Big Six sign up for new European Super League

[Kabalega]

Bayern and Borussia Dortmund held out?

PSG not invited?

And Arsenal and Tottenham, the great powerhouses of the here and now were. It’s a completely ludicrous idea which is either an attempt to gain bargaining power in the reformatting of the Champions League or is a case of, too many Cowboys and not enough Chiefs. Americanisation is a disaster wherever it goes. Fast buck maybe, but is there longevity in it? How many Super Leagues have tried and failed across the sporting sector? It reads well, but isn’t as easy a sale. Yes, they can have a few tatted up Hollywoodians in the crowd, perhaps a Super Bowlesque half time dance show, with popping bra strap included...it won’t succeed given the animosity faced. Will the players even participate? A contractual sh*t storm beckons. Bring on third party ownership, players hired for the weekend from Jorabchian and Sons Ltd. Imagine, 2 nil down at half-time, Liverpool sign Bruno Fernandes for the second-half. Split the game into quarters, make the goal wider, the pitch shorter, end to end like the NBA on steroids.

They were part of the original EPL big 5 (Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and Arsenal) that broke away from the 104 year old Football league ran by the FA. The BSkyB sponsorship deal was too good to turn down.

The UEFA CL itself was dreamt up by an Italian club owner for the very same reasons of the new Super League.

So it's inaccurate to label this development as Americanization.

It is as the majority of the big 6 owners are Americans.
Once upon a time, Nottingham Forest for example was was a big five club and this lot just want to monopolise money revenue for themselves and stop others from ever getting to the summit.

Kai, six? I didn't think of that.

I thought it was the in reference to the lack of promotion and relegation which can be negotiated later If they expand to 15 teams and relegate 3.

[Coach]

@Pokey, for the Americanised it’s merely entertainment. For others, it’s much more. Presumably one could wear a Raiders cap in any part of any given city Stateside. Says it all. Try stepping into the Boleyn (Barking Road) wearing anything other than West Ham. An almighty beating. The Tollington on Hornsey Rd was the old garrison for the Arsenalists, wonderful tear ups on derby day. All sorts flying. Police getting stuck in too. It’s more than entertainment.

Staple diet of the chimney sweeps nationwide, pint and punch up. History. Arsenal could play Barcelona 20 times a season, it means nothing, where’s the threatening to boil over banter on the underground, the hurdled exits, the rival factions bellowing terrace chants from opposites side of the road, the projectile being launched. The mounted Bobbie’s horse marking a dividing line in fresh manure. The odd skirmish in the off licence or segregated lines like a red and white apartheid up and down Seven Sisters Road. Ooo’ ahhh ya, ooo’ ahhh ya’...doesn’t sound the same in Spanish and reads like a love song Italian. More projectiles launched. All kicking off at the turnstiles, on the terraces, on the pitch, in the technical area. Passion. Kettle’s boiling, Big Paddy Vieira, Gypsy Ray, Martin Keown steaming into the tunnel, haymakers to the left, combine harvesters to the right. Pride.

It’s bad enough there’s a bunch of marigolds on the field quick to chit chat with each other, regardless of the result. This would kill the sport dead.

[txj]

@Tx, aside from the dosh, what exactly is the point of this slice of American Pie? No relegations, fixed entrees, is it not just a tarted up bunch of friendlies? Perhaps they’ll give it a trophy twice the size of the Libertidores and who gives a sh*t, besides the camera crew catching choreographed Pepsi swigs by Arianna and Somebody Jenner. It’s a joke. All for competition, but with all due respect, any supposed Super League featuring present day Tottenham and Arsenal, is pure oxymoron. Revamp the Champions League, seed Champions and only champions, remove the same country clause, if the aim is to increase marquee games then stop protecting the elite, let them lock horns right from the get go. Whatever next, all fixtures played in a Saudi Dessert with an X-Factorette singing the Aladdin soundtrack.

