[Football] Liverpool and Manchester United lead ‘European League’ breakout league idea

[pigbite]

The timing of this ESL and the subsequent backtracking is vile beyond belief.

I genuinely felt sorry for Klopp having to basically front this disgraceful money grabbing act by being hung out to dry by his employer and almost being made the anti-christ when he was not even consulted.

This is been brewing for several years so how these organisers of the ESL could get this so spectacularly wrong beggars belief.

The fall out will go on for quite a while however as others have stated once the dust settles nothing will really change.

Change will only come when greed is removed, the horse has already bolted concerning this, unless these clubs stop becoming vastly rich peoples play things then nothing will ever change.

I don't think it beggars belief. Fans of teams in at least the top two tiers of English football have been sucking up the rampant commercialisation of the game for decades. They, we, me have shown time and time how easily we can be bought, how we might moan and grumble about the cost of s Sky subscription, additional PPV fees, astronomical costs for attending games but still buy the lot of it along garnished with an overpriced replica kit. All we seemingly need is some flashy graphics on Sky and to be told we need the money to pay players many times the average wage per week to ensure we have "the best league in the world". The fans of the big English clubs have endured this for years and years and it's no wonder billionaire owners found it so easy to assume most of their fans would have a mumble but ultimately be won over by the gloss and glitz of European football week in and week out. Those that didn't would be collateral damage on the way to reaping the benefits of revenue from Asian fans.

We try and keep the moral high ground at Brighton through having Tony Bloom and not a foreign owner and recent history of having battled in the Championship and League 1. We assume we are better than the supposedly plastic fans of the top six but are we really that different? The reality of balancing commercial pressures with an essentially romantic view of how football "should" be is one that has been argued time and time again on here in threads about ticket prices, atmosphere, plastic fans and more, and BHA are new boys at this big league stuff. How many other clubs were they to be in a similar position to the ESL group would not have chosen to jump ship so as not to be left behind financially especially if they have decades of evidence of their fans accepting every single decision they make, good or bad.

Thank goodness the fan base of the top six did show their outrage. Thank goodness the heart of football that has always been there leapt out at the outrage of the ESL. It's stopped that monster in it's tracks but I fear that we're so used to the status quo that very little more will be gained but time will tell.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

I think it will happen.
As i have said already, I think the yanks with billions are behind this, they will not blink, they have their idea and the money to back it along with the other owners on board and all their money too.
They want an American style league and rich yanks tend to get their way.
Only law (if that is possible) and a player walkout can stop it.
Any idea what the feeling is in Spain and Italy?
If I was an Arsenal fan I would be the most pissed off, their American shareholder is loaded and yet they have scrimped on buying really good players for top dollars and paying high wages.
If he is behind this and I think he is (why should Arsenal be included given their past few seasons) suddenly so much money to start this up is flying around.
Spurs are another strange one, nice very expensive stadium but I always thought that Levy whilst rich is not in the same league as the yanks and certainly not the Arabs, and their recent history is nothing to shout about either.
If i am wide of the mark regarding Arsenal and Spurs please put me right.

Well, happily i got that badly wrong, I underestimated the wrath of fans and the power of media, but I still thought that the people behind it would have tried to see it through but obviously not.
Maybe they thought that the fans would have liked their clubs to be elite, in an elite league, playing against the best, but got it badly wrong.
One last question though, I know it was a consortium of the owners but I wonder who lead it, who came up with the idea, I assume there had to be a leader in all this.

 

[blue-shifted]

Well, happily i got that badly wrong, I underestimated the wrath of fans and the power of media, but I still thought that the people behind it would have tried to see it through but obviously not.
Maybe they thought that the fans would have liked their clubs to be elite, in an elite league, playing against the best, but got it badly wrong.
One last question though, I know it was a consortium of the owners but I wonder who lead it, who came up with the idea, I assume there had to be a leader in all this.

Perez was going to be the chairman, so probably the chief instigator

Though a cabal of him, Agnelli, Glazer and Henry were probably the most prominent.

