Thoughts about the Super League

Crossing my fingers for Perez and Co to go through with ESL

Will be happy to return to balanced Eurofootball again. Bring back European Champions Cup!! 🐑
 
Flipper the Priest said:


"And I think to myself: what a wonderful world."
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They are people being facetious. And to think of it, the majority of football spectators are clamoring at the thought of watching superstars all the time. The footballers will want to join the SL as the money will skyrocket. People were talking about a similar situation with Twenty20 crickets
 
du0 said:
They are people being facetious. And to think of it, the majority of football spectators are clamoring at the thought of watching superstars all the time. The footballers will want to join the SL as the money will skyrocket. People were talking about a similar situation with Twenty20 crickets
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T20 cricket is a joke as well and exactly what we don't want football to be, especially the leagues like IPL and its copycats around the world. Many players choose to focus on a dumbed down format of the sport and often willingly sacrifice much of their opportunity to play international cricket for these money-grubbing ball bashing bonanzas.

Maybe that's the next step for football further down the line - Make the Super League into 30 minute Volta style 7-a-side matches with loud music and fireworks for each goal. 90 minute 11v11 matches might be too long and not action packed enough for the attention span for the target audience of the Super League.
 
rojofa said:
T20 cricket is a joke as well and exactly what we don't want football to be, especially the leagues like IPL and its copycats around the world. Many players choose to focus on a dumbed down format of the sport and often willingly sacrifice much of their opportunity to play international cricket for these money-grubbing ball bashing bonanzas.

Maybe that's the next step for football further down the line - Make the Super League into 30 minute Volta style 7-a-side matches with loud music and fireworks for each goal. 90 minute 11v11 matches might be too long and not action packed enough for the attention span for the target audience of the Super League.
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And that's what most people want. Sorry but money and the mass talk, I hate it as well but the best I can do is to stop watching and spending money on anything related to football. At least I still watch motorsports, which is an even more "money talks" sport
 
I wonder if this is going till the end or if it's falling through at a certain point (thing that I still think/hope will happen) but... There's one thing I know for sure: should AC Milan ever be excluded from (or decide not to play in) Serie A or UEL/UCL/Conference so they can play in this ESL, I'd be done with them.

And it's a Milan fan since 1993 talking here (the first match I recall having seen on TV was Marseille vs. Milan in 1993, which we lost 1-0, because my father was there at the stadium* so I thought it was something that needed to be seen).
I guess that many Milan/Arsenal/Juve/Rreal Madrid legends who played the game when it was still the beautiful game are digging back from their graves currently, so they could go to the ESL headquarters and beat some common sense into their management using the wood from the coffin.

*he also attended the 1989 and 1990 CL finals, but I was too little back then to even know what fottball was.
 
As someone who follow a minor league (the swedish) this could acctually be good. I hope these teams go through with this and then they can do what they want, who cares. I feel for the people growing up in Liverpool or Madrid though who now have to see their clubs getting stolen completely and called "legacy fans".

Also, UEFA or FIFA isn't any good guys because they want to stop this, lol. They are just scared that already rich people will be a little less rich, plain and simple. Remember them placing the WC in Qatar?

Anyway. Then we could move towards a european competition where things would be more equal and I personally think it would be great in the end. There are soo many fantastic clubs around europe with such great support that even though the football might not be as good without those "Superleague"- players something else will replace it. Namely passion. I'm sure that will generate money as well when it comes to tv revenues, ads etc. It might take some time but done right it could be beautiful.
 
I would honestly rather see Liverpool thrown into the 5th league or whatever it's called, to work it's way up again, than to participate in this shambles ass ploy to make money. If they do, I'm in the market for a new club to follow. Sounds a bit mental, but I'd like to think I wouldn't be glued to a Real Madrid - Liverpool Super League match a couple of years from now, having forgiven everything. Yeah, football has been a bit fecked for a while now, but this is some next level shit.
 
