European Super League

Do you want the ESL to happen?


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    1,921
  • Poll closed .

WI_Red

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Do you actually think they do care at all?

Means nothing, just the market reacting to the spike in press. Same is probably happening for all traded clubs. If things start getting spicy with FA's and/or UEFA/FIFA this will reverse as risk emerges.
 

red4ever 79

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Probably true, it would feel like an insult to Uefa to have say Man Utd and Madrid win the Europa League and Champions League respectively a few weeks after announcing this.
For sure. It is same as the 1997 survivor series when vince couldnt let Bret go to WCW with the WWE belt. Kick them all out
 

Zlatan 7

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Can you see almost the entire starting XI for England being banned from Euros and World Cup?
If they play under a different organisation to a fifa one then yes of course, they’ll have to get their own World Cup
 

Drifter

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The Minister of digital, culture, media and sport as said that he as talked to fans about taking stakes in clubs and will be moving in that direction.
 

11101

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Its the biggest weapon FIFA/UEFA have at this point. No self-respecting player would give up a chance to represent their country at the WC just to be in some posh, plastic league run by the likes of Perez and Woodward.
Try and get a sponsor for a tournament that doesn't have players from the 12 biggest clubs in Europe in it. They're calling each others bluff, nobody is going to be banned from anything.

The only one they might try and mess with is the 2021 tournaments. It's far enough along that not too many people will be bothered by it.
 

Ixion

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I hear what you're saying mate I don't like this whole thing. But football existed before the top 4 race. What did teams who weren't winning the league play for before 4 teams were allowed into the CL? What did they play for when only 2 teams got into Europe? What did they play for before European football was even a thing?

What do teams who are safe from relegation but unlikely to qualify for Europe play for every season?
But in all of those situations no team was ever guranteed a spot the next year regardless. Spurs and Arsenal can be laughing in 14th and 15th at Leicester and West Ham finishing top 3 knowing its for feck all and they get the games with Madrid next year. That has never been the case before. It isn't remotely fair. Their motivation once it becomes clear they're not winning the league becomes nothing. They won't even have to care about extra prize money for finishing a few places higher in the League because of the guranteed income they'll be getting to offset it.
 

WI_Red

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The Minister of digital, culture, media and sport as said that he as talked to fans about taking stakes in clubs and will be moving in that direction.
The best possible outcome of this whole shitshow would be the adoption of the 50+1 rule in England that screws these owners out of their cash cows. Would love to seem some leveraged, bankrupted Glazers.
 

Steerpike

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This will surely be a deal breaker with many players. Will the likes of Ronaldo, De Bruyne, Sterling, Pogba, Bruno, Salah, Van Dijk, Kane etc really agree to play in this new league if it means never playing for their countries ever again?
I suspect the clubs participating in the ESL will find themselves excluded from all UEFA and domestic competitions. The players wouldn't just be excluded from playing for their international teams, but from any other tournament as well. They would risk becoming locked in to a circus which will quickly lose its appeal, and with no way back into the mainstream. I think players and managers may well vote with their feet here, and look to get out of the 12 clubs while they still have the prospect of a decent career.

This situation isn't really the fault of the players (at least directly), so I don't think there can (legally) be any sanctions applied until they actually turn out in an ESL game. At that point they may find they've burned their bridges as far as the rest of the football world is concerned. If the ESL is a resounding flop, which I would expect it to be, they will basically have lost their careers.
 

mu4c_20le

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The Minister of digital, culture, media and sport as said that he as talked to fans about taking stakes in clubs and will be moving in that direction.
I bet it's just that.... talk. Politicians taking advantage of the moment and talking a lot. In the end imo FIFA will cave and the politicians will start talking about something else.
 

Poltophagy

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With the exception of baseball they all have hard salary caps to prevent big clubs from hoarding players. All leagues have drafts, where the worst teams are awarded the opportunity to draft the best young players. Finally, trades happen, but players can not be sold (well, not really, but there are sometimes "cash considerations"). Overall it means no one team is continually dominant except through being run well. Well, at least in theory.
It's more like, if you run the club well, you'll miss out on the top drafts next season.

