European Super League

Do you want the ESL to happen?

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711 said:
The existing massive clubs would indeed still be massive, they made sure of that as it was kind of the point. You are correct in terms of what their stated intention was, but very naïve if you think that was their real intention. FFP was a direct response to the rise of Chelsea, City and PSG, the big boys introduced it in order to prevent any more of the same, by hoping to make it impossible for an oligarch or state to take a smaller club and spend their way to the top, giving them more unwanted competition.

Stopping smaller clubs overspending to their detriment was probably a good thing, and importantly a good selling point for the new rules, but it was only secondary to the real aims.
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Not having FFP yet insisting the tv deal is negotiated and split equitably is a contradiction though. How is it fair to say to United and Liverpool who could earn at least 5 times more if they negotiated their own TV deals individually that they can’t do that as it would lead to reduced competitiveness yet simultaneously state backed clubs are allowed to spend whatever they want? How does that not impact competitiveness? I’ve been saying this for the last few months; UEFA’s failure to enact and enforce FFP successfully is going to lead to a breakaway by the traditionally big clubs where they will dictate the rules. It’s now inevitable. It’s a shame and yes it’s all about money ultimately so the motives are sinister but my own personal perspective is the Champions League format has got stale and I do see the argument that only playing Barca/Madrid once every 10 years is a bit shit. Not sure I’d like playing them every year though. Or the idea of a league that undermines the PL.
 
adexkola said:
Live from the Raiders Stadium, Las Vegas, 2027

Jamie Carragher: And now, your 2027 Super League Champions, Manchester United! Joel Glazer is here to accept the CR7 trophy on behalf of the Glazer family... Joel, what a year huh?

Joel: it's been an amazing year Jamie, glad we could bring it home. Barcelona were a heck of an opponent, but after the semi-final in Tokyo and seeing the boys pull through I knew anything was possible

Jamie: I'd like to ask the fans to refrain from chanting please

Joel: go United! *raises pennant in triumph above head, hands trophy to 2 grandsons wearing Manchester United: World Champions hats*

Jamie: and now for the Super League MVP, brought to you by Bud Light, the world's best and most refreshing beer... Mason Greenwood! Mason come over here buddy

*Mason shuffles through the crowd of glazers, while the players look on in front of and below the podium*

Jamie: Mason! Your first MVP, how does it feel

Mason: it's great you know I'm bles

Jamie: and brought to you by Chevrolet, here are the keys to a brand new Impala 2020

Mason: th

Jamie: give it up for Mason! *polite applause from the players and crowd*

*kids still playing with trophy, Lingard takes a selfie behind the kids. Caption: #bigringz

Jamie: coach come over, how does this feel being your second SL trophy... Hold on, we'll be back, after this brief message from our sponsors

Man voice: is you or a loved one suffering from the emphysema? Have you bought or used RAW rolling papers? If so, you may be entitled to compe
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Brilliant and terrifying at the same time.
 
njred said:
Very good. The only thing missing is the mention of the halftime show and the obligartory “I’m going to Disney World “answer from Mason.
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Half-time? Don't you mean quarters? Need to have those ad breaks.
 
For me the Premier League is the European Super League, fans of other leagues may argue cases why teams in other leagues are better and gloat when a team from another league knocks an English team out of Europe, but the truth is just all leagues are envious of the Premier League, everything from money/fans/stadiums/competitiveness/strength of the league and worldwide appeal, the likes of Barcelona/Madrid have been trying for years to create a European Super League to end the Premier League dominance.

What is annoying to me is we have overseas billionaire owners of English clubs (namely Liverpool and Manchester United) wanting to play ball on this and all because of money.

Sure talk of this is to replace the Champions League first and foremost, but we all know the direction this is going to go or the ultimate aim for it to go and that is a European league replacing the domestic league.
 
SirMarcusRashford said:
For me the Premier League is the European Super League, fans of other leagues may argue cases why teams in other leagues are better and gloat when a team from another league knocks an English team out of Europe, but the truth is just all leagues are envious of the Premier League, everything from money/fans/stadiums/competitiveness/strength of the league and worldwide appeal, the likes of Barcelona/Madrid have been trying for years to create a European Super League to end the Premier League dominance.
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The Premiere League is the most popular league worldwide but to call it a Super League is stretching it. I mean for the last decade the best players and teams played somewhere else. A Super League is something like the NBA and the PL is obviously lightyears away from that but maybe we have a different understanding of the term Super League.
 