Something else that occurs to me, after digesting this:



...and Jonathan Wilson's comments in this article:

"[There is] a tacit acknowledgement of the serious financial issues afflicting many of the super clubs. Barcelona is $1.5 billion in debt, but that is only the most striking of the figures. Inter is $375 million in debt [...] Juventus’s debt is over $400 million. Tottenham has taken out an emergency loan from the Bank of England."

These clubs' debt is different to everyone else's. Clubs in the lower leagues who are £100k in debt are in much greater danger than a Spanish superclub that continues to spend money like they are somehow entitled to it, without ever returning it, because they used to be great.

Maybe it's just me who feels this way - call me bitter for what I am about to say, but first bear in mind that I have seen clubs around me (here in the north-west of England) left broken by businessmen with no morals... and it's not just the clubs that are broken, but communities too.

(That is, until fan-backed or fan-run clubs come in to save the day - because they won't let football die.)

So yeah, with this in mind...

...wouldn't it be just fucking delicious, if the footballing authorities really did kick them out, if "The Super League" died on its arse, and the clubs were left with such debt (and no magical way to worm out of it) that they all went under?

Give me AFC Liverpool over the actual Liverpool any day - now that Liverpool, a club I genuinely considered to be "different from other clubs" and a club with a soul that could never die, showed themselves to be as corrupt as all the others. Fuck them.

As the fans themselves have pointed out, Liverpool F.C. died today.



I'm intrigued to see what managers and players from the "breakaway clubs" have to say. Can their souls be bought so easily?
 
Liverpool fans should just get together and buy the damn thing from FSG. I would put something like 550-600 pounds for a share in it. Not like I'll be using the money for a PS5 anytime soon anyway :P
 
fregen said:
Also, UEFA or FIFA isn't any good guys because they want to stop this, lol. They are just scared that already rich people will be a little less rich, plain and simple. Remember them placing the WC in Qatar?
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For us football fans it's a matter of choosing the lesser of the two evils here... And, despite being evil and greedy themselves, UEFA and FIFA are the lesser evil at the moment.

UEFA could've thought about it and could've created it in a way that would benefit almost everyone:
  • Champions League becoming the "ESL" with 12 teams facing each other in a round robin, 2-legged league (which, I think, would be more fair than knock-out stages). It would really have the elite of European football, no more and no less.
    Teams would be, say, top 2 from Spanisn and English league plus champions of Italy, Germany, France, Netherlands, Portugal... With league winners from other countries taking part in preliminary rounds to secure the other three places (all the ones getting eliminated in the preliminary round would join UEL or Conference League),
  • Europa League gaining appeal (because of better teams in it than there currently are),
  • Conference League having a meaning (no it doesn't now, it's just something new to milk even more money out of the pockets of people if you ask me).
But they never did... And now they step up against the ESL because they'd... Well... Lose money (not for the good of the game surely).
The fact is that they'd do the good of the game for once if they managed to stop this thing before it's too late.

Chris Davies said:
...wouldn't it be just fucking delicious, if the footballing authorities really did kick them out, if "The Super League" died on its arse, and the clubs were left with such debt (and no magical way to worm out of it) that they all went under?
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As an AC Milan and Arsenal supporter who'd see his team(s) dissolved if that happened... I'd accept it without complaining.
I'd be sad of course to see Milan and Arsenal fold and start again from non-league football but I'd not cry, I'd probably ljust say to them (and to any other team involved in this for that regard) "you asked for it big time".
 
Totally let the fans rebuild the local teams, especially Manchester and Milan since they'll get hit the hardest it seems. Would love to see that.

Some more Twitter news, Ceferin looking into banning ESL outright


and shitting on Agnelli 🐑




we will need a PES 5/6 patch without ESL teams and players once the dust settles, and I am honestly all for it 🐑

EDIT: yoo just thought about it cancel Juventus and give it all to Torino, let the OGs rise up again!
 