Simply put, the once upon a time big boys, who are struggling to hold their girth, should be allowed to die the death deserved. Liverpool may miss out of top 4 and if they do, it’s because they deserved to. Sorry “mate” but it’s a complete an utter joke.

One of the most competitive sporting leagues on the globe is the NFL as well as the NBA. None of them have relegation..

Its a bunch of old Brits hanging on to the colonies for dear life. Is it any wonder they voted for Brexit?

We've moved on, thankfully.

With big money, all of the top clubs get what they have coming to them, and not subsidize the likes of Burnley, who are too stupid to tell how 5 subs benefit them!

[txj]

@Pokey, for the Americanised it’s merely entertainment. For others, it’s much more. Presumably one could wear a Raiders cap in any part of any given city Stateside. Says it all. Try stepping into the Boleyn (Barking Road) wearing anything other than West Ham. An almighty beating. The Tollington on Hornsey Rd was the old garrison for the Arsenalists, wonderful tear ups on derby day. All sorts flying. Police getting stuck in too. It’s more than entertainment.

Staple diet of the chimney sweeps nationwide, pint and punch up. History. Arsenal could play Barcelona 20 times a season, it means nothing, where’s the threatening to boil over banter on the underground, the hurdled exits, the rival factions bellowing terrace chants from opposites side of the road, the projectile being launched. The mounted Bobbie’s horse marking a dividing line in fresh manure. The odd skirmish in the off licence or segregated lines like a red and white apartheid up and down Seven Sisters Road. Ooo’ ahhh ya, ooo’ ahhh ya’...doesn’t sound the same in Spanish and reads like a love song Italian. More projectiles launched. All kicking off at the turnstiles, on the terraces, on the pitch, in the technical area. Passion. Kettle’s boiling, Big Paddy Vieira, Gypsy Ray, Martin Keown steaming into the tunnel, haymakers to the left, combine harvesters to the right. Pride.

It’s bad enough there’s a bunch of marigolds on the field quick to chit chat with each other, regardless of the result. This would kill the sport dead.

If you want a brawl, go to any bar in a ghetto!

We want football! Competitive football, with purse to match the delivery....

Its dem deadwood Brits again, trying to hang on to the 'colonies'...

[cic old boy]

Those supporters clubs are as ignorant as they come!

Too many of them hoodwinked by even more ignorant pundits like Gary Neville and James Carragher!

Some of them think you can run a football club on mere passion...

They know more about the game than the clowns that run clubs like Liverpool and Chelsea.

You may also want to investigate why the German clubs have not signed up to this folly. It may have something to do with fan ownership of 51% of those clubs. I think Barca socios and Madrid fans - the real owners of both clubs will vote down this stitch up by crooks.

Some clowns do not know why football is the most popular game on earth - it still retains a bit of meritocracy even with the billions slushing around. Success still is dependent on what happens on the pitch. Like Cruyff said, a bag of money never scored a goal. But some moneybags crooks like El Presidente think you can guarantee success without winning on the pitch. They have another think coming.

[cic old boy]

[cic old boy]

[cic old boy]

[Kabalega]

This is the reason they are creating it.
They are tired of the reduced income.

I have no love for the established European teams. They started FFP just to prevent new owners from challenging them.

Clueless fans screamed bloody murder at the new wealthy ownership of Chelsea, PSG and Man City. How else would these teams compete against the likes of ManU, Real Madrid and Barcelona?

[cic old boy]

[cic old boy]

[green4life]

Chelsea Supporters Trust didn't mince words.

Those supporters clubs are as ignorant as they come!

Too many of them hoodwinked by even more ignorant pundits like Gary Neville and James Carragher!

Some of them think you can run a football club on mere passion...

Good to see I'm not alone.

[Mr. Piffington]

Not European, I have no dog in this fight.

[txj]

Those supporters clubs are as ignorant as they come!

Too many of them hoodwinked by even more ignorant pundits like Gary Neville and James Carragher!

Some of them think you can run a football club on mere passion...

