The Super League

[CosbehFox]

****s me off that a set of clubs who’ve made absolutely idiotic transfer moves and have cranked up the market themselves blame their mistakes on UEFA. 
 

Perez at Real Madrid for example bemoaning a financial loss at the same time he’s building a football stadium and signed a 29 yr old Hazard for £130 million!

[Scotch]

4 minutes ago, nnfox said:

I honestly can't see it happening.  Certainly not as a long term project.

 

Let's say they get their 15 founder members (which I'm not sure they will), and they form this breakaway league.  The Premier League ban them from the Premier League, the FA ban them from domestic competitions, UEFA ban the clubs from the existing European competitions and ban the players from internationals.

 

The 5 teams that the self appointed Gods of Football allow to qualify for the Super League - how many will actually take part given the sanctions?  Not many, certainly no Premier League clubs.

 

Now the Super League will need to sell media packages to world to fund their project, but I just don't see it being an easy sell.  A league where the only thing worth playing for is to win the title.  After about 5 rounds of fixtures, 85% of games will be utterly meaningless friendlies.

 

It's a non-starter in my opinion.  Far more likely that those owners will look to sell the clubs and move on.  And I wonder if that might open the door to fan ownership?

But are we sure that they can? Legally? I'm certain that these 6 clubs will know exactly where they stand on that matter.... 

[Deeg67]

I’m also not sure I see the benefit (much less fairness) in punishing players who signed on with these clubs long before any of this happened.  The clubs don’t give a shlt about their players anyway, so it’s not really motivational in punishing them by banning players from international football.  Now if this goes ahead and a guy signs a new deal with one of these clubs, that’s a different story.

[ClaphamFox]

https://twitter.com/jkcorden/status/1384339056700526595?s=21

 

Very powerful stuff from James Corden. He even goes on a bit about Leicester too...

[Pliskin]

9 minutes ago, nnfox said:

I honestly can't see it happening.  Certainly not as a long term project.

 

Let's say they get their 15 founder members (which I'm not sure they will), and they form this breakaway league.  The Premier League ban them from the Premier League, the FA ban them from domestic competitions, UEFA ban the clubs from the existing European competitions and ban the players from internationals.

 

The 5 teams that the self appointed Gods of Football allow to qualify for the Super League - how many will actually take part given the sanctions?  Not many, certainly no Premier League clubs.

 

Now the Super League will need to sell media packages to world to fund their project, but I just don't see it being an easy sell.  A league where the only thing worth playing for is to win the title.  After about 5 rounds of fixtures, 85% of games will be utterly meaningless friendlies.

 

It's a non-starter in my opinion.  Far more likely that those owners will look to sell the clubs and move on.  And I wonder if that might open the door to fan ownership?

It won’t happen. British teams will not be allowed to compete, and if they do they’re all gone, the FA will kick them out of the PL. what will the fans do then? Those old boys who have been going down to white heart lane, main road, highbury etc... those boys who have sat through the years or mediocrity, experienced the highs and lows of football? Potentially won’t ever be able to watch their teams again but for illegal streams on you tube because they’re playing in Qatar. 
 

It won’t go ahead with English teams, and those involved hopefully will be severely punished. 
 

The only way to punish them for me is dock 100 points and relegate all six teams to the EFL, then promote the top six from the championship into the PL, and make them fight their way back.

 

Im sorry but if clubs like Bury can be wound up for financial struggles, why can’t these clubs be absolutely ****ed over for being greedy bastards? 
 

it happened to Juve, and they’re fine now. Make them pay, for it. Unfortunately with football you can’t just issue a poxy fine, something more serious has to be done, and I’m sure the true fans of thee clubs would agree. 

Edited 20 April 2021 by Pliskin

[weller54]

20 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

We need one of them to crack, once one goes it will fold.

I'm betting on Spurs..

Expect the bottling to kick in at any moment 😂

 

[RowlattsFox]

They need to be honest and just say we need this money to be able to sustain the ridiculous wages and transfer fees we've committed over the last 10 years. I think money in football has reached the tipping point. 

 

This will get pulled, I'm sure of it. It's just whether they are punished by the premier League and uefa. At best I could see a year ban from European competition and thats it. 

No doubt it would be, don't do it again warning.

[STEVIE B]

9 minutes ago, nnfox said:

I honestly can't see it happening.  Certainly not as a long term project.

 

Let's say they get their 15 founder members (which I'm not sure they will), and they form this breakaway league.  The Premier League ban them from the Premier League, the FA ban them from domestic competitions, UEFA ban the clubs from the existing European competitions and ban the players from internationals.

 

The 5 teams that the self appointed Gods of Football allow to qualify for the Super League - how many will actually take part given the sanctions?  Not many, certainly no Premier League clubs.