 

[blue-shifted]

Yep, don’t get much change from a grand for my season ticket.

The clubs for sale, it always has been - they have a 2 billion valuation for it and Levy to stay on.

I hope this is the end of them - time for them to cash in on the investment.

Trouble is, there are very few people in the world with that kind of money. Fewer still with the time and willingness to put up with the hassle. Fewer still who you would want anywhere near a football club

Then presumably they would have to spend another £200m on the squad, it being a bit ... well ... rubbish. Then cover the gargantuan annual losses.

Then they would still have Levy throwing his weight around and there's (OK unlikely) threat of fan ownership coming in and no immediate prospect of growing income by joining a breakaway league.

Most likely scenario is like at Newcastle. The unhappy marriage continues in perpetuity

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Yep, don’t get much change from a grand for my season ticket.

The clubs for sale, it always has been - they have a 2 billion valuation for it and Levy to stay on.

I hope this is the end of them - time for them to cash in on the investment.

I didn't realise Spurs are for Sale.

But who will buy it with a clause that the existing CEO (Levy) has to stay on and with the debt of the Stadium?

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

I know it was a consortium of the owners but I wonder who lead it, who came up with the idea, I assume there had to be a leader in all this.

Perez plus the American owners of LFC and MUFC

The rest just didn't want to be left behind.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Trouble is, there are very few people in the world with that kind of money. Fewer still with the time and willingness to put up with the hassle. Fewer still who you would want anywhere near a football club

Then presumably they would have to spend another £200m on the squad, it being a bit ... well ... rubbish. Then cover the gargantuan annual losses.

Then they would still have Levy throwing his weight around and there's (OK unlikely) threat of fan ownership coming in and no immediate prospect of growing income by joining a breakaway league.

Most likely scenario is like at Newcastle. The unhappy marriage continues in perpetuity

Would they take less money at the moment? Who knows

The squad is a complete mess and is a perfect example of Levy, gone from needing 1/2 good new heads a season at a cost of 50/60 million net - to now needing to spend 300 million whilst having an aging, unsellable squad to even get near the top 4

Outside - Kane/Son/Hojberg/reg/Lloris - I wouldn’t really care who left

A slight exception to that is Alli/Ndombele who might improve under a new manager.


I must add, I don’t want to be owned by a sugar daddy or the like, Just someone that has some interest on the playing side of things and spending the extra 2/3 million needed to get deals over the line.

And I’m aware there are fair more clubs in a fair worse position with Owners.

I didn't realise Spurs are for Sale.

But who will buy it with a clause that the existing CEO (Levy) has to stay on and with the debt of the Stadium?

badly worded by me.

If someone comes in with their valuation they will sell.

 

[Stato]

I laughed at a comment on a Barca forum when the news came through that Chelsea were gone. Someone posted that Perez at Real would make Chelsea pay for dropping out and got the response 'What's he going to do? Make them take Hazard back?'

 

[Pavilionaire]

You've got to feel sorry for Mike Ashley. He was finding it hard enough to sell Newcastle as it was, and now there are 12 bigger clubs out there, all with toxic owners and all amenable to a quick sale at the right price.

 

[blue-shifted]

I must add, I don’t want to be owned by a sugar daddy or the like, Just someone that has some interest on the playing side of things and spending the extra 2/3 million needed to get deals over the line.



If someone comes in with their valuation they will sell.

Well, if the cost is going to be up at around 2.5bn over the next few seasons, then it probably will be a sugar daddy and probably won't be a lifelong Spurs fan.

I think, the new stadium, magnificent as it is, was a calamitous error. Even once Covid has gone, it won't generate enough to pay off debts from the incredible costs of building it.

Things will get a lot worse for Spurs in the coming years and Kane knows it

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Well, if the cost is going to be up at around 2.5bn over the next few seasons, then it probably will be a sugar daddy and probably won't be a lifelong Spurs fan.

