Proposed European Super League

[Mahoneys Tache]

7 hours ago, Scoot said:

Can we not put out a statement saying we won't be joining it just to see reaction on wearside?

Nah. Put one out saying we are, each them all have mass apoplexy and then say it was all a jape. 

[The College Dropout]

It’s all just proposals from what I’ve read. 
 

In the next 10 years we will see a new competition.  It’s about whether Real and Barca can woo enough big clubs around Europeto make it worth it. I can see them grabbing all the semi to big clubs in Spain, Italy, France (PSG excluded) and all the old European royalty (Celtic, Benfica, Ajax) to form a new competition.  Saudi might get involved too - but after the World Cup most likely. 
 

It’s the only way long term they can compete with PL teams. 

[Pandamninator]

31 minutes ago, Mahoneys Tache said:

Nah. Put one out saying we are, each them all have mass apoplexy and then say it was all a jape. 

I prefer a completely ambiguous statement so poorly worded that it can be interpreted as saying we will and we won't at the same time.

[mighty__mag]

From the first page we jumped nearly 14yrs  

[Yorkie]

Not sure what to make of it all really. The whole thing doesn't work unless everyone agrees to sack-off UEFA's competitions and I just can't picture how that happens. 

 

Putting to one side the motivations of Perez et al; I'm not particularly offended by the notion of a stakeholder trying to unsettle the status quo of European competitions. It's the domestic leagues which are truly sacred - not UEFA.

 

If it wouldn't jeopardise the Premier League etc then the backlash is only coming from those with great affection for the Champions League etc. Personally I don't really see the need for that tournament to be safeguarded and protected by the global football public in the same way domestic leagues and pyramids should be. 

 

A pinnacle European competition is something we absolutely should have but it doesn't have to be UEFA's forever more.

[Nobody]

1 hour ago, Yorkie said:

Not sure what to make of it all really. The whole thing doesn't work unless everyone agrees to sack-off UEFA's competitions and I just can't picture how that happens. 

 

Putting to one side the motivations of Perez et al; I'm not particularly offended by the notion of a stakeholder trying to unsettle the status quo of European competitions. It's the domestic leagues which are truly sacred - not UEFA.

 

If it wouldn't jeopardise the Premier League etc then the backlash is only coming from those with great affection for the Champions League etc. Personally I don't really see the need for that tournament to be safeguarded and protected by the global football public in the same way domestic leagues and pyramids should be. 

 

A pinnacle European competition is something we absolutely should have but it doesn't have to be UEFA's forever more.

 

 

 

Agree with everything you've said, but unfortunately the alternative, as presented, is a hell of a lot worse. If 'A22' (nowhere near as good as A24, but that's a different story) came up with a decent competition, I don't think any of us would particularly miss UEFAs competitions, but they've shot their load twice now with utterly embarrassing alternatives. Guess this is what you get when Perez is the guy in charge of things like. 

[Geordie Ahmed]

They think they're being clever by introducing "promotion"/"relegation" but the merest of scratches beneath the surface reveal it's still very much built to benefit these clubs have a huge sense of entitlement 

 

The reality is the ESL and the main proponents of it are wanting it to get more money and the way you guarantee that is by removing the current process which is a meritocracy 

 

For all the flaws of UEFA, at least now if Villa finish top 4 they know are in the CL or if one of the "bigger" teams struggle in the league (Chelsea/Man U) then they rightly get to miss out on playing in the top competition 

 

Real/Barca will continue to push for it but without the PL sides it doesn't stand a chance

[mouldy_uk]

7 hours ago, mighty__mag said:

From the first page we jumped nearly 14yrs  

God we are all getting old, I didn’t realise I’ve been on here for 17 years 

 

[Stifler]

Quite noticeable that Liverpool have not said anything publicly against it yet.

[gbandit]

Just now, Stifler said:

Quite noticeable that Liverpool have not said anything publicly against it yet.

They only want a “fair” competition where the odds are massively stacked in their favour 

[Stifler]

8 minutes ago, gbandit said:

They only want a “fair” competition where the odds are massively stacked in their favour 

True, same with Arsenal.

In all honesty the Premier League should view this as them willing to go and throw the fuckers out.

It’s always been them two clubs who have fans that have actually been in favour of it.

Put them to bed, throw the cunts out and do the rest of us a favour.

