The 'I am looking forward to the Super League' thread

[cyberman]

I’d like to see what those who support this idea think in five years time when they’re bored shitless of playing the same teams every year in a smaller league and the novelty has worn off and the national leagues have all but died and become semi pro

Are you bored of domestic games now or does the novelty of playing Sheff Utd, Norwich, West Brom etc keep the magic alive for you?

 

[Fox outside the box]

Seeing United play Madrid/Milan/PSG etc early in the season sounds fantastic until you remember that these "group" games of the Super League will essentially be pointless because the vast majority of the teams will make it to the "knockout phase" regardless.

The whole reason why it feels big for us to play teams like Madrid/Milan PSG etc is because we tend to only play them either in knockout football or in the only game in the CL group stage that actually means anything.

Is it? I'm not so sure.

We played Liverpool more than once this season, I didn't not care as a result. We've played City multiple times within a season. When we won the Champions League last we played Arsenal in two legs as well as in the league.

Do people think they won't find the likes of Mbappe and Ronaldo good to watch just because they will see them more than they do now?

Football has become more and more accessible to watch and I'm sure some people felt that global TV deals etc would kill the fun of the game. Once upon a time you just didn't get to see certain players, there was a 'mystery' to them. These days Neymar scores and it's clipped up and on twitter immediately. Am I upset at the idea of playing Bayern each year instead of random European minnows? Not really. Half of the games in Europe are meh, I don't bother watching Chelsea vs Brugge but I do tune in when they draw Madrid in the later stages.

 

[pocco]

I would support a super league IF it were integrated into the domestic leagues with a promotion/relegation system.

A playoff system between the SL clubs and the top finishing clubs in the domestic leagues that season, to determine who is in the SL the following season.

As things stand, the whole thing reeks of greed, but I won’t pretend to have some sort of outrage for the poor “good guys” at Sky and UEFA

I don't think that can happen now, given that the SL is owned by 12 clubs. No way any of those 12 don't get their slice of the pie, guaranteed, each season.

 

[FortBoyard]

Its a bit meh for me.

When I first heard about it I assumed it took the place of the domestic leagues, that I was against.

I now see that it is replacing the CL, the CL reforms already guaranteed spots. So it's really where we were going anyway. Also it seems there will be qualification spots.

It's obviously shit for leagues like Portugal, who have regularly competed. But some consistent top level competition is interesting to me.

 

[Zlatan 7]

Are you bored of domestic games now or does the novelty of playing Sheff Utd, Norwich, West Brom etc keep the magic alive for you?

What’s that got to do with my point? Different teams get to play in the league each year and we play different teams in Europe each year, it’s a sense of occasion when we play Madrid in the champions league for example. Play them twice every year with no risk of relegation and no further prize for winning will get boring fast.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Old UEFA Cup used to be much more prestigious, some years it was packed with more quality than the European Cup.

Good point. Whatever cup competition mops up the “non SL” teams each year if this thing happens will be absolutely rubbish.

 

[cyberman]

What’s that got to do with my point? Different teams get to play in the league each year and we play different teams in Europe each year, it’s a sense of occasion when we play Madrid in the champions league for example. Play them twice every year with no risk of relegation and no further prize for winning will get boring fast.

What im saying is repetition isnt a reason against this super league, especially when its 20 teams involved. 2 groups of 10 means its different groups every year (i think?) its also a bit of a 1st world problem. Its only the top 6 clubs who have Europe but other fanbases arent walking away from boredom.
Anyway, these teams wont be thrown out of domestic leagues anyway. Especailly when the tv rights are up for negotiation this summer.

 

[Fox outside the box]

Because you need the domestic league to qualify. The 'top 4 trophy' didn't become a thing for no reason.

If this happens, I hope they go ahead and kick these clubs out of their national leagues. Those will then have a much more level playing field and immediately become much more interesting to watch. All that's left in that case, would be for Ajax to join this ESL, which I can then happily ignore knowing that my main gripe with national football (that they're dominated everywhere by too few clubs in perpetuity) will have been fixed.

This whole kicking out of the league, stripping titles etc seems so ridiculous. It makes zero sense and stinks of big TV companies trying to fan outrage because they are scared about what this does to the monopoly they have held for so long.

Seems like their best tactic now is try and enrage the fans and squash the thing.

Do you actually think sky give two shits about Southampton not being able to qualify for the super league? Are people that naive? This isn't about integrity and dreams, it's about some people realising that their golden egg is going to become someone else's golden egg.

