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European Super League (Football/Soccer)

T8SC

T8SC

Gold Member
Gary Neville has just gone bonkers on Sky Sports regarding this, with Roy Keane & Micah Richards both agreeing.

Total greed. They should be punished and not just the English clubs. What gives them the right to arrange this sort of thing.


Senior Uefa figures are furious that 11 major European clubs, including five from England, have signed up to a breakaway European Super League.

BBC Sport was told last week of plans for some sort of confirmation about a European Super League.
Uefa hoped to head off plans with a new-look 36-team Champions League set to be confirmed on Monday.

Uefa said it will use "all measures available" to stop the "cynical project" of a breakaway Super League.

The European governing body released a joint statement together with the English Football Association, Premier League Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), La Liga, and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) as well as Serie A on Sunday.

They said they will "remain united" in trying to stop the breakaway, using both judicial and sporting measures if required.


Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56794673
 
DKehoe

DKehoe

Member
It's kinda funny that Sky and the Premier League are complaining about greed when the Premier League itself was founded to break the top teams away from the lower league ones in order to take advantage of the money that Sky was offering.

I do ultimately agree though. I'm not a supporter of the idea. And I'm a fan of a club (Manchester United) who would absolutely benefit from this.

I expect this is a move by the big clubs to get UEFA to agree to shift the balance of power more in their favour and dangle this as a threat if they refuse.
 
T8SC

T8SC

Gold Member
DKehoe said:
It's kinda funny that Sky and the Premier League are complaining about greed when the Premier League itself was founded to break the top teams away from the lower league ones in order to take advantage of the money that Sky was offering.
Click to expand...

It was still domestic, agreed by all parties (FA/Uefa etc) and essentially just a new league in England replacing the old First Division as the top flight.

This whole European Super League is complete nonsense. Arsenal can't even beat Fulham and think they have some "right" to play weekly against the likes of Juventus because they're too good for the domestic league? :messenger_grinning_sweat:

It's all about money, has been for years when foreign owners started buying up clubs, players are overpaid, the whole game stinks and has done for many years.
 
DKehoe

DKehoe

Member
T8SC said:
It was still domestic, agreed by all parties (FA/Uefa etc) and essentially just a new league in England replacing the old First Division as the top flight.

This whole European Super League is complete nonsense. Arsenal can't even beat Fulham and think they have some "right" to play weekly against the likes of Juventus because they're too good for the domestic league? :messenger_grinning_sweat:

It's all about money, has been for years when foreign owners started buying up clubs, players are overpaid, the whole game stinks and has done for many years.
Click to expand...
Oh sure. This is worse. But it's kinda just the next step up from what they did. They pushed the lower level teams aside to get more money for themselves. And now they want to act like they're the moral authority because they're potentially on the wrong end of things. But again, I'm not defending the Super League here. Hopefully the idea falls apart.

Personally I'm more interested in watching United play English teams regularly rather than other European teams because there's more history and emotional investment there. Watching your team play top European teams should be a rare treat (particularly rare for United in recent years!) and one that they earn.
 
T8SC

T8SC

Gold Member
DKehoe said:
Personally I'm more interested in watching United play English teams regularly rather than other European teams because there's more history and emotional investment there. Watching your team play top European teams should be a rare treat (particularly rare for United in recent years!) and one that they earn.
Click to expand...

Agreed, local rivalry will be mostly lost in the European league. (Except the Utd-Liverpool or Utd-City).

What about Liverpool-Everton? Lost.
 
Radical Dreamer

Radical Dreamer

Member
Fuck everything about it. Fuck "americanisation" of football. Perez you fucking old greedy cunt.
Gary Neville said it best:



And I absolutely agree with him. If these clubs do join together to create a super league, then FIFA/UEFA/leagues should do everything they can in order to punish them. Take the points, ban from WC/EC etc, put restrictions etc.
 
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The Wheel of Fortune

The Wheel of Fortune

Member
As a very passionate Man United fan, this is absolutely disgusting. The day this goes through is definitely the day I stop supporting the club.

Gary is right. Penalize all of the clubs who support this bullshit: deduct points, fine us to hell and back. Do whatever it takes to make sure the yanks backing up this project know that football is not something to be messed with.
 