Details about the Super League.
It would have 18 teams (there could be 5 or 6 English and 2-3 french) , 34 rounds and the first four would be playing in a final four
It won't start in 2022 and It is under study if it would be played during the week or on weekends
 
Once this abomination happens hopefully the rest of football (including clubs outside the big 5 countries) can group together and reform what's left for the better.
 
carvajal said:
Details about the Super League.
It would have 18 teams (there could be 5 or 6 English and 2-3 french) , 34 rounds and the first four would be playing in a final four
It won't start in 2022 and It is under study if it would be played during the week or on weekends
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34 games plus payoff?

that can’t be done in parallel to a domestic league season.

perhaps two leagues of 9, then a playoff? That would make some sense.

noome is stupid enough to seriously suggest this as an alternative to a domestic league.
 
adexkola said:
Once this abomination happens hopefully the rest of football (including clubs outside the big 5 countries) can group together and reform what's left for the better.
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I'm terrified that the opposite will be true. The money for the rest of European club football will dwindle and we're left with second rate tournaments. Every star player will be moving for a move to the clubs in the super league.
I'm surprised Ajax is not named.
 
Always was supportive of this idea. The only problem I see is that while United might start strong, with time, teams in more glamorous cities are gonna surpass us.

I have no loyalty whatsoever to EPL and don't care what happens to it.
 
ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg said:
34 games plus payoff?

that can’t be done in parallel to a domestic league season.

perhaps two leagues of 9, then a playoff? That would make some sense.

noome is stupid enough to seriously suggest this as an alternative to a domestic league.
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That's what I thought, two groups, and options up to fourth place to continue from quarters.
An increase of 5 or 6 games with the current Champions League but not so much.
 
not sure how it could ever work, they could not walk away from there domestic league to enter this as would just end up pretty boring, and they could not run it in place of the CL and it would take up to much game time, still more interested in how they would decide the teams that would go in to it?
 
AneRu said:
I agree with the general direction of your post but the bolded part because I think those teenagers and the Instagram generation will form a huge part of tomorrow's population and, from a personal experience, interests in things like sport and entertainment are usually formed between the ages of 16 and 21 imo.

A European Super League will eventually kill off all the smaller teams and football in general but that's not to say it won't succeed. There are simply too many people and sponsors who will migrate with the big teams and those will be enough to sustain it in the initial stages. If Madrid, Barca, United, Bayern, Liverpool, Juve and the two Milans join up then that's that.

The bigger clubs have seen margins being eaten into by transfer fee and wage inflation but if they move away it will have a catastrophic effect on the sponsorship values the remaining clubs will attract which will mean that player fees from those clubs will plummet as a result thereby returning the margins to what they used to be.
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You know, you are right. Who am I kidding. Presidents and prime ministers have been elected based on what they do on social media. Football is insignificant in comparison, and with the right (or wrong I should say) kind of marketing onslaught, people will get used to new formats, no matter how vacuous they are.

Fans like me would lose interest. I mean, they can't even better the current CL anthem, nevermind replace a historical tournament altogether.
 
Why are Arsenal even in this? They’re a shell of the team of the early 00’s.

In principle, as the world gets closer together, this could happen.How many of these fans will get bored of it winning anything though, if they’d been dominant in their own league for so long?
 
Theonas said:
But my point is financially, I can't see how this would be success long term. Short term, yes but in time, I think the product will be significantly diluted when you eliminate so much of what attract fans. Foreign viewers might not care about West Ham or West Brom individually but they care about the package the PL sells and takes pride in; the Goliath vs David narrative, the unpredictability of the league, the thousand little side stories that come with every PL season. Sky would not stop advertising its product in terms of how Stoke or Burnley are the plucky villains or the epicness of a Merseyside derby. They have attracted millions of paying viewers around that premise which did not even conflict with the other attraction that is the big clubs coming up against each other. It took years to build that story, killing it will require building a new one which may take years or it may never happen.
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You know what is more profitable than PL mystique, David vs Goliath, etc etc? Massive clubs with built-in massive fanbases who will keep following them no matter what

The superleague wouldn't be contested by Stoke or Burnely. It would be Inter and Arsenal in their place, clubs with massive global reach
 
Sleigh said:
Why are Arsenal even in this? They’re a shell of the team of the early 00’s.

