European Super League

Do you want the ESL to happen?


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    1,921
  • Poll closed .

KirkDuyt

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Why has merit been removed? If anything clubs need to perform on AND off the field now to gain entry, if anything there is more merit involved.
Arent Leipzig gonna join? What have they ever performed on or off the field, aside from being funded by a very rich company tha produces a shit energy drink.

The money they have isnt even oil money. Bunch of cheats.
 

redshaw

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Hope this breakaway will not happen and they can come up with something that satisfies to an extent many of the clubs. This feels more like a big flex to properly revise the CL.

I like the current format, it's been expanded from the old European Cup but I can see it doesn't maximize perhaps many viewers desires, the growth of the game and earnings, it did at one point during the 2000s. I don't think the propsed Super League cuts it either.

There's so much upheaval, damage, history and ethical things wrong that surely a bigger compromise has to be made. There has to be a way for Uefa to get the big clubs playing each other a bit more and generate bigger revenues. Yes you want to keep European games special but there's a flaw in some teams never meeting and the CL spewing out repeated ties like Chelsea v PSG, that's not special either.
 

Tom Cato

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Liverpool have lost a feck tonne of money over the pandemic and United fans wanted the Saudi Royal family to take over last year so we could be state owned rich and compete. That wasn't a problem but this is?
I think you missed the thread where 95% of people were VERY vocal and hostile towards the idea of a saudi takeover of the club, myself included.
 

sullydnl

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It'll go in the owners pockets.
Yep.

From the reports I've seen, actually winning the SL will have little financial impact relative to what the elite 15 gain from just being involved. So why would the likes of the Glazers spend money they could keep for themselves when the financial consequences of the team struggling have been removed?

They've effective removed any consequences attached to under-investing in the team.
 

DomesticTadpole

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I just don't understand the concept of a league without relegation. It is non-competative. There are too many private orginisations operating within football. There should be 1 FA in each country that controls everything. We don't need the Premier League, EFL, ESL etc etc. Massive reform needed resulting in most of these groups getting to feck.
It's American end off. This is the country who need a winner in games, but can let teams be absolutely shit and not get kicked out of their league for it.
 

Reditus

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Although I am pleased it is only a minority it is also disapointing that there is a selection who appears to be in favour. It is something that we as fans could have a real say in if we are all on the same page

To think that a bunch of billionaires who only got involved in football within the last 15 years are looking to change the entire face of the sport purely to earn themselves more money is a terrible prospect. Handing over full control to these parasites is the end. You have to see eventually the domestic league would follow suit as well.

I wonder how they will select the 5 extra teams each season? Will it be on merit or will they open it up to the latest team from Dubai or China?

What will this all mean from teams from Croatia, Serbia, Belgium etc... all have good clubs who although wont ever win the CL still make an impact and often reach knockout stages?
 

justsomebloke

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Loads of shit takes this thread has:

"PL should throw them out of the league" - It'll result in an huge devaluation of Premier League, the other 14 clubs will be majorly fecked
"The players in ESL shouldn't be allowed in World Cup" - FIFA will never follow up, they'll lose a shit loads of sponsors.
"Other clubs should refuse to sell players to ESL clubs" - Almost certainly will result in players moving out on free contracts and anyways a lot of smaller clubs rely on transfer earnings.

Once again, this league is fecking gross but the above aren't the right ideas to overthrow.
Also, the SL has turned up the charm factor additionally by pre-emptively throwing lawyers at the problem.
 

TheGame

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Some of these clubs are heavily in debt so its literally just a money making scheme. I don't see clubs from other nations such as Holland, Portugal, Scotland or Belgium included when some clubs from these nations have been doing better than the clubs from the top leagues listed.
 

Wilt

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C’mon Woodward stop hiding, let’s be hearing from you.
 

red4ever 79

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They don't though do they.
Because they are guaranteed to be in it every year.

Kronke and Glazers are notorious for leeching as much money as possible. When that money is guaranteed, why do you think they would invest in the team at all? Its more money form THEM, not Manchester United and Arsenal.
100% nail on the head. They build a bubble, include themselves as untouchable in terms of risk, whilst at the same time reaping the financial awards. They will invest even less in the club. Get those blood sucking leaches out of our club
 

Lay

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I wonder if some clubs left out from other nations (Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland) will think feck it, let’s start our own league
 
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I think if teams rise to a certain level they will expand the league to include them. Maybe a play in tournament with rotating guest teams... who knows?

I get the outrage... I'm an American so it's much easier for me to watch it from an outsider's perspective and enjoy the idea of watching great players every week instead of sitting through the Brighton or Fulham games.
Brighton who could have beaten us and however late, it was a reasonable watch.

As opposed to the shit game v Chelski?

The arrogance of some to think they're the "top clubs" is staggering. For City they're successful but Leicester have won a league recently, where are they?

