If the super league happens, will you still support Man United? Now with added poll

[K Stand Knut]

What does the poll mean by support????

I don’t think I’ll go anymore but I’ll still ‘support’ them

 

[Oggmonster]

Surprised by the poll results tbh. It’s not possible to be as emotionally invested in this club, in football in general and the development of young talents like Greenwood or Rashford then just stop watching completely. When the games are on you all know you’ll be watching. Don’t kid yourself. It’s inevitable. You might hate yourself for doing it but you will.

I dunno, plenty of people have become distant from football for the last few years that I know, myself included. Used to watch every game that was on, go to every home game etc. Now I'm just not that bothered, before this really I just think it's become so distant from the fans and this is the final straw stuff for me. I just lose interest more and more every day. I think part of the problem is I work with a load of City fans and they constantly talk about the business side of football (FFP, inevitably this etc) and it really just killed my interest massively.

 

[Craig Ward]

Surprised by the poll results tbh. It’s not possible to be as emotionally invested in this club, in football in general and the development of young talents like Greenwood or Rashford then just stop watching completely. When the games are on you all know you’ll be watching. Don’t kid yourself. It’s inevitable. You might hate yourself for doing it but you will.

I'm surprised it's not a higher percentage of no.

If any true footballing fan gives this any time of day or money, then they aren't football fans at all.

This can be stopped. Players can refuse, managers can quit. The broadcasters can decline to show games - they already invest billions into good products across Europe.

This league wont get an incline of support from me - I wouldnt watch any of the games even if they were free to air, let alone spend a penny on it. I will lose all respect for any staff member or player of this club who participates in any form.

 

[Mike Smalling]

It is still a bit too soon to tell, but I don't think I will. It is just as much about being driven away from football entirely though.

Just in the last 5-10 years we have seen:
- The emergence and dominance of oil-clubs like City and PSG
- The absolute shit-show that is VAR
- Qatar being handed the World Cup through obvious bribery resulting in thousands of dead migrant workers
- Changes to international football, like adding 8 teams to the Euros and the pointless Nations League
- And now the soul-sucking concept of the ESL

If this trend continues, it will soon be hard to follow football at all.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I'm surprised it's not a higher percentage of no.

If any true footballing fan gives this any time of day or money, then they aren't football fans at all.

This can be stopped. Players can refuse, managers can quit. The broadcasters can decline to show games - they already invest billions into good products across Europe.

This league wont get an incline of support from me - I wouldnt watch any of the games even if they were free to air, let alone spend a penny on it. I will lose all respect for any staff member or player of this club who participates in any form.

Yes but that's not part of the question. Given it presupposes the SL happening, that would mean that the 15 clubs, their employees, players and managers are fully behind the program. And given nobody is going to consent to this if they are barred from other competitions like WCs and Euros, you have to assume that the SL is going to be somewhat accepted too.

 

[Godfather]

Surprised by the poll results tbh. It’s not possible to be as emotionally invested in this club, in football in general and the development of young talents like Greenwood or Rashford then just stop watching completely. When the games are on you all know you’ll be watching. Don’t kid yourself. It’s inevitable. You might hate yourself for doing it but you will.

This. I'd lie to myself if I'd vote no.

 

[Alan Partridge]

It won’t even require any concerted effort on my part, this will truly kill my interest in the sport. It’s been on the wane for some time now, what with the ever increasing abhorrent financial nature of the so-called “sport”. This really throws the small aspects that kept my utter disinterest as bay right out the window. It’s homestly very sad for me, footballs always been something there for me regardless of what I’m going through. Future generations will never have what we had. It’s a crime against the people.

 

[Hughes35]

I couldn't be a Utd fan anymore if this went ahead. I would be very very sad but I really would walk away and start to support Burnley or maybe Everton.

The real dilemma for me is if the ELS doesn't go ahead. I do feel differently about the club now. They clearly don't give a feck about the fans or about football so why should we care about them?

The teams who have said yes to this should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[Rake]

I voted "Yes" because I`m not that invested in football anymore and it almost does not matter to me if we are in the CL, ESL or whatever.

