competitions.
That only works out if they all join La Liga.
It's the consequence of football being a business, which it's been for decades now, as much as people might try and ignore that fact.
Thank fuck for that. Now we've got the fans involved it's problem solved.The government has launched a "fan-led review" of football
http://news.sky.com/story/breakaway-...-says-12280398
Now we're talking.
What can the government do that wouldn't fall foul of interference in football that FIFA likes to pretend isn't allowed, or just a general ballsing up of private business affairs with possible wider ramifications?
PSG winning by default. They'll take that.
They absolutely have to be. By all means consult the lawyers, but it's the only course of action to take.
Not that it'll make much difference, it's game over for UEFA.
City.
...and then they declare they're joining the Super League the day after the Champions League final. Lols.PSG winning by default. They'll take that.
I hope they don't give the trophy back.
I hope they don't give the trophy back.
Once suggestion I’ve seen floated about is that the government could take actions against the players. Not issuing visas for foreign players and staff, revoking licenses for academies and things of that nature. Sounds like it would be dragged through the courts for eternity though.
I was thinking more like when TNA stuck a sticker over the the GFW belt.
See the tits on the blonde fella.
They'll do a Jeff Jarrett and have their World Cup guaranteed before dropping it to whoever in the UEFA Super Cup.
WCW gimmicked 'AND IT'S LIVE!' as well. All coming together this.
Not issuing visas because you don't like what some football teams did has got to be seriously dodgy legal ground surely?
Probably not. Revoking work permits and the like is probably all the easier in BREXIT BRITAIN.
lol at the tone of this coverage. It's like a dry run for when Alex Ferguson dies.
"This game's going into a extra time but we don't have any left. GOODNIGHT FO.."WCW gimmicked 'AND IT'S LIVE!' as well. All coming together this.
Looking forward to Paul Heyman replacing a Leukaemia sufferer and walking Harry Maguire onto the pitch.
What is Steve Parish hiding behind those weirdly-placed shirts?
Purely by taking a side they put more pressure on the rebels, they don't have to do anything concrete. However, if needed they could probably rule that all professional football in the UK must be sanctioned by the FA, or similar.
My reading of this is that the rebels don't have anywhere near as strong a hand as they think they do. The impending absurdity of the whole venture will whittle its value right down.
It's got to be but I'm not a lawyer (I'm...). One way around it could be to say these six clubs no longer have the right to apply for permits or visas, rather than outright rejecting the individual.
Got to say I've thoroughly enjoyed the seethe on offer on Sky Sports over the last hour. Wouldn't suprise me if this was just one massive work to get people interested in, and talking about, the PRODUCT again. This is the busiest football thread we've had in ages.
It's by far the biggest story in football since the PL breakaway. Maybe longer.
I've tried to think of things that would interest me in this new setup, and I can only think of seeing how Spurs/Arsenal react when they realise they've signed themselves up to be a sort of nu-West Brom, one that won't go down no matter how many times you flush, while simultaneously making the traditional scrap for 4th in the domestic league entirely pointless.
Even if the whole thing is designed around being able to say you have Barcelona's phone number and that they come round to visit loads, it's hardly going to convert into a legion of overseas fans when you are a total irrelevance in almost everything you do.
Last edited by Cord; 19-04-2021 at 07:46 PM.
Devote your time to lower League football. This is the break most people have been waiting for.
How do, let’s say, Spurs look if Kane and Son get 6 month injuries, they prioritise the Super League games, and their second string fall in the Premier League, resulting in relegation?
Not so super if you’re playing in the second tier.
Anyway, I would say hopefully them and the five others don’t even get a shot at relegation and they’re booted out of the league... but that’s not really fair to fans. Is there any satisfactory ending to this? It seems not. An exciting one, maybe, but not a nice one.
It's as if Arsenal have completely forgotten the last however many years of their Champions League participation, but instead of having Bayern Munich ruin your season in February every year, someone gets to do it every other week..
Why is that?
