My anger is not at the fact that we may end up somewhere else further down the line, at the moment we are nowhere near that, at the moment we are at a 20 team league featuring some clubs that I don’t particularly think are as popular as you stated basically saying we now have our own league and bar us 15 (minus the three who have refused it or can’t join due to the structures of their clubs) you won’t get much chance to play in it.
I think they fucked it up a little with Germany, surely they consulted someone about that? Our manager might of been a good idea?
I really question the draw of most of the clubs outside of us, Man Utd, Spain’s big two and probably Chelsea if I’m honest, Man City have started to expand globally a little and Juventus yup them two but Spurs, Ath Madrid & AC Milan above say Ajax or even a Porto, I can’t imagine how the Rome clubs feel along with Atalanta and Napoli.
Hmm, Italy seems a werid one all things considered, though Inter have been up there this season.
But yeah as I said couldn’t give a toss on UEFA whose similar plan isn’t much better. And in the last two years we have been one of the best teams in Europe but before Klopp arrived we were woeful, money won’t guarantee we won’t approach a dud patch, the same goes for the rest of those teams who as I’ve said some have been shit for years.
If they had come up with a more open tournament that still effectively gave themselves the cash grab you could make the argument that I’ve seen but on face value this ruins European football and probably domestic football as well.
Go back to the table include more of Europe and I’ll be listen to it, couldn’t give a shit who has the cash, the plan effectively has locked that in with the founder members thing.
So no I’ve not been led by the media or whatever and many people actually care about football, VAR of course will involved it’s the new snazzy tool everyone has to have.
I think most people angry about the European Super League haven’t paid attention to how shit UEFAs changes to the Champions League are going to be. The changes lead to more games than this does (for Carbon Footprint complaints), also has an element of protection of the big clubs (the 4 largest non CL qualifying clubs based on coefficient get auto entry) so that’s unlikely for big clubs to ever fail to qualify too. The differences are ESL will have more stringent rules over FFP, you’ll be playing the likes of Juve and Real in easy to get to places instead of spanking minnows in the back of beyond places that are nearly impossible for fans to get to and the money will be going to the clubs involved and such than UEFA.
No I’ve paid attention to both, one means teams can still actually arrive at the top table, the other means they won’t.
Carbon footprint you need to come back when they are promoting the opening game of this in Beijing or New York, not to mention at some point you’ll probably see none European teams enter, expansion of it will probably see that step.
UEFA’s CL revamp is awful, but please don’t try and sell the ESL as anything better, it makes John W Henry and FSG rich but no guarantee that ever massively filters down to the club, the shirts could easily come down in price and tickets with the cash from this and we would still have large amounts to pay for the best players but I doubt that will happen.
They will maximise their profit on one side and keep the cash on the other. It also is being run by the very people who have made football the shit show it is anyhow, they’ve just jumped on a new money ship.
So yeah UEFA, sky and others can do one as I don’t care, what I do care is something to make me feel passionate, interested and something to enjoy, playing AC Milan for 6th place in the ESL isn’t that, knowing next year will be the same.
There is actually literally no need for John W Henry to spend any of that money.
You do realise it was the organisations not the clubs pushing for the games being played in other countries? Half (possibly more than half) the negative things being said about the super league actually apply to UEFA, FIFA, Premier League etc. I just don’t get it. Why is this so evil when everything negative about it was due to be in place anyway? Other teams can still qualify for it and take part the following year. The top teams were never going to not qualify for the CL under the changes anyway.
Five teams out of the whole of Europe, yeah that’s opening the game to everyone and you really expect that a group of 4 Americans aren’t going want a game over there. Yeah I totally remember John W Henry going on record complaining about the 39th game.
It’s negative because it is, it’s a power lock, I ask how would you feel if you were on the opposite side of this? Atalanta for instance, people moan about Ajax selling all their best players and so on but how are they ever supposed to compete, there is no guarantee that we become rich off the back of this, it in fact gives Henry more opportunity to not spend any dosh because after all we’ve achieved what we needed to do every season. Remember he never said his aim was to win trophies.
And then if a club somehow gets invited (nothing about merit or achievement), goes on and qualifies for the Q finals, wins all that and goes on, do the league invite them back next season or do they realise that their monopoly is being challenged so back off to your domestic league let’s have 8th place from Belgium instead, they know their role.
Sorry but it’s shite and without merit or achievement, if they expand on it then I’ll look again but if it remains as shit as it looks then fuck it, I’ll hope we can still play domestically as I’m not paying for that.
Indeed, as long they stay in the PL I don’t give a fuck in what European competition they play on Wednesday. The one they have founded or the one under the dictatorship of UEFA.
You get that it destroys the credibility of the Premier League yeah?
If we dont win the league but are safe from relegation we can just play any old team and who cares because were gonna play ESL anyway.
