European Super League

[tikay]

UEFA executive committee member and head of Danish FA Jesper Moller tells broadcaster DR he expects Chelsea, Real Madrid & Man City to be kicked out of this season's Champions League: "The clubs must go, and I expect that to happen on Friday."

[nirvana]

UEFA executive committee member and head of Danish FA Jesper Moller tells broadcaster DR he expects Chelsea, Real Madrid & Man City to be kicked out of this season's Champions League: "The clubs must go, and I expect that to happen on Friday."

That would be pretty astonishing. Not sure where the crowds are coming from for any new league. Without playing in domestic leagues cant believe many fans will be interested

[tikay]

Betting appears to have been suspended on the current Champions League.

[Karabiner]

UEFA executive committee member and head of Danish FA Jesper Moller tells broadcaster DR he expects Chelsea, Real Madrid & Man City to be kicked out of this season's Champions League: "The clubs must go, and I expect that to happen on Friday."

It sounds like this new league is already a done-deal if the threats from UEFA are quite so draconian and immediate.

The globalization of football is here - those hippie-types protesting against globalization were right!

 

[tikay]

NEW: A further UEFA mtg will now take place within the next 24 hours. There will be a motion to formally expel Arsenal and Manchester United from the #UEL  and Man City, Chelsea and Real Madrid from the #UCL  - meeting will also decide how the competitions will be completed.

[arbboy]

NEW: A further UEFA mtg will now take place within the next 24 hours. There will be a motion to formally expel Arsenal and Manchester United from the #UEL  and Man City, Chelsea and Real Madrid from the #UCL  - meeting will also decide how the competitions will be completed.

haha going to decide how to award the CL to the only club left in! 

[Doobs]

NEW: A further UEFA mtg will now take place within the next 24 hours. There will be a motion to formally expel Arsenal and Manchester United from the #UEL  and Man City, Chelsea and Real Madrid from the #UCL  - meeting will also decide how the competitions will be completed.

So are we for or against competitions that are won on merit?  Feels a bit like Brexit; you thought you knew who the baddies were, only for the goodies to start acting like baddies too.  

Fitting if they handed the Champions League to the biggest arseholes who are not currently members of the League of Arseholes.  Presumably the win would mean they qualify for the League of Arseholes?  Hard to keep up.

[teddybloat]

Carra and Neville tearing up trees.

Calling for player strikes, calling out sky for instigating the prem breakaway and pay-walling football after sky's well crafted PR puff piece was read out, saying they will not talk about football until the project ends and will never analyse a ESL game

[Archer]

Disgusted with the City owners about this as are almost City fans on teddy's favourite City forum. Surprised as well - just didn't expect them to join-in with the same group who have worked against us for so long..

Immediate expulsion from the Champions League/Euro League is of course appropriate. Very disappointed about that and particularly being denied seeing a young Foden (has the highest ceiling of any footballer I've seen at City) on the biggest stage.

I have a ticket for the LC final on Sunday but binning that now. It just seems irrelevant. And I won't have to go through the OTT COVID protocols

For the first time ever I feel like sacking off football completely at a time I was so looking forward to getting back to live football. We'll see. No doubt I'll change my mind because it is so ingrained in what I've done for the last 50 years.

Excuse my French but fuck Manchester United.

[teddybloat]

I'd be terrified as a united or liverpool fan.

Could very well see a huge % of their home games being played in Delhi v the inter Milan tigers or in some Superdome v the Barca eagles.

And which will be the true fan base, which the true club.

Triggers brush innit

[bobby1]

Carra and Neville tearing up trees.

Calling for player strikes, calling out sky for instigating the prem breakaway and pay-walling football after sky's well crafted PR puff piece was read out, saying they will not talk about football until the project ends and will never analyse a ESL game

I caught some of this and they didn’t hold back did they. Love or loathe Neville he is certainly passionate about football. The problem is Sky were responsible for creating a breakaway league themselves which changed football for the worse. It created more money, more TV exposure and less competition with a bigger worldwide audience but it also took all the big clubs out of the football league and devalued that. The ESL is basically the next step and Sky are now on the shitty end instead this time.

There was more than a hint of protectionism in  the coverage I saw.

[teddybloat]

I don't agree it changed football for the worse

The top flight is vastly better than what went before and there's a strong case to be made that the championship is now a huge improvement, it's one of the best supported leagues in the world.

