I assume it's greed from the US owners of Utd, Liverpool, and Arsenal; desperation from Juve, Inter, Milan, Real and Barca; Chelsea and City deciding they're better off part of the gang than stuck outside; and Spurs being delighted someone invited them to the party
European Super League
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
It’s worth remembering these clubs have come out in unison. If they weren’t committed and the contract was not legally binding I doubt they’d all be trusting each other not to backtrack at the first sign of public backlash.
Neville may have been right on his Glazer comment, when that man signs something it’s happening. Utterly depressing and only a huge rallying fight will prevent this. Players fans managers across the board.
Neville may have been right on his Glazer comment, when that man signs something it’s happening. Utterly depressing and only a huge rallying fight will prevent this. Players fans managers across the board.
At the end of the day, it's football, not a primary sector. That'd be the silliest move of all time.
They've already let the foreign owners in.
What’s evident to me by watching this SL creation and some comments on the internet is that people grossly overate the reach of fans half way across the world whilst massively under rating the impact of local and U.K. based fans.
The overwhelming majority of tv and matchday money comes from the U.K. The sky and Bt packages not China, not america, in fact China didn’t even bother paying for the last tv rights deal they purchased and so the PL cancelled it. And China pay the most outside of the U.K. for Pl football.
Theres an idea going around that us in the U.K. have no say and that fans in America and China will cough up the cash and deliver the finance the owners want. The company giving them these down payments are banking on this idea too.
Im not naive enough to conclusively say local and U.K. fans will turn away from the SL.
There’s still enough cnuts (yes that’s what you are if you embrace this ) to be buying these packages and turning up at games.
But if they do turn away the whole thing is dead and buried.
People already folk out loads to get Prem coverage here, they’re not gonna empty their pockets more for a product they don’t want. Contrary to popular belief 50 thousand Chinese and Americans aren’t going to be turning up at Old Trafford and the San Siro every week for SL games.
NFL is still by a distance the most popular sport in America and their grounds aren’t full for a lot of the regular season games.
That Perez interview really sounded like a satire piece from the Onion. The man was on a trip.
Any news from John Terry? IIRC he is the president of this pitch owning company?
The reason of European football at top level being such a huge business is because of its worldwide appeal. No fans from other part of world would fanzy to watch Marseille vs Wolfsburg, there would only be local fans watching. Also, since the big TV money and sponsors etc would no longer be there, these clubs would not be able to generate big income to attract big players. The only way to survive is to develop their own youth and sell them at higher price to those from super league. Sadly, this will be the future of those clubs.
Yep this is a point I made before as well - same with the MLB, NBA, etc. Basically you now fully surrender a team/club to nothing but the money and only glory hunting matters. A lot of games I went to in those leagues have folks showing up midway and talking through the whole thing while drinking extremely expensive beer and eating overpriced nachos and hot dogs while being more focused on each other and talking than the actual game. That's why I've always loved college sports a lot more because the students ensure that there actually is some true dedication and passion behind the team as well.
Yeah but there cant be a legally binding contract to a competition that doesnt exist yet. It's a pre-agreement to join, and there's no way they won't have exit clauses. These people are not stupid.
Perez is desperate here, he's the only one whos club's financial future fully depends on the Super League going ahead and on no one getting cold feet and walking away. Well, him and Barca.
He knows the clubs won't care about empty threats of banning. But I think he's trying to spook some of the players into threatening to leave, that might get some of the clubs attention depending on the players.
To add some clarity on Inter and AC Milan's situations, Inter may be financially stable, but they aren't earning lots of cash like their bigger counterparts outside of Italy. They've spent lots of money last summer in order to challenge for trophies, but this has meant that they're struggling to save up some cash. The SL allows them a huge injection of instant cash to be able to spend more and grow bigger as a result. Inter's owners, Suning, were even looking for new investors since a few months ago in order to finance the club's growth.
AC Milan are owned by Elliot Management, who are as vile as they come with regards to making money. They'll obviously be all for the SL as it gives them massive short-term benefits. It'll also allow them to sell the club at a much higher value if they are ever compelled to spend more money to grow the club.