United are invited because of their name and brand, we haven't won the league for 8 years. They've only got that brand from a century of history and fan support (including when we got relegated - Everton haven't) which involved plenty of games v Brighton
 

crossy1686

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Florentino Perez has done less for football than FIFA, so I will side with international bodies for now :lol:



Mostly among themselves as they will attract the best players from the age of 14 onwards.
Why would Madrid sell a player to United when they're competing in the same league and have equal funding?
 

DomesticTadpole

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I wonder if some clubs left out from other nations (Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland) will think feck it, let’s start our own league
Wasn't there a rumour of Holland and Belgium merging their leagues? Could do the same with Portugal and Spain.
 

Solius

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I really don't know what to do if this actually happens. I would not want to support or watch a ESL but I also would be devastated to not have Utd in my life. Would certain players leave? Would the club ever be the same? I couldn't support anyone else so it essentially means I would stop watching football, which is one of my biggest passions in life.

It's fecked. I honestly despise these parasitic owners.
 

GBBQ

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They don't though do they.
Because they are guaranteed to be in it every year.

Kronke and Glazers are notorious for leeching as much money as possible. When that money is guaranteed, why do you think they would invest in the team at all? Its more money form THEM, not Manchester United and Arsenal.
Yeah this is a major worry, investment in United was mostly done for the return it would garner. We had to spend to bring in players to ensure we would be in the CL, it was even built into sponsorship clauses. Now if we're guaranteed an income and entry into the competition where is the motivation to build a better team? If anything investing big and failing to win the Super League is going to be a bad investment, the safer bet is to take the income and do just enough to not get relegated from the PL and your financial situation is going to constantly improve.
 

DickDastardly

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I'm not saying it will be all players, but the most promising ones will keep their options open. I mean you already have someone like Haaland who is cherry picking his moves and ensuring there are buy out clauses in place so he doesn't need to stay at a club any longer than is necessary. His agent is Raiola who we all know to well has a history of getting players their moves to the big clubs and (without even talking about any of the PL teams) Madrid and Barcelona are likely to remain the dream destination for most players.

I'm not saying I agree with it, I just think that most clubs will be too tempted by the money
Sure. But have you heard of Haaland two years ago when he played for RB Salzburg?

That's what i'm talking about. No one in their right mind would turn down a contract with a club other then SL20 clubs when given a chance to play football on a regular basis.
Dani Olmo went from Barcelona to Dinamo fecking Zagreb because he wanted to play football and he saw a chance. He now plays regulary for Spanish national team. I know, i watched him play live for Dinamo a couple of times. The kid was miles ahead of everyone else.
Now, if all the clubs in Europe tell the Superleague 20 clubs to feck off and not deal with them, their pool of players is substantialy poorer.

Football will continue to evolve without them.

Your last sentence is the hard part.
Staying togetger in all that. Telling them to feck off unanimously.
 

crossy1686

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Hopefully nowhere!
There is still 15 clubs in the Prem to deal with. 17 clubs in Spain. 19 clubs in France. 20 clubs in Germany. And the rest of the world.

So the Elite top 20 Superleague top of the pops clubs can die a slowly death with their 39 year old players when everybody else tells them to feck off.
Yeah I can see it now: "Your £150m for Grealish is no good here, we only take money that we earned via PL rankings"
 

red4ever 79

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It's American end off. This is the country who need a winner in games, but can let teams be absolutely shit and not get kicked out of their league for it.
It's a franchise controlled and governed by a certain 12 clubs. Reminds me of an old genetlemans club. We will be in here and we cant get relegated but will still suck all the money out and wont have to put anything back in
 

Abizzz

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I wonder if some clubs left out from other nations (Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland) will think feck it, let’s start our own league
I actually think they might become some of the beneficiaries if the SL doesn't take off like intended. The CL will lose some of it's glamour, but being at the top of the european footballing pyramid might still be more glamourous than winning the european wannabe NBA.
 

Fox outside the box

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Again you are missing the point. The arbitraryness of it all, deciding that these 15 clubs deserve to be in an exclusive group of clubs who get the most money and automatically qualify is scandalous.

These 15 clubs could theoretically not even be the big boys in 50 years but they have completely secured their growth and financial power by establishing this Super League, taking merit out of the future equation.
I'm not missing the point. You're talking last me entirely.

Forget the flipping super league. I'm not talking about that right now.

I'm talking about the remaining clubs and the two outstanding European competitions and what happens there.

Let sjust agree the super league is awful, let's say its terrible that clubs can't get into it. Cool, agreed.

That still leaves us with the reality though that clubs like Everton etc will now be qualifying for the champions league with a regularity that they simply never has done. My question is this - could the fact that they play in a European competition with regularity ALBEIT A LESS PRESTIGIOUS VERSION, still be a good thing for those clubs?

If Everton qualified for the new champions league 10 times in 20 years, is that not better than them qualifying once as a freak result for the current champions league and only once?

That's my question. If you carry on going on abojt qualification for the super league then you're literally just not reading what I am saying. For the sake of discussions, let's just say it's bad they can't make it there. That isn't simply the be all and end all though.