I think, the new stadium, magnificent as it is, was a calamitous error. Even once Covid has gone, it won't generate enough to pay off debts from the incredible costs of building it.

Things will get a lot worse for Spurs in the coming years and Kane knows it

The stadium will pay for itself, but it took them 20 years to build it.

When did the Amex open? 2015?

Brighton got kicked out of the Goldstone
Played two years at Gillingam
Decade at withdean
Built and moved into the Amex

In the time it took.

 

[blue-shifted]

The stadium will pay for itself, but it took them 20 years to build it.

When did the Amex open? 2015?

Brighton got kicked out of the Goldstone
Played two years at Gillingam
Decade at withdean
Built and moved into the Amex

In the time it took.

Spurs spent over 10 times more. £1bn.

They've got shift quite a few hot dogs to pay that off.

And WHL was a perfectly good ground. Withdean wasn't

 

[Weststander]

It's all becoming transparent, I hope everything can now see through the Glaziers.

 

[el punal]

This ESL gig is now becoming like a badly run Grand National. Firstly, there were going to be 20 clubs in total, but hey let’s start with 12, the rest can join later - as and when we decide. So on Sunday the announcement is made the ESL is here. Whoopee-f***ing-doo! This is going to be great for football, it will make money for the football pyramid, everyone will benefit. Except . . . no one asked the fans, or players, or managers, or anyone else for that matter, whether this proverbial bun fight would matter.

Man City blinked first and pulled out. Down to 11. Chelsea decided they had a conscience(!) and withdrew. Down to 10. Oh dear. Then the domino effect, Spurs went all Spursy (as they always do at this time of year), Arsenal apologised for being complete goons, Liverpool decided to walk alone, Man Utd saw red and the devil in the detail. Down to 6.

So who’s left? Three from Italy, three from Spain. AC and DC, sorry, Inter, Milan pull the plug. Atletico got real and got out. That leaves 3.

Marvellous. A European Super League with three teams. So who’s going to be the last one standing? I’m going to put my money on the meringues from Madrid - probably the main instigators of this whole debacle. Over to you JP Morgan, have you splashed the cash yet?

 

[The Fish]

Well, that was the most interesting few days in the football calendar for a while.

If the greedy six aren't properly punished for this, expect to see a similar idea floated in the next few years. These are the same owners who lobbied Richard Masters to prevent the Newcastle takeover from happening. Nowt to do with the horrendous crimes committed by Saudi Arabia, or concerns over Controlling Persons. It was protecting their broadcast rights and guarding against another team competing for Champions League.

The idea that the managers, players and fans shouldn't be punished is ludicrous as they're all punished if the club slips into administration.

9pt penalty for next season
£2m fine (if Leeds had to pay £200k for being caught peeking through a hedge, and West Ham paid £5m for Tevez/Mascherano debacle I don't think that's unreasonable). That £12m to be divided amongst the bottom 2 divisions.
Summer Window Transfer embargo
and that should do it.

Also think German style 50+1 should be implemented ASAP.

 

[Triggaaar]

If the greedy six aren't properly punished for this

Oh don't worry, they're being punished alright. UEFA has announced new rules for the CL which allows the big teams to qualify even when they don't finish top 4 of their league.

WTF? That's the same ****ing thing that we've all just been complaining about.

I assume there's a thread about it, with protests, but I can't see it.

 

[Curious Orange]

When did the Amex open? 2015?

Unbelievably, it was 2011. The first decade has almost passed.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Unbelievably, it was 2011. The first decade has almost passed.

That’s incredible.

I thought it was 14 or 15

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Oh don't worry, they're being punished alright. UEFA has announced new rules for the CL which allows the big teams to qualify even when they don't finish top 4 of their league.

WTF? That's the same ****ing thing that we've all just been complaining about.

I assume there's a thread about it, with protests, but I can't see it.

And a one off payment for them to come back

 

[Triggaaar]

And a one off payment for them to come back

These clubs are trying to help save football, and look at the grief they got. I'm out door to door collecting for them tonight, can someone else start a crowd fund?