[Guybrush]

 

[Abacus]

8 hours ago, Yorkie said:

Not sure what to make of it all really. The whole thing doesn't work unless everyone agrees to sack-off UEFA's competitions and I just can't picture how that happens. 

 

Putting to one side the motivations of Perez et al; I'm not particularly offended by the notion of a stakeholder trying to unsettle the status quo of European competitions. It's the domestic leagues which are truly sacred - not UEFA.

 

If it wouldn't jeopardise the Premier League etc then the backlash is only coming from those with great affection for the Champions League etc. Personally I don't really see the need for that tournament to be safeguarded and protected by the global football public in the same way domestic leagues and pyramids should be. 

 

A pinnacle European competition is something we absolutely should have but it doesn't have to be UEFA's forever more.

 

Agree - I'd rather UEFA was radically overhauled or replaced altogether, and not with these A22 jokers. That's probably just a pipe dream, though.

 

But, I'd say the same about FIFA and the Premier League as well, to be honest.

[Yorkie]

7 hours ago, Nobody said:

Agree with everything you've said, but unfortunately the alternative, as presented, is a hell of a lot worse. If 'A22' (nowhere near as good as A24, but that's a different story) came up with a decent competition, I don't think any of us would particularly miss UEFAs competitions, but they've shot their load twice now with utterly embarrassing alternatives. Guess this is what you get when Perez is the guy in charge of things like. 

 

It seems a lot less hairbrained than the first iteration. Fewer games, promotions and relegations, significant overhauls of participants every season at the third tier. I don't necessarily hate it but obviously concede that it's built on foundations of greed and the assurance of perpetual wealth for a select few. 

 

The branding/names is obviously a total car crash. 

 

To be clear, I'm not in favour of it, and I think it's all very hypothetical because I don't see enough stakeholders wanting to ditch UEFA. But it's not the insult to football it was last time and - tbh - as someone who advocates reform at the top level, I do feel a little bit encouraged by the fact that it could happen. But agree that it would be better if it wasn't being spearheaded by some of the worst people around.

 

My preferred idea - entirely in contradiction to my first post  - would be to start by regionalising some collections of domestic leagues to increase interest, revenues and hopefully strength of those beneath the top leagues. But of course that would be entirely counter-productive to the plot of "make Real, Barca and Juve unstoppably rich forever."

[FloydianMag]

1 hour ago, Abacus said:

 

Agree - I'd rather UEFA was radically overhauled or replaced altogether, and not with these A22 jokers. That's probably just a pipe dream, though.

 

But, I'd say the same about FIFA and the Premier League as well, to be honest.

NDM on the ESL

https://x.com/nickdemarco_/status/1738115987432489190?s=61&t=Yt8DTJJ-7Jh_ndgpdGSFKQ

[TheBrownBottle]

1 hour ago, Yorkie said:

 

It seems a lot less hairbrained than the first iteration. Fewer games, promotions and relegations, significant overhauls of participants every season at the third tier. I don't necessarily hate it but obviously concede that it's built on foundations of greed and the assurance of perpetual wealth for a select few. 

 

The branding/names is obviously a total car crash. 

 

To be clear, I'm not in favour of it, and I think it's all very hypothetical because I don't see enough stakeholders wanting to ditch UEFA. But it's not the insult to football it was last time and - tbh - as someone who advocates reform at the top level, I do feel a little bit encouraged by the fact that it could happen. But agree that it would be better if it wasn't being spearheaded by some of the worst people around.

 

My preferred idea - entirely in contradiction to my first post  - would be to start by regionalising some collections of domestic leagues to increase interest, revenues and hopefully strength of those beneath the top leagues. But of course that would be entirely counter-productive to the plot of "make Real, Barca and Juve unstoppably rich forever."

You can’t regionalise leagues due to both FIFA and UEFA rules and regs re national FAs.  Welsh clubs play in English football due to a dint of history (in fact, the UK has separate national team due to this too).

 

The revised ‘Super League’ is absolutely no better than the first.  It is another closed shop, drawbridge pulling-up exercise serving none but a handful of the big clubs.  It’s a fucking abysmal idea.

 

No idea why everyone suddenly wants to ditch UEFA - particularly when it’s proposed smashing comes from a collection of complete lowlifes.  We should all be careful what we wish for - UEFA needs reform, not destruction.  The Super League is the opposite of what is needed; UEFA needs to grow some bollocks and get control over its competitions again.  So much was lost with the ruination of the old European Cup - the competition has become staid and boring.  UEFA needs its smaller and Eastern nations to have regeneration - the solutions are simple enough.

