Welcome to the European Super League!
Wading through the online responses this morning I’m seeing an awful lot of emotive language, but sparse analysis let alone anything even approaching balanced opinion.
The Tottenham Hotspur Supporter’s Trust has echoed the general tone by going full ‘get out of my club‘ on ENIC, including a beyond parody move of bleating about having not being consulted in the decision-making process. Frankly the boys over at Chick King would’ve been able to contribute more to a conversation about what was good for the club.
Generally speaking, the biggest beef appears to be the ‘pursuit of greed’ angle, which I find a little strange, a little after the fact. Like a man in midway through a 20-year prison sentence announcing that his days are a little bit samey.
We want to hear your thoughts on the #SuperLeague
— CaughtOffside (@caughtoffside) April 19, 2021
First up, be honest – good idea or bad idea?
The pursuit of money has been ramping up ever since Sky money hit the scene in 1992 – a European Super League would give us game after game of box office ties and put an end to the time-wasting business of having to watch us travel to play teams like Krasnodar, with the primary goal of not sustaining any injuries.
People avidly watched our spiritual home get demolished and replaced with a cashless terminal infested spaceship – and only now there are tears?
Tell me how you feel and if you can, make a substantive point, bawling ‘I don’t like it!’ doesn’t tell us much. Cheers.
100% I feel sorry for anyone unable to grasp that.
Great post. 100%
So at least this west we can stop the Spammers overtaking us!? Brilliant, let’s f*ck football up to make up for being perennial underachievers… 👍
The bottom line is of course money, power and influence, with greed the primary motive. We already know the unsavoury narrative regarding the ‘president of Patagonia’s’ parasitical personality and unscrupulous business dealings, Levy is merely his protege, the ventriloquist’s dummy.
Having said that and registered my distaste for the naked greed sullying the soul of the game, I also understand why ENIC, in the face of three quarters of a billion pounds debt, had to protect themselves financially by accepting founding membership in this new European Super League.
If the ESL goes ahead as planned, then financially, as a founding member, the club will be the beneficiary. If alternatively the plan is prorogued then the club’s status as a participant will be assured if it goes ahead in the future in some modified form.
I also understand that THFC are not the prime movers in this venture and factually, in the financial and footballing hierarchy of the founding members, have more to gain than most by their inclusion. Nevertheless it’s a stark reminder of the reality of globalism, where the rich get richer and the poor get screwed!
The thing is most sport is global, it’s alright for the Americans to start using their model with football. However, football relies on affiliations to make it work in that global environment. If you prevent players from representing their countries, and national league is bringing certain rules for teams in the super league, then it will always be regarded as a bit of a circus.
When I say it’s a nonstarter, I mean that in the sense of it being highly regarded. Personally I think the whole thing is bluff, it’s been talked about for years and despite the football authorities fearing it the actual practicalities of the breakaway Involving established clubs is far from straightforward.
I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, but at the moment it’s at the same sort of stage that Richard Branson is at with his moon flights, as a commercial operation.
Yep real talk. We’ll earn more than most of the other clubs too what with the rest of the stuff going on at the stadium (NFL ect) plus our huge match day earnings
I just think they will (over time) need to put something in place otherwise the lowest finishing “Founder Members” will forever stay near the bottom. The NFL draft system is there to substantially improve the poorest teams every season.
Otherwise people will get bored of seeing the same 2 in the final every year. Corporate greed of course comes in to it but if fans start to switch off because it becomes to predictable they will look for ways to shake it up.
Very American sporting franchise set up.
That will be hard to believe with this squad…..surely nobody will buy that?! They can’t even beat Newcastle haha
Is it really a non-starter? Most “big ” clubs are foreign owned. Providing the funding is guaranteed they will make decisions without border allegiances, pitch the concept at the younger generation and maximise their investments.
I believe Levy has stitched up a deal for us to win the first title (which keeps Harry and Sonny) then we languish in luxury for the next 50 years under Levy jnr’s stewardship.
