Obviously we’ve all been reading about this news about a European Super League, which will include us Spurs, Tottenham Hotspur in it, I wanted to give myself the night to mull it over, think of the possible consequences for the future of football and what happens next.
Before I start, I don’t ask you to agree with me or disagree with me, just ask that you read through every point I have before jumping to conclusions, every fan has the right to their voice and this is purely me speaking mine, here we go.
Firstly, I actually am excited about playing in a new European competition where you are only playing against the best of the best every week which is originally what the Champions League was created for, the idea of only the best going against each other is an exciting prospect.
The biggest problem with the way that it has been structured is the fact none of the 12 founders can be relegated from this new League which in effect means there are no worries or incentives about performing well because their money generated is guaranteed no matter what
They should’ve included some type of qualifying play-off system where the worst-performing teams of an ESL season have to fight to keep their place in the League which might have provided a healthier appeal to this new format they’ll be joining and make it exciting.
Is money a factor? Of course, big clubs have always been bargaining for more prizes from UEFA for European games, in fact, given everything that’s happened around the world during the pandemic over the last year, I think it’s accelerated the creation of the European Super League.
All of these clubs feel they want financial security in uncertain times because we’ve no idea what could lie ahead in the future, and we know from Man Utd, Arsenal & Spurs needing huge loans over the past year, it essentially secures their financial standing for decades to come.
I also find it highly interesting that the Premier League are threatening to ban the ‘Top 6’ if they go through with this which as a threat goes, is frankly laughable, especially given the fact that it was the Premier League that started all of this in the first place in 1992.
The Premier League was created in essentially the same way back in 1992, a breakaway league by big clubs who wanted more money for TV rights and exclusivity as they believed they were the best, who were some of the founders of that breakaway, Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Spurs.
That Premier League breakaway broke the Football League of 104 years and created the pyramid system that exists now and realistically what can the Premier League do, they’re not going to ban them, that’s laughable, would people really watch the top English league without those 6 clubs in it?
The clubs have so much power that they hold all the cards and drawing power not just in England but around the world, also worth remembering SKY are equally responsible for this happening, who was trying to charge fans for Pay-Per-View games, this season, in this global pandemic?
SKY & BT are equally responsible for this happening as it’s their greed for exorbitant TV rights over the years which has driven the money out of control and has now put those 6 clubs in this position of absolute power that they now control everything that happens.
The same story with UEFA & FIFA with their alleged threats to all the breakaway teams, do you really think they’d ban England, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, etc from playing at the World Cup in the future, or stop them from playing in the Champions League forever, no they’re not.
Because they know if they did that football’s global audience, casual fans, who watch no matter what, no one would watch the Champions League, they’d all flock to watch the new European Super League, because it has the best teams involved which is what drives up TV ratings, money and creates what we have now.
I’m not saying they’re right to do this or even that I agree with this new concept but PL/UEFA/FIFA aren’t exactly saints themselves as they’re trying to make themselves out to be, they’ve essentially allowed Frankenstein’s monster to be created with this new ESL
How will it affect us as fans, we’re in a new League and the thought of going to home games every midweek to play the best in the world is what we all want and desire but if you don’t support it, that’s fine, every fan has an opinion and should be allowed to say what they feel.
Lastly to anyone saying Football is ruined, no it’s not ruined, and it never will be, it’s evolving, what we’re in is an evolution of Football, just like the creations of both the Premier League and the Champions League made football evolve and change this is doing the same thing.
Who knows if this actually happens and is successful for clubs and fans, maybe 10 years from now, this could be looked back on as a historic change that made football better, or maybe it won’t time, only will tell, but one thing’s for sure, things will never be the same again.
Bang on. American owners trying to take over Rothschild style..
The 6 clubs including us… UEFA have said we can’t be in the Champions league, nor any domestic cups. We would be out the premier league. Maybe national players won’t be allowed to play for their countries…. It’s a breakaway league, boycotting football as we know it…. The whole football world will be against this…. If anything stops me supporting my beloved spurs then it’s this..
