European Super League.

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

1 minute ago, Lex said:

Can’t help but getting a bit of the dry boak when people defend the fairness of the UCL compared to this proposal.
The same UCL where third place in the EPL / La Liga qualify directly and the winners of the Scottish or whatever other league have to play various difficult qualifying ties to get into. Fair? Spare me.
The change in format from the original European Cup to the UCL was the original sin and money grab. This is just a further extension of that and is hardly surprising.
As anyone who has had the misfortune to watch a UCL group match recently will know, that format has been tired and needing reformed for years.
Take Group G in this years UCL as a case in point. Juve, Barca, Dynamo Kiev and Ferencvaros (who knocked Celtic out). Some selected results from that group:
Ferencvaros 0-3 Barca
Kiev 0-4 Barca
Ferencvaros 1-4 Juve
Kiev 0-2 Juve
Just picked the away ties for the ESL clubs as they tend to be trickier. Barca and Juve top the group with 15 points out of 18 having lost once against each other.
I mean, what’s the point in that? Anyone with a passing knowledge of football could have told you the top two in that group before a ball was kicked, it was just a complete waste of time. It’s no surprise that attendance and viewing figures for these games are going down, fans just aren’t interested and it needs to be changed.
Now instead of drubbing teams like Ferencvaros home and away for a few months in the autumn before the real stuff starts, these teams will just skip that part and play more against each other. Is that a surprising outcome? It has had an air of inevitability about it for a while.
Won’t affect the Scottish game of course, if anything it could help us as our teams will be more likely to get in the UCL. Which although diluted will still have appeal.

The changes in the European competitions have been slowly sucking the the money out of the middling leagues. The Belgian league, the scottish league, the austrain league. All dimished in european representation as the bigger league took a bigger share. Now there is nothing left to suck out those leagues. It is 3 qualifying rounds before they are even allowed ot play with the big boys.

So the next step is sucking the money from next clubs up. Ajax, Zenit, Kiev, Lyon, Porto, Benfica. They can join whatever qualifying  regime to be one of the 5 invited fodder teams for the ESL.

The situation of the big clubs being so financially superior to their opponents that it diminishes the competition is one of their own making. The argument that the CL is shit so the ESL is worth it ignores that the reason the CL is shit is because those clibs wanted it that way.

[Ludo*1]

15 minutes ago, Stormzy said:

 

As much as it pains me to say it, but I don't think he was 'schooled'. Was he shown up as an entitled p***k? Yep. Was he factually incorrect about a few things? Yep. But ultimately, if it came to it I reckon the FA would shite it and allow it to happen.

[Guest TheJTS98]

21 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

It won't matter in Europe - they'll sell enough TV rights to the Far East to make the dough.

What will be interesting is how long the novelty will last for Asian viewers.

Not sure about that.

It's currently a midweek competition. Unlikely to have lunchtime kick-offs on a Wednesday.

A 7.45pm kick-off in London is either 2.45am or 3.45am in Shanghai, depending on the time of year.

Good luck finding a mass pay tv audience for something that happens while people are asleep.

Not much better in America, where most people are working at that time and where there isn't really a mass audience for Champions League football as it is. Australians will also be in their beds.

The tv market for this is Europe as long as it stays midweek.

Edited April 19, 2021 by TheJTS98

[Monkey Tennis]

6 hours ago, craigkillie said:

The SPL was backed by the SFA and was basically just a rebranding of the existing system, albeit one which hoovered up a bit more of the cash. Relegation and promotion remained in place and there was still a fairly steady movement of clubs.

That's an absurdly generous reading of what the SPL was all about.

It definitely features on the same continuum as the thing people are objecting to today.

"Rebranding of the existing system" my fucking arse.  It was nothing of the sort.  It was absolutely motivated by the same instinct to pull up the drawbridge as is evident in this latest nonsense.  We went from 2 relegation spots from 10, to 1 from 12.  The stadium criteria even prevented that from always happening.

Today's destination is absolutely arrived at via steps such as the introduction of bodies like the SPL. 

[RossBFaeDundee]

 

[Lofarl]

Pretty strong words in parliament about this.  They seem pretty determined to stop this dead.

 

Guess the tories never had their finger in this pie.

[Ludo*1]

Man United's stock price is up by 9% today. Juventus' up by 16% at one point.

 

[Lofarl]

3 minutes ago, RossBFaeDundee said:

 

Take it Porto and Bayern would get back in.

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

3 minutes ago, RossBFaeDundee said:

 

If UEFA are actually serious about this it would be amazing.

Kick out the 3 clubs and bring back Bayern, Dortmund and Porto. Would be a great laugh.

[cyderspaceman]

On 18/04/2021 at 18:21, RossBFaeDundee said:

Travesty. I will never watch a European Super League as long as I live if it comes to fruition.

