Players & managers react to the Super League

[Rado_N]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

That's it then, it's done. The big guns coming out against it.

So much emotion in there.

 

[Harry190]

One of the worlds largest broadcasters rejecting a new competition isn't a big deal?

Nice to met you mr. President of the Universe Who Only Does Galactic Big Things

Did you read the statement? Read it again.

 

[Red Stone]

I see Michael Owen has activated the most angry and outraged of all his one emotional states.

 

[sullydnl]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[Tom Cato]

Did you read the statement? Read it again.

Yes.

"We believe part of the drama and beauty of European football comes from the ability of any club to achieve success through their performance on the pitch. "

The bigger point is that a broadcaster, with no obligation, who isn't even part of the discussion actively comes out and makes it known that they have NOT been part of this.

 

[Hansi Fick]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Good man, excellent coach.

 

[sugar_kane]

Gotta admire the balls on Pep, absolutely no ambiguity there from the manager of one of the ESL founder clubs.

Say what you want about him, but he’s not afraid to speak his mind.

 

[Tom Cato]

Gotta admire the balls on Pep, absolutely no ambiguity there from the manager of one of the ESL founder clubs.

Say what you want about him, but he’s not afraid to speak his mind.

Pep deserved all the credit for speaking out, absolutely phenomenal.

I think that Pep may also be under the good fortune of being in a club that will look more kindly to someone breaking ranks, than for example Manchester United who are one of the big instigators of this entire thing. If the reports are true then City are in it due to pressure, not desire. They may be happy to have this entire thing fall flat.

 

[LilyWhiteSpur]

Yes.

"We believe part of the drama and beauty of European football comes from the ability of any club to achieve success through their performance on the pitch. "

The bigger point is that a broadcaster, with no obligation, who isn't even part of the discussion actively comes out and makes it known that they have NOT been part of this.

I think @Harry190 is implying they aren't involved cause they haven't been asked, were all very cynical and snarky these days.

 

[Tom Cato]

@Harry190 is implying they aren't involved cause they haven't been asked, were all very cynical and snarky these days.

Doesn't really matter in my book. Amazon is controlled by the richest human being on the planet and can be as big as they desire to. For a company of that size to even come out and comment is gigantic in terms of public relations.

 

[LilyWhiteSpur]

[/QUOTE]

Doesn't really matter in my book. Amazon is controlled by the richest human being on the planet and can be as big as they desire to. For a company of that size to even come out and comment is gigantic in terms of public relations.
[/QUOTE]

I agree with you, they had absolutely nothing to gain from releasing that statement.

 

[talking robot]

I'm not talking about the predicted margin(separation in terms of vote count) of the win. I'm talking about the margin between a win/lose prediction. All things equal, with two propositions, it's 50-50. There's a huge margin between 65-35, 70-30 and 50-50.

Gotcha. All fair enough.

 

[Random Task]

Gotta admire the balls on Pep, absolutely no ambiguity there from the manager of one of the ESL founder clubs.

Say what you want about him, but he’s not afraid to speak his mind.

Ballsy move indeed. I wonder how his employers felt about his statement.

The question is, would he back his words with resignation if the league goes ahead or is he all talk?

 

[NinjaZombie]

Ballsy move indeed. I wonder how his employers felt about his statement.

The question is, would he back his words with resignation if the league goes ahead or is he all talk?

This is the guy who left his boyhood club at the peak of their powers because he was burnt out. I don't think he has a problem with walking away if he feels it's the right thing to do.

 

[Harry190]

Yes.

"We believe part of the drama and beauty of European football comes from the ability of any club to achieve success through their performance on the pitch. "

The bigger point is that a broadcaster, with no obligation, who isn't even part of the discussion actively comes out and makes it known that they have NOT been part of this.

In the second paragraph, they mention that they don't mind signing up. The rights have not been shopped around yet. You are misplacing your hopes if you think they are some kind of protector of competitive spirit.

They say one thing and then the other in the same breath.

 

[OverratedOpinion]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Never really listened to him talk but that was very well said.

 

[Sandikan]

So at best managers/players are keeping quiet, like Ole so far, but plenty are speaking out against it, including Klopp and Pep.

The idea that these owners are so out of touch that they're trying to force this against everyone's wishes is ridiculous.

If their game plan is just to get more money from the current set-up, they might see their bluff called shortly.

 

[Tom Cato]

So at best managers/players are keeping quiet, like Ole so far, but plenty are speaking out against it, including Klopp and Pep.

The idea that these owners are so out of touch that they're trying to force this against everyone's wishes is ridiculous.

If their game plan is just to get more money from the current set-up, they might see their bluff called shortly.

Klopp and Pep spoke because they were asked questions by the press after having had time to digest it.

Ole was asked a question about it 5 hours before the clubs even made the announcement public. Reports say that Ole was told about it some time shortly before kickoff of the Burnley game.

The players will push a joint statement after the meeting between the club captains, led by Jordan Henderson

 

[OverratedOpinion]

Funny seeing Carragher on Sky Sports saying that the only way to stop this is all the fans grouping together, like it is our responsibility.

The quickest way to kill this dead would be for Sky to come out and make a statement saying "We wish to make it categorically clear that we will not be bidding for any broadcast rights for the Super League." Then other broadcasters to follow suite.