Its takes the importance away from maintaining league form and results and also removes the aspirational aspect of European football for clubs like Leicester Everton West Ham all of which are in with a shout of playing in Europe next season.
It will eventually kill the League and eventually the same people pushing for the ESL wont be happy with the just controlling continental football they will want to control all football including the local leagues.
Notting is written in stone yet, this are just the early moves to test the water, let’s wait and see what will be the endproduct before getting all worked up, well that is what I’m going to do.
The changes UEFA are putting on the CL already does that.
If those changes were in place Chelsea and Liverpool would currently “qualify” by being biggest sides not to qualify as per coefficient.
Yet again most people aren’t understanding the difference (or lack of) between the CL changes by UEFA (that already do the vast majority of the shit they are angry about if not all) and this super league.
I think this ESL proposal would find more support if the founding members were only protected for a limited initial period (say 5-10 years) after which only, say, the top 8 teams based on a rolling 5-year coefficient would be automatic participants, the rest would need to qualify through domestic league position/qualifying rounds.
But this is about the big clubs controlling their own revenue streams and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the clubs involved all generated the highest global viewing figures over the last decade.
I don’t like the idea of a ESL - I like the current format, allowing someone (like Leicester/WHU) having a chance at making the elite competition (albeit I note ref to some spaces for performance based qualification).
The Sky Sports mob, the PL, La liga etc etc can all fuck right off - Sky had no problem charging the fans £15ppv per game during a global pandemic. They do not give a fuck about the players wellbeing, or the fans wellbeing (look at how fixtures get moved about purely for financial gain). Oh and UEFA have come out and said more on this than they’ve done on racism of late - funny that.
I genuinely think I would be more pissed off if FSG sat back and watched a ESL be formed and miss out entirely. Like when the PL was formed (to fill the pockets of those now crying), it was the end of football. Hardly the end was it, if anything it was the beginning of football as far as I remember? How many times have we been told the old “English League” titles (x18) aren’t the same as the PL. Further, wasn’t Project Big Picture a good solution to a lot of the problems, and it got shot down by everyone.
Personally, I’m ok with the new format. I see it as a super league replacing the champions league and everything else more or less stays the same. I would rather play Barca, Real, Juve etc every year than once every few years if everything works out ok.
This format would even things out a bit for us with the largest clubs. The likes of Bayern, Real, Barca and Juve essentially don’t have to “qualify for the ECL”, their size and financial power pretty much ensures qualification year in and year out. It is only in England that there is much of a top 4 competition. Unfortunately, I don’t think that top 4 competition is fully fair. I’m deeply suspicious about all of the incredibly marginal decisions that have gone against us this year. Coincidence? - 8 minutes of stoppage time in West Ham vs Newcastle where a draw would mean we remain behind WHU?
No. The FA and EPL have treated LFC very badly for a long time and I’m including Hillsborough in that. If this ESL took off we could be playing the likes of Corinthians, Boca Juniors and Santos instead of trying to bash our way through the likes of Burnley, West Brom and Brighton with their God-awful “low blocks” or whatever we call putting 11 men in the box nowadays. The best teams always want to play attractive attacking football and I’m for that.
Very uninspired move from fsg. They undermine any spirit of competition by furthering this new proposal. In the long term, this could lead to a loss of interest for the sport as a whole. All this for a few short-term bucks. Disappointed.
Fair enough point of view Hope, though I disagree. I see this as a glass half full moment. The ESL sounds a better competition to me and could be expanded beyond Europe. This is the consequence of the FA / Premier League monetising football. Now we have a chance to earn enough money to compete with the biggest clubs financially and hopefully will not have to sell the likes of Torres, Suarez or Coutinho in the future because of not being able to meet the terms offered by the likes of Barca and Real.
Cos he won stuff I suppose. Given enough money (lots of it) he has proven he can build winning teams. Its only in recent years that he has played more defensively because he wasn’t given the money he wanted to buy the players he wanted.
Very good post rupzzz. I don’t really like the current ECL format. The new super league would allow teams like Leicester and WHU to win a place, just like the current ECL format does. In fact, if you think about it, the top 6 English clubs would always take part and there would probably be 1 to 2 extra places available for other English clubs to take part.
Realistically speaking, how many times did a club from outside the “Big 6” make the champions league? Its rare enough. The new format would allow the 7th or 8th biggest / most successful English club compete for larger shares of the TV rights. I just don’t get the knee jerk response from the likes of Neville and co. His nose is out of joint because he is currently a Sky “insider” and might find himself on the “outside” in the new scheme of things. Totally agree with your other two points.
It’s not just that they have reluctantly followed suit. They are obviously at the heart of it and working on it since a long time (Henry becoming the VP of the new structure is proof enough of this).
