This is a messy, grubby financial thing again, but it's breaking this evening that there's to be a possible breakaway from our "big 6" plus 3 from Spain and 3 from Italy.
I believe they plan to run a competition midweek instead of the Champion's league and open it up to 15 permanent members and to 5 invited teams each season.
Obviously the timing is vile, the plan is anti-competitive and deeply unpopular with the authorities.
Said authorities appear to be ready to hit the nuclear button if the clubs don't back down, but there may be a statement from the signed up clubs this evening.
The problem here is that the idea keeps resurfacing and the foreign owners who want a franchise competition aren't going away.
Where will this end?
Absolutely totally no surprise.
FIFA and the FA are sh.t scared of these “super” clubs and the revenue they generate.
Anyone else getting hacked off with top flight football?
Real Madrid and Barcelona can be a billion pound in debt. PSG with a frankly poor worldwide fan database can ”afford” mega salaries for the top paid players in the world because there is no longer an effective FFP rule ( was there ever at this level? ) City got away with a ban because they can afford the best legal team. The list goes on.
For as much as I wanted Premiership football I occasionally find myself wistfully looking back at simpler times.
My love for the club will never diminish but my love for top level football is definitely on the slide. If it was ever there in the first place.
You're right Soopa it is sickening.
I feel the other 14 PL Clubs should have stood together and come out with an ultimatum to the English FA that if the 6 English signatory clubs were not punished they should have refused to play matches and finish the season 20/21. But sadly that day has passed and as you say the "have not's" must now compete on an equal footing against the super rich again.
What could the FA have done to the 14 clubs if the refused to play?
The 14 could have defended this stance simply by expressing their view that the 14 Clubs were abiding by the laws / rule book and in their eyes others weren't.
They could also say they were taking the stance to refuse finishing the season to protect the 72 EFL clubs that this also affects.
They could have gotten the media behind their cause and hence the ordinary fan would feel solidarity and the notion of we will all stand together to protect the English league clubs.
the 14 should have stuck together and called the FA's bluff
No sanction = No games
By a season not finishing how could any of the 6 made CL or other European football this season Arsenal missed out as we all know but could you honestly see Arsenal making way for Spurs to play in Europe (no matter what competition) instead of them?? so if the english PL season didnt finish NONE of the 6 ESL clubs could have qualified and all would lose out financially, but no point in dwelling on that now the time to act was last season and all this bluster and "ooooo im really mad" outburst on sky by gary neville and jamie carragher and others on BBC were futile. Strangely tho i dont think those two in particular will come out too boisterous and say too much about todays decision by UEFA.
Longtime since this made the headlines, but i see that UEFA have dropped all charges against the 3 clubs that never removed themselves from the ESL and wont be seeking any fines already dished out to the other signatories.
ManU, liverpool, City, Chelsea, italian clubs PSG all have now officially got away with deliberately breaking UEFA rules, funny that all the rich owners, that can well afford to pay, are all good boys again.
What kind of message does this send to all other clubs? Ye must play by the rules and accept any punishment handed down but if you are associated with a super rich club you can do what you like????
Wonder have the UEFA top brass received any post lately🙄
stinks to the high heaven, and another example showing what a corrupt organisation UEFA really are.
One thing. As teams has withdraw from super league please Leeds supporters do not attack Man u players or the team bus on the way to Elland road.this has nothing to do with the players.led the Leeds team show them on the field
Agree with BB and ICE, football and clubs have got themselves is a terrible mess. The greed from players & agents alike has left massive clubs on the brink. Take Barça as an example, they've thrown bucket loads of money at their players, one could probably keep all clubs in League I & II + a fair number of Championship clubs going just with what Messi gets paid.
Still Messi wanted out of his contract!
No wonder they're in some serious shxte.
In reality we're one of the very few big clubs that got really punished for Ridsdale and other owners fxck-ups.
Nowadays clubs stack up debt and get away with it.
We got thrown the book at us.
In Belgium, Anderlecht have debts of more than 100 Million Euro, this even after their loaded owner has decided they don't need to repay his loan to him of well over 35 Million Euro.
Some things are bound to change over here, with the governement under pressure to stop funding football clubs & players. In Belgium players like Mignolet pay less in social security contributions & taxes than the average postman. Our Red Devils get paid when selected for the national team (only pocked money compared to what they get paid at their clubs), but most of them have set up companies abroad for their portrait rights (Luxemburg, Malta) or become a resident of Monaco and end up paying zero taxes.