 

[DWelbz19]

Of course. I probably wouldn't be anywhere near as emotive watching, nor would I be as invested, but I'd still absolutely carry on supporting the club I've supported my entire life.

I think I was gradually lessening in my interest in football as I'm now starting to adult a lot more, but COVID brought a halt to everything and the constant football everywhere drew me back in. I think this proposal will start pulling me back out.

 

[Pogba's Barber]

#UnfollowYourClub

What can we do as fans? A simple yet effective action if you disagree with United signing up to the Super League could be to unfollow all of the Club's social media channels en masse. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and whatever else there might be - unfollow them! (from what I've seen, they have been pretty quiet since this was announced, so you wont be missing much anyway) We know the number of followers/subscribers are an important commercial indicator for Woodward and the business boffins, and we can have an impact on this.

Keep supporting the players and their personal channels.

How do I get a hashtag trending to encourage fans of the other 12 clubs to do the same?

 

[Dr. StrangeHate]

Lot of fair weather fans in here who only support the team when its good and leave as soon as it gets plastic.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I'm surprised it's not a higher percentage of no.

If any true footballing fan gives this any time of day or money, then they aren't football fans at all.

This can be stopped. Players can refuse, managers can quit. The broadcasters can decline to show games - they already invest billions into good products across Europe.

This league wont get an incline of support from me - I wouldnt watch any of the games even if they were free to air, let alone spend a penny on it. I will lose all respect for any staff member or player of this club who participates in any form.

I hope it can be stopped. I want it stopped. Although I can’t say that without thinking back to the Glazer takeover. I bought the shares, signed the petition, talked tough talk about how they had ruined the club I loved. Yet here we are.

I lacked the courage of the conviction of the FCUoM fans back then, so I’m fairly sure I’ll lack it again this time. No worries if you feel differently. I just wonder how long those passionate feelings will last, that’s all.

 

[FireballXL5]

VAR has pretty much killed off any lingering enjoyment I was getting out of football. I don't even know what a handball or offside is anymore ffs.
This garbage will be the final nail in the coffin for me.

 

[Craig Ward]

Lot of fair weather fans in here who only support the team when its good and leave as soon as it gets plastic.

Mate, stop talking utter rubbish.

You think we support utd for the glory these days? we've been a shambles for 8 years.....

We support the club because we want it to be great again.

This super league kills the club

 

[red_de_pologne]

Couldn’t be bothered to support in the way I do now. There would be no genuine emotions involved. Imagine supporting a team that can only play friendlies, how boring it would get.
Not to mention, to know the club stands for wiping 100+ years of history and making it an American system based sport with no relegation and promotion? I’d probably choose a different club to follow outside of Elysium.

 

[MoskvaRed]

I’ve been losing interest gradually over the last few years and I fear this move to a closed-shop franchise model will kill any remaining enthusiasm. I also would not be remotely surprised to see the club’s remaining links with the city of Manchester loosened. There are much sexier, more global cities out there which no doubt will offer a pot of cash for a full or at least partial relocation of the franchise.

It’s truly embarrassing that the club of Busby and Ferguson has been a prime instigator of this stitch up. The SL is basically United’s owners and Board acknowledging they are too incompetent to compete on any kind of level playing field. Taking next season as the starting point, it will be one CL quarter-final in10 years.

 

[Djemba-Djemba]

It will be very hard to just cut myself off from Utd. As things are now I think I'm done with Utd but I know it will be difficult to just stop loving my team.

But I do know 100% I'm never going to go and watch us at the ground again. If this Super League happens that part of my fandom is totally over and to be honest I think United will be moved away from Manchester anyway in the next decade or so.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I’ve been losing interest gradually over the last few years and I fear this move to a closed-shop franchise model will kill any remaining enthusiasm. I also would not be remotely surprised to see the club’s remaining links with the city of Manchester loosened. There are much sexier, more global cities out there which no doubt will offer a pot of cash for a full or at least partial relocation of the franchise.

It’s truly embarrassing that the club of Busby and Ferguson has been a prime instigator of this stitch up. The SL is basically United’s owners and Board acknowledging they are too incompetent to compete on any kind of level playing field. Taking next season as the starting point, it will be one CL quarter-final in10 years.