Real Madrid won too many? No problem, just force Ronaldo and Ramos over to Burnley and they can win the CL too. Basically every team in the American leagues have won the championship. Might as well draw lots.
 

BusbyMalone

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Interesting to see the stance Ole (and all the managers involved) takes on this. He seems like he would be against it, but is also in a difficult position. While the cowards who orchestrated all this hide away, he has to face the bombardment of questions that will no doubt greet him.
 

Berbaclass

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Interesting to see the stance Ole (and all the managers involved) takes on this. He seems like he would be against it, but is also in a difficult position. While the cowards who orchestrated all this hide away, he has to face the bombardment of questions that will no doubt greet him.
It will be the same as Tuchel. Feigning ignorance.

He doesn't come out and give a position on Henderson v DDG. He won't get involved in this.
 

red4ever 79

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Interesting to see the stance Ole (and all the managers involved) takes on this. He seems like he would be against it, but is also in a difficult position. While the cowards who orchestrated all this hide away, he has to face the bombardment of questions that will no doubt greet him.
Looking forward to see what Klopp will say tonight as undoubtably he will be asked and he is usually protective towards the fans
 

diarm

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something not even discussed, what do match going fans think will happen to season tickets once all this goes ahead. There is no way you will continue to pay what you have been. Everything will go up and up
They'll be so rich from other avenues that they'll probably reduce ticket prices to try and paint themselves as the good guys against the backlash.
 

Solius

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I dont like what i see of the proposals either, but there are two things to consider:

1. we havent actually seen the proposals in detail yet
2. the current setup is so broken, is a watered down ESL really worse than what we have had over the last few years?
Yes.
 

Ayoba

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What are the implications for those teams involved? How likely is it they will get thrown out of the CL/EL and points deductions in the league?
 

Foxbatt

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I'm sorry but no one will watch the Premier League outside of England for a title race between Leicester West Ham and Everton
What are you talking about? Lots of people would watch. The rest of the clubs would also get the best players too. Leicester was watched a lot during their champion challenge year certainly in Asia.
 

Infra-red

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Try and get a sponsor for a tournament that doesn't have players from the 12 biggest clubs in Europe in it. They're calling each others bluff, nobody is going to be banned from anything.

The only one they might try and mess with is the 2021 tournaments. It's far enough along that not too many people will be bothered by it.
That's debateable. None of these clubs will be in it:

Bayern, Porto, PSG, Ajax, Napoli, Dortmund, Marseille, Roma, Celtic, Rangers, Benfica, Valencia.
 

flappyjay

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don't understand why anyone would think this. the clubs still want to compete in their domestic leagues. as they should. that won't change. it's only the top 4 race that gets messed up, the one most people criticise clubs like Arsenal for celebrating.
What did the other teams do before the champions league in 1992. Did they stop turning up when the league was done and dusted without possibility of relegation?
 

LoneStar

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That is what history suggests, since something like this gets done every decade or so, and usually results in UEFA making some concessions and reforms to keep them in. This one feels different because there wasn't much buildup besides the announcement last year, and now it feels like they are trying to bulldoze their way through the criticism. I'm guessing the pandemic also played a key role in this somehow.
I think we are too far gone at this point for it to be some sort of play.
Both sides have a lot to lose if they keep fighting it out, especially with the covid climate. It's in both parties interest that they come to a compromise rather than the alternative.

I think it ends up being stricter FFP rules and more slice of the pie to these teams.
 

bond19821982

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I was torn on it this morning but im on the cant let it happen side now but 6 teams who are able to duke it out with capped City is better than the 1 club domination we see today. Its the 1 argument in this that falls down. In a few decades only Leicester have gotten into CL over these 6 clubs.
My point is we have already let it happen. City will rule the PL for years . So is Chelsea or any other oil funded clubs. There is a reason why Barca or Real is dominating Spain. So if that hasn't destroyed the PL until now, it won't happen with this ESL either. It's just another revenue for the clubs who has the huge fan base.

CL is screwed though.
 
Bastian Schweinsteiger: "If The Super League is realised, it will destroy football with its national leagues as we know it and this is a very sad thought to me"

Paxi

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