Seeing all the news makes me sick.
At least Football Manager 2022 will be more interesting to play than ever :BSCARF:
 
*aLe said:
For us football fans it's a matter of choosing the lesser of the two evils here... And, despite being evil and greedy themselves, UEFA and FIFA are the lesser evil at the moment.

UEFA could've thought about it and could've created it in a way that would benefit almost everyone:
  • Champions League becoming the "ESL" with 12 teams facing each other in a round robin, 2-legged league (which, I think, would be more fair than knock-out stages). It would really have the elite of European football, no more and no less.
    Teams would be, say, top 2 from Spanisn and English league plus champions of Italy, Germany, France, Netherlands, Portugal... With league winners from other countries taking part in preliminary rounds to secure the other three places (all the ones getting eliminated in the preliminary round would join UEL or Conference League),
  • Europa League gaining appeal (because of better teams in it than there currently are),
  • Conference League having a meaning (no it doesn't now, it's just something new to milk even more money out of the pockets of people if you ask me).
But they never did... And now they step up against the ESL because they'd... Well... Lose money (not for the good of the game surely).
The fact is that they'd do the good of the game for once if they managed to stop this thing before it's too late.

As an AC Milan and Arsenal supporter who'd see his team(s) dissolved if that happened... I'd accept it without complaining.
I'd be sad of course to see Milan and Arsenal fold and start again from non-league football but I'd not cry, I'd probably ljust say to them (and to any other team involved in this for that regard) "you asked for it big time".
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UEFA and FIFA have brought this to themselves in many ways and they are as bad. They have catered to these so called super clubs for years, making it almost impossible for lesser teams to get into the CL etc etc. This is pure capitalism at its finest. Of course the owners of teams like United or Liverpool won't be satisfied with a status quo, they want more and naturally they don't see why a small team from Sweden should be able to get a crumble from the cookie.

So I personally hope they go through with it in some way. So everybody else can create something new. They can play their games at stadiums all over the world. Liverpool vs Real Madrid in Manilla? GO FOR IT!
 
@fregen I agree with you in saying that UEFA and FIFA are evil and greedy and that they didn't decide to stop the ESL for the good of the game but they did so only for money (and well, it will have the side effect of being a good thing for the game, for once)...
But if the ESL goes through, it'll be the end of credibility for football.

I'd love to see football back where it was in the 1st half of the '90s, when I was a kid and it looked great to me: Champions League with all the league winners (maybe with some preliminary rounds now, as you can't really accomodate 50 or more teams in a tournament unless you make it knock-out from the first round, which wouldn't be a bad idea either), UEFA Cup/UEL with great teams and Cup Winners' Cup which also had a meaning back then) but those days are gone and forgotten I'm afraid. No way TVs would go back to that even if I think most of the "old school fans" would agree.
New fans care about the players more than they do about the teams so I don0t think they'd be interested in football like this. They'd want exactly what the ESL is going to become: a league for the "super rich" where all the best players in the world play for lots and lots of money (money that they would never see in "regular" European football, no-matter-what, unless they're Neymar or Ronaldo).

Football has been ruined by players thinking they're worth 20 millions per season (Donnarumma anyone? He's only 22 FFS!) and even more by people treating teams like toys (be it Berlusconi in Italy who splashed only God know how much cash signing lots of great players for Milan "so the opponents won't be able to sign them" and then forced them on the bench because after all only 11 can enter the pitch at once, be it Abramovich, be it other businessmen or sheikhs who just have so much money to spend and buy a football club) and by players only following the money (Neymar, I'm looking at you 🙄) but I think that we need to salvage what can be salvaged (which is not much) and not let it sink.
If we encourage this thing now and let these teams leave European and domestic football to pursue the money of the ESL, it will be the point of no return in my eyes.
 
aaand the banter is here


i have so much work to do but can't stop scrolling!

overall i am...really happy this has happened. A new start for Europe. If it's done by 21/22 start I'm back to watching football 🐑
 
*aLe said:
@fregen I agree with you in saying that UEFA and FIFA are evil and greedy and that they didn't decide to stop the ESL for the good of the game but they did so only for money (and well, it will have the side effect of being a good thing for the game, for once)...
But if the ESL goes through, it'll be the end of credibility for football.

