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I have been been banging on about this possible scenario for years and I seriously hope this one happens as Blatter and his froggy side kick can fuck off with their FFP !!!!

It will probably never happen tbh , but at least it will shake the powers that be to be careful on any ideas of throwing clubs like ours out of their competitions.


Exclusive | Oliver Kay
Chief Football Correspondent
Last updated at 12:30AM, March 13 2013
The world’s leading football clubs are to be offered enormous financial inducements to participate in a 24-team tournament every two years in Qatar and neighbouring Gulf states, The Times has learnt.
Backed by the Qatari royal family, the self-styled “Dream Football League” (DFL) will release plans next month for a new club tournament that it hopes to establish as a rival to the Champions League and the Club World Cup.
The move, the latest stage of Qatar’s bid to establish itself as a dominant player in world football, represents a clear threat to the existing powerbases of Fifa, football’s world

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/foo ... 712126.ece

I hear it's all a hoax.

first i've heard of this....

carl_feedthegoat wrote:I have been been banging on about this possible scenario for years and I seriously hope this one happens as Blatter and his froggy side kick can fuck off with their FFP !!!!

It will probably never happen tbh , but at least it will shake the powers that be to be careful on any ideas of throwing clubs like ours out of their competitions.


Exclusive | Oliver Kay
Chief Football Correspondent
Last updated at 12:30AM, March 13 2013
The world’s leading football clubs are to be offered enormous financial inducements to participate in a 24-team tournament every two years in Qatar and neighbouring Gulf states, The Times has learnt.
Backed by the Qatari royal family, the self-styled “Dream Football League” (DFL) will release plans next month for a new club tournament that it hopes to establish as a rival to the Champions League and the Club World Cup.
The move, the latest stage of Qatar’s bid to establish itself as a dominant player in world football, represents a clear threat to the existing powerbases of Fifa, football’s world

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/foo ... 712126.ece

There has been splits in other sports, the rags would be gone if the yanks could have them playing out of New York, PSG have filled a big hole in world cities having a proper financed Club, add New York and a Middle east Destination,a breakaway would be more palatable to the likes of the G16 FORMERLEY THE G14. Us and PSG are the newbies Carl

I'm sure this was in Chinners bollox earlier today.

gillie wrote:I'm sure this was in Chinners bollox earlier today.

It's fine. Looking at the time, he must've emptied them at least thrice since then.

When I saw the title I was expecting Carl to state some info that nasti was being made captain

I posted an article in Chinners Bollox but this looks like the Times fell for a spoof article and tried to claim it as their own.

MilnersJaw wrote:When I was the title I was expecting Carl to state some info that nasti was being made captain

He is when Vinny leaves for Barca, But do not tell Ted.

This is an apparent hoax but imo, something backed by the middle East but more European based is a fair possibility in the future if Platini etc push too hard.

In fact I could imagine the cheese gobbling, fat, bent, cunt on the panel hosting it, if the money is right.

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:I hear it's all a hoax.

it is.

Would love to know what Kay said in his webchat yesterday but is behind the paywall...

Socrates wrote:Would love to know what Kay said in his webchat yesterday but is behind the paywall...

According to a Football365 article on the whole thing, Kay was still insisting his source was not the wind up site.

What doesn't make sense is that the wind up site made up a story which just happens to be true? So either Kay is lying or the other site is and try heard the rumour, decided to print and then claim a wind up to get publicity.

I actually think this could have some truth in it. Perhaps not in all the details, but in a 'throw an idea out and see what everyone says' sort of way. If everyone slams it, especially the customers, you can just say it was a hoax. If the feedback is positive and there are lots of people willing to pay to watch it/sponsor it then you can move it forwards with the exact details.

Blue Since 76 wrote:
According to a Football365 article on the whole thing, Kay was still insisting his source was not the wind up site.

What doesn't make sense is that the wind up site made up a story which just happens to be true? So either Kay is lying or the other site is and try heard the rumour, decided to print and then claim a wind up to get publicity.

I actually think this could have some truth in it. Perhaps not in all the details, but in a 'throw an idea out and see what everyone says' sort of way. If everyone slams it, especially the customers, you can just say it was a hoax. If the feedback is positive and there are lots of people willing to pay to watch it/sponsor it then you can move it forwards with the exact details.

It has been raised before, and it very much wasnt a hoax that time either, although it didnt get this level of publicity so it flew under the radar. I expect this is likely a 2nd attempt at the model which didnt catch on last time it was thrown "out there" for a reaction

Im_Spartacus wrote:

Blue Since 76 wrote:
According to a Football365 article on the whole thing, Kay was still insisting his source was not the wind up site.

What doesn't make sense is that the wind up site made up a story which just happens to be true? So either Kay is lying or the other site is and try heard the rumour, decided to print and then claim a wind up to get publicity.

