Leicester City Nemesis to the Big Bully Boys of Europe

[justfoxes]

Great read from Martin Samuel in the Mail Online in which he states that the upcoming New successful clubs like Leicester City are becoming a thorn in the original top four teams who want to break away and have their own European super League, well worth a read very intriguing  !!

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9185819/Leicester-nemesis-Europes-cosy-cartel-proposed-super-league.html

 

Edited 26 January 2021 by justfoxes

[Jimbo]

That pretty much sums up my feelings as a football fan in general and why I'm so proud to always be a Leicester fan.

Everyone loves an underdog, until that dog gains an advantage over your dog.

Football, as with most things in life, has become so obsessed with money that your bigger clubs really don't care what happens to the little guys.

I really, really can't stand your Man City's or your Chelsea's. PSG continually chucking money around to be successful in Europe knowing they should already have the league title in the bag are the best examples of what could happen to the premier league if any European super league did arrive. 

Real Madrid and Barcelona have always pocketed more money then the teams "below" them, just because they can. 

The premier league is the best and most competitive league in the world and if it wants to carry in being that then it needs to step away, far, far away, from any plans for a European super league.

With this invitation only concept and founding members with no relegation they are literally removing the very soul of football, competition. No true football fan wants to see the same teams competing year on year. Proper football fans, the most true of us, the ones with football running through our veins, want to see your teams like Crawley beating Leeds. You want to see Atalanta qualifying for the champions league, the best example is surely us and how the whole world seemed to unite to want us to keep going and win the most unlikely of titles, the media circus that followed that story was unbelievable. 

The European super league is without question going to destroy football and if you're a fan of any of the "founding teams" and support this is anyway, then you're not a football fan, you're a fan of greed and power.

[filthyfox]

So... my glimmer of hope this year.

Leicester playing Prague on my Birthday 😃

[gerblod]

It's weighted with the Mail's usual venom and its perverse and hypocritical delight in slamming the 'haves', and but it's absolutely accurate about the damnable motives of these absentee owners whose pride and pleasure has more, much more, to do with making money and establishing themselves as an elite - in creating this rather sterile idea of a super league. 

These people have little sense of the passion and loyalty of being a fan. They appeal to the plastic fan or perhaps some wealthy dilettante 'appreciators' of 'superior' football.

It would eradicate much of what makes football exciting, unpredictable and aspirational. The players would become well-paid and mercenary performers. 

It's worth noting that the Yankee owners are wont to up sticks and move their squads to wherever - ignoring the locality and history behind the teams.

City need to cement their position as a solid, well-run club. We have no right to feel entitled to remain where we are - that's the way the owners of United and Arsenal and the rest of those clubs wish it to be - without relegation or promotion threatening their positions. 

In football, as in life, how you play the game is more important than weighting the game in your favour.

 

[ALC Fox]

It's the attitude of the Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli that gets me. He'd seriously deny Atalanta a Champions League place because other clubs like Roma had contributed more to Italy's UEFA ranking in the past.

 

Yet, clearly, Atalanta would've had the better team, so why shouldn't they be given the chance to carry that Italian baton in Europe? As it happens, Atalanta have had a decent spell in the Champions League. I can't remember the last time Roma did as well as Atalanta did.

 

And look at us, making it to the quarter final stage despite at one point looking like we were in a relegation battle.

[mozartfox]

Having watched some of the dross served up by the Big 5 in games between each other, they can F-off and take Arsenal with them (even though their position in this 'elite' group based upon recent performances is somewhat debatable). 

 

The European Super League Yawn Fest will have a short shelf life, plus the kick-off times, if played mid-week, will not appeal to the Asian TV platforms.  I work part time in Malaysia and the Astro Platform stopped showing the CL because people in that part the World are not terribly keen at getting up at 4am to watch football on a weekday morning. It is flawed.

 

Let them go.  Martin Samuel

 

 

[Pliskin]

As the world in general moves forward and accepts change as a good thing, football has to remain in the past.... What I don't get is why these people want this? why they don't like the fact football is becoming less elite and more even and entertaining... Simple, money, the guys at the very top are losing out on money... The question is, is there something more sinister going on behind the scenes which has got the likes of Agnelli so rattled, seems ironic that the club with a rich history of cheating are kicking up a fuss about it all. 

[yorkie1999]

If the FA want to keep control over the game they must do whatever they can to stop the big 6 being lured into a super league, they're not going to do that by pandering to them and making it easy for them, they need smaller clubs at the top of the league so the big 6 are no longer the big 6. They should be telling their refs and officials to be a bit more favourable to the likes of us in their decision making.