Would die on the vine tomorrow. That obviously won't happen though, morals are great until they cost a potential few million.

 

[Sandikan]

Funny seeing Carragher on Sky Sports saying that the only way to stop this is all the fans grouping together, like it is our responsibility.

The quickest way to kill this dead would be for Sky to come out and make a statement saying "We wish to make it categorically clear that we will not be bidding for any broadcast rights for the Super League." Then other broadcasters to follow suite.

Would die on the vine tomorrow. That obviously won't happen though, morals are great until they cost a potential few million.

This is as likely to happen as all clubs vowing not to use troublesome agents.

Some sneak merchant will see it as their way to storm into the market.

 

[Rob]

It’s not gonna happen, but I’d really like for Klopp, Pep, Zidane and some star players to make a united front and unequivocally state that they’ll never manage or play for clubs that participate in this.

 

[The Firestarter]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

That's it then, it's done. The big guns coming out against it.

Legacy players

 

[Tom Cato]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

That would be one ugly bit of prestige for Liverpool

 

[Irwin99]

Not heard a single positive comment from a player or manager about this, and fans are clearly pissed off. This surely can not happen now?

I think those pushing the ESL have seriously underestimated the backlash even when pushing this during a global pandemic via shock/disaster capitalism

 

[mav_9me]

Gotta admire the balls on Pep, absolutely no ambiguity there from the manager of one of the ESL founder clubs.

Say what you want about him, but he’s not afraid to speak his mind.

Pep deserved all the credit for speaking out, absolutely phenomenal.

I think that Pep may also be under the good fortune of being in a club that will look more kindly to someone breaking ranks, than for example Manchester United who are one of the big instigators of this entire thing. If the reports are true then City are in it due to pressure, not desire. They may be happy to have this entire thing fall flat.

Ballsy move indeed. I wonder how his employers felt about his statement.

The question is, would he back his words with resignation if the league goes ahead or is he all talk?

Couldn't agree more. Kudos to him. Whatever you think of him, in this particular instance he has done well.

 

[bsCallout]

In the second paragraph, they mention that they don't mind signing up. The rights have not been shopped around yet. You are misplacing your hopes if you think they are some kind of protector of competitive spirit.

They say one thing and then the other in the same breath.

It is important though that they haven't given their support of it. Also the fact that there wasn't already agreement in place is important with regards to getting this thing stopped.

 

[Tincanalley]

Gotta admire the balls on Pep, absolutely no ambiguity there from the manager of one of the ESL founder clubs.

Say what you want about him, but he’s not afraid to speak his mind.

I have to say I respect that statement.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

That would be one ugly bit of prestige for Liverpool

I said on the main ESL thread yesterday, Fergie and Bobby could ask the club to take their names off the stands. Sure Fergie has issues with this and Bobby surely can't be ok with it?

Doesn't matter if it's one thing, it's one thing that gets shown around the world on news and social media... same as Peps comments and Rashfords tweet having half a million likes in a few hours.

Keep piling it on, fans, players, managers, Govts, Uefa/FIFA (yes, they're scummy too but the enemy of my enemy is my friend?)

 

[Foxbatt]

City may be the first one to pull out. Sheikh doesn't need all the money. He can be a good guy and get out of this.
PSG has already made a statement. So they are out. I hope the PL and UEFA dock enough points so that none of them win anything this season.

 

[MattofManchester]

Waiting for a Ronaldo or Messi to come out. They frankly have the biggest names in this sport and many the fickle, young supporter would rally behind them if they chose to, along with, most likely, the media.
I wonder what those two prioritize.

 

[Carolina Red]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

All you really need to know right there.

 

[thegregster]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[Pow]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Well done lad ! Keep them coming.

 

[DWelbz19]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

My man.

 

[VorZakone]

Perhaps I’m a cynic, but it’s hard to put much stock in player reaction for me. It’s clearly not an objective conversation, and everyone will have a camera and mic thrust in their faces and it’s pretty clear what answer they are expected to give.

This is quickly becoming a competition to deliver the most ‘powerful’ statement. I mean, the Super League proposal kills competition. A message of ‘football is nothing without fans’ - like, what does that even mean in relation to this proposal? Other than fans (some) not wanting a Super League, like they don’t want many things in football. The banner on display at OT was a clear message due to the fact fans are not allowed into stadiums. Not sure it relates, but can be filed under ‘hero delivers powerful message’ all the same.

For the record, I am against a Super League as it is anti-competition, but at this stage, everyone is under pressure to come out and say the same thing, including many who will get a lot richer by a Super League and probably don’t care that much.

Not enough is said about the anti-competition aspect of the SuperLeague and the guaranteed participation for a select group of clubs.

"Football is nothing without fans" isn't even relevant here, I tend to agree. The anti-SuperLeague messaging hasn't been as strong as it could have been.

 

[Sir Matt]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

I've always loved Luke.

 

[TrustInOle]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Take a bow son!

If the players are against the idea, surely this is dead in the water?

 

[Carolina Red]

Welcome to the resistance, Luke.

 

[bosnian_red]

Love it Shaw. Also great scenes at Chelsea, fans not letting the team bus in. Keep it coming.

 

[Chicharo]

Take a bow son!

If the players are against the idea, surely this is dead in the water?

Of course. They just have to stand up and express their opinion together. Hopefully this meeting Henderson has called will help