 

Now the Super League will need to sell media packages to world to fund their project, but I just don't see it being an easy sell.  A league where the only thing worth playing for is to win the title.  After about 5 rounds of fixtures, 85% of games will be utterly meaningless friendlies.

 

It's a non-starter in my opinion.  Far more likely that those owners will look to sell the clubs and move on.  And I wonder if that might open the door to fan ownership?

Agree with pretty much all of this. It’s a fantasy.

The 12 teams will be seen as rats whatever happens forever. And so they should be.

 

[ClaphamFox]

6 minutes ago, Foxy_Bear said:

But are we sure that they can? Legally? I'm certain that these 6 clubs will know exactly where they stand on that matter.... 

Don’t be so sure. I think people have given them more credit for forward-planning than they actually deserve.

Edited 20 April 2021 by ClaphamFox

[nnfox]

2 minutes ago, Foxy_Bear said:

But are we sure that they can? Legally? I'm certain that these 6 clubs will know exactly where they stand on that matter.... 

My understanding is that under Premier League rules, they won't be allowed to play in the Super League.  As for what sanctions the Premier League are allowed to impose, I'm not 100% sure, but ultimately expulsion should surely be an option? Or they might be able to change the rules and allow 6 teams to be relegated and give them all a 100 point deduction next season, ensuring they all go down.

[Guest bennytwohats]

1 hour ago, ClaphamFox said:

But governments make laws. If existing laws cannot prevent ESL games from taking place, new laws can be made that do. I don’t think that will be necessary, though. The government is working on the basis that the ESL is a cartel and as such violates competition law. I don’t think any changes to the law will be needed to make it virtually impossible for ESL games to be held on UK soil.

Neville seemed pretty worried/convinced these clubs could just up and relocate to outside the UK as franchises, which might be a way to avoid accountability in this country. Any idea if that works?

 

I suspect we are in pretty murky and unprecedented waters here. I really hope they’re held to account, and it’s good to see politicians rallying to the cause, but I’m not confident on what happens next.

 

Also I have to say as great as the response is here, it’s also pretty damning when you put into perspective how relatively apathetic people are about racism in football, or poverty in the country generally. No such rallying in more important causes. I also hope this rallying doesn’t just resort in a return to the status quo as there is already so much that’s ****ed up in the way football is run, and the corrupt institutions at the heart of it, eg the new CL format which is basically moving in the same direction as the SL proposals. I’d love to see the German fan owned model adopted here - that would really be something to celebrate in football.

[Guest ttfn]

Don’t underestimate the power of the threat to throw the greedy 6 out of the Premier League.

 

They want to stay in the Premier League because a) it forms some sort of olive branch to their fans and b) (more importantly) it guarantees them a huge slice of money from a product they already know to be extremely lucrative.

 

The Super League, on the other hand, is totally unproven financially. Viewing figures for the Champions League are falling as increasingly it  moves behind a paywall, and realistically any new Super League is going to require something similar. That JP Morgan have agreed to stump up the debt financing is an irrelevance if they can’t find a broadcaster who is able to effectively monetise this.
 

Look at the sums of money involved, they’re totally fanciful, we’re talking about sums that absolutely dwarf an established product in the Premier League for a concept that is totally unproven. We, as Leicester fans, should know better than anyone else that these sorts of numbers aren’t worth the paper they’re written on unless underpinned by a media partner who is able to make it work financially for them. 

 

Moving into the ESL as a standalone league (i.e. without the PL to fall back on) is an absolutely enormous financial risk for these clubs and one that I think a lot of these owners will find intolerable. Remove the certainty of PL income and replace it with uncertain SL income and the whole thing looks a lot less appealing financially. 

[mozartfox]

What happened to the US Champions Cup we took part in in 2016?  Is it finished or just postponed last Summer?That was a great success🙄

[Blarmy]

Fair play to an apoplectic Shearer on Breakfast.

[Scotch]

6 minutes ago, nnfox said:

My understanding is that under Premier League rules, they won't be allowed to play in the Super League.  As for what sanctions the Premier League are allowed to impose, I'm not 100% sure, but ultimately expulsion should surely be an option? Or they might be able to change the rules and allow 6 teams to be relegated and give them all a 100 point deduction next season, ensuring they all go down.

 

7 minutes ago, ClaphamFox said:

Don’t be so sure. I think people have given them more credit for forward-planning than they actually deserve.

It was a genuine question as I have no idea if they have breached any actual regulations but I am 100% convinced that each of them would have had a lawyer look at it before it was announced. 

 

These guys that own these clubs are billionaires and they are because the are thorough and ruthless businessmen. They don't overlook things like this and I'm sure that before the PL even knew this was happening, these guys would already know what their next 3 or 4 moves were going to be. 

[coolhandfox]

Kerry Packer thought he could do the same with Cricket............. 

