The Owners - FSG

The Albert
1420

I am not sure how much revenue has fallen for FSG in the last year - a considerable amount I would suspect.

If an entity has waved big money in front of these clubs to split away from EUFA and / or the PL it may be that given the current economic climate and future economic predictions that this is in their opinion the best business decision.

That does not make it right but if you are more invested in the money rather than the club then you can understand the motivation. My guess is that the clubs involved will make more money playing in this competition alone than all other competitions combined - including the PL.

1421

Does it really matter? Why take away Bradford/Leicester/West Hamā€™s chances in the first place if they are so sure that theyā€™ll never qualify?

1 Like
1422

Its quite romantic for peeps to speak about a phantom dichotomy between being ā€œinvested in the clubā€ vs invested in the moneyā€¦

Without money, there can be no club in the first placeā€¦

3 Likes
1423

But what is in reality taken away?

There is a 2nd window for participation and I imagine that window will in time growā€¦

1 Like
1424

A stat I saw on Facebook.

The Premier League has, to date, provided 99 entrants to the Champions League.

The number from outside the big six is 7.

The reality is that, for the most part, participation in the Championā€™s League guarantees participation in the champions league.

Yes the ESL is a cartel. But letā€™s not pretend it isnā€™t already.

6 Likes
1425

These 5 clubs are an expansive group of teams.

1427

This makes no sense. How can you compare ā€˜entrantsā€™ to number of clubs? Basically all that stat tells us is that in 18 years of the CL there have been 13 different clubs from PL qualified. Not great but could be worse. Obviously some clubs are going to be there most years, like we were before the PL and CL.

The ESL is not even close to being the same. It means Spurs and Arsenal get their place every year despite being shite, but high performers (like West Ham and Leicester) have no potential prize.

The so called ā€˜big 6ā€™ will get richer while the rest fall even further behind

1428

Letā€™s show some respect please! I post in good faith.

I say itā€™s likely 90% about autonomy and tv rights I.e. money.

And then possibly also about big clubs enforcing FFP more successfully than UEFA have managed to do so.

If thatā€™s naive, explain why.

3 Likes
1429

By high performers like West Ham, you mean the West Ham of the last 3-wks or the West Ham of the last 10 years?

1430

The West Ham that are sitting 4th. And next year it could be someone else. Thatā€™s the point

1431

And Everton that was in first place a few months ago?

Its a meaningless point because its not backed by concrete fact, but the temporary position of teams which have no track record of consistent performance over the last decade!

1432

Did you read what I said? You think the same teams should get to the top table every year, without merit, while others have no chance?

1433

Exhibit A:

image
image1200Ɨ1227 182 KB

2 Likes
1434

:grinning: :grinning: :grinning:

Except the bitters of course!!!

1435

Benfica, Celtic, Feyenoord, Ajax, Forest, Villa, Hamburg, Steaua Bucharest, Porto, PSV, Red Star Belgrade, Marseille & Dortmund have won 19 European Cups.

Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Man City and Spurs have won 0.

(Copied from Twitter)

4 Likes
1436

Everybody has a chance to compete to get to the top.

Everybody. Whether they are able to or actually do is a different matter.

1437

There is a 2nd window for all those clubs. And I expect that window to grow over timeā€¦

The same argument was offered when the Champions Cup was changed to the CLā€¦

The same argument was offered when the PL emerged in its current formā€¦

1438

Youā€™ve lost me completely bro

1439

Iā€™m saying the same argument about loss of competitive integrity was offered in the past, yet it never came to pass.

Steaua Bucharest, Red Star, Forestā€¦ all relics of the past.

Time changes, clubs evolve, football evolvesā€¦ Thatā€™s the cold reality.

1440

I think the counter to that is that the Swiss model that UEFA have announced was supposed to be the concession that headed off these clubs making this move. I donā€™t know what more room UEFA have to appease them other than to remove themselves from club football, which wont happen. I think the only bargaining chip left now is the other authorities sticking together and blackballing players from these clubs.

1 Like