Interesting about recent histories. Surely City and Cheatski have funded their recent histories via the CL money. Same rationale.
Surely you are joking about a draft system for a world game? Unworkable and not compatible with the corporate greed concept in play here.
Still makes money which seems to be the point.
It is very American sports modelling and DL would appear to be as connected as anyone.
Socialism taking on corporate international greed? I don’t think so.
Spot on re PL and other tiers of football.
Certainly makes him seem principled and connect with fans. Nice move, always the master of a presser.
Be nice for Jose to do an Amazon on Levy.
Agreed Darren. My memories are of the rare occasions when we played the likes of Barca, Real Madrid, Juve and Dortmund. Nights of real excitement in otherwise mundane seasons playing Stoke, WBA and Palace. ( Sorry to their fans!).
But the rarity value of those nights is what makes them special, together with the pride in the work and skill that got us to that position.
A constant diet of these contests will dull the enjoyment and excitement for me. Caviar is only special if you have it rarely.
According to the BBC he was sacked.They are also saying that Ryan Mason will take first team training today.That must have Southampton rattled for Wednesday.I wonder if Danny Rose will start?
I meant, we would have the pick of the rest. Our transfer targets aren’t usually linked with any of these 12 clubs.
I think you’re right. But I think Levy also pays a premium for managers silence. The world will be dying to hear Mourinho’s thoughts about the club and the chairman, I’d imagine Daniel has had to pay a pretty penny to get that NDA signed.
Just think of this …. would Tottenham pay Mourinho £30m and then let him start a job tomorrow? If so, managers would be agitating to get the sack all the time (although some say that’s what Mourinho does!!) They will come to an agreement that enables Mourinho to take a new role. If Mourinho has work lined up immediately he’ll get very little. I think we paid Poch’s wages for a year until he got a new job. The press love making up these ridiculous compensation figures
The reason these big champions league ties are special is because they are earned and its not guaranteed, so getting there builds excitement.
Facing off with Madrid, juve and barcelona is a huge occasion for spurs, playing them twice a year will make it no different to every other match against the likes of Leicester and Newcastle.
If joining is a necessity so as to not be financly left behind then we don’t have a choice really, but it will surely take away some of the magic.
Even with the guaranteed money the best players would still choose the likes of Madrid,Barca and Bayern over us.They are bigger clubs and are perennial winners,not something you can level at us.
Is that so? Time will tell, surprised Mourinho would be against such an idea to be honest.
Sorry that sounded aggressive…genuinely interested to know.
How does it work if he’s sacked on a 3 year contract worth £15m a year then?
Why would we be the whipping boys? In no time at all the enormous money that is received creates the level playing field that we desperately need and helps to negate the clubs owned by multi multi billionaires. Brilliant coaches will be vital
Rumour that he refused to take training due to ESL.
I guess Spurs now have funds to pay him off. Lol
F*ck, I thought you were joking!
He wouldn’t get £30m. It simply doesn’t work like that.
Looks like he left as well, not sacked. Can’t see that though. Who walks away from over £30m?
It kind of makes the remaining 6 PL games a bit pointless now.
No wonder Daniel was looking at his phone instead of watching the game on Friday night.
Over the last 11 years only Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City have ended in the top 6 every season (although we are doing our best to end that sequence). I would certainly feel for Rangers and Celtic rather than Leicester City. As for not having a chance of winning it, I don’t buy that argument either. This is the ‘level playing field’ a club like ours needs. If there is untold riches flowing into the competition every club then becomes able to compete – unlike every top league at present where, in reality, a maximum of 3 teams (but often one) can win it.
A European League has been coming ever since the PL arrived. I remember saying why would you play Wigan when you can play Real Madrid. Whatever we say about our chairman – and the comments on this site are general negative!! – he has fattened the club up to get us in a position where we would be in a European League. My West Ham mate who has become a little tiresome lately is seething and, that alone, is worth it!! We already live in a world where Jimmy Greaves and Gary Lineker don’t seem to exist because they didn’t play in the PL so it’s a little late to get self righteous and to talk about greed.