They will still have the champions league. Why aren't sky excited about all the clubs who could never qualify before, now being part of that? Hm? The likes of Everton, Wolves, West Ham etc can now all regularly play European football. Why aren't sky embracing that?

Because they don't want the likes of West Ham and Everton being the face of their product. Sky know their TV rights will be impacted by this and they are shitting it.

I've said for years I'd rather just pay a membership to United and have access to all of our games. Sky have had us by the balls for years.

Champions League will still be a thing. Anyone who says "it will be shit though" shouldn't also then be moaning because those teams can't get into the super league because that's the point, people would rather watch Man United vs Real Madrid than they would Everton vs Valencia. The champions league only has as much value as the fans etc grant it. If the champions league died due to low viewership then its because fans are the ones choosing not to watch those clubs. So why be so desperate for those clubs to 'have a chance' when if enough if them took their chance, you wouldn't tune in to watch it anyway.

 

[Flexdegea]

i have a feeling we will soon discover how supporting a club like everton feels like. Finishing 8 or 9 every season, hoping for something but never reaching.

Have you just started following us this season?


That's pretty much been us in the league for last 8 years

 

[littlepeasoup]

Do you actually think sky give two shits about Southampton not being able to qualify for the super league?

They might not, but I do; and so do a lot of other fans of the game.

 

[Zlatan 7]

What im saying is repetition isnt a reason against this super league, especially when its 20 teams involved. 2 groups of 10 means its different groups every year (i think?) its also a bit of a 1st world problem. Its only the top 6 clubs who have Europe but other fanbases arent walking away from boredom.
Anyway, these teams wont be thrown out of domestic leagues anyway. Especailly when the tv rights are up for negotiation this summer.

We’ll have to see what unfolds regards to existing domestic leagues and cups.

this all feels setup for the tele fan to me who only wants to watch the best and see highlights of mbappe etc. What football fan can seriously travel around Europe following their team every year, the same teams every year too, it’ll all be shown on tv with fake fan noise like we’ve all got used to already.

And to repetition is totally a point against it, like feck would I repeatedly travel to Barca, Madrid, Milan week after week year after year to follow United

 

[BFernandes]

Should be good.

Hopefully they don't use VAR either.

 

[Fox outside the box]

Good point. Whatever cup competition mops up the “non SL” teams each year if this thing happens will be absolutely rubbish.

Fans of those clubs may end up disagreeing..

If we go from 7 clubs playing in two European competitions to 13 clubs playing in 3 competitions, doesn't this just give more competition all round?

Would Everton fans really hate getting into the champions league? There would still be plenty of big teams in that competition and it could well be a competition that sees more variance in terms of hwo qualifies, seeing as the gap between the bottom 14 clubs is smaller than it is between all 20 overall.

Everton having European games against Dortmund, Valencia, Roma, Ajax, would that be so terrible? OK, the competition might not be as prestigious as before but is regular, lower prestige not better than the prestige they've had form their previous champions league runs I.E none?

Doesn't this create more competition, just spread out differently?

 

[cyberman]

We’ll have to see what unfolds regards to existing domestic leagues and cups.

this all feels setup for the tele fan to me who only wants to watch the best and see highlights of mbappe etc. What football fan can seriously travel around Europe following their team every year, the same teams every year too, it’ll all be shown on tv with fake fan noise like we’ve all got used to already.

And to repetition is totally a point against it, like feck would I repeatedly travel to Barca, Madrid, Milan week after week year after year to follow United

We would do that eveery season if we were an elite side and doing well in Europe? I dont see Madrid fan complaining over the last 6 years!

 

[Zlatan 7]

We would do that eveery season if we were an elite side and doing well in Europe? I dont see Madrid fan complaining over the last 6 years!

We wouldn’t

 

[Cultured left ankle]

ok... I've tried to read through this thread to see why people might be happy about this scheme. correct me if I'm wrong, but basically it's either too screw over FIFA/UEFA or because watching us play real Madrid or whoever every season is 'more exciting'.

I don't see how the super league helps the first point. I'm not sure why creating a system which ruins competition for all fans (I'm taking beyond man utd here; this resonates through all European competition) is the best solution here. surely a better outcome would be a fairer more egalitarian competition in the hands of all clubs and outside the corrupt bodies? this new system just continues to make very rich people even richer. who cares if that's a fifa executive or Joel glazier?

as for the second point, one of the joys of football is competing against the smaller fish - especially in Europe. where would city be without their trips to poznan? where would we be without our trips to galatasaray or Porto in our history? if you can only find 'joy' in games against Barcelona then what do you in the first few months of the season? do you not bother to watch? (that's a genuine question, by the way, I just don't understand).