They know more about the game than the clowns that run clubs like Liverpool and Chelsea.

You may also want to investigate why the German clubs have not signed up to this folly. It may have something to do with fan ownership of 51% of those clubs. I think Barca socios and Madrid fans - the real owners of both clubs will vote down this stitch up by crooks.

Some clowns do not know why football is the most popular game on earth - it still retains a bit of meritocracy even with the billions slushing around. Success still is dependent on what happens on the pitch. Like Cruyff said, a bag of money never scored a goal. But some moneybags crooks like El Presidente think you can guarantee success without winning on the pitch. They have another think coming.

Yeah and we can run LFC just by singing kumbaya and holding hands...

You think Barca and Madrid run on the passion of the fans?

why do peeps think football club is immune from the financial rigors of running an LLC?

The German clubs are content to be fleeced repeatedly by Bayern and then thank them in return...

[green4life]

Not European, I have no dog in this fight.

Personally, that's how I feel.

Therefore, assessing the matter with an open mind, we have the biggest sport in the world by far (over 4 billion fans) but with it's biggest/ most successful clubs mostly suffering financially. It suggests that the current model needs a big adjustment especially given that the trend of increasing player costs + decreasing revenue is not sustainable even after covid is hopefully eradicated.

I love the traditional aspects and would like to retain all that but professional sports is a business first. If the powers that be at the clubs feel like there is money being left on the table and they are not able to get at that opportunity due to the current set up and they are currently hurting financially, something has to be done. Summarily calling the club owners/directors greedy to play on the emotions of die hard fans helps no one.

[oloye]

Bunch of greedy bandits

[Coach]

Chelsea Supporters Trust didn't mince words.

Those supporters clubs are as ignorant as they come!

Too many of them hoodwinked by even more ignorant pundits like Gary Neville and James Carragher!

Some of them think you can run a football club on mere passion...

Good to see I'm not alone.

Lost in translation. Its not about ignorance. Such is the allure of the modern game, many a fan are mere spectators, thrill seekers, wanting entertainment. Their attachment to a club or team is a temporal as a the undying love and affection of an adolescent at his first Ball. Smells like teen spirit, look likes a cold sore by the morning. Filtered through the melee of fair weather bandwagoner and one falls upon a body of supporters to whom their affiliation isn't defined by fancy kits or recent titles, its intrinsic. To those, they're born that way, it's not a choice, rather an obligation. To those, Arsenal, Spurs, United aren't just a bunch of fancy Dans kicking a pig's bladder across the park, rather they are them, they're the representation of those people born into the tribe. Romanticised perhaps, too many rose petals pressed against the glasses may be, but just as a National Side is considered a representation of the nation, so too is a club, in the eyes of many, considered a representation of their locality. How wonderful it would be to watch Arsenal being routed by Barcelona week in week out, but with FIFA proposing international bans for participation, one wonders who amongst those prized beasts of burden will want to be part of the circus? Were the players contacted for opinion? Managers the same? Klopp has suggested otherwise.

Tbh, let them go, one hopes UEFA, FIFA and the FA hold their nerve, give them an ultimatum, hold the door open and tell them like Sean Carter reciting the fate of the good girl gone bad, you're "gone forever". Would be hilarious to see City, Real and Chelsea, kicked out of UCL, Pochettino's wins it by default. Irony.

[green4life]

Tbh, let them go, one hopes UEFA, FIFA and the FA hold their nerve, give them an ultimatum, hold the door open and tell them like Sean Carter reciting the fate of the good girl gone bad, you're "gone forever". Would be hilarious to see City, Real and Chelsea, kicked out of UCL, Pochettino's wins it by default. Irony.

All this is wishful thinking and doesn't address the financial struggles has brought the clubs to the current situation.

[Coach]

And yet, 'tis only the big six that had these unique financial struggles during the pandemic presumably? Tbh, as long as the threats materialise, so be it. The FA et al must stand firm, ban the f**k out of them, perhaps Uncle Sam will throw in a few hybrids, to keep 'em entertained, Man City vs Washington Redskins, Mayweather-McGregor eat your heart out.