I had hoped that it could have been done differently and, who knows, maybe there will be changes. A top European Division with feeder leagues a little like the lower part of the pyramid might work. My thoughts, right now, are that this has been inevitable for a while and if there is going to be a European League I’d certainly prefer my club to be in it. ‘And it’s Tottenham Hotspur, Tottenham Hotspur FC we’re one of the 15 biggest teams the world has every seen’.
This was his fault as well
This is more based on Deloitte and Forbes standings than actual achievements. Its about global and brand exposure as well as marketability.
10th richest club in the world. That’s why we are there.
We would compete in this and PL – no Carabao and question marks over the FA cup.
Mourinho sacked
I’m off to work on Poch’s farm…
It’s load of old w*nk…
I think the PL can’t continue with the “big 6” the international market to watch Burnley every week won’t be vast.
I would however, expect the PL (should this actually go ahead) to put some kind of ESL deduction into its prize money – so City finish top of the league, they are deducted 50% of their tv rights money/prize money for competing in the ESL, this gets shared between the other 14 clubs.
This surely kills the premier league dead.
So a huge cash vacuum for the rest of the clubs involved. A bit like what the PL did to the rest of english football.
Its great because Ive been looking for an excuse to cut the enotional ties with Spurs and this souless competition looks like it will do it for me.
I mean the whole concept is fairly bonkers.
It reminds me of when Levy did his little act pitching to use the Olympic stadium at Stratford years ago to try and secure more funding for the Northumberland Park development project. It’s mainly a ruse, a threat to walk away if you don’t get what you want.
Anyway, I think the backlash is palpable and it’s a non starter, but from a negotiation tool it’s now out there, as a threat. Now they’ll try and bully the football authorities with it, c*nts…
Sadly the guaranteed cash means that we (in theory, depending what young Daniel chooses to do with it) can cherry pick whatever player we want outside of this special 12. So we may not be the whipping boys….but knowing Levy we’ll sign Dier to a lifetime contract, make no signings this season and call ourselves Elite.
Ahhh the way my mate explained it, I presumed we wouldn’t be in the premier league anymore… Isnt the Champions league and ropey enough? We’ll need another squad for another league, injuries can be a problem as it is.
*not the anniversary of Hillsborough but still too close for comfort.
How did we get here? I mean Spurs, not football.
Is this the fruits of the special relationship with RM that Daniel told us about?
Along with Arsenal, we’ll be the whipping boys of the ESL.
Big games are big for a reason. They don’t happen every week. Anything special is flogged till dead.
I don’t like change in football….. Var for example has been disastrous… Goaline technology works but nothing else…. Handball rule change is another example….. Whoever these mugs are in charge, they have been ruining our game…. Now these guys and certain clubs want to change the whole system… For money….. So the gaps become bigger… The rich stay rich and the poor stay poorer…. No thanks, keep it as it is.. A more balanced playing field.
I’ll be there as a non human being roaring my team on. YID ARRRMY
I was fuming and embarrassed last night, I’ve calmed down a bit this morning.
On paper, it makes sense in terms of the games week in, week out that all fans want to see (whether we should be there is a bigger question). And I don’t necessarily think it changes the competition element of the PL – UEFA will still run a European competition every year which one assumes will be based on league standings – then there’s the PL money based on where you finished. So I can’t in all honesty see someone like Everton saying “lets not worry about where we finish”. Plus there’s the 5 invitational places every year which again, I assume will be based on merit and possibly will include 1 other PL club every year.
The thing for me, like everything is the timing and how it’s been handled. It’s utterly embarrassing for Arsenal and ourselves to be considered “Elite” based on our very recent histories.
I think even if this ESL goes away for now, a competition like this is inevitable.