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!
Somehow, don’t think he would have gone yet if the the breakaway league hadn’t been in the offing. Once again, it would seem our esteemed chairman – more by good fortune than skill – falls on his feet with our debt promising to be wiped out in a stroke.
Incidentally, we still won’t need anyone to polish our trophies, because in the new set up our trophies will be of the wooden variety. We should build up quite a collection of spoons!
What would be the point of the CL ? Another castrated tournament like the Europa League, which is an apology for the old UEFA Cup, which generally had the strongest fields in football, quality wise, though, understandably – and correctly – not the prestige of the Champions Cup or the requirement of the kind of consistency, resilience and endurance that our league championship asked of its teams.
“Isn’t there enough money in the game already?” You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But for some people, especially our American cousins, there is NEVER enough money. Vic Edwards, Evonne Goolagong’s coach and guardian, said on Evonne’s first trip to the US that he needed to keep an eye on things and protect her because “Americans only think of themselves”
Of course, it has to be said that the Premiership,Sky, UEFA etc helped to create this situation with their own greed. They hardly hold the moral compass; indeed, one could say this is Karma for them, though I expect Sky will soon recover from this setback and negotiate for the right to show the games in the breakaway league. Football sold its soul a while back when it founded the Premiership.
I don’t like what is threatening to happen: a closed shop that is against everything that SPORT is supposed to be ie an open competition to identify the best performers.
Ask yourself, though, how the CREATURES, the serpents that run our top football clubs made their own fortunes in the first place. It wasn’t through a Corinthian spirit but in exploiting others and paying any staff the least they could get away with. It makes me want to throw up when I hear people like Bush going on about “the free world” ; in reality, the freedom to exploit others for your own gain. I may sound like one, but, no, I’m not a socialist, though the desire to help those less fortunate in society, the underdog, is surely an admirable one.
However, this said, I can’t really argue with the blog above. For instance, can you imagine the Premiership negotiating the next TV package, “by the way, you know Man Utd and Liverpool (etc) aren’t in the Premiership any longer” No, these big clubs hold all the aces. The only possible – and I stress the word possible – restraint is to ban the players of these self regarding clubs from playing in the World Cup etc; but , even, then, they might go off and create their own rival world cup!
I disagree, however, with the notion that we just want to see our club playing the very best all the time. You can have too much of a good thing; there is nothing inherently disagreeable or insular in appreciating one’s bread and butter. We like the old rivalries and traditions and the games against teams that we have played for years. Too many glamour games and they get watered down, cease to be glamour games.
Of course, the money men who have no real understanding of what Sport is all about, have identified the casual, armchair fan – probably only interested in big names – as opposed to the traditional fan on the terracing, as the area for growth and making a financial killing. Paid up members of county cricket clubs often feel that they are taken for granted and that their views on how cricket should be run are the only ones that don’t matter. So it is with football, my friends, and our grubby little businessmen filling their pockets. It’s all very sad but then, increasingly, this ithis is increasingly how the modern world is.
Can’t help thinking that someone up there likes our own snake, because he comes out smelling of roses all the time, doesn’t he and escaping the potential consequences of his own actions.
Looks like he has.
Who’s leaving? The PL would continue as is.
This would be an alternative competition to the champions league.
You reckon he’s gone?.. I wouldn’t be so sure..
The premier league didn’t really change much from the old first division… This sounds like a huge change with a handful of clubs leaving…. Whats wrong with the Champions league and europa cup? These cups changed names over the years. And tweaked some years…. But nothing like the changes they are on about doing…. Isn’t there enough money in the game already? People in football are struggling to feed their kids are they? No, they are being greedy b@sterds 👎
Bye Jose A week before a cup final. Makes you proud to be a Tottenham fan, doesn’t it.
Big news on the way.