Players & managers react to the Super League

[drdoityourself]

We are hoping for players past and present to speak up, but those who do are just dragged down.
Beckham can't comment because he owns an MLS franchise.
Figo can't comment because he left Barca for Real.
Herrera can't comment because he signed for Qatar money.

David Beckham taking time to address this is a big thing, even this MLS stick to beat him with doesn't make sense to me. The MLS is in line with American traditions and his involvement there has no bearing on his right to an opinion on this debacle. Seen Barry Glendenning and some other miserable journalists go down this route of dismissing these former players opinions.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Fair play to Milner. Even though he played for our rivals you can't help to like him.

 

[GifLord]

@GifLord do you have the clip of Milner's comments? Best from anyone connected to the toxic 6 so far.



Damn, even Atalanta are taking shots at Spurs and Arsenal's inclusion.

 

[TrustInOle]

It’s absolute nonsense. “You earned a living from football. You therefore forfeit any right to have an opinion on the future of the sport”. WTF?

Said the same thing to @Mainoldo, the reason they are looked at as role models is because 99% of them started of in our shoes. These days instead of commending someone for their achievements, we have to find a way to bring them down to. This train of though has a heavy presence on here these days. Very strange.

 

[TrustInOle]

Eder at *Googles where he plays*

Scorer of goal.
Saviour of football.

 

[Ferguson’s Hairdryer]

How does Fergie's reaction square with the fact that he's still got an official role at the club ?

Think SAF reaction is not real.

 

[TrustInOle]

Who has the power to topple this?

Pep at City?
Messi at Barca?


I dont think any one person apart from them 2 have the power.

Maybe ramos at Madrid?

I would say Sir Alex too, as a statement from him would go along way for fans and I suspect many inside the club too. But given people's reaction to other figures speaking out, I'm not so sure now.

 

[Pow]

I would say Sir Alex too, as a statement from him would go along way for fans and I suspect many inside the club too. But given people's reaction to other figures speaking out, I'm not so sure now.

Fergie Bobby Charlton either of them.
As it stands we are left looking at pep
We've already seen Messi vs barca and Messi lost

 

[Dirty Schwein]

I would say Sir Alex too, as a statement from him would go along way for fans and I suspect many inside the club too. But given people's reaction to other figures speaking out, I'm not so sure now.

SAF doesn't have the right to say shit. He happily watched United grow into a financial juggernaut and isn't in the game anymore. I'm being sarcastic if it's not obvious but I can already imagine people saying shit like this.

 

[Cascarino]

Just like all the other working men earning £100k+ a week.
Loving all the faux-outrage.

You’ve painfully misconstrued Austin’s comment

 

[FlawlessThaw]

It's great when existing players and managers are reacting to this but demanding they do is a bit much for me. There are a lot of ramifications for them to consider and we are still all processing what this all means.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

I would prefer if people left opinions out of this (myself included) and ONLY posted the player/manager reactions. There are plenty more threads out there to talk opinions on the matter.

Completely agree with this. I’m seeing the same posts here as I do in the other threads.

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

"Hi guys, hope you don't mind but we have signed you all up to a plastic league that will involve you travelling to Europe every midweek while also ensuring you never get to play for your countries ever again. Have a nice day."

I literally won’t be surprised if that was indeed his pitch about this pathetic European super league

 

[dave1956]

Ramifications for players and managers is the same as the rest of us if we disagree with our compnay's policy, we resign or we continue in post.
Now if we take the 6 English clubs first team squads that is around 120 players. Now if they all said this move breeches their contracts of employments, making them null and void so we are (a) resigning ( b) with drawing our labour. (c) free agents to approach other clubs.
What could the clubs do, bring legal actions for breech of contract, ( expensive and time consuming ), fine them, difficult if no longer under contract plus I would expect more expensive and time consuming legal actions.
The legal arguments could tie up the clubs for a long time, plus the problem of completing the footballing commitments with again legal consequences.
In fact the power to stop this is within the hands of the players of these clubs if they have the strength to carry them through.

 

[hobbers]

I would be really interested in learning what provisions are put into players contracts about being contracted to play in newly formed competitions.

Obviously player bonuses and payments and obligations revolve around the competitions that existed when they signed. Is there any provision that forces them to represent the club in matches that are unrecognised in the contract they signed? Presumably clubs would have to update their current contracts with all their players to stipulate bonuses based on SL performance rather than CL qualification, for example.

 

[Devil may care]

Cheers mate, big respect to Milner for his no nonsense response.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

Ander Herrera left United because of pay didnt he? and then joined a team thats deep in financial doping. The absolute cheek of him.

No.

