I'm trying not to be too dramatic, but at the moment it feels like 31 years of love for this club has ended. 

Greed, cynicism, the big exploiting the small - I really dont know if I can be a part of this anymore. 

Man I don't like it but I also don't like the amount of people going to bat for f**kin UEFA.

35 minutes ago, evissy said:

-Domestic Cups: No change there. 

Not feasible to partake for us I would assume.

There would be 16 games in the group stages alone in the ESL. That's almost half an EPL-season and if you add the knockout games you can potentially play 23 games in the ESL.

Read the whole statement. The clubs are coming out strong.

5 hours ago, Argo said:

Thought i'd share this post from another forum.

I think we can all agree with his sentiments on Uefa. 

Wherever that has come from Argo, it is an excellent post IMO.

9 hours ago, forbzy said:

What is broken currently that will be fixed by the new plan? This is all about making sure that all the money ends up in the hands of a few teams and owners. They want it to be an exclusive club to ensure they always make money. I hated seeing Chelsea get relegated twice. It was especially hard the second time when we lost in the playoffs. But ultimately promotion and relegation ensure that there is some diversity in the game, even if it is often the same teams that end up winning the big trophies.

As I said before - any system where a business is forced to give a % of its earnings to competitors is wrong. 
 

The EPL and UEFA make huge amounts of money, on the back of participation of  a handful of clubs. Do you think the premier league would be as popular with out Chelsea, Liverpool and Utd? Do you think that the champions league would have such drawing  power if the headline teams were Ajax, Sparta Prague and Krasnodar? Of course they wouldn't.

It is the drawing power of big name teams that attracts the big bucks. Big bucks that are shared disproportionately with other teams that play little to no part in earning that money.

Worldwide EPL tv rights are huge - but let's not kid ourselves, they are NOT paid due to the attraction of watching Burnley vs Sheffield Utd. These tv rights  are paid due to the draw of a handful of clubs. That money is then spread out and cascades it way down the "pyramid". 

I ask again, in what other industry are successful business forced to fund less ones? It is mental! 

This is why I think the current system is broken. 

Edited April 19, 20215 yr by nonotnowjim

4 hours ago, Deino said:

It's the sheer elitism of the ESL. In the CL, as long as you qualify, you get to play in it. That's the point.

Everton, City and 5 years ago Leicester managed to break into it. The competition is what football is all about. Any team can qualify for the CL.

But only elites get into the ESL. Where's the equality, fairness and sportsmanship in that? So-called elite teams hoover up money whilst the smaller clubs get shafted.

In all honesty, the PL is very similar. The same big clubs for the most part rule the league & generate 99% of the income - the smaller teams are merely tolerated in the grand scheme of things. Are any of those 6 clubs likely to be relegated in the next 20/25 years? Highly unlikely verging on impossible (except maybe Arsenal😀). I agree with what you’re saying, I’m just not overly surprised in the direction football is going unfortunately, it’s been moving this way for a while IMO.
 

I love champions league games, I prefer it’s format as well. Two big mini leagues sounds crap, I like the small groups. I’ll certainly miss it if this really is the end of it.

UEFA don't give a sh*t about the supporters either. They are just mad that the super league are lowering the value of their own cash cow. Don't forget they want to extend the number of teams in the CL to further milk their golden goose. This and a winter world cup why does UEFA and FIFA suddenly care about the leagues and supporters now?

Why the PL etc care is weird too. The CL already has made 4th place more valuable than any of their cups and baubles so what's a super league going to do?

If you don't like it from a sporting perspective fine, I also prefer the status quo but this posturing about think about the fans and integrity and sh*t from FIFA and UEFA is just them milking the slight high ground they have. They are the OG money hungry c**ts.

11 hours ago, forbzy said:

Supposedly the details will be announced tonight. Supposedly bankrolled by JP Morgan. 

My main thought when I read about the dazzling money involved was: who's paying for this? What's in it for JP Morgan? In the end they too want to make money, not spend it. How do they intend to profit from it? I probably have a completely wrong idea of sponsorship, but the kind of money that's been mentioned seems a big waste when reading all the negative response. What company wants to be associated with that?