Some heroes!
Soon enough there will again be big news out about football and it's agents.
You wouldn't believe some of the constructions clubs, players & agents have set up.
The super league clubs should get punished in some way.
You can be sure they'll try and find a way to get their hands on the money JP Morgan has dangled in front of them. This is not over.
One last thing UEFA, FIFA and organisations like the IOC are not there for the good of football and sport in general. They're first priority is and has always been MONEY (filling their own pockets).
They say they need super league to buy Haaland . Price of players and wages must drop.we have bin talking about it for many years
if it was just the local team playing down the park, football lovers would still go. As long as kids are playing football at school and people get together at matches, the game will never die. Football should be stripped back not given more glitz and glamour. Fcking yanks ruin everything with overblown hype. The president from Real Madrid is full of sh-t.
I think we can see the future - we only have to look to our own past.
The bubble will burst for some of these indebted clubs and then the well trodden mechanisms for points deductions and relegation will have to apply.
When one drops the others will have a chance to regroup financially
Don't disagree, but there's never been a historical example of when players wages have gone down. I didn't particularly like the ESL proposal but it doesn't disguise the fact that If football continues to follow the existing model, it will be fecked in as little as five years. The owners know it. At least we have an owner who is trying to balance the books, but this isn't going away.
Sorry, the reason clubs lose money is due to the wages they pay players and agents fees. They say clubs are businesses so why don't they run them as such? No business pays 150% of its annual turnover to a handful of employees.
Is Pogba really worth £350k a week, or De Gea £300k per week? Or could they be replaced by similar players for less? Well the answer is, YES OF COURSE!
Time for the "Big 6" to look closer at how they are run and stop wasting money. ManPoo pay out £600k per week in goalkeeper wages (De Gea, Henderson, Grant and Romero). £30 million a year for one position? I may not be a CEO but even I can see how £20 million per annum can be saved!
Prem clubs losing money is down to themselves. All will have turnovers in excess of £125 million. Cut your cloth accordingly.
BTW my son and I want to buy tickets for games at ER and away but we cannot! Perez is ABSOLUTELY wrong! In England there is huge demand from fans for games. When LUFC were in L1 or wallowing in mid table mediocrity in the Championship tickets for home games were available as the entertainment was so poor. Now, when fans can return to stadiums in full, ER will be sold out each week. So what the F*ck does a guy that runs Real Madrid with debts of over £500million really know apart from spending more money than he has? In the hope local government will bail him out again!
Big 6 my arse! If any other club spent the insane sums these clubs do, well there would be a Big 92 in England!
The thing is Perez isn't completely wrong about football facing a crisis. There are fewer young people watching matches. There's less income and clubs are dependent on broadcasters. The ESL may not be the solution but when there's a scenario that 19 of the 20 premiership clubs lose money, you just know a Tsunami of pain is on its way.
I’ll be surprised Bull if they get anything. This ESL will come back again at some point so the Premiership will have to put something in place to deter them. The lure of extra dosh is too tempting especially when Real and Barcelona have such massive debts. I believe they are both approaching a billion euros. If the authorities slap a big sanction on them now, they can justify in their own greedy minds that the ESL is just a matter of time.
Bull, I can't work out if you are 'for' or 'against' the European Super League....? 🤔😉
Well one thing is certain andyl
If Club owners know that there is no sanction in trying to break away then sure as Night follows Day they will try again maybe in a couple years to have another shot but they WILL TRY AGAIN.
The FA/EFL MUST see this and come up with some sanction / punishment for these 6 otherwise the death nail of the PL will have started last Sunday. As everyone is saying this European League is being talked about for 50years but thats all it was, was talk, but what Sunday was an actual attempt to start the league, a failed attempt, but it was attempted. What are UEFA/FA/EFL waiting for? the ESL to actually start before any punishment is handed out??? ahhhhhh hello they have gone now so do you think they would accept any sanction at that stage.
This cant be allowed to be swept under the carpet with a "come back lads all is forgiven" attitude, otherwise the owners 1million % will have another go.
I can’t see there being any punishment, no matter how much we want it. The Premiership wants it’s big earners back and I can’t see them pushing for sanctions.
Did they break any rules? They haven’t gone through with it so I don’t see how they have. Maybe not consulting with the rest of the Premiership is how they will ‘do’ them, but to what extent?
If there was a punishment for being self serving, greedy and feckless, then they would be busted down to the Conference.
Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
Very apt for this situation.
I suspect you are right 1972, when people set rules up in any organization they tend to side-step or write down any sanctions / punishments that are to apply if a rule is broken, and when you think of it the rules are written down cause they will need them but assume everyone will follow them so the "punishments" are put to the back burner.
"Sure anyone joining know our rules and sure they wont break them"
As you say when any conflict comes up for adjudication the Judge will only look at what is written down and will also look to see if that document has actually been signed by the all parties. On this score i think it will come out that the FA/EFL rule book will be akin to a sieve and very little "sanctions" can be enforced for such breaches, THEN will we see the fans protest again?? i doubt it. it will be washed away like a passing shower of rain.
If the break away Clubs were oxford / crewe / oldham etc i can guarantee ya they FA/EFL would haul them over the coals because they have greater financial clot than the small Clubs but these big boys have huge "lawyer funds" to take the FA/EFL all the way and the FA/EFL know this so best crawl back into the box and hope all this blows away......
Leaving the 14 PL Clubs back to where they always are in the halpenny place occasionally popping their heads up looking for a few crumbs, a loan that will be paid back by the fans of that Club in increased ticket prices, for a stadium refurbishment or additional capacity so they can try to keep a pace with the 6 guggernoughts that are steaming away into the sunset.
I wonder will Gary Neville rant about this,
i wonder will Gary Neville back up his original outburst on Sunday that these teams should be relegated?
Ya you're right he wont cause that means his Man Utd will suffer, but what about the 14 that will definitely suffer if these 6 are allowed back without consequences??
Hypocrisy at its best
Like what happened yesterday 6 Clubs were in one minute and next all out (they have acted as a unit effectively)
Im reading now this morning the remaining 14 English Clubs are split over what should happen to the 6
FFS act as a unit, 14 is stronger than a 9-5 or 6-8 split grow a pair and stand up to these "big clubs" that on Sunday were willing to jeopardize the financial future of every one of the 14 PL and 72 Football League Clubs on Sunday.
If according to Rule L9 states any member club needs prior written approval by the Premier League Board to enter a new competition, now by admitting that these 6 Clubs intention was to join a breakaway league surly that's a clear breach??
Also if the 6 hadn't any agreement in place to be part of the ESL why did they all feel that they had to make statements last night saying they they have begun proceedings to withdraw????
Its a clear breach of rules and should be punished.
Personally because this act took place this season the punishment should apply to this seasons premier league, unless they all get in the region of -30 points none will really suffer, and will effectively get away scot free with this.
I hear pundits come out ohh dont punish the Clubs because the Fans will suffer, Punish the owners!!!
What a load of cr@p WE WERE PUNISHED AND TOOK 16 FCKING YEARS TO RECOVER (i would still argue we havent fully recovered but thats for another day) Why were us LUFC fans not spared the punishment of -15 points??
Why shouldn't Liverpool FC / MUFC and the others suffer?? They were going to benefit massively if this ESL got off the ground and now they are saying sorry can we just go back to the way it was!!
The punishment should be points deduction, should be large fines 100's of millions of pounds (give it straight to the lower league clubs, so none of the 14 can be accused of trying to line their own pockets) and there is an argument to apply a transfer embargo on all 6 Clubs for 3-4 Transfer windows.
These are punishments that will hurt
1) None of the 6 will win this season PL Title
2) Some of the 6 will be relegated (hopefully 4) and in that way one of them will be doomed to stay in the Championship for at least 2 years.
3) Fines always hurt but only if they are substantial
4) Punishments like this will send out a message if any other Club/Owners try this in the future (which they will) there are repercussions to their decisions.
This is far from over and in a way the Owners knew too well now was the best time to breakaway as "Fans" wouldn't be inside any Stadium. We need the 14 to stick together and we need the 14 to agree on severe punishments otherwise it WILL HAPPEN AGAIN
So now we have to try and second guess what the PL will do in order to reassert their position in all this. The options I see are as follows:
Deduction of Points
This clearly makes a statement, however it affects the players, managerial staff and more importantly the fans who are all completely innocent in this.
Club Fine
Unless this runs into millions, it's a drop in the ocean and will have little effect on the club finances.
I suspect all that will happen will be a slap on the wrist and a note saying they are very naughty boys.
Good luck with any of these managers looking for transfer funds in the future!!!
Shows how far removed they were from reality if they thought they could just steamroller it through. Only Arsenal as a club have apologised so far.