[RobHawk]

**** the big 6! I'd love for them to all **** off anyway, their owners are twats, their players are twats and their fans are twats. Let them go but ban them from domestic competition forever.

 

It's pure greed and would kill football as we know it. They'd never go if they missed out on domestic competition anyway, they want it all. 

 

Great article by the way, but the fa and premier League really need to get this idea quashed as it's just disillusioning fan bases of other clubs. The so called big 6 deserve nothing, and did I mention they are twats?

[Aus Fox]

The funniest thing will be if they did have a closed shop European competition, after mid-season most of the games would be completely meaningless. 
I watch a bit of AFL in Australia, where there is no promotion or relegation and usually at the half way stage you know your team isn’t going to win the competition and you don’t even bother watching the games as there is no interest.

Look at a game like Brighton v Fulham - if there was no relegation why would you even bother watching, what’s the motivation for players there is none.

Early on in any super league you’d have 3 or 4 teams - who would dominate and the rest would be crappy games of teams not playing for anything.

Look at any major sport in the world where they have a closed shop. Many, many boring games where no one gives a crap who wins.

[MarriedaLeicesterGirl]

The Premier League has the most to lose from a European Super League -- it makes more money than any of the other leagues, is the most competitive and has the most teams with followings outside the Big 6: There are more Leeds, Everton, and Aston Villa fans in the world than comparable teams in the other big leagues.

 

What I don't get about the European Super League proponents is that it will just be kicking the can down the road for most of them. A closed "Super League" will itself develop its own Burnleys and Southhamptons. When the next TV deal comes, the perpetual losers of the Super League -- Roma, Arsenal, etc. -- will be is as much of a bind as the "small teams" in the Premier League, Serie A, etc. Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern will be demanding their "fair share" of the Super League money. If the vipers win, it won't mean they stop being vipers.

[ClaphamFox]

These quotes from Andrea Agnelli are disturbing:

 

‘I have great respect for everything Atalanta are doing,’ he said, ‘but without international history and thanks to just one great season, they had direct access to the primary European club competition. Is that right or not?

 

‘Then I think of Roma, who contributed in recent years to maintaining Italy’s ranking. They had one bad season and are out, with all the consequent damage to them financially.

 

‘The point is how we balance the contribution to European football and the performance of a single year.’

 

Of course it's right! That's how sport works you corrupt, greedy spiv!

[Steve Earle]

Very goof journalist Martin Samuel. Had a chat with him in Bruges when I spotted him nursing a beer outside a bar. One of the good guys.

[MarriedaLeicesterGirl]

25 minutes ago, ClaphamFox said:

These quotes from Andrea Agnelli are disturbing:

 

‘I have great respect for everything Atalanta are doing,’ he said, ‘but without international history and thanks to just one great season, they had direct access to the primary European club competition. Is that right or not?

 

‘Then I think of Roma, who contributed in recent years to maintaining Italy’s ranking. They had one bad season and are out, with all the consequent damage to them financially.

 

‘The point is how we balance the contribution to European football and the performance of a single year.’

 

Of course it's right! That's how sport works you corrupt, greedy spiv!

It's like saying Leicester in 2016 (and Liverpool last year, for that matter) shouldn't be allowed to win the league because they didn't win the league the year before. Absolutely insane.

 

Seriously, not even Roma fans would buy that logic. No football fans do -- only brand managers and marketing majors.

[LCFCCHRIS]

In business terms, you can see why they want to do it. They are scared, and rightly so, that spunking hundreds of millions every season won't always work, and they may end up having to live with the repercussions of such high spends if they don't make Europe for a few years running. This whole thing goes against the whole spirit of the sport, and honestly I can see it failing massively anyway if it did come into play. Kinda feel the same towards it as I do for the nations league. I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it. I'd actually go as far to say that, any fan in a League that has teams in this proposed league that wasn't a fan of one of the clubs, wouldn't give a s*** about it and ignore it entirely.

[4everfox]

The only people that want this are the super rich owners of the elite clubs, even the fans of these clubs would vote against it, because as it has been mentioned, it's not in the spirit of a football fan to support such a competition.

 

I don't care if this European Super League goes ahead, it will get boycotted anyway. And all the clubs and their players taking part will be expelled from real competition football. It will just turn into a new MLS where all the has-beens go for a final pay check and all the players in their prime avoid. 

 

In a world where this "Super League" exists, it will always be less popular than real football like the Premier League. Let them go for it, and as soon as they realise that they have alienated a vast majority of their real fanbase they'll come crawling back to real football, where their places at the top of the pyramid will have been taken by the likes of Leicester.