What happens with the Europa and the champions league now? Does this become filled with new teams, teams who previously never qualified? If so, is there a discussion to be had about possible positives of this for those clubs?

I don't know how to word this any clearer. Do Everton stand to make more money because of future European football they likely would not have qualified for otherwise? I DON'T KNOW, THIS IS WHY I AM DISCUSSING IT AND TRYING TO HAVE A CONVERSATION. It might be that it doesn't but we're not even getting there, all anyone is stuck at is this new, third European competition. There's still two others to discuss.

As far as I know this does not replace the champions league or the Europa League. What do these competitions now look like?
 

dove

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Spurs are one of "Europe’s leading football clubs" :lol:

The Super League itself has been just a matter of time IMO. Nobody wants to play the likes of Midtjylland or Krasnodar and share the TV/sponsorship money with them. UEFA are shady as feck too. Then there are teams like us and Arsenal who spend more time in the Europa League than the Champions League in the past years so this league format is a perfect protection from our own failures. In fairness we will definitely see more of high quality football because the CL is a borefest until the later knockout stages but it just kills football for the rest teams that are not invited to the party and will create even bigger gap. UEFA will be in big trouble without money generated from those clubs and it will heavily affect the whole football pyramid down to the bottom. Unfortunately there is nothing anybody can do, all these threats from UEFA/FIFA are laughable.
 

crossy1686

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They don't though do they.
Because they are guaranteed to be in it every year.

Kronke and Glazers are notorious for leeching as much money as possible. When that money is guaranteed, why do you think they would invest in the team at all? Its more money form THEM, not Manchester United and Arsenal.
The Glazers have spent more money than ever in the last 8 years so that doesn't hold true at all. I don't care what Arsenal do either, good luck to them
 

Uniquim

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It's not just United & Real. The Athletic wrote:
"The biggest drivers of the current Super League proposals are, according to multiple sources, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. The clubs’ statement said that Perez would be the chairman of the league, while Manchester United’s Joel Glazer and Agnelli, the Juventus chairman would be vice-presidents. It was reported that Liverpool’s John W Henry, and Arsenal’s Stan Kroenke would also have vice-chairman roles."

[skipped the part about Tottenham]

"Manchester City and Chelsea were later subscribers to the plan and City’s positioning is particularly ironic as the club have long complained that the majority of “super clubs” in Europe have conspired to limit the club’s spending and squeeze them out of the established elite. The possible participation of Chelsea and City has been described by sources as more out of a desire not to be left behind, than a fervent desire to lead the charge."
 

Massive Spanner

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I've pretty much stopped watching football other than Utd and some of the bigger European games anyway, even then I only half arse them. I just don't have the time I used to and football isn't what it is, it's become boring, and this will only make it even more boring. I can probably see myself no longer giving a toss at all if this goes through. The idea of us getting to play in this competition even if we're shite purely because we have the financial muscle doesn't sit right with me at all. The club has been going to the dogs for years and this will only cement it.

it's a real shame because this is the best situation we've been in football wise since Fergie retired and I was genuinely pretty excited for next season, but now? it's really hard to be.
 

Buster15

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Think the clubs have underestimated the reaction of the fans.
That may be so. But in reality, do they really care enough to do anything about it.
As has been said. The owners of these English clubs are no more than asset managers.
They have bought an asset and as they do, will do what is necessary to gain the biggest returns.

Contrast that with the German model where the majority of the club is owned by the supporters.
 

Oldyella

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Some of these clubs are heavily in debt so its literally just a money making scheme. I don't see clubs from other nations such as Holland, Portugal, Scotland or Belgium included when some clubs from these nations have been doing better than the clubs from the top leagues listed.
I'm sure the statement on our website mentions finance more than football.
 

DomesticTadpole

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I really don't know what to do if this actually happens. I would not want to support or watch a ESL but I also would be devastated to not have Utd in my life. Would certain players leave? Would the club ever be the same? I couldn't support anyone else so it essentially means I would stop watching football, which is one of my biggest passions in life.

It's fecked. I honestly despise these parasitic owners.
I love watching any football but do not have an endless stream of money. I don't just watch United, but if I had to pay more to watch them, then it would mean something having to go. I hate these owners. So it would be stick with what I have now, but ignore United for being arseholes, or watch United in this league and eventually get very, very bored with it.
 

Sentient Meat

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Brighton who could have beaten us and however late, it was a reasonable watch.

As opposed to the shit game v Chelski?

The arrogance of some to think they're the "top clubs" is staggering. For City they're successful but Leicester have won a league recently, where are they?

United are invited because of their name and brand, we haven't won the league for 8 years. They've only got that brand from a century of history and fan support (including when we got relegated - Everton haven't) which involved plenty of games v Brighton
People say the Glazers will spend less money... but they won't be able to hide when they are 15th in the SuperLeague instead of a weak 2nd in the EPL

If anything their weaknesses will be exposed and they will have to spend more to keep up with the other "super" teams.

It's a work in progress... so I reserve judgment until this actually plays out awhile... if indeed it does get off the ground.