[Football] Liverpool and Manchester United lead ‘European League’ breakout league idea

[Clive Walker]

Doesn't look like Rashford is keen.....

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nothing a few extra zero's at the end of his pay cheque can't solve.

 

[surrey jim]

What is the reaction to this amongst the Spanish and Italian fans and media?

 

[Charity Shield 1910]

I would like this announcement to get clubs and fans to start looking at this through the other side of the telescope. World War 1 led to the restructuring of The Southern/Football Leagues because the conflict just created the environment for change, with The Football League essentially the winners of that battle. Now there is tension between the major clubs who by their global brand create the vast income that other clubs feast on. Equally, Man United have built the brand by being a part of a competitive league and so they need to give up some of the income they mainly generate to keep the others competitive. That obviously is counter intuitive to it's owners and that tension is difficult to square.

What I do see however is the rules constantly being tinkered with to skew things in favour of the Man United's and Liverpools (lack of tackling and the 5 subs two such examples). As such, the other clubs if interested in the sport rather than the money, need to think whether it's worth playing the Man United's and just enjoy a domestic but truly competitive sport. Or can the smaller clubs start to push back on these rule changes to keep them competitive. There are advantages of getting rid of Man United for us fans interested in a genuine sporting competition (rather than money) and those advantages shouldn't be lost to us fans. Equally that is hardly "Fans United" as we would condemn Man United fans to lose their club to a Harlem Globetrotters show instead of a sporting club. Interesting really.

 

[brighton_tom]

Doesn't look like Rashford is keen.....

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Hopefully the amount of managers/players speaking out starts to snowball & it becomes clear that it is the owners of these 6 clubs vs EVERYONE, not just the fans.

 

[Swansman]

I get the feeling this whole project is very much a north American ideal that satisfies their nirvana of a revenue stream that doesn't fluctuate and a share price that reflects that. But a proposal willingly backed by desperate Italian and Spanish owners facing financial ruin.

I believe the Russian and Middle Eastern owners have different objectives for being in the PL - they certainly don't need the money. Russians seem to have a pathological desire to win any competition and a desire to be seen as superior at all costs (ergo, their industrial doping of Olympic athletes, the sending state-sponsored MMA experts to beat up amateur chair luzzers at football tournaments or dispatching those two goons who like Salisbury Cathedral all round Europe to blow stuff up and murder people). So I can't see Chelsea being a fan of a closed league; they need to be seen to winning 'competitions' by whatever means. The ESL won't satisfy that need.

And the Middle Eastern money in football (and boxing and F1 etc etc) is all about projecting influence and respectability.

If this falls apart it will (partly) be because the 15 clubs have different and competing objectives and no shared vision for the project.

Dont know if I agree with the Russian stereotype you are presenting, but indeed I think Abramovich would be the first one of the six to say "you know what, feck this" as he, after all, is a football fan and not really in it for the money because his accumulation of wealth was a lot stronger before he started to "waste" time and energy on football. I could definitely see him backing out of this. Time will probably tell if it was due to the backlash or because of Perez not providing all the details and information (he is a powerful and shrewd but in many senses dumb and incompetent man).

 

[The Wizard]

For all the negatives about this: how about this being used as a way to change football and make it more sustainable, the current way football is going and is already it in the long run is unbelievable, someone earlier in the thread summed it up when you have youngsters demanding 500k+ p/w and basically whoring themselves around a load of top clubs, something is deeply toxic within football.

All this nonsense about football being a working class sport, I’m insulted by that, I don’t begrudge the money footballers earn because it’s supply and demand but when you actually sit and think about it and take it back to the skeleton - the reason players get paid 100k per week even for a club like ours, is because the money in football has gone way too far - if they leave, there will be less money in TV deals, less sponsorship, less hype, less people paying Sky to watch etc and so the knock on effects would mean football as we know it would really have to be totally restructured money wise, is that a bad thing? Not for me.

The game is already gone, it’s been gone for years. These big clubs don’t care about actual fans, the money isn’t in the fans who care, it’s in the fans in China who will spend £250 each in the club shop and pay stupid money for tickets. Do that every week in different global cities = $$$

 

[Thunder Bolt]

74 year old ESL President, Florentino Perez, claiming that the ESL will save football! This is due to his expertise in what young people like and it seems he thinks young people are "no longer interested in football" because of "a lot of poor quality games". Not about money, after all, it's because all young kids want to watch Barcelona v Man Utd each week... Not really true though is it, my two lads would rather watch Brighton v Stevenage over any ESL fixture because that's what real football fans do.

He claimed 40% of young people are not interested in football and Real Madrid have lost 400m euros (£344m) because of the impact of the pandemic.

"When you don't have any income other than from television, you have to find a solution to make more attractive matches that fans all over the world can watch with all of the big clubs," said Perez.

"Young people are no longer interested in football. They have other platforms on which to distract themselves.

"We could get back some of the money we lost because of the pandemic. We have to raise more money organising more competitive games."

But lets get one thing crystal clear, this is about engaging young people into watching football and not about trying to replace lost revenues.

