11 minutes ago, The Don Antonio said:

What really pisses me off is how the media/ Moral 16 clubs  try to say we are breaking away from English football. 

It is clearly written that the superleague is a replacement for the champions League. Instead of jumping to conclusions we should hear both sides of the story before passing judgement but of course people want to give their opinions before the facts are on the table. The Super League clubs have to show that even though they will be making more profit some of the money will be trickled down the pyramid.. Uefa are just mad that they won't be having a piece of the pie.

This is just like when the police kill a person in America and people riot without knowing if the person killed was a paedophilie , robber or whatever.

 

     It is ironic when someone like David Beckham who owns a football team in Miami that can't be relegated and bought their way into the MLS complains about the super League.

     The clubs in the super League have to explain their reasoning before I pass judgement.

The relevant facts are on the table. 15 permanent clubs, 5 merit based, isn't that confirmed?

 

Even if the clubs don't get - justifiedly for making a secret decision behind closed doors - banned from the PL, this will mean...

- that the Premier Leauge's appeal is drastically reduced to the title and relegation, taking a lot of air out of the race for European spots. Making the English league far less interesting and marketable overall (Two days ago I thought I'd spend Tuesday night on the edge of my seat watching us fight for Top 4, today I know it doesn't matter)

- Leicester / West Ham / Everton etc. will have to qualify for the league while (for example) Tottenham and Arsenal won't.

How could that possibly be justified? I might as well watch WWE

 

One way or another we're breaking away from English football. It's confirmed, no ESL statement could possibly change that. In fact Perez has spoken and it hasn't changed that.

I wonder if any Big 6 player is brave enough to put in for a transfer request in protest at the ESL ?

Now that would really be a statement ... he'd instantly be the most popular man in Europe !

Shaka Hislop made a good point on ESPN. He said uefa are quick to take action when it comes to money and this super League, but not so quick when it comes to acting on racism in the game. 

Also, why don't we just opt out then we have the best chance to win the premier League title every season haha. 

10 hours ago, Argo said:

The reward for finishing 9th in the PL is on par with winning La Liga, the reward for finishing bottom trump's the prize money for winning most top flight league's on the planet.

There's no league better than ours for rewarding failure, Norwich have made an obscene amount of money from coming up, stinking the place out, going down and returning again. With good recruitment they could probably nail down a permanent PL place off the back of "prize" money for finishing bottom. This system has also made it harder for an underdog lower league team to get a dream PL place (like for example Blackpool of 2010). The English football pyramid may not literally be a closed shop but for all intents and purposes it's largely closed off at the top (PL and top half of the championship), looking at the top half of the Championship currently only Barnsley and to an extent Millwall are surprise teams there, all the rest have been in the PL recently. I remember about 15 years ago Colchester United made a serious play off push in the Championship, a club that size will never sniff such heights again because 2/3rds of the Championship will have left over parachute money from a PL stint to blow any little dreamer club out of the water if they dare get to that level (case in point what's happening to Wycombe).

To further expand on this point Sheffield United will earn £180m from their "efforts" this season due to the TV money and future parachute payments. No relegation is hideous but for all intents and purposes that's the case already given how it gets rewarded. There's now a core of around 30 clubs who have the monopoly on PL places and will just swap around indefinitely and cash the rewards.

Sky/PL/UEFA are very much accessories to this, they're only moaning now because their getting a taste of what they've dished out for years. 

14 minutes ago, CFCCAN said:

UEFA and FIFA are no doubt pissed because they see revenue disappearing and those running both corrupt organizations seeing their pockets feeling a bit lighter.  Don't forget some years ago FIFA proposed a world club league, except this 'super league' has beaten them to it so they are pissed. Both UEFA and FIFA have been increasing the number of games each year to generate more money for themselves and then have the nerve to criticize the super league because they see money slipping through their slimy corrupt hands.  Personally I couldn't give a toss; this breakaway has been talked about for years, so it should not be a shock to anyone.  It's the 'bigger' clubs that attract the revenue through TV, branding etc, people in the ground doesn't bring in hardly any revenue in the grand scheme of things.  While those running the PL may be sticking out their chest and threatening to throw the 6 clubs out, they also know that if they do go the PL won't be worth sh*t because the number of world wide viewers etc will dwindle as they watch Super League games.  