Spurs are most likely involved because of their massive debts due to the new stadium and the opportunity costs due to the pandemic. They missed out on making money by hosting NFL matches and other events at their new stadium. The SL would massively help them in addressing their debt as well as allowing them to spend way more than they currently do.
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I hear you sure they'd have the name and stadium but they'd effectively be starting from scratch with no players and no league place.
You would know better than me but I doubt it plays out like that. Chelsea have the statement about their intention to join the SL on their site, they obviously don't envisage many problems going forward with it.
Shorter games? Please tell me that one's a wind-up 
Anyone remember the old (I think) Budweiser ad with half time monster truck shows and added time multi-ball?
Anyone remember the old (I think) Budweiser ad with half time monster truck shows and added time multi-ball?
I’d take Europa League over this Super League BS.
I’m so confused by Tottenham’s inclusion. You’ve got the new money in chelsea and City. I get it. You’ve got the 3 biggest teams in English history in ourselves, Liverpool and Arsenal. What are Tottenham doing there? Might as well get Wolves or West Ham.
Shorter games was just a thing he mentioned. Nothing serious. He was speaking about how the new generations react to boring games instead of the big ones. And it's true, sadly.
Dunno, feels like there's an enormous game of chicken going on right now. Those leaked reports about this being something that pushed to a conclusion very quickly make it seem like the clubs didn't all have their ducks lined up perfectly in a row. Maybe its just me being optimistic, but I think this is far from a done deal.
Would not be adverse to the champions league changing and becoming a league instead of a knockout competition. The idea that these big clubs think they can decide to change the format of football is gobsmacking though. I hope they get absolutely shafted including getting booted out of all competitions. They maybe should be relegated to the lowest division in the league system aswell.
More than any other club I am surprised that City have gone along with this. City are essentially a UAE state-owned enterprise, people associate their actions directly with the global image of the UAE. Along with Emirates and Etihad, Man City is probably the most important and visible symbol of their country overseas.
This is a public relations and potentially diplomatic nightmare for them if the British government decides to start taking action. On the other hand, it could be quite a PR coup now if they lead an exodus of 2-3 clubs out of the ESL and bring the whole thing down. I would be unsurprised if Khaldoon Al Mubarak is already seeing the opportunity here.
Fascinating stuff...
This is a public relations and potentially diplomatic nightmare for them if the British government decides to start taking action. On the other hand, it could be quite a PR coup now if they lead an exodus of 2-3 clubs out of the ESL and bring the whole thing down. I would be unsurprised if Khaldoon Al Mubarak is already seeing the opportunity here.
Fascinating stuff...
Me too mate, sadly I think it's happening. For all the grief it gets the Europa is a good competition.
Based on what Perez said I really think he just wants to scare off uefa. His quotes doesn't make a sense. He was just saying random stuff imo.
If this is the grand plan for a new revolutionary competition he couldn't have done worse in that interview.
No clear plan. Maybe there will a second division? Shorter matches? Who does he think he is? He's not even the owner of the club.
If this is the grand plan for a new revolutionary competition he couldn't have done worse in that interview.
No clear plan. Maybe there will a second division? Shorter matches? Who does he think he is? He's not even the owner of the club.
Most reports said that they reluctantly joined just because they were told they would be left behind, not that they actually wanted to join. They indeed have no reason to be in this at all.
From those tweets I interpreted it as City and Chelsea didn't want to go public with it so soon. But if they're this far in then they've been talking about it for years, I've no doubt both clubs want it. Or at least don't want to not be in it.
Monster truck 5 a-sideShorter games? Please tell me that one's a wind-up
Anyone remember the old (I think) Budweiser ad with half time monster truck shows and added time multi-ball?
