The thing about this being some 3 Dimensional chess move in negotiating with UEFA is that there's a huge difference between dangling a threat in a meeting behind closed doors and publicly launching something like this on a mass scale. Caving in 48 hours after the announcement and issuing groveling apology statements aren't exactly great negotiating tactics!
Why the silence?
- Thread starter Pogue Mahone
- Start date
The silence was basically a fatal mistake, reading between the lines of the hundreds of articles around this it feels to me the Sunday announcement of the Superleague came far earlier than planned in an attempt to neutralise UEFA's planned announcement on the revamped Champion's League.
The Athletic reports how over the weekend they were desperately trying to arm twist PSG into signing up. The one line in the launch statement about the women's league which would have catapulted Liverpool from the second tier into top European competition and no mention of European Cup Holders Lyon! There was no broadcast partner signed up and as has been said above the managers and other club execs were briefed literally minutes before the announcement. This all smacks of a very last minute decision to launch.
The PR company responsible was InHouse, who were behind Boris' run for mayor and have worked for loads for huge companies from Sky to Starbucks. They are very slick professionals and there is no way this would have been the launch that they planned. I wonder if someone panicked over UEFA getting in there first with their Swiss format league and pulled the trigger demanding they get their announcement out before that. Then everyone was caught on the hop and the negative reaction very quickly snowballed. After the initial statements from Joel Glazer, Agnelli and Perez there was just silence. I can imagine InHouse were shouting for someone to stand up but noone did and to be fair there is no personality among these people, no Boris for example. But everyone knows if you leave a vacuum in communications it quickly gets filled by others trying to drive the narrative. So instead of preplanned friendly voices supporting the idea, the headlines went to Linekar, Neville and eventually Johnson for example. This is basic PR feck up 101.
What made it worse was that the people left in front of the cameras were the managers and the players, who had no idea. This quickly alientated them as well and as Pogue points out a bit of careful management with them for a proper planned announcement could have made a huge difference. Once the players, managers, fans and eventually government were isolated the game was over.
This wasn't overturned by fan power, this was a monumental feck up by the people launching it who rushed into it without planning it properly, they shot themselves in the face. It feels to me like one or two billionaires sitting behind their desk saying launch it now, despite all the professional advice around them saying we're not quite ready. Imagine how differently this could have gone with PSG on board the Germans open to accepting an invitation, as Pogue suggested friendly voices lined up to back it, this could easily have happened if they had got it right.
The Athletic reports how over the weekend they were desperately trying to arm twist PSG into signing up. The one line in the launch statement about the women's league which would have catapulted Liverpool from the second tier into top European competition and no mention of European Cup Holders Lyon! There was no broadcast partner signed up and as has been said above the managers and other club execs were briefed literally minutes before the announcement. This all smacks of a very last minute decision to launch.
The PR company responsible was InHouse, who were behind Boris' run for mayor and have worked for loads for huge companies from Sky to Starbucks. They are very slick professionals and there is no way this would have been the launch that they planned. I wonder if someone panicked over UEFA getting in there first with their Swiss format league and pulled the trigger demanding they get their announcement out before that. Then everyone was caught on the hop and the negative reaction very quickly snowballed. After the initial statements from Joel Glazer, Agnelli and Perez there was just silence. I can imagine InHouse were shouting for someone to stand up but noone did and to be fair there is no personality among these people, no Boris for example. But everyone knows if you leave a vacuum in communications it quickly gets filled by others trying to drive the narrative. So instead of preplanned friendly voices supporting the idea, the headlines went to Linekar, Neville and eventually Johnson for example. This is basic PR feck up 101.
What made it worse was that the people left in front of the cameras were the managers and the players, who had no idea. This quickly alientated them as well and as Pogue points out a bit of careful management with them for a proper planned announcement could have made a huge difference. Once the players, managers, fans and eventually government were isolated the game was over.
This wasn't overturned by fan power, this was a monumental feck up by the people launching it who rushed into it without planning it properly, they shot themselves in the face. It feels to me like one or two billionaires sitting behind their desk saying launch it now, despite all the professional advice around them saying we're not quite ready. Imagine how differently this could have gone with PSG on board the Germans open to accepting an invitation, as Pogue suggested friendly voices lined up to back it, this could easily have happened if they had got it right.
