BREAKING NEWS: EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE

Yep - I'm keen to understand if all of the furore is due to the closed nature of the competition. Not saying that it's not a valid enough reason - it certainly is. But just curious as to what other aspects of the proposal that people are concerned with.

 

I bet if sky had been approached to be the sole TV provider, they would be all over this.

 

The protectionist ethos underpinning the whole idea is enough to condemn it, imo, without anything further.

 

Fair enough.

Looking at the PL, other domestic leagues and the CL - how many non elite teams have won these competitions over the past 2 decades? I can probably count these on one hand. So even those those tournaments are 'open', they are 'closed' by nature because they are dominated by the big elite clubs. So having a Super League simply reduces the chances of a non elite club winning it from 5% down to 0%.

Playing devil's advocate ...

 

True - but there's a fundamental difference between a de facto glass ceiling and a de jure one. The former can be broken whereas the latter just can't.

 

Yep, good point. although I suppose there will be open spots for 5 other teams who aren't part of the founding members. So that chance still exists albeit a very low one.

 

What we really need is a detailed proposal of what the Super League is. How it intends to pump back into the pyramid? Salary caps? Transfer fee caps? How it plans to evolve over the years? etc etc.

At the moment, the Super League is just a high level statement of intent.

 

'Outspent' typically only ever refers to transfers. Bournemouth outspent Liverpool is what Jimmy said, it's true.

 

no what we really need is for it to be binned and preferably the CL changes which were brought in to try and stop this . Then football needs to discuss how to control expenses without curtailing competition and then implement & enforce those changes .

 

Another hypothetical question:

How would our fans feel if the Super League went ahead and our club took the moral high ground and refused the invitation, and then someone else takes our place e.g. Everton, Newcastle etc. If we look at the 90's when we failed to capitalise on our success (commercially speaking), would we be at risk of missing out again?

 

then it is meaningless as the league position and a clubs wages are regularly in alignment .

 

But that doesn't the fix the corruption issues at the top of the house. UEFA and FIFA are not innocent bystanders in all of this. Their revenues are more than some of the top clubs combined. I know the argument for the SL is mostly money driven but it's a move to deregulate European competition, and wrestle control away from a single economic power ... (cough cough, Brexit).

 

couldn't care less tbh .

 

deregulate European competition my arse . They themselves admit it is purely money driven.

 

This is actually the important thing. We need to know the exact mechanics of the proposals rather than simply speculate according to our own prejudices.
Having said that, I can't envisage any structure that would make it acceptable to me.

 

I would like to think that the feelings against it are universal, if they're not and some clubs actually want it to go ahead, then I would have no sense of missing out. I would be proud that we rejected it. I only watch Liverpool now and have done for a few years (admittedly I have barely watched us this season). Other than finding it morally wrong for clubs to be involved, I don't have any of the hate or virtue signalling on display by a lot of people regarding this. Wanting clubs relegated and shouting 'scum' at players who have had no part in this decision is a position I will never take up.

 

Like Everton you mean

 

It's the same thing. UEFA have been creaming money from these clubs for years. And it's the clubs who are the product...

 

Agreed, unless the proposal involves opening the competition up to more teams at some point ...

 

Yet another hypothetical question.
How do you think you would feel if you supported one of the great unwashed who haven't been invited to the party?