And if other sponsors are involved (or in time will be), are those the same same sponsors that prop up the Champions League? They won't be able to do both, or do I have a wrong picture of that? New sponsors might be interested, but perhaps in Covid times or even in post-Covid times it might not be realistic to assemble £4.6 billion a season for years to come.

As I said, I may have a completely wrong idea of how the financing of this kind of annual sporting event works, but I do wonder about the disconnect between big corporations and the avarage football supporter.

UEFA's stance is pretty strong here. As you would expect. Pretty interesting to see how all this pan out. 

1 hour ago, Munkworth said:

This is essentially ‘If I can’t win then I’m taking my ball home’ at the highest level possible. 
 

Arsenal, Tottenham & AC Milan ‘top European clubs’? Two haven’t seen Champions League for donkeys and one has only been in it two seconds. 

Bit harsh on Milan lumping them in with those two sides 😂

Didn't realize before now but we and every other club involved have left the ECA.

https://www.ecaeurope.com/

Which I believe effectively means we are NOT going to be a part of next years CL.

6 hours ago, The Don Antonio said:

Never knew FIFA would one day be the voice of reasoning.lol

Only because they see how threatening this is to their future financial revenues and the established status quo.

Establishing a breakaway super league may not be the right method to force reforms and reduce their power base but I hate that FIFA and UEFA will be portrayed by some as the "voice of reason" and holding the moral high ground here. They are corrupt, overly-powerful organisations with vested self-interest and they have needed their wings clipped for decades IMO.

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Could it happen sooner? Could ourselves, City and Real been thrown out of the CL and us out of the FA Cup? Could the PL void the results of the defector 6 from this season and remake the table?

I think some sort of financial settlement between the big clubs is more likely (Like larger share of TV rights money or something). Punishing them will just lead to the league becoming a reality because then they’ll have nothing to lose and that’s the last thing there’s domestic leagues want.

20 minutes ago, Valerie said:

My main thought when I read about the dazzling money involved was: who's paying for this? What's in it for JP Morgan? In the end they too want to make money, not spend it. How do they intend to profit from it? I probably have a completely wrong idea of sponsorship, but the kind of money that's been mentioned seems a big waste when reading all the negative response. What company wants to be associated with that?

And if other sponsors are involved (or in time will be), are those the same same sponsors that prop up the Champions League? They won't be able to do both, or do I have a wrong picture of that? New sponsors might be interested, but perhaps in Covid times or even in post-Covid times it might not be realistic to assemble £4.6 billion a season for years to come.

As I said, I may have a completely wrong idea of how the financing of this kind of annual sporting event works, but I do wonder about the disconnect between big corporations and the avarage football supporter.

This is around the sum the British broadcasters pay for the PL alone for 3 or 4 seasons, if you add the likes of barca, real and Juventus the money the streaming services will put up in a bidding war will cover it and some. Then you ha e the sponsors. Big companies will thinking it a good investment. It's going to get alot of criticism to start off with but when that criticism dies down the dollars will start flooding in.

That's what I think the thought process is anyway

14 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Didn't realize before now but we and every other club involved have left the ECA.

https://www.ecaeurope.com/

Which I believe effectively means we are NOT going to be a part of next years CL.

I think they will strongarm this season's UCL as well. 

Don't like it but I will still follow Chelsea. That will never stop. 

As bad as this sounds it's funny to see Uefa, Fifa and the Prem get it back for once. 

So many things wrong with football without the Super League.  Teams not getting punished for ffp, VAR in prem, refs not being held accountable, World Cup in winter, pointless international friendlies mid season, this new international league of nations thing. This Super League is an extension of a minefield filled with existing bs and pointless games.

Edited April 19, 20215 yr by KonaKai Blue

4 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

I want to hear what the players and coaches have to say about this. If Solskjaer's interview is anything to go by, it appears that he found out about it the same time we did. If this is true, then even the players and coaches weren't consulted about it.

I don't think they should stay silent about this, it's too important.

Unfortunately football is a business now. Players and managers are just contracted pieces of a cog the same way workers are in a corporate firm. They only thing managers and players are privy to these days are what happens on the pitch and training . Everything also is dealt with by the people upstairs. 