[cic old boy]

Yeah and we can run LFC just by singing kumbaya and holding hands...

You think Barca and Madrid run on the passion of the fans?

why do peeps think football club is immune from the financial rigors of running an LLC?

The German clubs are content to be fleeced repeatedly by Bayern and then thank them in return...

Bayern has a very successful model run on the basis of 51% ownership by fans with people that understand the game like Rummenigge running the club. They have said no thanks.

I expect Barca and Madrid fans - 100% owners of both clubs to vote down this BS. This isn't American sport, where you can uproot a "franchise" from one city to the next, and there is no promotion or relegation. Tradition, history, community roots, matter in football.

Watch as the clowns behind this idiocy backtrack. The UK govt is already threatening to act. Many of you, including Liverpool's American owner, don't know what they are playing with.

[Coach]

@CIC, they must be made to stand by their decision...its not enough to threaten them, get ink on the paper and get the bans going. Can only imagine the mutiny, wonderful scenes as players, some not all, start to walk out by the dozen. No Euros, no World Cup, for what, a few poxy kick abouts. Fingers crossed it all kicks off, big time. Wheres Tevez for a walkout when you need him.

[cic old boy]

Personally, that's how I feel.

Therefore, assessing the matter with an open mind, we have the biggest sport in the world by far (over 4 billion fans) but with it's biggest/ most successful clubs mostly suffering financially. It suggests that the current model needs a big adjustment especially given that the trend of increasing player costs + decreasing revenue is not sustainable even after covid is hopefully eradicated.

I love the traditional aspects and would like to retain all that but professional sports is a business first. If the powers that be at the clubs feel like there is money being left on the table and they are not able to get at that opportunity due to the current set up and they are currently hurting financially, something has to be done. Summarily calling the club owners/directors greedy to play on the emotions of die hard fans helps no one.

Clubs are suffering b/c of corona and corruption. They should look at how much commission managers, directors, etc are sharing with agents. Clubs are also suffering b/c matchday revenue has disappeared due to corona. It would disappear even more when fans boycott this idiotic super league. Then the fairweather people from all over the world would not like the spectacle without fans.

If you want to know what's wrong with football, look at Manure. No debt, until vulture capitalists bought the club and loaded their debt on it. Debt servicing alone is taking out investment in the playing staff.

The crooks running clubs have been appeased for too long. The trouble with greed is that it is insatiable. The European Cup used to be just the champions in each country. Now, clubs that didn't win anything enter. But they were not satisfied. They kept asking for more. Even those set up with stolen funds from Russia and the Middle East want more money.

They were indulged as long as they didn't tamper with the fundamentals of the game - this is what gives the Leicesters of the world hope. It is what makes the game popular - the chance of the underdog upsetting the odds.

Every year, they up prices of tickets, subscriptions, etc and know the punters will keep coming. But one day, the game will eat itself b/c of greed.

[txj]

Yeah and we can run LFC just by singing kumbaya and holding hands...

You think Barca and Madrid run on the passion of the fans?

why do peeps think football club is immune from the financial rigors of running an LLC?

The German clubs are content to be fleeced repeatedly by Bayern and then thank them in return...

Bayern has a very successful model run on the basis of 51% ownership by fans with people that understand the game like Rummenigge running the club. They have said no thanks.

I expect Barca and Madrid fans - 100% owners of both clubs to vote down this BS. This isn't American sport, where you can uproot a "franchise" from one city to the next, and there is no promotion or relegation. Tradition, history, community roots, matter in football.

Watch as the clowns behind this idiocy backtrack. The UK govt is already threatening to act. Many of you, including Liverpool's American owner, don't know what they are playing with.

They also have a model where you can acquire the following players:

- Lewandoski
- Goretzka
- Hummels
- Goetze
- Rudy
- Nubel

all for $0

When you live comfortably on such a model, why would you want to change?