[RonnieTodger]

1 hour ago, ClaphamFox said:

These quotes from Andrea Agnelli are disturbing:

 

‘I have great respect for everything Atalanta are doing,’ he said, ‘but without international history and thanks to just one great season, they had direct access to the primary European club competition. Is that right or not?

 

‘Then I think of Roma, who contributed in recent years to maintaining Italy’s ranking. They had one bad season and are out, with all the consequent damage to them financially.

 

‘The point is how we balance the contribution to European football and the performance of a single year.’

 

Of course it's right! That's how sport works you corrupt, greedy spiv!

I nearly spat my coffee out at that. Imagine Arsenal saying to the FA "Yeah but look at how many times we've won it, now we're out. Is that right?" after being knocked out the Cup.

[mozartfox]

I am surprised Forest and Derby are not taking the Agnelli line here and calling the 'Big 6' Media Center and saying what about our ancient exploits?  They may have a point?

[filbertway]

2 hours ago, ALC Fox said:

It's the attitude of the Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli that gets me. He'd seriously deny Atalanta a Champions League place because other clubs like Roma had contributed more to Italy's UEFA ranking in the past.

 

Yet, clearly, Atalanta would've had the better team, so why shouldn't they be given the chance to carry that Italian baton in Europe? As it happens, Atalanta have had a decent spell in the Champions League. I can't remember the last time Roma did as well as Atalanta did.

 

And look at us, making it to the quarter final stage despite at one point looking like we were in a relegation battle.

2018

[davieG]

We should develop this further.

 

Only teams that have won Tier 1 more than 5+ times to play in the PL and so on down the leagues

Only teams that have won the FA Cup 3+ times to enter the FA Cup

Only teams that have won the FL Cup 3+ times to enter the FL Cup

 

All with no relegation for leagues or new entries for Cup competitions

 

Yay!!  We qualify for the Championship and the FL Cup forever.

 

Anyone fancy working out who would be in each competition.

[Foxin_Mad]

I think football would eat itself if it ever goes down the route of super leagues etc like American sport imo main dull as dishwater.

 

Part of the joys of football, which makes it so popular is already diminished somewhat, is the possibility that the best team can win on any given day and the best team isnt necessarily the most expensive one or the ones with the best individuals! 

 

Take that away and have the same teams playing out the same event year after year, where is the joy in that? Would I want to watch it? No.

 

To be honest id rather watch a local non league side. 

[Oxfordfox83]

4 minutes ago, davieG said:

We should develop this further.

 

Only teams that have won Tier 1 more than 5+ times to play in the PL and so on down the leagues

Only teams that have won the FA Cup 3+ times to enter the FA Cup

Only teams that have won the FL Cup 3+ times to enter the FL Cup

Nah Davey you’ve missed the point completely. It’s fine for them to enter, we *want* them to enter. 
 

They’re just absolutely not allowed to win.

They should be jolly grateful to be involved, and know their place!

[Raw Dykes]

It really is sickening to see such shameless greed and disrespect towards smaller clubs. You already strongly suspect the people at the top of the biggest clubs think like this, but it's another thing to actually hear or read it.

 

The sport is already slanted heavily in favour of the big clubs. Much more should be done to spread the wealth across the game. You've got clubs at the top giving just one player half a million every week, while clubs a couple of divisions below are winding up over a small fraction of that. And such a huge financial advantage is still not enough for them. A smaller club can outperform the mega rich just by being clever. Now they're throwing their toys out the pram.

 

They got to the top (some very recently) and just assumed they would be there forever. Now their time at the helm may be up, if even only temporarily, they want to kick the ladder away. What utter, utter deplorable cvnts.

 

If it was up to me I'd just make it clear to any club looking to break away that you won't be welcomed back at any point. As the article says, the domestic game is not your safety net. You won't be having your cake and eating it, too.

 

If this does happen, I'm not ashamed to say I would get a lot of enjoyment from seeing a club like Man Utd or Arsenal become glued to the foot of a Super League table. Someone has to finish last. I would love it to be one of England's giants.

 

If there's any justice, this anti-sport, fat cat circle jerk would backfire spectacularly and the clubs involved will be lumbered with it for a long time.

[The whole world smiles]

Great to recognised as anti establishment from such an anti establishment paper 😂

[Saxondale]

I loathe the notion of the self-appointed 'super clubs'. Who decides who these super clubs are? What are the measures? 

 

The so-called 'big six' in England - effectively decided by themselves and the media - have seriously flaky credentials anyway. For example:

• Man City were a League One club not that long ago
• Chelsea were a nothing side pre-Abramovich
• Tottenham have won nothing for years and years

Would be quite funny if the megaclubs pushed for a breakaway, then one or more of the above teams were excluded!