I'd love to see football back where it was in the 1st half of the '90s, when I was a kid and it looked great to me: Champions League with all the league winners (maybe with some preliminary rounds now, as you can't really accomodate 50 or more teams in a tournament unless you make it knock-out from the first round, which wouldn't be a bad idea either), UEFA Cup/UEL with great teams and Cup Winners' Cup which also had a meaning back then) but those days are gone and forgotten I'm afraid. No way TVs would go back to that even if I think most of the "old school fans" would agree.
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I respect your opinion and I get what you say but I think we come from very different places. What you see as the end of credibility I see as an opportunity for us fans that support lesser leagues and teams.
 
Disgusting, simply disgusting.
On a side note, twitter folk already drooling over PES 22 getting an EXCLUSIVE license for this 🤦‍♂️
 
Saint Angelo said:
aaand the banter is here


i have so much work to do but can't stop scrolling!

overall i am...really happy this has happened. A new start for Europe. If it's done by 21/22 start I'm back to watching football 🐑
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Some of these fake logos were so beautiful, I love the one on the very bottom left.
 
fregen said:
I think we come from very different places.
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Oh, sure.
I see what you mean and I also respect your opinion of course.

I've spent my youth and the first years of my adulthood (36 yo this summer here) rooting for what could be called a "football giant" back then (a fallen giant now, unfortunately, as we've completely lost the plot in the final years of the Berlusconi regency and afterwards) so I'm honest when I say that I don't really know how it feels to support a team that's not from one of the "Top 5" leagues.
It must be hard though, as I'm aware that in order to give more space in the European competitions to the teams from the "Top 5" leagues, teams from other countries have seen their path in the UCL become more and more difficult over time.
Seeing that you're supporting a Swedish team, well, it's unfair that Swedish champions could qualify directly to the "phase of 24" till the mid-90s (where all teams were national champions), then had to go through one qualifying round, then had to go through two qualifying rounds while runners-up of the biggest leagues would get a direct bye to the group stage (early '00s), then through three qualifying rounds (late '00s), then to FOUR!!! (late '10s) with Italian and Spanish teams bringing ALL FOUR teams directly to the group stage. I'd be outraged if it happened to my country.

I understand your point of view and it's good to read your posts, as they're showing the ESL thing from another viewpoint (a point of view which I can't access directly).
 
After all this happening today, doors closed few years ago were opened again. Not to disrespect any supporters here, Uefa should stand more firmly when Chelsea, City, Psg start to spend milions like it's a joke. Just look where Psg president is now, in the goverment body at Uefa. Clubs like Man Utd, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Arsenal, Liverpool etc. were build on tradition, money of course but they knew it until now to respect that. I guess Uefa should had to bring more restrictions on transfers so we should not come to this point. I remember watching teams like Fiorentina, Lazio, Parma, Celtic, Alaves, Deportivo La Coruna etc. and every team has two-three players that were noticeably good and every game was balanced and interesting. To be honest we don't have that for a long now. Really sad...
 
The Super League is a step in the right direction. The national leagues are dead anyway, there can never be equal opportunity between bigger and smaller clubs. Right now, the only goal of many teams is avoiding relegation because it's an economic death spiral. Just look at Schalke, they've had 5 different managers in this season. Does this look like a healthy competition? It's pure desperation. You don't see this in leagues without relegation like the NBA.

The quality of matches has declined because the players are burned out since the football calendar is so congested. Essentially, we need less football matches, and these matches need to be more interesting.
 
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