He left because Woodward activated his contract extension by post and our manager at the time had no conversations with him about his future at the club.

The cheek of us.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Despite playing for 3 horrible clubs I’ve always had a soft spot for Boring James Milner.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

Fair play to him.

 

[Harry190]

Ramifications for players and managers is the same as the rest of us if we disagree with our compnay's policy, we resign or we continue in post.
Now if we take the 6 English clubs first team squads that is around 120 players. Now if they all said this move breeches their contracts of employments, making them null and void so we are (a) resigning ( b) with drawing our labour. (c) free agents to approach other clubs.
What could the clubs do, bring legal actions for breech of contract, ( expensive and time consuming ), fine them, difficult if no longer under contract plus I would expect more expensive and time consuming legal actions.
The legal arguments could tie up the clubs for a long time, plus the problem of completing the footballing commitments with again legal consequences.
In fact the power to stop this is within the hands of the players of these clubs if they have the strength to carry them through.

The players like the ESL. They have everything to gain from it. They make more money. It's easier to fight against their national football federations than it is to quit the most prestigious group of football clubs in the world.

Some of them will stay stuff to placate the fans who are opposed to it but this, in the absolute, increases their standing.

They've won the lottery.

 

[Cascarino]

The players like the ESL. They have everything to gain from it. They make more money. It's easier to fight against their national football federations than it is to quit the most prestigious group of football clubs in the world.

Some of them will stay stuff to placate the fans who are opposed to it but this, in the absolute, increases their standing.

They've won the lottery.

You're extrapolating your own thoughts on the ESL onto the players.
You're allowed to be on board, but most people involved in the game are going to be against it.

 

[NewGlory]

Joining a rival team is still part of a competitive sport. It went against one group of fans, not all fans everywhere.

Destroying the very foundations of competition is on another universe altogether.

100%

 

[Tapori]

It’s absolute nonsense. “You earned a living from football. You therefore forfeit any right to have an opinion on the future of the sport”. WTF?

You suggest how to make society better and yet you participate in it?

 

[Harry190]

You're extrapolating your own thoughts on the ESL onto the players.
You're allowed to be on board, but most people involved in the game are going to be against it.

Basically, isn't everyone extrapolating?
I'm just following the money, it's an almost failproof formula.

 

[Cascarino]

Basically, isn't everyone extrapolating?
I'm just following the money, it's an almost failproof formula.

That's a fair point.

 

[Cheimoon]

The players like the ESL. They have everything to gain from it. They make more money. It's easier to fight against their national football federations than it is to quit the most prestigious group of football clubs in the world.

Some of them will stay stuff to placate the fans who are opposed to it but this, in the absolute, increases their standing.

They've won the lottery.

Has anyone currently in football as a coach of player come out in favour yet though? I think I've only read negative comments so far. And I mean 100% negative comments.

 

[Abizzz]

The players like the ESL. They have everything to gain from it. They make more money. It's easier to fight against their national football federations than it is to quit the most prestigious group of football clubs in the world.

Some of them will stay stuff to placate the fans who are opposed to it but this, in the absolute, increases their standing.

They've won the lottery.

They're kidding themselves if they think this and their agents can't possibly be that stupid. If these 12-15 clubs create a closed shop there's nothing in their way to limit player salaries like all US teams do. The purpose will be to maximise profits for the owners and they won't be doing that by increasing player salaries (Which is already the highest expense of these "corporations").

 

[Tony247]

This is a brilliant well thought strike on Premier League dominance by the spanish and italians. How PL clubs fell for it I don't understand. ESL go ahead they win, if British gov clip the wings of rich PL clubs then they still win.

PL elites never desperately needed ESL. It is their extra greed. Those who really need are the italians who are financially hit and spanish duo whose empire is truly rattled in last 4 - 5 years or so. When (not if ) Saudis buy another PL club then it would be anothet nail in the coffin of spanish and italians. This ESL is a masterstroke.

Srupid PL owners. Back off now before it is too late.

 

[BaillyBaillyBailly]

It will be interesting to see if any of the major players/managers band together (behind the backs of their clubs, just as the clubs did to them and fans) and come out against this. It is feasible (not likely, but feasible) that the below outspoken players could form the leadership of a group that speaks out against this. For the players and managers they will be paid astronomical wages whether they are in a Super League or whether they play in the Champions League. I get that the pay for them would increase, but I do think some players still have base level morals. Imagine the power of the following group of players speaking out:
United: Rashford/Bruno/Pogba
City: Pep/KdB/Sterling
Liverpool: Henderson/Van Dijk/Salah/Klopp/Mane
Chelsea: Pulisic
Arsenal: Aubameyang
Tottenham: Kane/Son
Juve: Pirlo/RONALDO
Inter: Conte/Lukaku
AC Milan: Ibrahimovic
Real: Zidane/Modric/Ramos
Barca: Pique/MESSI
Atleti: Simeone/Suarez

If you take that group they represent virtually every corner of the globe Europeans (Kane, Ramos, Pogba etc), Asians (Son), Americans (Pulisic), Middle East (Salah), Africa (Mane/Auba). They hold huge weight, if they spoke out against this the Super League would lose all gravitas very very quickly.