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Because Sky and the media got out in front, the damage was done and the masses whipped into a frenzy, frothing at the mouth before the annoucement was made.
Perez faced less backlash so gave it a go, but it seems clear now the English clubs realised probably even before the announcement that it was a mistake.
If Sky and the rest hadn't gotten out in front, I think it'd have been PR central and I think that's what the Super League sides were hoping for, and opportunity to really sell their product and idea for the future.
Perez faced less backlash so gave it a go, but it seems clear now the English clubs realised probably even before the announcement that it was a mistake.
If Sky and the rest hadn't gotten out in front, I think it'd have been PR central and I think that's what the Super League sides were hoping for, and opportunity to really sell their product and idea for the future.
My guess is because they were reluctant to pull out, which makes sense really. I believe they were caught with their pantaloons down by the fan reaction and simply didn't expect how widespread the vitriol would be. They probably haven't been able to gauge the mood properly from minute 1 and are now a bit worried. Overthinking, etc.
Of course I'm not sure about the internal workings of course but working in comms myself I've had to deal with some feet dragging at times. It tends to happen when decisions are being made by single individuals rather than, say, a much wider team. Bottlenecks always seem to happen when decisions are limited to senior people.
It doesn't seem like any of the clubs properly briefed their staff, which is why players/managers were caught by surprise and were left to face the sweet chin music
The new CL setup was already going to happen, it's not due to the ESL
I wondered about that one, I tried to find the list of clubs and thought that it was suspiscious that Lyon weren't mentioned in the men's competition because from the little they leaked both competitions were supposed to have the same teams. Not having french, swedish and german clubs in the women competitions would have been the biggest scandal in football history.
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That is not "basically the same thing".
I've witnessed staggering levels of incompetency in executives in my career. I'm currently unemployed (along with 40 of my team) because an executive team mis-managed an acquisition in ways that are hard to believe, and a thriving company has been all but destroyed as a result. People panic, and they get carried away with something, and are quite often completely unprepared on how to handle a crisis because they've never really seen one before.
IMO, this Super League idea had never gotten that far past the embryo stage. Some of these founder clubs, and we can probably guess who they are, are on their knees financially and this league was the easiest way to keep the train on the tracks. Others simply had greedy owners that liked the pitch and didn't want to be left behind, and the rest were pressured into making a quick decision. I'm sure the meeting went somewhere along the lines of 'so we are where we are with the planning for this. Its happening. We'll fill in the blanks later but this has to happen now. You're in or you're out'.
A complete disaster. It won't be debated in years to come because there's nothing to debate here. Rich guys losing their minds is really quite a common occurrence.
IMO, this Super League idea had never gotten that far past the embryo stage. Some of these founder clubs, and we can probably guess who they are, are on their knees financially and this league was the easiest way to keep the train on the tracks. Others simply had greedy owners that liked the pitch and didn't want to be left behind, and the rest were pressured into making a quick decision. I'm sure the meeting went somewhere along the lines of 'so we are where we are with the planning for this. Its happening. We'll fill in the blanks later but this has to happen now. You're in or you're out'.
A complete disaster. It won't be debated in years to come because there's nothing to debate here. Rich guys losing their minds is really quite a common occurrence.
That's a really good point, I said above I think this announcement was rushed out before it was ready and this could be another very good reason why. It would interesting to see what's going on in the Barca boardroom as they open their latest bank statement this morning.
I think you've got to look at incompetence and stupidity as the driving forces for the PR failure.
They know what they want: more money from the casual and occasional fan. Essentially, they've already dragged as much money out of the legacy fans as they can - even the UK lot had reached their cracking point with the three pay TV subs, the merchandising and the match tickets.
What happened to the English clubs was that they suddenly realised that getting a glorified loan from JPM won't help them for long unless the casuals get added to the regular crowd who they they are already milking. They missed the bit where they have to sell more cheap seats abroad without losing a big chunk of their current income - and losing part of the romance and passion that they use to sell the game now.