How anyone can back a system which is a closed shop, which is clearly something which goes against the wishes of the vat majority of fans and has been created only to make the owners richer, baffles me.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

ok... I've tried to read through this thread to see why people might be happy about this scheme. correct me if I'm wrong, but basically it's either too screw over FIFA/UEFA or because watching us play real Madrid or whoever every season is 'more exciting'.

I don't see how the super league helps the first point. I'm not sure why creating a system which ruins competition for all fans (I'm taking beyond man utd here; this resonates through all European competition) is the best solution here. surely a better outcome would be a fairer more egalitarian competition in the hands of all clubs and outside the corrupt bodies? this new system just continues to make very rich people even richer. who cares if that's a fifa executive or Joel glazier?

as for the second point, one of the joys of football is competing against the smaller fish - especially in Europe. where would city be without their trips to poznan? where would we be without our trips to galatasaray or Porto in our history? if you can only find 'joy' in games against Barcelona then what do you in the first few months of the season? do you not bother to watch? (that's a genuine question, by the way, I just don't understand).

How anyone can back a system which is a closed shop, which is clearly something which goes against the wishes of the vat majority of fans and has been created only to make the owners richer, baffles me.

It’s not even smaller fish we won’t get a chance to play against. It’s big fish too. Winning a competition that a club like Bayern Munich isn’t taking part in will ring pretty hollow, surely?

I wonder if it is fans of American sports who find this so appealing? They’re used to money-spinning franchises making sure they’re at the top table every year. To everyone else this proposal feels all kinds of wrong.

 

[AngeloHenriquez]

I don't like the founding notion but if they change it to be qualifiable like the CL and there's more money then I'd welcome it, the thing I hate about this proposition is you can't not qualify for it, that will become stale, hopefully they change that quickly.

 

[cyberman]

We wouldn’t

Of course we would. We won the treble by going to Juve, Inter, Barca, Bayern etc in a season. You telling me if we did that every year you would get bored of it? Not even a super league but by being a force ala Madrid in the CL? Did you lose interest in United when we reached 3 CL finals in 4 years by constantly travelling all over Europe because i tell you what, i miss those days.

 

[11101]

I don't mind the idea. What we are seeing is the orchestrated reaction of some very powerful people being forced out of the gravy train they created for themselves. Look at some of their arguments:


Poor competition? Look at the Champions League. It's become a vanity project for oligarchs. Has there ever been a more uninspiring set of semi finalists than this year? Other than last year.

Greed? The PL has a cheek, after screwing the average fan for three decades. Sky, BT, Amazon all charging extortionate fees and still you can only get half the games. Charging 15 quid a game during the pandemic was the final straw on that one. Remind me again how much a football shirt costs now?

Credibility? UEFA and FIFA lost that years ago. They are blighted by corruption.


The only question they need to address is how teams leave and join the ESL, then it's a winner in my eyes. I doubt it will actually go ahead or is even intended to go ahead, but something is needed to break UEFA and the current football structure and it looks like this might be it.

 

[Fox outside the box]

They might not, but I do; and so do a lot of other fans of the game.

Do you? If clubs like Southampton regularly got in instead of United, would you be celebrating diversity or kicking off? Our fans DEMAND champions kegsue qualification and by default that comes at someone's expense.

Fans done want these clubs qualifying at all. The fact that the champions league would still exist and these teams could then be part of it but people are dismissing that as 'shit' shows you exactly how truthful people are when they say they want these teams to have a chance at European competition.

Imagine for a second that this doesn't go ahead and the teams involved have a 3 year ban from European competitions, their places going to other clubs instead. How popular do you think that would be? Do you think viewing figures would be remotely close to what they have been?

I don't, I don't think fans mean it when they say this at all. It's an empty thing they can say because noone is actually concerned that Southampton will take their team's place.

You think Arsenal fans are lauding the setup and are chuffed for Leicester because they have nicked their spot? No, they are kicking off and crying every single week on TV. If viewing figures dived because of these 15 clubs not being involved then it says a hell of a lot about the fans who claim to care about the competition and these others teams. No, people like to act all high and mighty when it's just words but push comes to shove and these same people won't tune in to see a Southampton vs Roma European semi final. Some would but I bet not half as many as the number who watch City vs Psg.