Do you guys think this is possible or do you think the clubs hold too much power over the players? They would have to ensure they were all in together before going public with their views on it because otherwise they would risk having their contracts terminated.

 

[Halftrack]

SAF doesn't have the right to say shit. He happily watched United grow into a financial juggernaut and isn't in the game anymore. I'm being sarcastic if it's not obvious but I can already imagine people saying shit like this.

Saw a lot of that on twitter, actually. "He took the Glazer's money and defended them, how dare he comment!" type stuff.

 

[BaillyBaillyBailly]

Saw a lot of that on twitter, actually. "He took the Glazer's money and defended them, how dare he comment!" type stuff.

He defended the Glazers because at the time they were his employer. If he started mouthing off against them he would have been asked to leave (Wenger style).

 

[Halftrack]

He defended the Glazers because at the time they were his employer. If he started mouthing off against them he would have been asked to leave (Wenger style).

Of course. The guy was protecting the club, trying to avoid unnecessary noise and distractions.

 

[shokaran]

as a football fan in this situation considering the personality of the guy who started all of this story I see all games between big games becomes Pay Per View which means none of us can watch except wealthy people! All good players dream to join any of bigger teams and leave lower teams so I think Super League is not a right name ! I call it "Suffer League"!!

 

[Harry190]

Has anyone currently in football as a coach of player come out in favour yet though? I think I've only read negative comments so far. And I mean 100% negative comments.

People didn't come out in favour of Brexit. No was a foregone conclusion back then.
People didn't come out in favour of Trump in 2016. A Hilary Clinton presidency was a foregone conclusion back then.

Yet.

 

[Abizzz]

People didn't come out in favour of Brexit. No was a foregone conclusion back then.
People didn't come out in favour of Trump in 2016. A Hilary Clinton presidency was a foregone conclusion back then.

Yet.

I must've imagined UKIP

 

[Harry190]

I must've imagined UKIP

UKIP, the biggest and most popular party in England.

 

[red4ever 79]

Fair play to him.

Fair play to him. Would like to see some Utd players (apart from Bruno) have some balls and say something, even if it is just a tweet.

 

[Abizzz]

UKIP, the biggest and most popular party in England.

They may not be, and I may hate them, but they're still people!

 

[NinjaZombie]

This is a brilliant well thought strike on Premier League dominance by the spanish and italians. How PL clubs fell for it I don't understand. ESL go ahead they win, if British gov clip the wings of rich PL clubs then they still win.

PL elites never desperately needed ESL. It is their extra greed. Those who really need are the italians who are financially hit and spanish duo whose empire is truly rattled in last 4 - 5 years or so. When (not if ) Saudis buy another PL club then it would be anothet nail in the coffin of spanish and italians. This ESL is a masterstroke.

Srupid PL owners. Back off now before it is too late.

This is what I don't get. The English clubs finally have caught up and arguably overtook the Spanish and Italians, which was unfathomable back in the 90s when I started watching football.

Back then you got Lazio, Real Betis etc break world records fees to buy Christian Vieri and Denilson. Now the a majority of the best players in the world play in the Premier League. Instead of English clubs taking players who'd failed in Serie A (Henry, Bergkamp) now players deemed surplus by Premier League clubs like Lukaku, Sanchez etc are being sold to Italy.

It's such a stupid move from a footballing perspective so I can only conclude that the owners of the English clubs are not interested in the footballing side of things

 

[Tapori]

This is a brilliant well thought strike on Premier League dominance by the spanish and italians. How PL clubs fell for it I don't understand. ESL go ahead they win, if British gov clip the wings of rich PL clubs then they still win.

PL elites never desperately needed ESL. It is their extra greed. Those who really need are the italians who are financially hit and spanish duo whose empire is truly rattled in last 4 - 5 years or so. When (not if ) Saudis buy another PL club then it would be anothet nail in the coffin of spanish and italians. This ESL is a masterstroke.

Srupid PL owners. Back off now before it is too late.

This is their problem.
If their saviour is the ESL but the Gov clip the PL 6 and the PL 6 are forced to withdraw - Where does that leave these 6 Serie A and La Liga team's finances then?