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European Super League - Dead on arrival

if it happens, better to be in it than not

I agree. Its not something which I'm massively keen on, but if other big clubs do it then the money will flow more to that league that existing leagues so better off signing up

I'm not a Times subscriber so can read the article but wonder whether the ESL would be midweek and the existing leagues at weekends. Would mean you'd need a larger squad but presumably you could afford it. Will be interesting to see the details later
 
Replace Everton with Chelsea. History repeating.

In 1990, the managing director of London Weekend Television (LWT), Greg Dyke, met with the representatives of the "big five" football clubs in England (Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and Arsenal) over a dinner. The meeting was to pave the way for a breakaway from The Football League. Dyke believed that it would be more lucrative for LWT if only the larger clubs in the country were featured on national television and wanted to establish whether the clubs would be interested in a larger share of television rights money. The five clubs agreed with the suggestion and decided to press ahead with it;
 
I agree. Its not something which I'm massively keen on, but if other big clubs do it then the money will flow more to that league that existing leagues so better off signing up

I'm not a Times subscriber so can read the article but wonder whether the ESL would be midweek and the existing leagues at weekends. Would mean you'd need a larger squad but presumably you could afford it. Will be interesting to see the details later

I think UEFA wants to have CL matches on weekends. I'm guessing the Spanish and Italian clubs (probably everyone except British and German clubs actually) would be fine with that.
 
Article text


Five English clubs are among 11 European teams who have signed up to a breakaway Super League in an extraordinary development on the eve of Uefa’s announcement of a new Champions League format.

Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur have signed up to the breakaway plan with only Emirates Marketing Project among the Big Six yet to do so, sources with knowledge of the development have told The Times.

The Super League development is a direct challenge to Uefa which is to announce its new 36-team Champions League format on Monday, to come into force from 2024. The European governing body had thought it had seen off the threat of a breakaway but is now involved in urgent talks with other football bodies about the new development.

Uefa had succeeded in winning the support of the European Club Association (ECA) board and the European Leagues but it emerged today that the Super League threat had been revived with the ECA chairman Andrea Agnelli, also the Juventus president, appearing to throw his hat in with the breakaway clubs led by Manchester United and Real Madrid.

Other members of the ECA board, who had agreed to the new Champions League format, and Uefa officials have attempted to contact Agnelli since Saturday evening but one source said he “has gone off the radar”.

Uefa insiders insist they will press ahead with the announcement for the new-look Champions League which will see clubs playing 10 group matches instead of six.

If the Super League clubs do not back down then the dispute is likely to end up in courts given that Uefa and Fifa have promised to ban any clubs and players who take part in breakaway competitions from their tournaments such as the Euros and the World Cup.

The Times revealed in January that a proposal document showed founder members of a proposed European Super League would be offered up to 350million euros (£310million) each to join the competition.

There would be among 15 permanent founding members and five other clubs, who would qualify on an annual basis. They would be split into two groups of 10 and play between 18 and 23 European matches a season.


The Super League proposals include:

- The 15 founder clubs sharing an initial 3.5billion (£3.1billion) euro “infrastructure grant” ranging from £310million to £89million per club which can be spent on stadiums, training facilities or “to replace lost stadium-related revenues due to Covid-19”.

- The format would see two groups of 10 clubs who play home and away, with the top four from each group going through to two-legged quarter-finals, semi-finals and a one-legged final.

- Matches would be midweek and clubs would still play in domestic leagues

- Clubs would have rights to show four matches a season on their own the digital platforms across the world

- Income from TV and sponsorship would favour the founding clubs: 32.5% of the pot would be shared equally between the 15 clubs, and another 32.5% between all Super League clubs including the five qualifiers

- 20% of the pot would be merit money “distributed in the same manner as the current English Premier League merit-based system” according to where clubs finish in the competition or group if they don’t make the knock-out stage

- The remaining 15% would get a “commercial share based on club awareness”

- A cap of 55% of revenues permitted to be spent on salaries and transfers (net)

- A ‘Financial Sustainability Group’ would monitor clubs’ spending

The emergence of the written proposals led football’s authorities to take unified action to combat the threat. A Super League would be disastrous for the Champions League which relies on the glamour of the top clubs to attract broadcasters.
 
fudge it, we need some sort of reset. Going into a new European league with all the worst qualities of MLS, but on level terms, just as we replace that psychotic chancer with a human manager, might not be a bad thing.
 
I'm not sure how this works if the national leagues, UEFA and FIFA tell them if they do it the clubs and players can't be involved in any of their leagues and tournaments
 
I'm not sure how this works if the national leagues, UEFA and FIFA tell them if they do it the clubs and players can't be involved in any of their leagues and tournaments

Its an empty threat, the best players will follow the money, the fans will follow the best players.
 
Its an empty threat, the best players will follow the money, the fans will follow the best players.
15 teams are permanent members, no relegation, the other 5 teams go in and out, it's a big threat for those clubs.
Even for those 15 teams if they only play 20-25 games a season it's going to be a hit to their income.
FIFA, UEFA and the national leagues have to fight it if they want to stay relevant.
 
Garry Neville is having a kitten over the idea.
Makes me laugh!

not sure what all the fuss is about!
 
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