They rushed it, because the Spanish clubs in particular don't have as much to lose by damaging their local pay TV market. The PL clubs panicked when they remembered that thing about, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," and they knew that a populist like Boris really might throw a few new regulations at them if he thought he was onto a political winner, so they had to step back.
They know what they want: more money from the casual and occasional fan. Essentially, they've already dragged as much money out of the legacy fans as they can - even the UK lot had reached their cracking point with the three pay TV subs, the merchandising and the match tickets.
What happened to the English clubs was that they suddenly realised that getting a glorified loan from JPM won't help them for long unless the casuals get added to the regular crowd who they they are already milking. They missed the bit where they have to sell more cheap seats abroad without losing a big chunk of their current income - and losing part of the romance and passion that they use to sell the game now.
They rushed it, because the Spanish clubs in particular don't have as much to lose by damaging their local pay TV market. The PL clubs panicked when they remembered that thing about, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," and they knew that a populist like Boris really might throw a few new regulations at them if he thought he was onto a political winner, so they had to step back.
Speaking on the Athletic podcasts, Andy Mitten said he thinks this was leaked - a theory that would stand up given the shitshow of the last couple of days.
No media plan, terrible timing, everybody except Perez caught cold and the best he could offer was nonsensical ramblings.
Somebody somewhere, on the inside of ESL (Woody?!!) could have decided these plans are not a good idea after all and leaked to sabotage the others.
No media plan, terrible timing, everybody except Perez caught cold and the best he could offer was nonsensical ramblings.
Somebody somewhere, on the inside of ESL (Woody?!!) could have decided these plans are not a good idea after all and leaked to sabotage the others.
It is as though they thought everybody would think it was a pleasant surprise.
It was probably leaked by Agnelli and/or Perez. They were likely desperate to get this going to open some credit lines given the impact Covid has had on football's finances.
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I think a leak is the only logical explanation. Sure some of these guys may not be the smartest or out of touch with the reality of common people, but they aren't stupid enough to plan for such a huge release with no followup communications strategy. But I don't think it was done by noble motives. Between the press getting wind of their plans and UEFA announcing their CL reform someone jumped the gun.
I bet on the ones that rejected it publicly even though we know they were part of the talks for years.
I'm sure it was a surprise to half of the founder clubs too. "This is happening. You are with us on this right now or you will never see the founder club benefits"
If we’re going with leaks as deliberate sabotage that surely had to come from one of the oil rich clubs?
The announcement was definitely leaked. I cant even recall how it came about given whats happened (can anyone?).
It was during our game with Burnley on a Sunday afternoon though which in itself isn't when you'd plan to drop something like this.
The whole thing is bizarre and I can't see it solely being down to incompetence. It's been secretly planned for years apparently. It doesn't just go to shit like that.
It was during our game with Burnley on a Sunday afternoon though which in itself isn't when you'd plan to drop something like this.
The whole thing is bizarre and I can't see it solely being down to incompetence. It's been secretly planned for years apparently. It doesn't just go to shit like that.
Yeah, that’s probably more likely. I guess that points the finger at Perez, he’s still banging the drum now...
Bayern or PSG would have plenty of reasons to sabotage it.
I'm not sure I buy the leaked theory. The lack of any real PR planning, or even a finalised idea on what this thing was (invited clubs?!) suggests that this was still very much in the discussion phase. If that is the case, what it is that would be leaked? Clubs still talking about a super league is not a secret and would scarcely make a new headline anywhere.
It has to be financially driven. Clubs are suffering. Some much more than others. Future revenue aside, the huge upfront payment would have solved a lot of urgent problems for these clubs. I'm convinced that none of this would have happened if COVID didn't exist.
According to Perez, English clubs were a bit shakey so it was on Perez etc to step out in front. Which, to be fair, only lasted 2 days. It was such a small window looking back at it
How many days in total have the 6 PL owners spent in the UK in the past 10 years?
3,650 days available apiece. 21,900 in total.
I’d be amazed if that number was more than 100 days across the 5 not called Roman.
That would go a long way to explaining how monumentally out of touch they are.