If it comes to fruition, I will never PAY to watch an ESL match. (unless of course , Partick Thistle are playing...)

It's Americanised pish as has already been stated. It would be like the circus or Harlem Globetrotters or  WWE. . A mere novelty.

Let them go,  but don't let them come back. (unless they start in the bottom tier...nah, not even that.)

The majority of fans can continue to watch the game as it is and remaining clubs  would have a better chance of winning something. 

 

[DeeTillEhDeh]

If these clubs want to break away and form their own league is there any legal way to stop them?  What's the notice period required for resigning from the Premier League?  Do  governments where these clubs play have any leverage?  I assume not but as far as I can see there isn't anything legally to prevent clubs resigning from everything, the EPL, UEFA, FIFA, and playing their own league.

I wonder if anti-competition laws will have any role here.

They are effectively setting up a cartel.

[gannonball]

23 minutes ago, Detournement said:

 

 

There's a photo of Chelsea celebrating winning the Super Cup against Real Madrid in 1998. Two recent World Cup winners in Dessailly and Lebeouf and two Italian legends in Vialli and Zola plus almost everyone else pictured is an internationalist.

 

 

Chelsea were 80 million+  in Debt before Ambramovich took over. Thats f**k all now but pretty huge back then and were heading for admin. They weren’t big enough to sustain the success  they had with those calibre of players imo.

[charger29]

On the question of "why Tottenham?", having six English teams may have been important if they were planning for the potential of the Premier League expelling all 6.
To expel a team you need 15 votes/20. The max is obviously only 14 now.
It would have been an easy stick to beat the super league teams with.
Just getting as many "high profile" teams as possible into the super league is obviously the main reason though.

[Lyle Lanley]

16 minutes ago, RossBFaeDundee said:

 

Congrats to PSG on their 1st champions league. 

[red23]

If it happens, fans will suck it up and watch it. Same as Qatar 2022 which has caused multiple fatalities so the rich can get richer.

[Dunfermline Don]

Chelsea prior to Abramovic: 1x League Title, 3x FA Cup, 2x League Cup, 2x ECWC, 1x Super Cup
City prior to Abu Dhabi: 2 X League titles, 4  x FA Cup, 2 x League Cup, 1x ECWC 
Birmingham: 2x LC 
Crystal Palace:.......
[mention=473]djchapsticks[/mention]
 
 
 
 

CPFC- The Zenith Data Systems Cup 1991.

I am astounded that they were not invited to the ESL with a history like that.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Not sure about that.
It's currently a midweek competition. Unlikely to have lunchtime kick-offs on a Wednesday.
A 7.45pm kick-off in London is either 2.45am or 3.45am in Shanghai, depending on the time of year.
Good luck finding a mass pay tv audience for something that happens while people are asleep.
Not much better in America, where most people are working at that time and where there isn't really a mass audience for Champions League football as it is. Australians will also be in their beds.
The tv market for this is Europe as long as it stays midweek.

Mid-week with daytime kick-offs is what will happen.

[eez-eh]

I always thought Chelsea would be a bit Tottenham-esque if it wasn’t for Abramovich. That’s pretty much how they were doing for about a decade before he bought them anyway. No doubting they got extremely lucky but comparing them to Palace and Birmingham is a bit wild.

Anyway this plan this is shite. Seen a suggestion that the U.K. Gov should declare it a matter of national interest and have it broadcast for free on council telly to kill the TV rights. Will never happen but I can dream.

[Guest TheJTS98]

7 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

Mid-week with daytime kick-offs ischaemia will happen.
 

It's possible.

I'm not sure the Asia angle is as strong as commonly held though.

The Champions League more or less passes the region by. Beyond a small group of fanatics, nobody is staying up till four or five in the morning on a school night to watch games regularly.

DAZN recently cut short their regional deal to show the Champions League across Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and a few other countries. I think people assume there's a huge market, when there's no actual evidence of that.

The Premier League does well. Those Saturday and Sunday early afternoon kick-offs are ideal. But even the 4pm Super Sunday game is something most people will give a miss. Midnight on a Sunday night is grim when you're looking at Monday morning.

So, with all these obstacles considered, I don't think this enterprise will be betting the house on Asia paying for this. Also, in a number of Asian countries pay tv is beyond the reach of a lot of potential viewers. Put that altogether and you've got Asian tv deals for this almost certainly being far less valuable than Europe. Much like existing Champions League contracts.

The market is Europe when it comes to live tv.

Edited April 19, 2021 by TheJTS98

[San Starko Rover]

On the question of "why Tottenham?", having six English teams may have been important if they were planning for the potential of the Premier League expelling all 6.
To expel a team you need 15 votes/20. The max is obviously only 14 now.
It would have been an easy stick to beat the super league teams with.
Just getting as many "high profile" teams as possible into the super league is obviously the main reason though.

Will they need a vote if they’re deemed to be in breach of the rules of the Premier League?