Fecking hell.

 

[Reditus]

I think I would be done and will actively hope the Super League and the founder clubs all fail miserably.

I wont support a new team, I am not sure its possible just to start supporting a new team is it? But I will continue to watch the Champions League minus these clubs and really hope it succeeds. Sounds impossible but who knows what is around the corner

 

[Siorac]

I hope pressure can lead to the competition being more open and I hope the clubs stay in the domestic leagues

The ESL clubs staying in the domestic leagues is the absolute worst of both worlds. They rake in massive revenues in their little closed shop and with that money the gap between them and the non-ESL clubs will only grow even bigger than it is today, with the smaller clubs having absolutely no recourse, nothing to look forward to. Imagine UEFA keeping up the Champions League in parallel: the Premier League might delegate the teams finishing 7-10th. It'd be an absolute farce.

If they feck off, at least the domestic leagues will become competitive once more. And let's face it, the ESL will want those sweet prime time weekend slots anyway. It's only a matter of time before they abandon their own leagues altogether. And if the competition goes ahead in the proposed format, I hope that happens sooner rather than later.

 

[Stack]

What does the poll mean by support????

I don’t think I’ll go anymore but I’ll still ‘support’ them

Exactly

 

[El Zoido]

I couldn't be a Utd fan anymore if this went ahead. I would be very very sad but I really would walk away and start to support Burnley or maybe Everton.

The real dilemma for me is if the ELS doesn't go ahead. I do feel differently about the club now. They clearly don't give a feck about the fans or about football so why should we care about them?

The teams who have said yes to this should be ashamed of themselves.

How can you just support another club? It makes no sense. It’s like saying someone chooses to be gay. It doesn’t work like that. I could never get passionate about fecking Everton. Besides, which clubs in the league would have joined this if invited? It’s easy to take the moral high ground when you weren’t invited in the first place.

 

[bsCallout]

Maybe this is why so many fans seem to support players and not clubs now.
Maybe they were on to something.

They don't want to support the self-serving owners who have little to do with why we actually enjoy the game.

I'm just going to support Bruno from now on.

 

[Siorac]

I hope it can be stopped. I want it stopped. Although I can’t say that without thinking back to the Glazer takeover. I bought the shares, signed the petition, talked tough talk about how they had ruined the club I loved. Yet here we are.

I lacked the courage of the conviction of the FCUoM fans back then, so I’m fairly sure I’ll lack it again this time. No worries if you feel differently. I just wonder how long those passionate feelings will last, that’s all.

Thing is, the takeover hasn't really changed anything on the pitch, at least not directly - in 2005/06 we still took part in the same competitions, with the same ambitions, as in 2004/05.

This will transform the landscape of football in its entirety, it's a complete departure from what we're used to, what we grew up with. And with the proposed format, it's really not just a matter of principle for me: I genuinely have very little interest in it. It looks like one of the major American sports leagues and I don't like any of those.

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

I think until the realisation that uncompetitive and unfair football is pointless to watch long term, then people will continue as normal, even if they pretend otherwise, and don't have the same feeling about their club anymore whilst watching, but long term I can certainly see 'proper' fans walking away, the ones who it will hurt the most to do so.

I just hope that the right people can stop it happening, as it'll be a massive thing for people to have taken away.

 

[flappyjay]

The PL literally allowed those feckers to settle a well run club with a debt of over 750m. No issues whatsoever, they were happy and we were the loonies crying glazers out. I hate the super league, I hate the glazers and also hate Uefa, fifa and whoever allowed this takeover to happen. But you know what I love Manchester United even the watered-down version of it, some of the best moments I ever had was a Manchester United fan. I still punched the air with passion seeing Mason fecking Greenwood put it in the back of the net against Burnley. And I will do it again this weekend against Leeds.

 

[Yagami]

Fecking hell.

Bad, ain't it? Since our last final in 2011, we've only won the one knockout tie. The signs were there after the summer of 2009 when we lost Ronaldo and Tevez as we all know, but we scraped by with having Fergie and a player carrying us (Rooney in 09/10 & 11/12), (Berbatov 10/11) & RvP (12/13).

