BlueStar

Please try and make celebrities out of referees.

Anyone doubt if this had gone through last year, MBS would have us contracted into the ESL by now?

ikr?

The boards of these clubs will have been fed a steady diet of absolutely slick as fuck glossy videos with pumping upbeat soundtrack, showing delighted fans crying with joy at their superstars competing in an elite league. I'm sure some of them are doing a double take.

I'd be interested to see if one or more of them ends up with an ESL Mike Ashley in charge if they spend the first few seasons not competing at the top. You go to the board and say you've got $300m you can spend on three superstar players who might score you a few goals and let you finish 5th, or you can just give that out as bonuses to the board and dividends to shareholders, and then you might finish 10th, but who gives a fuck because your income is from just being in the league and being in matches against Real Madrid with ETORRO graphics all over the screen - not from prize money.

If they have to all come crawling back, make them work their way up from the lower leagues again. That would be a great spectacle because the usual Juventus/Rangers formality of a big club getting demoted but knowing they'll go up every season won't apply if there's another five clubs trying to do the same and get out the league at the first time of asking.

I do like the way Fernandes' broken English insta quote of "Success can't be buy!" has become a rallying cry. Something that's been lost a bit in how evil it is is potentially how shit it is, even as a cynical money making scheme. Will people really watch it? So the idea is you get these clubs to constantly play against each other because you look at a Man City-Barcelona Champions League semi final, and see the PPV and ad revenue for that and think you can rake that in every week? The appeal of these clubs is the huge worldwide interest they have amongst millions of fans, and all the fans are saying "This is shit, don't want it", but you think that's fine because there's supposedly millions more waiting in the wings in China and Singapore who haven't particularly paid much attention thus far but are gonna want to invest the time and money on watching the same match every three weeks? You've seen how foreign fans get involved in premier league teams, it's not just watching the players, they want to get on the forums, adopt the rivalries, learn the songs and the history. That's the "cool" thing about football to non-footballing countries, not 90 minutes where, if you're not particularly familiar with what you're watching, nothing much really seems to happen. And you think you're going to have sponsors lining up to throw money at a football competition football fans fucking hate and will resent anyone who bankrolls it? Part of me hopes they go through with it and, if the 6 are in the Premier League or not, after the initial morbid curiosity dies down nobody really cares about it, players don't really want to play in it and it's just mentioned as a footnote on the inner pages and at the end of the sports bulletin like a shit Club World Cup that's going on in the background while people are engaged in their local competitions, with the big six either not there at all or playing a second string. And hopefully everyone chucking money into ESL involvement or Juventus shares loses the lot.

Klopp saying Neville mentioning YNWA shou;d be "forbidden". what a total berk

Must be a sickener if you're a teenage kid following a team on the up, a Leicester, Leeds or a Norwich, all bright eyed and full of hope for what the future might bring and then this shitshow comes down and dismantles the entire sport. Thats why I'm glad to be a 40 year old Newcastle fan, long dead inside already.

Is anyone 100% convinced they won't buckle on this though, if the alternative is a league where the biggest clubs are West Ham, Everton and Leicester?

Danish Uefa guy says he expects Chelsea, Man City and Real Madrid to be kicked out the Champions League this week

Exactly what was said on Sky when they were quoting a board member of one of the big six, said they'd love that.

Could be the end of the World Cup and Euros as we know it I guess, if anyone good enough to be bribed into the ESL is banned from it. Be like team sports at the Olympics with it coming down to which country happens to have the best of the rest along with some gifted amateurs. Then of course if you win the world cup the ESL will hoover up your star men and in the next tournament you'll be shit. Who are Chelsea going to loan all their superfluous squad members to if ESL players are banned from domestic leagues?

If they don't care what "Legacy fans" in the local area think, why do they need existing clubs? Just invent some, North England Avengers, South of France Superstars and fill them with all the best players.. Obviously nobody would watch that at all, so they do seemingly value the heritage and city-linked brand of the clubs, no?

My dad's in Manchester and someone has just interviewed him for his thoughts on it, presumably cos he's wandering around in an NUFC training jacket

Would be good to get a big name like Messi coming out and fucking it off, saying he'd rather have his final World Cup appearance or whatever

If they're just in the Super League it'd be dull as fuck, wouldn't it? Only one thing to aim for which is the ESL title, no jostling for European places, no cups, no relegation.

Can't imagine Saudis would want to buy a club locked out of the elite competition either for financial or sportswashing reasons, and if they want to buy us and bribe us into the ESL they can fuck off.

You've got Steve Cram, legacy fan

European Super League teams will have really fucking stupid kits, calling it now.

Collectively, 63% of time spent on the internet is simply trying to prove other people wrong

Weren't Liverpool and Spurs the two main clubs demanding the Premier League block our takeover? And now they're off trying to destroy the league?