The two clubs have the most to gain in terms of instant access to major money when they have not had much of any European pedigree.Arsenal and Spurs
Arsenal are having second thought about being the whipping boys of ESL and Spurs are still confused why they are being pulled into this
Besides, these two clubs were the founding breakaway clubs that formed the PL>
I am from India. In my opinion, there are two types of fans here. The first type, like me, would remain awake at 3am to watch Utd play in carabao cup. We are genuinely disgusted by this proposed American way of football which ends free and fair competition. But there are a lot of people here who would only watch football when they have heard Messi or Ronaldo is playing tonight or a so called big game in UCL is on tv. I think ESL would be hugely popular among these casual viewers.
Translation: shorter games so we can sneak in more commercials/advertising like we can in the NBA/NFL/NHL/MLBShorter games? Please tell me that one's a wind-up
Anyone remember the old (I think) Budweiser ad with half time monster truck shows and added time multi-ball?
Yeah, but as the government they do ultimately have the power to actually do things, even if the inclination is typically lacking. From a political standpoint the unpopularity of this makes it a good way to score points with the public. Obciously theres a lot you can do short of nationlisation as well, again, if the inclination is there.
You just have to look at the IPL and how successful its been and I am sure it inspired the Big 12 to look at competition differently.
Casual viewers are a weak foundation though. Its what killed the soccer leagues in the US back in the 70's that was propped up by famous former greats like Pele and Beckenbauer playing with complete amateurs without much in the way of domestic development. The novelty wears off and the casual watcher watches something else.
If it's true, they would be my guess. The owners of the other clubs would've used the "join or be left behind" leverage to push them to join, which is no doubt what they tried to do with Bayern, Dortmund, and PSG. The longer they are left dangling in the wind with 12 teams instead of 15 the more likely one of those two pulls back from the brink. There's no risk of being "left behind" if the ESL can't get to 15 permanent members.
There's no way that United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs, the Spanish clubs, or the Italian clubs will bail first. Based on losses from last season, United are in by far the best position financially of the 12, but the Glazers are drivers of this scheme.
It is once you’re in the latter stages. Our quarter final with Dortmund at Anfield is one of my favourite memories under Klopp.
Also gives a good excuse for fans to go to random places they wouldn’t normally go.
It certainly seems like their paricular brand of contempt for anything but personal gain.
Indeed. What else would we expect from the scumbags who bought United with other people's money and placing all the risk on the club, not themselves? Guaranteeing increasing returns without having to worry about their mismanagement impacting finances is heaven for them.
Getting to this a bit late, and really can't be arsed reading through 220 pages. Can anyone bring me up to speed? I've seen a few comments in here saying governments will have to strike down, and it's anti-competitive etc.
What interest would the FA have in punishing say United for playing in the Super League instead of the CL/EL? Also, how is adding more competition (its currently a monopoly, no?) anti-competetive?
What interest would the FA have in punishing say United for playing in the Super League instead of the CL/EL? Also, how is adding more competition (its currently a monopoly, no?) anti-competetive?
Contrary to what they say, I genuinely think a lot of these owners only think about the short term profits, banking as much as they can, and if it collapses in the future, they just sell off and go, or leave the institutions to rot, with the clubs really being the ones that suffer, not them.
This is basically killing football. It kills the domestic competition because even if the six want to participate in the Premier League, what's the point if the places are already assigned? This is a philosophical difference between football as a sport vs football as finance.
If the whole thing falls apart, then I fully expect us to the last English side to give-up on it - us or Arsenal anyway. I wouldn't be all that surprised if Liverpool fold relatively quickly like with the furlough stuff.
Thing changed drastically, especially with technology. Now they can get in your face with all kind of ad.
Pele and Beckenbauer may be the biggest name in world football, but they are no celebrities the way thing looks today. They failed to sell soccer to the Americans back then is understandable. Nowadays, there are celebrity footballers that draw more crowd than their on the pitch performance. Adding to that with today celebrity culture, they would use celebrity of different fields to help push this new league. Then you add video game, social media... We're talking about players in their prime here, not Pele and his exhibition games against pub level opposition, or over the hill Beckenbauer.
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I know. Bloody Glazer. The vice chairman of the super league. Bastards.