 

[Cassidy]

The ESL clubs staying in the domestic leagues is the absolute worst of both worlds. They rake in massive revenues in their little closed shop and with that money the gap between them and the non-ESL clubs will only grow even bigger than it is today, with the smaller clubs having absolutely no recourse, nothing to look forward to. Imagine UEFA keeping up the Champions League in parallel: the Premier League might delegate the teams finishing 7-10th. It'd be an absolute farce.

If they feck off, at least the domestic leagues will become competitive once more. And let's face it, the ESL will want those sweet prime time weekend slots anyway. It's only a matter of time before they abandon their own leagues altogether. And if the competition goes ahead in the proposed format, I hope that happens sooner rather than later.

Read the first line of my sentence which states that I hope it will be more open...

 

[Bilbo]

They've got us all by the balls and they know it.

Picture the scene. August 29th 2022. The opening day of the ESL with United playing Barcelona. Rashford and Greenwood leading the attack. Can anyone here seriously claim that come that day you will be so sufficiently removed on an emotional level that you'll simply not care? The roots are too deep.

I can claim right now that I'll never buy another piece of United merchandise and I'll never go to Old Trafford again, and I might even be able to keep that promise, but I couldn't imagine being so detached that I won't even watch us on TV. I have no good feelings towards the owners, but I love the team. I know for sure that I'll never be able to care about another club enough to call myself a supporter unless I go proper grass roots, and I may well end up doing that, but I'll watch this ghastly super league in all likelihood and so will everybody else.

Having said that, if there ever comes a REAL movement to boycott this club and that league then I'm 100% behind it.

 

[OleBoiii]

I might just call it quits and turn into a bitter old man who only looks back at the good old days.

By the time European football has turned into another NBA(which doesn't really work in the case of Europe, btw) and it sadly has reached general acceptance, I will probably have been "out" for too long to actually "identify" with United. It wont really be the same team and the same ethos anymore. I will probably not recognise any of the players in the team. The manager, for all I know, may just be a random businessman.

I'm feeling conflicted, though. Football is a big part of my life, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that had it not been for me actually following a team, then I'd probably not watch more than 1 or 2 games per month at most. Half the fun of watching football is to follow a team. Preferably a team you've followed since you were a child. You can't just switch teams. Or at least I can't...

Basically: I either accept my new overlords or I more or less remove football from my life. There is no middle ground here. I hope I have the strength for the latter option, but it's going to be really tough.

 

[Oggmonster]

Thing is, the takeover hasn't really changed anything on the pitch, at least not directly - in 2005/06 we still took part in the same competitions, with the same ambitions, as in 2004/05.

This will transform the landscape of football in its entirety, it's a complete departure from what we're used to, what we grew up with. And with the proposed format, it's really not just a matter of principle for me: I genuinely have very little interest in it. It looks like one of the major American sports leagues and I don't like any of those.

Yeah, Fergie papered over the cracks for years as well to. We were successful in the period so I'm sure people just let it slide. With this we've not been successful for a long time in terms of the big 2 competitions (League and CL) and even with other trophies bar 1 Jose season we're pretty barren. A lot of the frustration is these players do clearly care and I think plenty of people probably started to actually enjoy United again after some dire football with LVG and Jose and now this has happened it's just enough for me really just losing interest in football completelty at that level.

 

[dal]

If you can switch off being a United fan that quickly to say no then you must be lying to yourself.

I hate this and I hate how it shakes up the top four, the fact that Liverpool don’t make the top 4 and probably being the worst club with the same manager in mounting a premier league title defence pleases me. If this goes ahead you make the super league regardless.

As I said a wild card for 2-3 teams a year would be fine.

However I’ll be honest if I get to see Man Utd in the super league every year as a selfish fan I’m going to enjoy all the top quality games however this will amount to more Injuries and a poorer premier league.

 

[Siorac]

Picture the scene. August 29th 2022. The opening day of the ESL with United playing Barcelona. Rashford and Greenwood leading the attack. Can anyone here seriously claim that come that day you will be so sufficiently removed on an emotional level that you'll simply not care? The roots are too deep.