If this broke the global cultural hegemony of the biggest clubs it would be a nice top, although that's hard to imagine. But you can kind of imagine a lot of 'legacy fans' (ffs) turning back toward their local clubs if this became entrenched.
What I don't understand is why they've chosen this moment to announce it. UEFA have so much leverage right now, both to ban the clubs from the ongoing CL semifinals and also to ban the players from the Euros in three month's time. Why not wait a little?
I'm also wondering if the three 'yet-to-be-announced' clubs are starting to reconsider.
If it was a bargaining play, they would've announced it with much, much more support. They'd have the league filled and it wouldn't have been stacked with six English clubs.
Let's set it out like a battlefield. On Team USA we have:
- The 12 club names
- The 12 club crests
- The 12 stadia
- Existing contracts between the 12 clubs and their players / sponsors
- An apparent barrel of private equity money as well as that they generate themselves
- Determination and greed
Meanwhile Team Football have this:
- All other football clubs, crests and stadia, including numerous big hitters
- All established football competitions - local, national, international
- UEFA
- FIFA
- The Champions League, the Premier League, the Euros, the World Cup, the pull of international football and the vast amount of money generated by international tournaments
- The weight of proven history
- Governmental backing in all relevant countries
- All other footballers and their contracts
- A not inconsiderable amount of their own cash
- Media opinion
- Public opinion
I think once reality sets in and their bluff gets called, Team USA are basically left with the contents of a Panini sticker album and an oil tanker full of cash. If you think the cash alone can defeat the massed forces of Team Football, I think you're being a little bit too cynical. I'm really not sure it can. The biggest obstacle they will have to overcome is the constant barrage of negative PR shelling. Will big sponsors want to associate themselves with it if the media and public opinion are dead and lost? Will the private equity cash start to dry up once they see how the land really lies?
I think there are two possibilities as to how the 12 owners are approaching this:
1) They know that PR will be awful, but think they can win it back over time with a combination of money and product
2) They know that PR will be awful, but they don't care, because they think they can make more money from eyeballs in Indonesia/wherever even if all established football supporters hate it
Have FIFA spoken about it?
You'd think if they pulled the same threat that UEFA has but about the World Cup it would be dead in the water. I don't see any player choosing the Super League over the chance to play for their country in the World Cup.
I think it’s possibility #2.
If we’ve learned anything over the last twenty years it’s that the owners don’t give a single fuck about the average fan sitting in the stands. Look at the relentless abuse the Glazers or Stan Kroenke get. Water off a ducks back. You had the mong who bought Hull City a few years back and immediately wanted to rename the club to Hull City Tigers. Or the Cardiff owner who tried to change the club colours to red.
These may be small examples but it speaks to a wider problem that the people in the ivory towers are completely detached from the fan in the local community.
They don't care. They're banking on in 10-20 years nobody caring about your grandpa champions league shite, and the next generation of fan just wanting to see FIFA ultimate teams face off against each other.
Yes but not in terms as strong as UEFA. They are probably biding their time and seeing what happens, as Gianni wants his deeply corrupt fingers in the right pies so if the Super League looks like a winner he'll probably pair up with it and shaft UEFA. However, I don't think it will look like a winner.
I know but there is not caring about plebs in the stands, and there is causing yourself a massive long term negative image problem by being devious and brazen about your own greed.
Roman Abramovich spends half his Chelsea time doing community PR stuff because he knows the value of it. Abu Dhabi have built a whole town of community infrastructure around the stadium in Manchester. The Americans are different. Kroenke/Glazers/FSG will regret nothing, but I think the oligarch types will be feeling very awkward at the moment. They've chosen to jump, but it might well have been very hasty and ill thought through.
Last edited by Jimmy Floyd; 19-04-2021 at 08:59 PM.
I highly doubt they care. Like James said, they’ll have their All Star games every other week with billions of Asian eyeballs on them. They’ll be raking in the money hand over fist. They won’t give a shit about Big Dave and his mates putting up a few banners on the front gates.
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