European Super League

[Skåre Willoch]

On this point, the American sports work in a closed shop environment because colleges are HUGE business and keep up the regular supply of top quality sportsmen ready to take the step into the NFL, NBL etc.

Where do the next generation of footballers come from? Right now, kids play on parks then go to a local junior club then maybe a county team then get spotted by scouts but there are 92 clubs (and non league) to take them in.. they don't all go straight to United or Madrid, plenty take a circuitous route. Without the pyramid (the equivalent breeding ground to US college system), it's done?

Not sure I understand the question.

The reason why the draft works is because of the colleges as you say, and that players are amateurs until declaring for the draft. How would that even work in football? Players are professionals and under contract from the age of 16 in most cases.

The american leagues also have a cap system in place to make it more competitive. Are they considering that in the new league? Will we see free agency, trades and such?

I both enjoy and follow american sports, but the more I think about it, the more I hate the concept of this super league. Just kill it dead.

 

[OmarUnited4ever]

Where is the money for the ESL coming from? I read that it's around 4bn that will be shared by the 15 founding members yearly

 

[DavidDeSchmikes]

Woodward being called out by UEFA. Excellent. Build a fecking bonfire

Neil Ashton has got his work cut out

 

[Dennis Viollet]

Ceferin: "I have seen many things in my life. I was a criminal lawyer. I have never seen people like that. EW called me on Thursday to say he was very satisfied and supported the proposals. He had already signed something else. Agnelli is the biggest disappointment of all."

 

[RobinLFC]

Leicester on course for the League + FA Cup double if this keeps moving forward at this pace.

 

[padr81]

Thanks for that info, I wasn’t aware of that. I suppose the big 4 in England didn’t anticipate the level of competition in the league today, which had made euro football harder to achieve. Of course it wouldn’t be a problem if United and arsenal weren’t so inept this decade.

Yeah oil money came along and it got harder and harder. Then the oil clubs like my own joined the cartel of stepping on the little guys and it became 5 and Spurs (somehow). 6 into 4 doesn't go so more changes to keep the greedy in power. Its kinda sad. Don't get me wrong Uefa and Fifa are rotten to the core and need serious reform or binning off but turns out so are our own clubs. When all this is over I can see Bayern being the big winners.

 

[Piratesoup]

Where is the money for the ESL coming from? I read that it's around 4bn that will be shared by the 15 founding members yearly

Huge TV/streaming deals

 

[Cassidy]

Do you think these 12 clubs are the good guys?

They are better than Uefa

 

[Random Task]

Honestly all the 12 clubs should be threatened to have deducted tons of points if they don't withdraw.

Is that enough?

They should threaten them with immediate and permanent expulsion if they participate in this super league. Combined with access to international football also getting removed, the clubs involved may have a rethink.

 

[Ixion]

If you have a guranteed spot and income then you don't need to invest to keep the team strong. More money for the owners, less expense. That is what this is about, it is nothing to do with getting one over on UEFA or taking football back. It is rich people getting richer for less investment.

 

[foxedup]

Why does everyone think this will happen? It's a US style competition format, nothing else will change.

If they get away with this, you are kidding yourself if you think they won't do more. Games abroad, clubs moving countries or even cities. These yanks come from franchise bull shit where they move teams without a care in the world. Once the "legacy fans" are forgotten what's stopping them.

 

[gerdm07]

If this goes forward it would probably be the end of country cups like the FA Cup, Copa Del Rey, etc... If these teams are committing to 18+ matches in the ESL (10 teams in division and home and away), then room for other cups is sparse.

There is an easy solution and maybe this is just about negotiating a revamped Champions League. The CL expands to 48 clubs and then it is easier for the bigger clubs to be in every year. The group play is expanded to 8 teams giving everyone 14 matches. Countries would have to rethink their own cups and such to limit # matches.

The EPL is so competitive now that some big clubs could miss out in the CL for many continuous years. On the other hand, Real M, Bayern, Barca really never worry about not being in the CL.

With 48 clubs the big 4 leagues, EPL, La Liga, Seria A and Bund., could have 8 entries each year with the remaining 16 spots for the smaller leagues. Of course, they would really have to change the name from "Champions League."

 

[Mickeza]

If true. Brilliant move by them. Putting pressure on players. Now to domestic associations. What will they do?

Yea. Brilliant UEFA and FIFA acting like a monopoly to ensure their corruption continues. What lads they are. Threatening players with their futures.

 

[utdalltheway]

UEFA & FIFA know how to stop the ESL, whether they have the balls or legality to do it is the question. Or can they be bought off too with a sweetener from the ESL?

 

[AltiUn]

This is good news. A Champions League with the likes of Bayern, Porto, Ajax, Napoli, Dortmund, Marseille, Roma, Celtic, Rangers, Benfica, Valencia, Sevilla etc with proper competition and qualification requirements could be more attractive for many than watching the super dull, super greedy clubs playing the same teams over and over again all year for the next 20 years with little/no variation.

Hopefully FIFA/UEFA stick to their guns - if they do, this whole miscalculation could prove ruinous to the American owners of these clubs.

As for the players, yes the financial rewards will be significant, but I'd bet that there will be a significant number of top players who will want to play for the country in a World Cup/Euros/Copa America etc, who will turn their backs on this fiasco.

The new CL sounds dreadful as well, there aren't any winners here.

 

[Mike Smalling]

Bayern stay in UEFA, no chance they join ESL then. Great!

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Impressed with the German clubs. Not having Bayern onboard is surely a massive blow to the Super League?