In principle, as the world gets closer together, this could happen.How many of these fans will get bored of it winning anything though, if they’d been dominant in their own league for so long?
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Probably with a view to commercial appeal. I think they’re the most followed club in Africa.
 
Sleigh said:
Why are Arsenal even in this? They’re a shell of the team of the early 00’s.

In principle, as the world gets closer together, this could happen.How many of these fans will get bored of it winning anything though, if they’d been dominant in their own league for so long?
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Roma is even stranger from a merit point of view.

3 Italian titles, the last one in 00/01 is worse than 13 English ones, the last in 03/04
9 Italian cups (none since 2008) is worse than 14 FA Cups (current holders)
1 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (1961) is worse than 1 Inter Cities Fairs Cup (1970) plus a UEFA Cup Winners Cup (1994)

They're not really great either historically or now are they? It's like they really really didn't want to put in an Ajax, one of the big Portuguese sides or big Scottish ones and shoehorned a not-so-impressive next best Italian one in there because Italy is a bigger tv market.

Lyon in, Marseille not is interesting too. They've arguably gone the other way there, rewarding more recent success. Lyon have more success this century even though Marseille's most recent Ligue 1 title was more recent than their's (09/10 vs 07/08). Marseille do have more trophies in their history though and for me have much more pulling power/overall reputation/mystique.
 
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PL current standings of the clubs supposedly in talks of the breakaway league. No wonder!
Chelsea @10th
Arsenal @11th
City @13th
United @15th
 
carvajal said:
Details about the Super League.
It would have 18 teams (there could be 5 or 6 English and 2-3 french) , 34 rounds and the first four would be playing in a final four
It won't start in 2022 and It is under study if it would be played during the week or on weekends
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I would be shocked if this goes through and UEFA and FA just sits and watches. Or the fans for that matter. Clubs will lose more than gain by going forward with this stupid idea.
 
Manchester United20
Liverpool FC19
Arsenal FC13
Everton FC9

If the PL were to end today, United would be the supreme rulers of English football.

Gogo European Super League!
 
BootsyCollins said:
Does anybody feel like we (glazers) are pushing for this now because they are afraid that if it delays to long we might be left out?
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No. We have a top 3 support worldwide. The league would be fools to not invite United, considering that next to Real and Barca, we bring more money to the table than any other club.
 
Most on here won't agree, but personally think it's an excellent move to strongarm the smaller clubs.
 
giorno said:
You know what is more profitable than PL mystique, David vs Goliath, etc etc? Massive clubs with built-in massive fanbases who will keep following them no matter what

The superleague wouldn't be contested by Stoke or Burnely. It would be Inter and Arsenal in their place, clubs with massive global reach
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Why would they follow them no matter what? We already see a significant drop in the viewing numbers at the group stage of the CL because there is very little at stake. A huge part of the appeal of football is built around how high the stakes are. Existing fans might have too much investment to stop following their team but the interest will dwindle if there is significantly less drama and only one winner.
 
Cheimoon said:
Yep, that's all true - but the big clubs might think people will adapt to the new reality soon enough. We'll see, I guess - but it anyway looks pretty certain to me that the big clubs will come up with something. There is too much money at stake for them to appreciate the current instability (i.e., uncertainty about CL qualification), and they are so powerful together that they can push through stuff, as UEFA can't afford losing them.

So if we will see a change to the CL format, I rather hope it will be a bit like the Nations League's tiers: clubs are rated based on performances at home and in Europe, and participation in the CL and EL depends on your rating. That would provide financial stability while allowing the current format to stay in place (national leagues plus midweek European cup leagues). Personally, though, I would also be fine personally with no change (well scrap international friendlies!), or even a reversion (to some extent) to the more limited access we had before the CL; but it looks to me that some kind of change to the benefit of the big clubs is becoming inevitable.
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Unfortunately, I agree. They are basically a cartel intent on killing any chance of unpredictability. Problem is the more predictable things are, the less thrilling and attention commanding. But these owners are only passing them so they will probably think they can cash in in the short run relying on the already existing fan base. The long term is none of their concern.
 
I think I could get behind a European league, but I still think there would need to he some level of relegation and promotion from it, down to your relevant country's domestic league.

So say pick 20 teams, bottom 3 get relegated out of it and back to their domestic league.

Of course that means that say no English teams were in in bottom 3, no English team would come up for example so there be issues there and I duno how to work that.

I just don't think I can get on board without some element of relegation.
 
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