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DKehoe

DKehoe

Member
T8SC said:
Agreed, local rivalry will be mostly lost in the European league. (Except the Utd-Liverpool or Utd-City).

What about Liverpool-Everton? Lost.
Click to expand...
Yeh exactly. United vs Leeds is the second biggest rivalry for a lot of United fans despite Leeds not having been a major club for a long time. It's much more meaningful to fans than playing someone like (I'm just picking a club at random here) Atletico Madrid, who no doubt are a club with a great history but the personal connection isn't there in the same way.

Even if your teams don't have a direct rivalry I think we've all had the experience of having a friend/colleague who supports another team and after they play you either can't wait to see them again to rub it in or dread it depending on the result. That's the kind of thing supporters are actually invested in. I don't think many would trade that for the apparent "prestige" of consistently playing against elite level clubs.
 
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DKehoe

DKehoe

Member
T8SC said:
A club director isn't part of the decision make process, so who is? Ole had no real info either after the match earlier.

Oh yeah, the foreign greedy owners.
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Yeh the Glazers are the ones to point the finger at when it comes to United. I just thought it was interesting that Ferguson broke from the club's PR line to condemn it.
 
Jon Neu

Jon Neu

Banned
Really cynical talk from UEFA about solidarity when in reality they are just scared of losing the money the big clubs bring to the table.

All they really care is to keep the monopoly on that sweet european football money.
 
T8SC

T8SC

Gold Member
DKehoe said:
Yeh the Glazers are the ones to point the finger at when it comes to United. I just thought it was interesting that Ferguson broke from the club's PR line to condemn it.
Click to expand...

Ferguson & Bobby won't go along with a "PR statement" they don't agree with, if it's of this magnitude. They're forever loved by fans, what's the club going to do, fire them? It'll be a massive cluster fuck and a massive PR problem of its own if that happens.


Edit: Daily Mail says the statement is due to become official at 21:30. (BST).
 
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BlackSandrock10

BlackSandrock10

Neo Member
Heard the news and watched what Gary Neville had to say, totally agree with what he said! As a Arsenal fan, it's bad enough to hear that the club involved especially after today's draw and the way how past seasons but.......reading that Kroenke is one of the vice-chairmen of this Super League, it's doesn't surprise me as he's a bottle merchant owner!

Can't believe that this would even go ahead but this could (keyword here!) be a bluff towards UEFA's reshuffling of the Champions' League! Gotta give credit to PSG and Bayern Munich for declining the invitations....!
 
Great Hair

Great Hair

Banned
As long Gianni Infantino is still in place.

F*ck UEFA + F*ck FIFA

He helped PSG and City, else they would have been kicked out of the competition. And Bayern was the mastermind behind this "league" (according to the leaks). The premise of "no relegation" is funny and the downfall of the league.

If your team is so bad, and always ends up last. Why would TV stations suddenly pay more for a ESL Match UP between 1º vs 20º? Because the UEFA is not taking a cut anymore? What if said team is for years last placed ... eventually they´re getting booted from this ESL. Are they allowed to join their "former" league. If not? That team ceases to exist, right?
 
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LiquidRex

LiquidRex

Member
Jr9IREZ.jpg
 
mekes

mekes

Member
massivekettle said:
It'll be interesting if UEFA + FIFA follow through with their plans to ban the big teams and their players from participating in Euro/World Cup.
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I really hope so. Imagine telling Ronaldo it is club or country with a competition due in just a few months. Or Pogba. Those that have won at international level and have that as their most cherished moment of their career. You’d think that would equal immediate turmoil.

Hopefully UEFA/FIFA have those big boy bollocks to make that news official. I’m no great fan of the current establishments given some of their recent mishaps, but having Joel Glazer and the Perez run football. Fuck that. It’s just greed and only greed. I care more about the history than the money.
 
Diddy X

Diddy X

Member
That'd be an interesting experiment to watch atleast for a couple seasons, it could go very wrong for some clubs tho, but it could also be very fun.
 