If we are taking the US sports model though, I’d like to see them introduce a draft system. Before each season every club has to create a 5 man draft list (players from their own clubs that they will lose at the end of the season, could be players in the last year of contract etc.) and whoever finishes bottom of the ESL gets first pick, 2nd bottom next pick etc.
Indeed. I’m curious as what this is all about. It’s something that’s been inevitable and talked about before many times yet the media have gone full “civil war” outrage max. It is dispicable, but it’s the logical conclusion as H points out. Liverpool, Man Utd, ENIC Fc, Arsenal, Chelski and City are bloated corporate corpses now. There’s nothing left of them so by all means @##% off and die in an Americanized nightmare of perpetual hell “league”….the word league implies other levels. That’s it’s discriptive principle. You’re not in my league son etc….this nonsense is something else. I can understand the American owned lot, Arsenal, Utd and Liverpool going for this, but what’s Levy and Lewis’s excuse?? They’re supposed to be “fans of the club” and British….(excuse me while I spit out my breakfast) the idea of Levy getting let in to lose 5-0 every match is frankly hilarious and fully deserved. Die in your self made hell and drown in cash. Our clubs are dead anyway, and if this thing takes off anyone who watches it or goes to the stadium is not a football fan, in fact, not a human being. It’s no coincidence that this has broke on 19th April….the anniversary of the Hillsborough mass murder that ushered in the last corporate footballing disaster off the back of the deceased. Covid 19, Climate change, European super leagues….these things are all connected. Communitys destroyed, life irriversably changed to the vision of a particular cabal of very rich psychopaths. It is a conspiracy, a conspiracy against the people. Acknowledge it or hide….it probably doesn’t make much difference. RIP football. RIP THFC.
Point taken – we certainly made sure we avoided injuries at Slavia Prague. Those smaller clubs can be such a pain in the arse. The Super League is a great idea if you prefer entertainment to sport. Personally I would rather watch my local Sunday League team actually playing for something even if most of them they don’t possess the sublime skills of our current squad. Greed is insidious pervasive and, sadly, ingrained in the human DNA. Suppose it was inevitable ‘the beautiful game’ would grow old and ugly.
I’m scared to ring Haringey borough fc manager tom
A baggies fan I know is currently having a coronary
The “premiere league? What’s that?🌚
Daniel levy: well foresaw. Whether you like it or not we need to be in it. Our stadium (earning potential) got us in it (not our history😂
Hahahahah
Big big teams on the manor. We’re gonna need a bigger stadium🌚
Once the idea of a money making league where you still don’t have to win anything but make lots more money then dl was always going to be all over it. Can you blame him. Promote the club, the stadium, the brand and you are not expected to be a success it has Spurs under enic all over it. Would the fans have loved the club if Leicester had have taken our place loosing more ground in the battle for a crumb from the top table. I’m amazed we are there but I guess we have poch to thank in part for that. Wonder what fans of clubs who won’t be in it but finish above us or win things will think.
The biggest issue from a fan perspective that I can see is that this will kill the Premier League as a competitive competition. If there is no real advantage to finishing 2nd over 17th, most games will become dull as the season wears on.
Also it would mean no domestic cup participation, so the only competitions we would be in would be the PL and ESL. We will have little chance of ever winning anything in future.
As one of the “big 5” when the Premier League was setup, we haven;t done amazingly well in it over all, but recently we have done just well enough to be at the table for this new venture.
Funny thing about the chance to be relegated and promoted – of the “Big 5” teams that brought about the Premier League – guess how many have been relegated from it? 0
Having said that – if they are able to come up with a method of relegation and promotion, even if it doesn’t kick in for the first 2 years or so – they will have something better than we have now.
The current system of giving out quota to different Countries doesn’t keep fans happy, it doesn’t keep TV companies happy, and it isn’t fair. The fans want to best x teams in Europe there, the TV companies want the biggest x teams in Europe and also proper competition. The qualification phases has some dreadful teams and the group stages has a lot of very average teams. The 6th, 7th, or 8th best team in the Premier League is better than 50% of the champions league teams even in the group stages.