In addition those clubs / leagues in Europe watch with envy week in week out of the financial power of the PL in terms of TV revenue etc and they want a big piece of that pie; so why not convince the 6 clubs to leave the PL and join all the financially strapped top clubs in Europe to prop them up by stealing the worldwide PL TV, social media audience and marketing that goes along with it.  While I understand the sentiment and history of our game, the game moves on, clubs move on, generations come and go; no one gave a sh*t back in 92 when the PL was formed, where was the backlash then, so what's the difference here?  The current model is broken, but from a business standpoint it makes no sense to keep losing your shirt season after season, especially if you're the one spending all the money on players that the fans want to see, while those bottom feeders spend nothing and still get a share of the revenue you'd be pissed too; the American owners of 3/6 clubs are ruthless don't give a crap about the English game and its history, its about profit, shareholders and banks...living the American dream baby;   so when an offer comes along like this one you seriously consider it, sentiment and history are put aside, who gives a sh*t, there is a new fan base 10-20 years from now and probably half of us old f**kers on this forum will be dead anyway.   I'll carry on watching football regardless of which league we are in. 

And the other thing that pisses me off is these other 14 EPL club sanctimonious owners who have come out shouting and screaming, when the reality is if they were asked to join this super league they'd bite your hand off given the projected revenue.  It's the players I feel for, especially if they get black listed and are banned from International football and will be faced with some tough choices....a short career and earn millions and set your family for life, or a short career and earn an average PL wage with the likes of WBA / Norwich and West Ham and maybe a few choice words from Roy Keane or Gary Neville....I'd know which option I'd take. 

I don't know where you're from but you should seriously consider running for some political office.

Commenting on the equitable foundations of the entire system with "who gives a sh*t" is the kind of stuff that draws people to the voting booths these days

6 minutes ago, enigma said:

Also, why don't we just opt out then we have the best chance to win the premier League title every season haha. 

Could be bound by a legally binding contract which will cost us a lot of money.

Time to call the Super League the “JP Morgan Cup” and acknowledge this is being done to prop up and bail out mismanaged clubs in Spain and Italy + line the pockets of these American owners.

I think us and City stand to lose the most from this.

5 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

A couple that were doing the rounds yesterday ...

 

 

 

On a more serious note, I really hope the board at CFC has the courage this morning to withdraw us from this fiasco ...

Getting back to the main issue here, the guy who made this clearly mixed up the Man Utd and Chelsea girls!

5 minutes ago, Argo said:

To further expand on this point Sheffield United will earn £180m from their "efforts" this season due to the TV money and future parachute payments. No relegation is hideous but for all intents and purposes that's the case already given how it gets rewarded. There's now a core of around 30 clubs who have the monopoly on PL places and will just swap around indefinitely and cash the rewards.

Sky/PL/UEFA are very much accessories to this, they're only moaning now because their getting a taste of what they've dished out for years. 

And how that justifies reducing the number to 12 European clubs having the monopoly of all European football?

1 minute ago, DarkMata said:

Getting back to the main issue here, the guy who made this clearly mixed up the Man Utd and Chelsea girls!

It certainly throws into question the whole ABU argument LOL

So here is a question, if the other clubs around Europe remain unified in their opposition, what is the ESL going to do.

Their format requires 3 other teams to join as permanent members and 5 teams to qualify in.  If everyone else says no, what are you going to do?  Form a 12 team league that never plays anyone from outside of that league??

I still lean towards this not actually happening.  I think players who want to play for their country take less money to play elsewhere, I think no one else joins them on this and these 12 teams are left holding the bag looking silly.

Unfortunately there could be a lot of pain in the meantime.  

 

15 minutes ago, enigma said:

Shaka Hislop made a good point on ESPN. He said uefa are quick to take action when it comes to money and this super League, but not so quick when it comes to acting on racism in the game. 

Good straw man argument, if you ask me. What's got to do UEFA's miseries and corruptions with the contempt we've shown to other teams in the English game?

2 minutes ago, Valpo said:

So here is a question, if the other clubs around Europe remain unified in their opposition, what is the ESL going to do.

Their format requires 3 other teams to join as permanent members and 5 teams to qualify in.  If everyone else says no, what are you going to do?  Form a 12 team league that never plays anyone from outside of that league??