M

massivekettle

Member
mekes said:
I really hope so. Imagine telling Ronaldo it is club or country with a competition due in just a few months. Or Pogba. Those that have won at international level and have that as their most cherished moment of their career. You’d think that would equal immediate turmoil.

Hopefully UEFA/FIFA have those big boy bollocks to make that news official. I’m no great fan of the current establishments given some of their recent mishaps, but having Joel Glazer and the Perez run football. Fuck that. It’s just greed and only greed. I care more about the history than the money.
Click to expand...

Whilst I don't disagree with you, the sport is grossly mismanaged, and that blame falls on FIFA and UEFA. European Football is leaving so much money on the table compared to the NFL for instance.

I think it's a little naive to think sport is about "history". We're not in the 80s anymore. Football has become the playground of billionaires or wealthy oil nations. This is simply accelerating the ongoing transition from "history" to "money-printing".

If the ESL has done its legal homework (and I am sure it has, given the amount of money involved), I am sure they have reviewed every possible way FIFA/UEFA could ban teams and players from participating in future competitions and have their legal defense ready.
 
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mekes

mekes

Member
massivekettle said:
Whilst I don't disagree with you, the sport is grossly mismanaged, and that blame falls on FIFA and UEFA. European Football is leaving so much money on the table compared to the NFL for instance.

I think it's a little naive to think sport is about "history". We're not in the 80s anymore. Football has become the playground of billionaires or wealthy oil nations. This is simply accelerating the ongoing transition from "history" to "money-printing".
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As a supporter the history is hugely important. Not so much to the owners who don’t even refer to the sport by its real name. Im sure you will see the backlash to this news play out over the coming months. Supporters don’t care about the financials, supporters view the Champions League as the pinnacle of the sport. Supporters do not care about the ESL.

My club pilfer the money out of the club I support to fund their ventures in the US. Money is not paramount for a fan. Although I understand what you are saying.
 
M

massivekettle

Member
mekes said:
As a supporter the history is hugely important. Not so much to the owners who don’t even refer to the sport by its real name. Im sure you will see the backlash to this news play out over the coming months. Supporters don’t care about the financials, supporters view the Champions League as the pinnacle of the sport. Supporters do not care about the ESL.

My club pilfer the money out of the club I support to fund their ventures in the US. Money is not paramount for a fan. Although I understand what you are saying.
Click to expand...

The reality is that sport is as much a business as anything else. And right now, TV money and foreign interests (both owners and fans abroad) are bringing in that money, not local supporters.

Not sure which club you support, but if you happen to support a club who's joining the ESL, the reality is without the money flowing into the league and the specific club from sponsors, foreign owners and fans, that club wouldn't have been nearly as successful in recent years/decades. This ESL was the natural next step in the evolution of the sport in Europe - whether it will be successful at upending the traditional structure of the sport remains to be seen.

I suspect we will see a similar thing in US College Sports which are structured like European football. We nearly saw the same thing happen in Formula 1 10 years ago as well, until all parties went back to the negotiating table and hammered out a deal.
 
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Banjo64

Banjo64

cumsessed
Jon Neu said:
I don't think the intentions of doing a Super League are real, this is just a power play.
Click to expand...
I mean, this is as real as it gets; all 12 founding members setting up a website, withdrawing from the European Club Association, announcing their financial package of €350m each, announcing that they are all equal share holders in the league and even going as far as to reveal the buy in for this (€2m initial investment possibly rising to €8m).

What will likely happen now is a lot of posturing. Sky and BT think this is shit, because they have Premier League & Champion’s League rights. The Premier League will be devalued in the eyes of sponsors as no more ‘race for the top 4’. It’s going to be full on ‘kicking and screaming’ mode.

Personally, as a City fan, my long term opinion on this is that it’s protectionist bullshit. It still is, but quite frankly Sky and UEFA can fuck themselves after their coverage of us as ‘the baddies’ to appeal to the thick southern Liverpool and United fan contingent, and UEFA leading a sham investigation against us. So yeah, cry harder cunts.

What we are about to see is a battle of 1 set of rich cunts vs another set of rich cunts.
 
thefool

thefool

Member
Fuck this bullshit and the cunts who support this. Hope we go for a full blown blockage of any player and club moving forward with this. These fuckers dont deserve protection, champions league has only aggravated the differences in their favor and they still want more.