I don't think it took the big cubs out of the football league either, there's 2 european cups and a premier League trophy bobbing along mid table in the championship

Finally,the money coming into football is more a function of markets being global.

Remember early 90s when England played in somewhere like Poland?  the footage could have been from the moon landing  - and the TV I watched it on was magnitudes behind the screen on the phone in my pocket.

The ability to sell hd content to a global audience is where the money comes from.

If it were not the prem league it would have been la Liga or serie a who sat on top of that market. But those markets where going to open up regardless. And the money would have flowed in.

But yes I agree sky are bricking it and covering themselves. Their statement had a very telling line : we have not been involved in these discussions - would the two last night have even gotten on air had they been involved?

[Pokerpops]

Disgusted with the City owners about this as are almost City fans on teddy's favourite City forum. Surprised as well - just didn't expect them to join-in with the same group who have worked against us for so long..

Immediate expulsion from the Champions League/Euro League is of course appropriate. Very disappointed about that and particularly being denied seeing a young Foden (has the highest ceiling of any footballer I've seen at City) on the biggest stage.

I have a ticket for the LC final on Sunday but binning that now. It just seems irrelevant. And I won't have to go through the OTT COVID protocols

For the first time ever I feel like sacking off football completely at a time I was so looking forward to getting back to live football. We'll see. No doubt I'll change my mind because it is so ingrained in what I've done for the last 50 years.

Excuse my French but fuck Manchester United.

Let’s not make this tribal. It’s way too important for that. Don’t that you’ll find any United, LFC, Spurs, Arsenal** or Chelsea fans in favour of this greed-driven abomination.

I feel great sympathy for the players and coaching staff of both my team and yours. They have had this situation foisted upon them. Your title, our valiant second place (with much reduced gap), the European runs could all just be taken away from them.

Excuse my French, but Fuck Woodward, Glaer, Henry, Kroenke, Sheikh Mansour, Abramovich, Levy and all the fucking bankers and chancers that are involved.



**Some Arsenal fans may appreciate the chance of European involvement given their current plight.

[arbboy]

Carra and Neville tearing up trees.

Calling for player strikes, calling out sky for instigating the prem breakaway and pay-walling football after sky's well crafted PR puff piece was read out, saying they will not talk about football until the project ends and will never analyse a ESL game

I caught some of this and they didn’t hold back did they. Love or loathe Neville he is certainly passionate about football. The problem is Sky were responsible for creating a breakaway league themselves which changed football for the worse. It created more money, more TV exposure and less competition with a bigger worldwide audience but it also took all the big clubs out of the football league and devalued that. The ESL is basically the next step and Sky are now on the shitty end instead this time.

There was more than a hint of protectionism in  the coverage I saw.

This sums it up.   One way or another (ESL has just sped this process up) Skysports won't exist in 10 years time.   Their sole selling point is EPL football.   They have sacked off quietly so many sports in sole pursuit of the ever increasing EPL price tag.   Once the real shit hits the fan when Amazon and similar types properly get involved and bid with fortunes Sky can't possibly compete with their business model will be uneconomical.   They bullied football 30 years ago with much bigger cash than it had ever seen before now the ball is on the other foot.  I haven't paid for Sky sports for several years now because i can easily watch the majority of the stuff (outside of EPL football) on bookmakers streams for free or elsewhere online.   I thought i would miss watching live football but tbh i really haven't to the level it costs to purchase it on tv.   I think there will be many more 'marginal' football fans discover this indirectly because of the ESL.  

The owners are making a big gamble on their product being very inelastic price wise and they can continue to squeeze fans harder and harder.   They may be right and not care with COVID showing the owners what i have told football fans who are season ticket holders for years.  EPL clubs can easily run financially with zero fans in grounds.  All the money now is in global TV deals not even the domestic sky deal.  Put 6 powerful US sports owning owners into this greedy pot and this was always going to happen and be their bigger picture.  It also means that games under this model can be held anywhere in the world at any time zone to suit the real customer which is global TV and not the fans who actually attend.  4 games Saturday/Sunday all spaced out because of COVID has appealed masssively to different time zones esp the USA.   I doubt we will see a return to mass 3pm Saturday kick offs in the immediate post COVID future and the weekends 'worst' game will be the 3pm kick off as legally its the only game that can't be shown live on tv in the UK under current rules.

[arbboy]

J Pennant on Jeremy Vine on discussing the ESL.   What a choice of pundit to discuss a football business issue!