I still lean towards this not actually happening.  I think players who want to play for their country take less money to play elsewhere, I think no one else joins them on this and these 12 teams are left holding the bag looking silly.

Unfortunately there could be a lot of pain in the meantime.  

 

It would certainly open up to a whole new potential audience if the product on offer was the ESL 12 playing with themselves ...

1 hour ago, Jezz said:

 

In other words “We have no legal recourse and we can’t cancel the rest of this years CL tournament so please don’t leave us.”

8 minutes ago, RMH said:

And how that justifies reducing the number to 12 European clubs having the monopoly of all European football?

Absolutely not but the awful reality is it's just further expanding on already unfair systems in the game.

Another example would be the CL, us and City are in the semi but from a moral point of view did we deserve a place any more than the top flight Champions in ANY top flight league in Europe? Why did we get the automatic group stage spot over the Champions of Finland? Money and greed.

6 minutes ago, seanlu13913 said:

In other words “We have no legal recourse and we can’t cancel the rest of this years CL tournament so please don’t leave us.”

It will be interesting if UEFA kick the 3 teams out of Europe this year. That is the point of no return I think. 

Florentino Perez:

"If we continue with the Champions League there is less and less interest and then it’s over. The new format, which starts in 2024 is absurd. In 2024 we are all dead.”

“If we reach an agreement with UEFA we want to start (the new league) in August, if not, we can wait a year.”

https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/news/0268-1213f7aa85bb-d56154ff8fe8-1000--uefa-announces-new-format-for-club-competitions-to-be-introduce/

UEFA agrees to bring forward the start date to August or next year and everyone's happy?

I think a European super league does have legs and could be quite exciting. People say it’s the “same teams every year” but we watch the Premier League which has the same teams every year (bar promoted teams). Would you watch Man City v Burnley? I wouldn’t but I would watch Man City v PSG. 
 

That said, I don’t like the lack of jeopardy in and I don’t like the impact on other league teams. As a midweek competition, I think it would largely work. 

The media coverage is very one sided. It’s abit annoying. Sky and media companies really pushing to protect their investments and telling us it’s a bad idea. 

I agree with the second paragraph.

I need the club to make it's intentions clear.

7 minutes ago, Argo said:

Absolutely not but the awful reality is it's just further expanding on already unfair systems in the game.

Another example would be the CL, us and City are in the semi but from a moral point of view did we deserve a place any more than the top flight Champions in ANY top flight league in Europe? Why did we get the automatic group stage spot over the Champions of Finland? Money and greed.

And I agree with you on that, but the way to fix something is not by getting it even more broken. If you want to make society (or football) more equal, you don't bring in laws that give more privileges to the privileged, do you? That's what is at stake at the moment.

4 minutes ago, Argo said:

Absolutely not but the awful reality is it's just further expanding on already unfair systems in the game.

Another example would be the CL, us and City are in the semi but from a moral point of view did we deserve a place any more than the top flight Champions in ANY top flight league in Europe? Why did we get the automatic group stage spot over the Champions of Finland? Money and greed.

Exactly, we already have a complicated system in place to maximize chances of a "top" club to succeed in the group stage.

Can't ask my grandfather unfortunately but I guess  he'd shaking his head just as much about the current way the CL is run as we are shaking heads about the new SaviorsLeague.

 

 

But yea, not really the time to escape into sarcasm and cynism but I don't know how to do otherwise. Quite glad there is a match coming up today to distract me from the cruelties of daily life...oh wait

3 minutes ago, seanlu13913 said:

In other words “We have no legal recourse and we can’t cancel the rest of this years CL tournament so please don’t leave us.”

I think it's a sensible response by UEFA. Much better to say "unless you do x by xxxday..." than simply retaliate for ultlimate destruction.

That's one of the fundamental wrongdoings of the ESL 12. If they had really worried about the flaws of UEFA or the CL system they could have said in seriousness "look guys if these things don't change we'll have to come up with an alternative." One could have agreed or disagreed. But these clubs knew where they wanted to go so they didn't bother to waste time on any of that

1 minute ago, RMH said:

And I agree with you on that, but the way to fix something is not by getting it even more broken. If you want to make society (or football) more equal, you don't bring in laws that give more privileges to the privileged, do you? That's what is at stake at the moment.

Fully agree with that don't get me wrong and hopefully this gives all parties the kick up the arse they need.