European super league

In an ideal world, i'd hope a good deal of this could pan out.

But consider where money comes from to fund these clubs. It's not from fans. It's from followers around the world that will never ever see their team live. A few years back I went to Indonesia and was stunned at how many people followed the PL and how fanatically they did so.

Getting a job at a place with a TV was a prerequisite. Watching games in the small hours of the morning just hours before a shift would start. Some of these people didn't have access to water or electricity other than wells and rickety generators. Yet somehow, their countries broadcasters found millions of pounds to buy the rights to let these people watch if they could find a TV and much of that punt from the broadcasters will have been supported by advertising contracts. And that's just Indonesia.

A young lad at one of the hotels dubbed himself the Indonesian Aguero. He'd even heard of Barnsley.

But lets throw this all forward. JP Morgan look to be funding it. Who knows what funds have been clocking up behind the scenes to "invest" and I suspect a high number of sponsors are already lined up and provisionally on board. I wouldn't be surprised to see an Amazon or Google challenge for these TV rights and with the clickthrough advertising make the pricing point relatively cheap, but open access up to the world.

I also wouldn't be surprised to see matches taking place overseas. It was pushed by Levy especially, to have overseas games like the NFL. Particularly if kicked out of their own leagues, I can see this being a harlem globetrotters event. Playing in neutral venues that allow them or maybe even building new stadia if local FA's and clubs prevent access to existing grounds. I can't see Qatar denying them playing at their white elephants. Or if pledges for infrastructure funding were added to building a new multipurpose stadia in Bangkok and Jakarta.

Some existing fans may balk. But how easy is it for people to completely turn their back on a team they've supported all their life? I don't see an exodus from these clubs.

The issue the PL and EFL will have are future funding and the likelihood the next TV deal revenue will fall off a cliff. Thats fine if expenditure follow, but reshaping legally binding player contracts that may have 4 or 5 years to run isn't going to be easy and player and agent expectation are going to have to recalibrate.

As someone else said, I could see this being the point where football splits into two entities and maybe even evolve separately to eventually have different rules.

As much as we'd all like these greedy chancers to suffer, in the short term at least, the rest of the footballing pyramid is under the most stress. But if we can get through that, maybe, just maybe, football can be something just again that is all about a fair contest between 11 v 11.

 

When a can of worms is opened sometimes its a good thing.

 

Then again they might be lifting the lid on Pandora's box.

 

Sky just releasing an anonymous discussion with a board member of one of the 6 breakaway clubs and comments from some other PL clubs.

Board member of one of the 6 said they were prepared to quit EPL if they had to as the riches on offer were too great. That many of the US owners involved have never understood why relegation was still allowed.

PL clubs seem to want immediate sanctions to be applied this season and eager to vote on it.

 

Sky Sports viewers would much rather see a load of proper fans connected to proper teams like Tarn enjoying themselves getting involved, than the tourists and prawn sandwich brigade at the shiny big 6 grounds sitting quietly and nipping off for a 12 quid pasty 10 mins before half time.

Relegate and remove them from the football league.

 

I hope this is true in some respects and that the so called big 6 do just quit the EPL. Makes the league more competitive and I can imagine that the other clubs in the EPL will want some very tough sanctions on those teams. I just hope that the EPL, FIFA et al, grow a set and carry out their threats.

 

Imagine being a player in one of these teams at the minute.
Your contract which will already be massive allows you to play for your country.
If you stay on and accept the new terms which would stop you doing this, then basically you're a rebel.
No player would be viewed in their home country warmly.
It'll be interesting to see what players do about it.

 

Absolutely. I haven't seen any comments from any players from those clubs yet (or their managers), but you can be sure if one speaks out the floodgates will open.

 

In my totally unbiased opinion, these 'top six' clubs should be kicked out of the Premier League with immediate effect. The top six in the Championship should be automatically promoted to replace them. Then 7th, 8th, 9th & 10th in the Championship are put in the Play Offs. The winner of which will replace the already relegated Sheffield United.
As I say, totally unbiased.

 

It is going to be an absolute minefield if this goes ahead.

 

So the upshot of all this is, Bayern will win the CL for the foreseeable and Germany will play France in the Euro finals for a while.
NB.....I haven't actually checked how many of those two nations players will play for ESL clubs.

 

That would be the same PL who, when they broke away, effectively cut the body (EFL) from the head and kept broadcasting revenues for themselves and tossing a few scraps to the rest of the pyramid. EUFA who devised a Champions League that effectively ruled out Champions from smaller nations ever competing while admitting non-Champions from the larger nations. FIFA with its allocation of a World Cup to Qatar despite the evidence of the abuse foreign workers have experienced building the stadiums.

 

I will be very interested to see what Klopp says about it as he spoke out about the ESL a couple of years ago, and apparently he wasn’t aware of the plan from the Liverpool owners.

 

Copied this from BBC sport. A really good point here is that even if the clubs involved in this backpedal, the damage is done - expel them anyway.

An editorial in sports daily L’Equipe says the Super League members are “traitors”. “If they continue with their project, we will never forgive them," it reads. "We won’t forgive them if they give it up, either. The 12 clubs will remain traitors of a shared ideal for a long time still. They’ve showed they’re ready to kill off European football, its essence, its history and its beauty with their cynicism and greed.”

“The day European football faltered”, reads France’s So Foot, which sees the potential departure of 12 teams as a chance “to finally breathe”.

“If this NBA-like tournament is to become reality, it will increase suspense… teams like Ajax, Porto, Roma or Napoli will experience the thrill of reaching the final stages of the Champions League and will actually have a chance to win it. This would also mean that some legendary European teams could experience a second wind – can we dream of seeing Glasgow Rangers, Dynamo Kyiv or Panathinaikos lift a European Cup in the next few years? Can we picture Leicester or West Ham as the next Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest of the 2020s or 2030s? Yes, we can. And that’s exciting.”

 

I'm in agreement as that's obvs the most logical solution

 

I completely agree with everything you have said, perhaps now is the time for them to show some teeth and take decisive action: I won’t hold my breath

 

Well said, sir, well said.

 

Problem with kicking them out (which morally they should do) is that they attract the most money when it comes to TV revenue, so the PL would essentially be waving goodbye to all that, and those tv companies buying the rights would be too. What's the value of the PL tv rights without those teams? Then what happens to those teams who rely on that money who are currently saddled with debt? Im not sure what the timescale is on the deals, are they given every 12 months?

 

Bet Sky are papping themselves at the moment. Revenue from those clubs' fans could drop massively if it goes ahead and Sky don't secure rights to it.

 

I'd love it if he did. And if some top players came out and said go swivel too!