 

[littlepeasoup]

Do you? If clubs like Southampton regularly got in instead of United, would you be celebrating diversity or kicking off? Our fans DEMAND champions kegsue qualification and by default that comes at someone's expense.

Didn't need to read the rest. Absolute entitled nonsense.

 

[Zlatan 7]

Of course we would. We won the treble by going to Juve, Inter, Barca, Bayern etc in a season. You telling me if we did that every year you would get bored of it? Not even a super league but by being a force ala Madrid in the CL? Did you lose interest in United when we reached 3 CL finals in 4 years by constantly travelling all over Europe because i tell you what, i miss those days.

We play weekly weekend games around England that fans can travel to by car and support the team home or away. We played European matches (3 group games) at different European cities that would be a novelty for fans to travel to, we would then play about 4 knockout games
with a big sense of occasions and also travelling to maybe new cities (Rome, Lyon, Porto).

that will change to travelling to the same European cities week after week to support the team in a made up fake league of ‘top’ teams.

sorry, I can’t see how that’s the same

 

[OleBoiii]

Our fans DEMAND champions kegsue qualification

This might be my favorite spelling error since Dankey Kang.

I'm imagining a huge girl named Sue who chugs entire beer kegs.

 

[devilish]

Domestic leagues will either become irrelevant very quickly, or pushed to the side as a B team, or very quickly participating teams will just be kicked out from them. There's no way it can co-exist IMO.

I think it depends how the FA play this out. If they resist it then the top 6 will leave or be kicked out. More teams will be needed to make this a weekly event so other clubs might be lured in such as Leicester, Leeds and Everton. This will render the EPL as a joke with West Ham competing against the likes of Newcastle for the EPL title.

However if they give their consent then they'll probably have a bigger say and room for negotiation.

 

[golden_blunder]

Seeing United play Madrid/Milan/PSG etc early in the season sounds fantastic until you remember that these "group" games of the Super League will essentially be pointless because the vast majority of the teams will make it to the "knockout phase" regardless.

The whole reason why it feels big for us to play teams like Madrid/Milan PSG etc is because we tend to only play them either in knockout football or in the only game in the CL group stage that actually means anything.

Very good point

if they want to try something different they should change it back to European cup style. The excitement of seeing your local team possibly drawn with a big club was exciting. I guess it didn’t drum up enough money for them though and this is the feeling I get from this “super” league. What’s super about playing madrid multiple times? It’ll get boring quickly and is just a money grab

 

[red4ever 79]

Its a bit meh for me.

When I first heard about it I assumed it took the place of the domestic leagues, that I was against.

I now see that it is replacing the CL, the CL reforms already guaranteed spots. So it's really where we were going anyway. Also it seems there will be qualification spots.

It's obviously shit for leagues like Portugal, who have regularly competed. But some consistent top level competition is interesting to me.

You need to look at the bigger picture here. This will have a profound effect on the Premier league. Let's say on a Wed evening Man Utd have a game against Barca and the winner of that will get top 4 of this superleage and get $ prize money, whatever amount is on offer which I imagine is high.

What do you think Man Utd will do if they have a premier league game a few days before, which is now worth a lot less because there will be no champions league places on the line. Will they a) go full strength for the integrity of the game or b) play a second string and place more emphasis on the midweek game.

 

[Ricardo de la Vega]

I actually can't see a positive of this. Boring midweek games against the same opposition every time for years on end? Not for me.

 

[FortBoyard]

You need to look at the bigger picture here. This will have a profound effect on the Premier league. Let's say on a Wed evening Man Utd have a game against Barca and the winner of that will get top 4 of this superleage and get $ prize money, whatever amount is on offer which I imagine is high.

What do you think Man Utd will do if they have a premier league game a few days before, which is now worth a lot less because there will be no champions league places on the line. Will they a) go full strength for the integrity of the game or b) play a second string and place more emphasis on the midweek game.

Yeah I understand that, but really football has already become predictable in most domestic leagues. The PL still has appeal because it has 4 clubs with wealth.

Germany is dead, France is dead and La Liga is between 3 teams in perpetuity (maybe 2 sooner rather than later).

This is a further progression of something that has already happened, namely the leagues losing competitive edge because of financial doping/strength. The super league would actually be more competitive than the current domestic system, but both are horribly flawed systems.