I missed pre-season games against big clubs before. I wasn't arsed when we didn't win the Audi Cup or any other invitational tournament with the sole purpose of making money.

So yeah, I'm struggling to see why I'd care.

 

[Lash]

What does the poll mean by support????

I don’t think I’ll go anymore but I’ll still ‘support’ them

Yeah, I said this in response to my pals asking me. I'd still follow them, but support might be a bit strong.

 

[Kaos]

As much as it pains me to say it - no. I'm not a born Manc, I started supporting United in the 90s after being mesmerised by the likes of Cantona, Giggs, and Scholes and have since been an ardent supporter that's enjoyed the ride irrespective of whether we've been at the very top, or embracing the challenge of trying to get back there in recent years. I don't know want to support some pseudo NFL franchise spend an entire season playing glorified friendlies broken up by commercial segments sponsored by Wells Fargo every 30 seconds. I'll just double down on supporting my local Watford and enjoy the genuine ups and downs of football that way. I don't care if it paints me as a fairweather fan - its never been about the glory for me anyway.

 

[Member 101269]

absolutely yes.

 

[Cultured left ankle]

I voted 'no'; although I wonder if 'maybe' would be a better option.

I always wondered how City fans felt as they watched their club become what it is today. City, as they were, was a club which almost prided itself on not being like Utd, like being a bit rubbish at times, a bit good at times. Their fans were there as they went down, as they were there as went up - but they remained. even if 'they were not really there', as the song went.

And then, City became... well... what we see today. A soulless, plastic zombified version of what it was.

If I were a city fan (God forbid!), I would have questioned whether all the success, all the trophies and star-studded line-ups were actually part of how I saw 'my' club. Could I, hand on heart, support this club? Could I find much joy in this success? This is not the City I would have known and loved - because of its occasional haphazardness. I mean they idolised Saun Goater for goodness sake. I don't think I could find the same joy in winning whatever trophy in beating Doncaster or whoever in the pouring rain in the 1st division to get promotion back to the Championship.

It's been coming as a Utd supporter for years. The most galling thing is, I've sat through the stale and corporate bullshit because I saw the heart of Fergie, and later of players like Lingard and McTominay (if not always the managers) and now I see the team that Ole has been building and I've found more pleasure in seeing them find their feet, despite the failures, despite the defeats to Spurs or whoever. This was a team I could really love.

But now; in one fell swoop it feels like we have all been betrayed. You (who is reading this), me as well as the players and staff.

How can I support a club who would potentially take away the dreams of the likes of Rashford of playing in a final the whole team have fought for all season? We've watched them slog through exhaustion to push for success this year - potentially for nothing if we get kicked out of tournaments.

How can I support a clubs whose owners see us - all of use here, now, today - as a mere 'legacy' - something to be discarded for the shiner, more financially viable alternative?

But I wonder if 'Maybe' would have been a better option as, for my sins, I want to watch Rashford skin another right back and then shank the ball into the stand. I want to see Fred miscontrol an easy pass to put an opposing striker through on goal and then score a janky goal off his right shin. I want to see Henderson put in a claim to be the best keeper in England.

Godammit I don't to sell my soul to be able to do this though.

 

[mustaine]

I hate the idea of the Super League in all honesty, it's all about money. Also, there really isn't anything romantic about playing Real Madrid every single season. However, I rarely watch anything but the Premier League so as long as they stay in there I'll continue to watch. I used to watch every game in every competition but I just enjoy the PL much more than anything else. If they were to leave the PL or be thrown out I'd pretty much be out by default though.

 

[hubbuh]

I hate the idea of the Super League in all honesty. However, I rarely watch anything but the Premier League so as long as they stay in there I'll continue to watch. I used to watch every game in every competition but I just enjoy the PL much more than anything else. Also there really isn't anything romantic about playing Real Madrid every single season. If they were to leave the PL or be thrown out I'd pretty much be out by default though.

As soon as we fall behind in the title race there'll be nothing to play for, though. The same goes for the other 5 teams that want to join the super league. The fight for top 4 will be meaningless, the table will be a mess as the other 12 teams will be scrapping it out for the Champions League around teams that have automatic qualification for their closed shop league. The Premier League will cease to be the competition as we know it.