Beyond that... the CL changes are still an enhanced financial enrichment scheme that should annoy fans. If their hedge bet still makes for a golden handshake I doubt they worried too much about anything.
3,650 days available apiece. 21,900 in total.
I’d be amazed if that number was more than 100 days across the 5 not called Roman.
That would go a long way to explaining how monumentally out of touch they are.
Beyond that... the CL changes are still an enhanced financial enrichment scheme that should annoy fans. If their hedge bet still makes for a golden handshake I doubt they worried too much about anything.
I mean if you are going to have Woodward, Glazers, Perez leading a revolt, how can you expect anyone to follow?
There is no manutd fan that would want anything that the Glazers propose because we all know they are concerned about one thing only and that is money in the back pocket.
They have 0 interest in this clubs success.
There is no manutd fan that would want anything that the Glazers propose because we all know they are concerned about one thing only and that is money in the back pocket.
They have 0 interest in this clubs success.
We could spend all day drafting up the storylines, but it could be something as simple as a rogue director. No doubt the greedy owners were on board but I doubt this whole thing was unanimously supported by the rest of the boardroom of the clubs, especially the PL ones.
Perez seemed to be hinting as much yesterday - sabotaged from within by a club who didn't want it - presumed to be City.
This seems plausible, given that City don't need the money, wouldn't want to be reined in by whatever stringent FFP restrictions the traditional big clubs insisted upon for the ESL, and don't want/need the bad PR given that their owners are only in this for soft power/sportswashing. Makes sense to bring the whole thing crashing down from within rather than stand outside the project and be left in a position of having to compete directly with it.
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...o-perez-insists-super-league-is-far-from-dead
I'm inclined to think it was something along these lines. It smacks of negotiation tatics but that probably doesnt fully stack up either based on what we know so far.
Sounded like Gab Marcotti on Second Captains was looking in the direction of Soriano/City when it came to at least some of the leaks.
Jaysus. There’s some absolutely crazed ramblings in that interview. If they did have a PR strategy, finding a way to gag Perez should have been high up their to do list.
Lyon too.
One presumes that the rest of this cabal will not attempt another Super League until Perez is safely out of the way. He's not someone that anyone sane or rational would want to have to deal with for a prolonged period.
I’ve partly entertained the thought that this might serve as a win to placate fans and move the baseline. People already were feeling alienated by football and the money machine, now they feel like they fought and won to keep football as they know it.
Perez is really selling it, if so
Yup.
I can’t speak for other clubs’ owners, but the surviving Glazers are basically the Eric and Don jr of football owners. They inherited a football club that Daddy stole, nothing about their cluelessness should surprise anyone.
I wonder whether they used leaks to pressure the last few clubs to sign up, eg. City, Arsenal etc?
Unbelievable incompetence and arrogance seems to be the reason(s) atm. I'm still waiting for the 4D chess move to unveil itself if I'm honest. Can't believe they were that amateurish.
I've been wondering this and cant believe it was incompetency. These are highly intelligent business owners. You don't become billionaires if you're incompetent. And even if they are are they have a vast team of top people around them. So they are all stupid? I doubt it. Also they could have played it completely differently. Why not start with a competition that was not a closed group. Allow for payments to lower league clubs etc. Just make it look brilliant just to wrestle the power away from UEFA and then slowly over the years transform it more and more to suit their needs. They could also buy out a TV company and take control of TV rights. There is lot of actions to take. But instead they dropped the 'Oh we are leaving' bomb. Never gave any details. Never spoke about it. Then left in a day. Why? There is part of the story missing. I I think its because behind closed doors UEFA/FIFA whoever made some deal with the clubs. No other explanation I can think of
I've wondered if there was an issue with the composition of the proposed league caused by members joining for different reasons. So they could all sign up to the theory, but when it came to defending it. I'm not sure there was a homogeneous answer they could all give. Some desperatly needed the cash. Others joined because they didn't want to be left out but weren't particulalry enthusiastic. Others were just surprised they were invited so didn't want to rock the boat. It's very difficult to get an agreed response to such significant pushbak when the team itself is so fragmented. I wonder if they simply couldn't reach an agreement on a response and that was the reason for the delay, then it all simply ran away from them.