8 hours ago, Chelsbear said:

Clubs including ours don't give a sh*t about you or me. The support means nothing when money is at stake. 

Sadly tradition, passion and history are being sold to the highest bidder. 

Football as we know it could be finished. 

Or it could be getting its soul back ? Granted without the "big 6" ... but if everyone switches off and cuts ties then they cease to be the big 6 pretty quickly ...

Money has been ruining football ever since Sky first appeared ... rolling the PL back to an affordable model might be the thing that saves a lot of clubs from going out of business and gets the fans their game back.

 

38 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

As I said before - any system where a business is forced to give a % of its earnings to competitors is wrong. 
 

The EPL and UEFA make huge amounts of money, on the back of participation of  a handful of clubs. Do you think the premier league would be as popular with out Chelsea, Liverpool and Utd? Do you think that the champions league would have such drawing  power if the headline teams were Ajax, Sparta Prague and Krasnodar? Of course they wouldn't.

It is the drawing power of big name teams that attracts the big bucks. Big bucks that are shared disproportionately with other teams that play little to no part in earning that money.

Worldwide EPL tv rights are huge - but let's not kid ourselves, they are NOT paid due to the attraction of watching Burnley vs Sheffield Utd. These tv rights  are paid due to the draw of a handful of clubs. That money is then spread out and cascades it way down the "pyramid". 

I ask again, in what other industry are successful business forced to fund less ones? It is mental! 

This is why I think the current system is broken. 

So we should just leave all the other clubs to die, from a business perspective you are correct but I’m not quite sure you understand the basis of a football league based on merit. Football was lost in the 90s and noughties  but this is the final nail for me

Even though I’m not a fan of the super league I hate how FIFA and UEFA are using this as a chance to act like they for the people and the media is getting behind them despite their organisations reeking of corruption. The World Cup being hosted in Qatar is no different than this super league.

7 minutes ago, GYBLUE said:

So we should just leave all the other clubs to die, from a business perspective you are correct but I’m not quite sure you understand the basis of a football league based on merit. Football was lost in the 90s and noughties  but this is the final nail for me

I think the point he’s making is that in any other walk of life, if you have an unsustainable business model and your business goes bust. You can’t then point at your competitors and say “well they didn’t give me a slice of their income so I didn’t have the money to survive”. It’s because of people’s emotional investment in clubs as opposed to an Apple or Microsoft type of business.
 

Of course, as you say - very hard to interchange with football. Mainly because since the introduction of Sky and huge money in to the game, clubs have been able to survive with poor & unsustainable business models because of the money generated by the TV revenue.

Interesting, if not exactly concrete:

https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/politico-london-playbook-its-not-coming-home-super-spinners-olive-considers-german-model/

17 minutes ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

Unfortunately football is a business now. Players and managers are just contracted pieces of a cog the same way workers are in a corporate firm. They only thing managers and players are privy to these days are what happens on the pitch and training . Everything also is dealt with by the people upstairs. 

At least those poor players are guaranteed a huge sum of money every week no matter how bad they play. And those poor managers who get sacked get a nice compensation packet. Everyone in football wins except fans.

24 minutes ago, just said:

Only because they see how threatening this is to their future financial revenues and the established status quo.

Establishing a breakaway super league may not be the right method to force reforms and reduce their power base but I hate that FIFA and UEFA will be portrayed by some as the "voice of reason" and holding the moral high ground here. They are corrupt, overly-powerful organisations with vested self-interest and they have needed their wings clipped for decades IMO.

Who's to say that the people in charge of this Super league are not at the very least equally corrupted and just see this as an opportunity for some late stage capitalism money grab? Specially during this time while there are no fans allowed.

All big clubs involved have heavy ties with UEFA and FIFA in one way or another, FIFA was directly involved in Man City and PSG slipping through the FFP rules and from what I know one of the first people to support this idea was Florentino Perez.

There is nothing there that suggests that these guys that want to make everything their own are nice guys.

This is news from 2016 that was reported in 2018 which said about the possible activation of this Super league exactly in 2021:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46078651

The death of football. VAR is slowly killing the game but the announcement of this ESL is the double-tap to the head.

I’m done.