[nnfox]

3 minutes ago, Foxy_Bear said:

 

It was a genuine question as I have no idea if they have breached any actual regulations but I am 100% convinced that each of them would have had a lawyer look at it before it was announced. 

 

These guys that own these clubs are billionaires and they are because the are thorough and ruthless businessmen. They don't overlook things like this and I'm sure that before the PL even knew this was happening, these guys would already know what their next 3 or 4 moves were going to be. 

For sure they will have done their research, but honestly, I don't think they care.  Just look at how the stock market reacted yesterday...  Man Utd shares up 9.5%.  At the moment, Utd could generate anywhere between £80m - £200m in revenue from playing football with prize and TV money from the Premier League and Champions League.  It's uncertain and very dependant on performances on the pitch.  The Super League would pretty much guarantee them a stable £300m regardless of how they perform.  Nice and predictable.  Any revenue from Premier League/Champions League would be a bonus that they could probably live without.

[wigstonboues]

It just screams amazon don't it. They will be the broadcasters . They trialled it during lockdowns and now they will pile in. As amazon is essentially untouchable.  People will still use them for their convenience in ordering absolutely anything and arriving quickly. They have the clout and means to broadcast this across the world and the average UK fan will still line their pockets through ordering a toilet brush or swimming goggles for their goldfish. 

[ClaphamFox]

7 minutes ago, Foxy_Bear said:

 

It was a genuine question as I have no idea if they have breached any actual regulations but I am 100% convinced that each of them would have had a lawyer look at it before it was announced. 

 

These guys that own these clubs are billionaires and they are because the are thorough and ruthless businessmen. They don't overlook things like this and I'm sure that before the PL even knew this was happening, these guys would already know what their next 3 or 4 moves were going to be. 

I think they may have incorrectly assumed that national FAs would be too worried about loss of revenue to kick out the ESL clubs. I’m also not sure they’d have accounted for the determination of national governments to stop it from happening.

[Scotch]

1 minute ago, nnfox said:

For sure they will have done their research, but honestly, I don't think they care.  Just look at how the stock market reacted yesterday...  Man Utd shares up 9.5%.  At the moment, Utd could generate anywhere between £80m - £200m in revenue from playing football with prize and TV money from the Premier League and Champions League.  It's uncertain and very dependant on performances on the pitch.  The Super League would pretty much guarantee them a stable £300m regardless of how they perform.  Nice and predictable.  Any revenue from Premier League/Champions League would be a bonus that they could probably live without.

To be honest, it'll it goes ahead, all I care about is getting them out the league. 

 

We can't have these 6 in the league earning this sort of cash. The top 6 will be impenetrable. If they are away doing their own thing, they will still be crazy rich and they will still try and take our best players but they will also have to pay unprecedented prices. We are talking like £200m for Ndidi and numbers close to double what we would usually ask

[StanSP]

5 minutes ago, wigstonboues said:

It just screams amazon don't it. They will be the broadcasters . They trialled it during lockdowns and now they will pile in. As amazon is essentially untouchable.  People will still use them for their convenience in ordering absolutely anything and arriving quickly. They have the clout and means to broadcast this across the world and the average UK fan will still line their pockets through ordering a toilet brush or swimming goggles for their goldfish. 

This is my worry too. But even if you have Amazon now or when this ESL gets up.and running it doesn't mean you have to watch the game. I just hope that anyone fully against ESL and what these owners stand for is actually active in their non-support of it. And that means not watching whatever platform they choose to show the games, not buying the merch, not buying the tickets, just totally ignoring it. 

[glebe_sydneyfox]

5 hours ago, ozleicester said:

Naomi Klein 



This explains how our world has been destroyed by cunnting uber rich exploiting disaster. Happening every day and now its Football's turn.

Unless the working class of the world stands up... nothing is safe

Great book this is

[UniFox21]

So they didn't ask the current Champions League holders not last year's other finalists? Both who are champions of their domestic leagues? This stinks of a butt hurt child who has been told no.

 

 

 

[gerrytaggart]

This whole thing is just basically a bargaining chip to make sure they get their way with the proposed changes to the champions league format. 

[FoxesWalk]

Florentino Perez is absolute scum of the earth, but some of what he says does have merit IMO. The television model as it is doesn’t really work very well for clubs or fans. If you offered me the chance to subscribe to Leicester city, to watch every game on my TV, with a phone app or whatever, and it was organised by the club itself so all money went to them... I’d say that’s superior to the current model from a fan perspective. I can’t attend every game, but I will watch every game and ideally I want all of the money I spend to go to the club. 
 

It would probably mean a wider discrepancy in income between the bigger commercial clubs and the likes of Leicester, however. I could still see this and/or some sort of player salary cap eventually coming in to place. 

Edited 20 April 2021 by FoxesWalk