The group stages are usually fairly dull and are set up to allow big name teams to progress rather than for good matches. The new 3rd tier European tournament (which honestly noone in the premier league wants to be in) is a really poor solution to the European problem. Having to qualify every year doesn’t work for anyone. That doesn’t mean you can’t have relegation and promotion to it. I am sure that a compromise framework with a proper tier system in Europe could work and should work. Ironically this is happening a bit late. European travel became cheap(er in some cases) than domestic travel a long time ago. That is part of the driver. Also, UK has recently left Europe, but you could argue that why shouldn’t we be in a league with Spanish and German teams with no borders and cheap travel (again, bit late with covid and brexit).
Why not make money, sure. But the only elite part of our club is probably the stadium (I don’t see Kane staying, super league or not). We can’t beat Newcastle, Everton, Wolves, West Ham, and we want to go toe to toe regularly with Madrid, Barcelona, Inter et al.? Zagreb beat us 3-0!
Raising money and finishing 8th-10th in a competition from which you can’t get relegated, all while “being” among top sides without actually being a top side sums up ENIC to a tee. No real substance, only smoke and mirrors.
And I’m not even talking about what message this sends to teams in the football pyramid. If West Ham or Leicester keep doing well this season, they could get into the CL. The ESL tells them that they won’t get in no matter what, while Spurs, Arsenal and others will still get in even if they finish 16th and 17th.
It could and likely will benefit us financially (I don’t believe the threats – for example, who would watch the PL without the six?), but it all feels unearned and spiteful towards the “lesser” teams.
It creates or should I say broadens the gap at the top table, if your being non imotive about it, your arguing about what mid week European tournament do you want as don’t forget CL is looking to protect clubs if they miss out on top 4 one year and who do you want to earn from it. Domestically yes we loose the Mickey Mouse cup is gone but both Poch and ole have said it’s pointless, fa cup is further devalued due to qty of games and it just recreates a gap in clubs prior to ffp and big tv money.
The Premier league were arguing about bailouts earlier in the year for money further down the pyramid so money floats to the top regardless so this is more them protecting their incomes.
it’s always going to be a romantic decision why you wouldn’t like this.
But football has become a money game for investors and how they might turn a profit out of those businesses.
The greed part of it is just on the side. The main reason that people don’t like the concept is that it goes against the whole principle of the pursuit of sporting achievement.
The ’pyramid’ in any sport is the key and the basis to its credibility. The idea that with sporting achievement one is able to climb the steps of the pyramid. We’ve seen Leicester City do it most recently.
Promotion to the top European leagues should be accompanied by the dream of reaching the summit of the game, whoever you are. This goes against the basic principles of sporting credibility and drives the final nails in the coffin of football being taken seriously at the top level.
An ‘elite’ league that isn’t based on being elite in a sporting sense whatsoever whatsoever? Really?
Rumour has it, when the clubs were throwing their hats into the ring to join the European Super League, Daniel Levy missed & asked if Harry Kane could have a go!
People, specifically football fans have short memories. The PL divided opinion when it was first mooted to the football world. Arguably it still caused consternation amongst fans of lower league clubs with accusations of elitism.
The likes of SKY, BT et al are going through the motions of mock outrage. Fact is if there’s money to be made from this they will be front and centre for the broadcasting rights.
As for Spurs, specifically Levy putting us forward for this league. This decision is based solely on £\$ If it was a footballing decision even Levy can’t be that blind in thinking we’d nearly always finish bottom of said league. I mean, jeez we can’t even get through to the final stage of the Europa league.
Difficult to say until certain criteria is ironed out for instance would we still be in the premier league etc ,,I presume so.
What about if only 5 clubs got picked and we wernt part of the adventure how would fans think then ?
Teams like Leicester must be spewing ,or maybe not who knows.
Still not sure what I think or if it will even happen .
Apparently if we don’t join it we’re “fckd