[KingArthur]

Liverpool also out of it.

[Tiresias]

Europe is fun because matchups aren't that common dreadful to make them as common as a league one. Then it's just to make the super clubs further distracted from the rest. I also give uefa don't credit for the europa conference league, everyone pisses on it but i think it's great opportunity for European cup fun for plenty of teams that never would before. This is just everything horrible about modern game, that more more more glitz stars etc makes things better.

 

Albeit European footy had peaked with dan burn scoring against psg.

[Interpolic]

40 minutes ago, KingArthur said:

Liverpool also out of it.

 

They did this last time. They're the Boris Johnson of football clubs - they wait to see which way the wind is blowing then jump on the majority viewpoint and act like it was their idea. 

[Stifler]

50 minutes ago, KingArthur said:

Liverpool also out of it.

Only publicly for now, until the next proposal comes around.

[Stifler]

2 hours ago, TheBrownBottle said:

You can’t regionalise leagues due to both FIFA and UEFA rules and regs re national FAs.  Welsh clubs play in English football due to a dint of history (in fact, the UK has separate national team due to this too).

 

The revised ‘Super League’ is absolutely no better than the first.  It is another closed shop, drawbridge pulling-up exercise serving none but a handful of the big clubs.  It’s a fucking abysmal idea.

 

No idea why everyone suddenly wants to ditch UEFA - particularly when it’s proposed smashing comes from a collection of complete lowlifes.  We should all be careful what we wish for - UEFA needs reform, not destruction.  The Super League is the opposite of what is needed; UEFA needs to grow some bollocks and get control over its competitions again.  So much was lost with the ruination of the old European Cup - the competition has become staid and boring.  UEFA needs its smaller and Eastern nations to have regeneration - the solutions are simple enough.

I’m not 100% sure what the gripe with UEFA seems to be from fans and clubs.

They keep claiming that UEFA has all the money. UEFA is like the Premier League, it only takes operating costs out of its allocation to clubs via its competition. Any sort of competitive competition would need this, including the ESL.

If anything, it’s the smaller clubs who should be slamming UEFA, considering the huge disparity between Champions League club, and non Champions League clubs, and as we have found out, even the regular Champions League teams and the non-regular Champions League teams.

 

For 30 years or so they have backed down to the big clubs, changing to the Champions League for branding, changing to a 1 group format, changing to a league format, scrapping the cup winners cup etc.

Every change made has been at the request of the same old same clubs who are throwing their toys out of their pram now.

‘It’s anti-competitive’ says Real Madrid who recently won 4 in a row, and Liverpool who have won it twice since 2005.

 

You know what as much as I hate the idea of the ESL, and hate clubs like Liverpool, I’d have a lot more respect if they just came out and said ‘Aye actually, we think we could charge more from fans if we were playing AC Milan instead of Crystal Palace, and we could have an eternity at the top, aye lads we want an NFL like system’.

Fucking own it, and stop pretending that you want to do this for the good of the sport, and stop pretending to come up with ideas that you’ll go with to push it through and then change as soon as it’s about to KO.

 

In all honesty though, I think we are heading for a closed shop regardless, be it in Europe, or right here in the Premier League. The whole TV debate and everyone having a VPN to watch games will be one driving force behind it. Either sooner or later the blackout goes, or we continue down the road of games shifting away from the Saturday 3pm KO.

It won’t be much longer when Celtic & Rangers start complaining about the Scottish league doesn’t allow them to be competitive in Europe, and be edging again to make a move. Plenty of fans in the good ol’ USA and elsewhere are happy to be all over every social media outlet saying they welcome these new formats, as they already are.

[El Prontonise]

Uefa are a bunch of corrupt bastards that's why.

[FloydianMag]

1 minute ago, El Prontonise said:

Uefa are a bunch of corrupt bastards that's why.

Odd how all the governing bodies, FIFA, UEFA, PL, LA LIGA, FIGC are all corrupt or is it supporters and conspiracy theories, who the fuck knows?‍♂️

[Stifler]

1 hour ago, El Prontonise said:

Uefa are a bunch of corrupt bastards that's why.

Like what?

What have they done that smells of corruption?

I keep hearing this, but I’m never given an example or evidence?

[El Prontonise]

Just now, Stifler said:

Like what?

What have they done that smells of corruption?

I keep hearing this, but I’m never given an example or evidence?

 

Irony is dead.