Hopefully what happens from this is that salary caps and spending caps are introduced. The breakaway clubs lose supporters, phoenix clubs are formed with fan ownership and allowed in the PL from the start of next season.

Imagine a scenario in which all 6 teams reform under fan owned structures with private investors, start a completely new squad in the league next season. It could lure all fans away from the old entity and finally feck the shit system.

 

[Rado_N]

To move to the country that enabled and directly contributed to it. Yeah.

He’s made it quite clear that he doesn’t care about other people so he wouldn’t care about his fellow Syrians cause he’s alright.

Unless he wants to show he’s a hypocrite.

He said he didn’t care about other people, I’m testing that statement to see if he’s truthful or not.

Moral of the story is, don’t be a dick, dick.

You made it quite clear you didn’t care about other people so surely you don’t care about what they say about you either. You were right before, I don’t care about you personally living though it because you made it really easy not to but I do care about the other Syrians that presumably give a shit about other people.

Aren’t you trying to be a fecking counsellor or some shit?

I truly hope nobody ever relies on you to help their mental health, you absolute psychopath.

 

[e.cantona]

I don't mind it much. Was inevitable considering the money. Local fans of these clubs I can understand being frustrated.

Will have the mini super league with second tiers soon enough.

 

[Sarni]

Are you bored of domestic games now or does the novelty of playing Sheff Utd, Norwich, West Brom etc keep the magic alive for you?

Well there's a huge difference for me between watching United v Burnley in a league game and United v Bayern Munich in a CL semifinal. Large part of that is the stake and how often you get to see those games.

 

[vidic blood & sand]

I think if this shit feast went ahead, we would build a brand new stadium to eclipse everyone elses, or spend a fortune putting Old Trafford in a ridiculous party hat.

 

[Ricardo de la Vega]

Yeah I understand that, but really football has already become predictable in most domestic leagues. The PL still has appeal because it has 4 clubs with wealth.

Germany is dead, France is dead and La Liga is between 3 teams in perpetuity (maybe 2 sooner rather than later).

This is a further progression of something that has already happened, namely the leagues losing competitive edge because of financial doping/strength. The super league would actually be more competitive than the current domestic system, but both are horribly flawed systems.

Hopefully what happens from this is that salary caps and spending caps are introduced. The breakaway clubs lose supporters, phoenix clubs are formed with fan ownership and allowed in the PL from the start of next season.

Imagine a scenario in which all 6 teams reform under fan owned structures with private investors, start a completely new squad in the league next season. It could lure all fans away from the old entity and finally feck the shit system.

Dont agree with this at all. Leicester won the league in the UK a few years ago. They're currently third in the league, and West Ham are fourth. There is no "big four" in the UK. Its an incredibly competitive league. If other countries are having difficulty with it then the only solution is a transfer fund annual cap and a salary cap, calculated according to the annual income/turnover of the average of the clubs within that league to create equity between them. I would actually support a UEFA wide move on the same basis for the Champions league - transfer fee and salary caps.

 

[TMDaines]

Still don’t think it will happen, at least not in the guise of a breakaway from UEFA movement.

Certainly interested to see how it all breaks down.

 

[FortBoyard]

Dont agree with this at all. Leicester won the league in the UK a few years ago. They're currently third in the league, and West Ham are fourth. There is no "big four" in the UK. Its an incredibly competitive league. If other countries are having difficulty with it then the only solution is a transfer fund annual cap and a salary cap, calculated according to the annual income/turnover of the average of the clubs within that league to create equity between them. I would actually support a UEFA wide move on the same basis for the Champions league - transfer fee and salary caps.

PL is competitive because United were not able to take Bayern style dominance due to doping of Chelsea and Man City. Therefore the league remains competitive.

 

[cyberman]

Well there's a huge difference for me between watching United v Burnley in a league game and United v Bayern Munich in a CL semifinal. Large part of that is the stake and how often you get to see those games.

We play 2 of the top sides in Europe in Liverpool and City at least twice a season and it wasnt boring? Chelsea?
Itll lose its novelty but it wont be boring. I just cant see that argument.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Why doesn't that happen already with the CL? Or especially, why didn't it happen with the old European Cup?

the super league is 25 games and they could easily expand it to be more. the league counts for nothing if you cant win it. jesus christ can the people in this thread not just think this through

 

[SER19]

Genuinely embarrassing thread

 

[Swiss_Red89]

Everybody can have their own opinion and i respect that.
But in my opinion, if you support this project you don't unterstand the meaning and the culture of european football or football in general.