 

[Ixion]

They are better than Uefa

They're trying to feck over every single team not invited to this club and ruin their own domestic leagues and all the teams under them in those pyramids. They are absolutely not the good guys.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Not necessarily true. They'll still need a competitive product to compete with other sports. Having said that, I wouldn't be surprised to see many more 'trades' of the best players to keep things competitive amongst the league. May as well just go the WWE route and have things decided before so drama is guaranteed.

I’m talking about the domestic league. Why spend big for the chance of winning the PL when you can languish in mid-table with guaranteed megabucks rolling in from the SL?

 

[golden_blunder]

So, how many of our players will have their contracts cancelled and can walk for free?

Cya Bruno, Bye Pogba. Sayonara Rashford.

I was wondering that myself

 

[SwedishFish]

Do you think these 12 clubs are the good guys?

No, both of the sides are greedy bastards that want more money to broadcast a pretty much closed-up shop. This scenario is almost the same either way it goes.

I'm largely indifferent to what happens because I think football has been fecked by finances for a very very long time and I don't think a Super League changes things to the extremes that some like to believe due to the media coverage.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Impressed with the German clubs. Not having Bayern onboard is surely a massive blow to the Super League?

Maybe they also care about their fans and the reaction they would get.

 

[Cassidy]

They're trying to feck over every single team not invited to this club and ruin their own domestic leagues and all the teams under them in those pyramids. They are absolutely not the good guys.

I don't necessarily agree with that having read everything, but it is shady yes. Any more shady than Uefa no

 

[red4ever 79]

Woodward being Woodward, smarmy little money obsessed worm.

Parasite just like the owners bled the club dry and destroying our heritage

 

[::sonny::]

Bayern stay in UEFA, no chance they join ESL then. Great!

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mia san mia

 

[SwedishFish]

I was wondering that myself

You can't honestly believe that players will walk out?

 

[spiriticon]

You can remove the titles but you can't erase the memories so that's pointless.

It's the owners that need removing but that's pretty much impossible to do, unfortunately we are one of the many groups of fans that have lost our club. United hasn't been a fans club for over 20 years but we still held on to some of our identity, today that identity and the history are in complete tatters as the Glazers finally get what they set out for from day one. The cash pig has potentially found them a bottomless pit, not content with a vast amounts of money made in the Premier League and Champions league they want their cakes and eat it.

I actually feel slightly ashamed at what has become of United, but part of me isn't surprised in the slightest. Liverpool on the other hand have been happy with how FSG have been running the ship so today has been like a hammer blow to the head for them.

You can't erase the memories of those who lived through it. But you can change the perceptions of the future generations. If the records consistently say that United never won the treble, in time that will be the accepted fact.

History is whatever is written in the official record books.

 

[Drawfull]

Plot twist: games will eventually be moved to the weekend for perfect US and ASIA times. Or even worse, the games will just be played in those countries.

Plot twists are supposed to catch you off guard.

 

[Dennis Viollet]

I'm disgusted

 

[horsechoker]

Bayern stay in UEFA, no chance they join ESL then. Great!

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#Baymain

 

[Luffy]

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This is getting ridiculous

So there is a risk that we are moved to Florida and are rebranded as Tampa Bay Mancunians?

 

[pascell]

The 8% need a slap

The 8% are probably the owners and directors of 12 'founding' teams

 

[DavidDeSchmikes]

Maybe they also care about their fans and the reaction they would get.

 

[Gehrman]

Is that enough?

They should threaten them with immediate and permanent expulsion if they participate in this super league. Combined with access to international football also getting removed, the clubs involved may have a rethink.

Probably right, I just still a bit too attached to the club to see them being expelled all together.

 

[Devil may care]

“Devil may care said:
The clubs are destroying their own domestic leagues and that will cripple the divisions below them, it's not about good and evil it's about the degrees of the latter, what these clubs are doing is so self centered it's indefensible on any level and worse than UEFA.”

Agree, and I am very sad that Utd are involved in this. It’s probably the start of the end of lower league football and is of the utmost greed. Obviously talks with Sky , clubs, agents has been going on for some time. Disgrace !!

Shameful day for world football.

The most disheartening thing is we are not only involved, we are a primary driving force.

 

[sullydnl]

Ceferin: "I have seen many things in my life. I was a criminal lawyer. I have never seen people like that. EW called me on Thursday to say he was very satisfied and supported the proposals. He had already signed something else. Agnelli is the biggest disappointment of all."

Worth noting that Ceferin is godfather to Agnelli's daughter.

 

[Nogbadthebad]

I was wondering that myself

The ban from international football is a clear material change to contracts.

I suspect the likes of Raiola already have their legal teams on it.

 

[peridigm]

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This is getting ridiculous

Wait, is this a belated April Fools joke?

 

[utdalltheway]

With all the extra money the ESL clubs will either have two “1st teams” to play both domestic competitions and ESL games.
Or an team A team and B team. That’s if UEFA allows this to go forward.

 

[justsomebloke]

You actually think UEFA are the good guys in this scenario... My days.

What, you think we live in a binary world where there's always good guys and bad guys? Or that UEFA's awfulness means anyone opposing them are automatically correspondingly better? No matter how bad you think UEFA is, it doesn't make the ESL any better.

 

[Ixion]

I have supported United my entire life, like my Mother before me, gone to more games than I can count, they are one of the most important things to me, and would be delighted to see us relegated out of the Football League over this. That is how awful this decision is and how far removed from the club I've grown up following we have become.