Arrogance of a magnitude not seen since Blatter was FIFA president.

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[Swansman]

What is the reaction to this amongst the Spanish and Italian fans and media?

The Italians dont like it at all, Spanish media/fans are more "meh" about it..

 

[Eeyore]

He's added more. "This is not a sport..."

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I just get the feeling that City will be first to buckle.

 

[The Wizard]

The Italians dont like it at all, Spanish media/fans are more "meh" about it..

A school friend who moved to Spain said to me that in Spain most fans of the lower teams absolutely hate Madrid and Barcelona and would be delighted to see them gone. Toxic and corrupt were his words.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

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[Swansman]

A school friend who moved to Spain said to me that in Spain most fans of the lower teams absolutely hate Madrid and Barcelona and would be delighted to see them gone. Toxic and corrupt were his words.

For the clubs in Spain it would probably be financially a very good thing if Barca and Real fecked off as they take too much of the cake despite the league being generally good, personally I think its the best league in the world but the media attention / money dont really reflect it - its all Real & Barca (and to small extent Atletico).

 

[The Wizard]

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The problem with this statement is:

What fans do these big clubs want? Hint: They don’t care about season ticket holders.

Do they want working class John, 46 who pays £600 for a season ticket yearly and spends £50 on a shirt once a year.

Or do they want 36 super games spread all over the world with fans of all nationalities getting the odd game per season probably paying hundreds of pounds for tickets and spending massive money on merchandise?

Which one we’ll earn shit loads more money?

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

For all the negatives about this: how about this being used as a way to change football and make it more sustainable, the current way football is going and is already it in the long run is unbelievable, someone earlier in the thread summed it up when you have youngsters demanding 500k+ p/w and basically whoring themselves around a load of top clubs, something is deeply toxic within football.

All this nonsense about football being a working class sport, I’m insulted by that, I don’t begrudge the money footballers earn because it’s supply and demand but when you actually sit and think about it and take it back to the skeleton - the reason players get paid 100k per week even for a club like ours, is because the money in football has gone way too far - if they leave, there will be less money in TV deals, less sponsorship, less hype, less people paying Sky to watch etc and so the knock on effects would mean football as we know it would really have to be totally restructured money wise, is that a bad thing? Not for me.

The game is already gone, it’s been gone for years. These big clubs don’t care about actual fans, the money isn’t in the fans who care, it’s in the fans in China who will spend £250 each in the club shop and pay stupid money for tickets. Do that every week in different global cities = $$$

I think you make some good points as an alternative view and certainly the game is totally different in many ways.
Also FIFA and UEFA have not covered themselves in glory over the years.
And as for our own blazers, well they have been totally horseshit since Bert Millichip.

 

[blue-shifted]

For the clubs in Spain it would probably be financially a very good thing if Barca and Real fecked off as they take too much of the cake despite the league being generally good, personally I think its the best league in the world but the media attention / money dont really reflect it - its all Real & Barca (and to small extent Atletico).

But will they be "gone"?

In Spain they already have the concept of A and B teams.

I really don't see Barca and Real Madrid getting voted out of the Spanish league. They'll just play more teams. Barca ESL, Barca La Liga and Barca B

That's the assumption everyone's making on this debate that these clubs will be booted out of the domestic leagues.

It might come to pass. Much more likely is that through threat on legal action, and bribed / sweeteners, they'll get the threat of expulsion watered down to a statement containing moderate rebuke and we'll just carry on with a fudged situation with a lot more games.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

Blimey!
The vast majority of fans will be supporting Brighton tonight and the media attention will be even higher.
No pressure then.

 

[Eeyore]

Reports that Jordan Henderson has convened a meeting of EPL captains.

It's from the Daily Mail though, so no guarantee of accuracy.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Reports that Jordan Henderson has convened a meeting of EPL captains.

It's from the Daily Mail though, so no guarantee of accuracy.

Till they go on strike/hand in transfer request it means nothing

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

The 6 globetrotter clubs need to be given until May 24th ( end of season ) to reject the ESL or be chucked out of the PL.

That would cost the albion a massive amount of money but.... we are in a good place. Sell a Bissouma or a White, re-group, and than onwards into a lower-money PL and perhaps CL/EL football.

It seems like an excellent long term win for us outside the franchise exhibition match circus.

 

[Swansman]

But will they be "gone"?

In Spain they already have the concept of A and B teams.

I really don't see Barca and Real Madrid getting voted out of the Spanish league. They'll just play more teams. Barca ESL, Barca La Liga and Barca B

That's the assumption everyone's making on this debate that these clubs will be booted out of the domestic leagues.

It might come to pass. Much more likely is that through threat on legal action, and bribed / sweeteners, they'll get the threat of expulsion watered down to a statement containing moderate rebuke and we'll just carry on with a fudged situation with a lot more games.

Yes, just like in Germany, Italy, Holland, Portugal and a whole lot of other leagues, the B teams play in the lower divisions, and I wouldnt be one bit surprised to see the same thing in England at some point. I dont think Barca B playing in the third division is going to have any effect on whether they get kicked out or, more likely tbf, not.