They have too much debt? Well suck it up and start from the bottom. The football ponzi is ending.
 
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iorek21

iorek21

Member
Wow, this thing is going to shake up things, huh.

I have no doubts that South American clubs will follow this route if this European Super League is successful.
 
Alright

Alright

Banned
How is going to work? Are teams just going to jet around all over Europe to play football? Not only will they be knackered but...it's not very green is it?
 
Jon Neu

Jon Neu

Banned
Biff Clurton said:
How is going to work? Are teams just going to jet around all over Europe to play football? Not only will they be knackered but...it's not very green is it?
Click to expand...

It would be more green than the actual Champions League, because there are less teams, therefore less matches.

Also, you will not have to travel to Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Turkey and so many other far distant places.
 
Porcile

Porcile

Member
Sounds boring to me, but then football has slowly had its integrity eroded for the last decade or more. Follows the trend of just about every pastime to be honest. Are fans of something even fans anymore?
 
The Wheel of Fortune

The Wheel of Fortune

Member
thesuperleague.com

The Super League

The Super League is a new European competition between 20 top clubs comprised of 15 founders and 5 annual qualifiers.
thesuperleague.com thesuperleague.com

AC Milan
Arsenal
Atlético de Madrid
Barcelona
Chelsea
Inter Milan
Juventus
Liverpool
Man City
Man United
Real Madrid
Spurs

Fuck them all. I really hope this ends up falling flat on its face, I have no words for how I'm feeling right now. Football has been such an important part of my life for as long as I can remember...if this goes through, football will have basically died today for me. The game's truly gone now, eh?
 
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A

ACESHIGH

Banned
The balance in world football has been in shambles since the Bosman ruling. Football is not a regular job and should not comply with the free movement of resources principle of the European Union . You have to limit foreign players per team to 3/4 tops just like it is in South America, at least that's how it is in Argentina.

The Bosman ruling is what got European football in this situation. The wealthiest teams in the bigger leagues get the best players with no restrictions whatsoever and once historical teams like Ajax, Benfica, Celtic, Red Star and more fall into oblivion.

Also the Champions league is a joke, a snorefest until the knock offs, and don't get me started with the Europa League. They should bring back the old format with only the champions from every league. And then the UEFA cup and Cup Winners Cup. Those 3 were truly great tournaments. I'd argue the UEFA Cup was even better than the European champions cup at times.

This Superleague is the natural conclusion of letting the Bosman rulling and the Champions League run for almost 30 years. The damage is already done.

Hopefully Infantino strong arms all the federations that have clubs in the Superleague removing those countries from any international competition. Ideally they would send all the clubs that decided to take part in the Superleague to the last echelon of club football of each respective country, Glasgow Rangers style.
 
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Squirrel Killer

Squirrel Killer

Member
T8SC said:
They should be punished and not just the English clubs. What gives them the right to arrange this sort of thing.
Click to expand...
Yes. What gives organizations the right to participate in the things they want to participate in!?!?!?

Radical Dreamer said:
Can you even imagine how boring it will be watching these top teams every other week? Part of the charm of Champions League for example is that because these matches are so rare. That's why these are so exciting and so memorable.
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The Hamburglar said:
It would make European matches boring as fuck. Oh look United are playing Madrid for the 4th this time, every year..
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Yes, one of the best teams vs another of the best teams is too boring. Give us more Krasnodar vs Rennes matches! Atalanta vs Midtjylland too!

mekes said:
Not so much to the owners who don’t even refer to the sport by its real name.
Click to expand...
Oh, this should be fun... what, pray tell, is the sport's "real" name?
 
A

ACESHIGH

Banned
Prison Mike said:
Bring back the maine road days when we were shit and would never have been invited lol
Click to expand...

Yeah, if this Superleague was put together in the 90's maybe Newcastle and Blackburn would have been in instead of Chelsea and City, who knows. Also what would happen when the sheik or Abramovich decide to invest somewhere else? Would City and Chelsea still be superleague caliber clubs?

Not a fan of this competition. The american closed league system doesn't make much sense in football.
 
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