Premier League formation vs ESL

[UnitedSofa]

For all the criticism that the ESL is getting how would you have reacted if you were an adult / young adult who has years of support of a team and a league system and this new “for the big boys” league was threatened?

For those on the forum who were old enough to see it happen, what was it like? How did you react?

I think the money aspect, whilst it is 10 or even 100x more than it is now, I think it would probably be relative.

While there’s a slight difference (by my understanding) that the ESL is not replacing any domestic league but rather a direct competitor to the UCL. Before it was closed off and now it has promotion and relegation.

I’m on the fence with it, UEFA are only rattled because it challenges THEIR stronghold on European competition and football. Hence why they apparently want to roll back the new format.

We’ll see but it’ll be interesting to see how people would feel about a breakaway huge financial gain, for the big boys only, league (as it feels eerily similar to the formation of the prem, albeit in a different format) - We now know how successful it was, so maybe the ESL may be successful in this new format which focuses on sporting merit rather than $$$$

*Prepares to take a battering*

 

[adexkola]

I'm not old enough to have any recollection of the PL formation. But I did some light reading (aka quick browse of Wikipedia), and the following stand out:

1. English football was on the come up following the 5 year ban from Europe, implementation of the Taylor Report, gradual elimination of hooliganism, etc
2. Top clubs in England argued they needed more money to compete with top teams in Europe, and the sharing of revenues with the pyramid was a detriment to this. The purpose of the breakaway efforts culminating in the PL was to retain the rights to broadcasting and sponsorship, and have that income go to the clubs within the breakaway league instead of the entire pyramid
3. The effort was led by 5 clubs: United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs and Everton.
4. 22 teams "broke away" from the Football League and formed the Premier League, which became the top tier of the pyramid
5. Promotion and relegation to the next tier was established from the beginning
6. Revenue was shared between all teams equitably, and simultaneously the PL focused on growing it's appeal and income. Murdoch comes in somewhere but I can't be arsed to determine where

There are some parallels between back then and today. Curious to hear from older folk what the backlash (if any was like)

 

[ChorltonReds]

I was 18 in 1992 and had been going to Old Trafford since I was a babe in arms. I don't remember there being any backlash - except from the actual football league, who obviously were losing control. I admit at that time my circle of friends would have been limited to supporters of United, City, Liverpool, Everton and the odd supporter from elsewhere, but generally I think the consensus was that it was a good thing and nothing much would change except the number of teams reducing in the top flight - which pretty much everybody thought was for the best - and the amount of football on telly increasing, which people also wanted. There were no invites or guaranteed seats - promotion/relegation carried on as normal.

At that time there was much greater concern about all seater stadiums ruining the atmosphere, increasing costs, identity cards and other restrictions.