I actually think this could have some truth in it. Perhaps not in all the details, but in a 'throw an idea out and see what everyone says' sort of way. If everyone slams it, especially the customers, you can just say it was a hoax. If the feedback is positive and there are lots of people willing to pay to watch it/sponsor it then you can move it forwards with the exact details.

It has been raised before, and it very much wasnt a hoax that time either, although it didnt get this level of publicity so it flew under the radar. I expect this is likely a 2nd attempt at the model which didnt catch on last time it was thrown "out there" for a reaction

Or a shot accross the bows of UEFA.

I maintain that if it comes down to it, people such as HRH & the Qataris will not accept being handicapped by a bunch of corrupt, self serving, arseholes in Switzerland. It may take a few years but they will fight back if not treated fairly.

A mid East consortium could put enough cash together to destroy FIFA, never mind UEFA, quite easily. As it stands, they don't need to, but if that changes, just watch. Football is ruled purely by money these days (that's the only reason for FFP) & they have access to most of it. Take FIFA & UEFA out of the equation & the top clubs would earn much more money as it is now, never mind if a consortium was willing to chuck in a few billion per season to 18/20 or so clubs.

They could spen billions & still make a huge profit without FIFA.

it wouldn't be what I would like to see in football, but I never wanted the Prem or the Champions Lg.

Ted Hughes wrote:

Im_Spartacus wrote:

Blue Since 76 wrote:
According to a Football365 article on the whole thing, Kay was still insisting his source was not the wind up site.

What doesn't make sense is that the wind up site made up a story which just happens to be true? So either Kay is lying or the other site is and try heard the rumour, decided to print and then claim a wind up to get publicity.

I actually think this could have some truth in it. Perhaps not in all the details, but in a 'throw an idea out and see what everyone says' sort of way. If everyone slams it, especially the customers, you can just say it was a hoax. If the feedback is positive and there are lots of people willing to pay to watch it/sponsor it then you can move it forwards with the exact details.

It has been raised before, and it very much wasnt a hoax that time either, although it didnt get this level of publicity so it flew under the radar. I expect this is likely a 2nd attempt at the model which didnt catch on last time it was thrown "out there" for a reaction

Or a shot accross the bows of UEFA.

I maintain that if it comes down to it, people such as HRH & the Qataris will not accept being handicapped by a bunch of corrupt, self serving, arseholes in Switzerland. It may take a few years but they will fight back if not treated fairly.

A mid East consortium could put enough cash together to destroy FIFA, never mind UEFA, quite easily. As it stands, they don't need to, but if that changes, just watch. Football is ruled purely by money these days (that's the only reason for FFP) & they have access to most of it. Take FIFA & UEFA out of the equation & the top clubs would earn much more money as it is now, never mind if a consortium was willing to chuck in a few billion per season to 18/20 or so clubs.

They could spen billions & still make a huge profit without FIFA.

it wouldn't be what I would like to see in football, but I never wanted the Prem or the Champions Lg.

The scum and their pals fucked up football as we know it..thats not being bitter thats just being factual so we might as well really fuck it up now by having another breakaway comp.

That will teach the cunts not to mess with a working engine...wankers.

What Oliver Kay Wrote today - he seems to be very much of the opinion this is not a hoax.

Hope its ok to post the whole article -just copied it from the free trial Times app on the iphone.


Manchester United will lead the opposition to controversial plans to stage a rival Champions League tournament in the Middle East every two years.
The Times revealed yesterday that Qatar and neighbouring Gulf states are proposing a so-called “Dream Football League” (DFL), in which 24 clubs would be offered staggering sums — up to £175 million each per two-year cycle — to take part in the hope of emulating and ultimately challenging the glamour and the prestige of the Champions League and the Club World Cup.
Contrary to denials and conspiracy theories, several of the clubs under consideration admitted privately yesterday to having been sounded out by intermediaries working on behalf of such a project.
Paris Saint-Germain, owned by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), are known to be in favour, but, reassuringly for those who consider the proposal to be a nightmarish vision, it has yet to gain traction among European football’s establishment. No English club have indicated any support for the project, with United expressing particular distaste for any proposal that threatens the existing European club competition structure.
Although American-owned clubs such as United and Arsenal have been accused of pursuing revenue at all costs, there is profound concern in both boardrooms about increasingly aggressive moves to change the landscape of European and world football.
There is a fervent desire among clubs such as Arsenal, United and Bayern Munich, who hold sway within the European Club Association (ECA) to fight threats to the existing structure and to the increasingly imaginative schemes being discussed as means of trying to overcome Uefa’s new Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations.
While the DFL concept may appeal to the capitalist tendencies of the Glazer family, who own United, the club’s hierarchy in Manchester — led by David Gill, who will continue to exert strong influence when he stands down as chief executive in June — are vehemently opposed to such plans.
Gill recently stood down from his position on the board of the ECA, to be replaced by Ivan Gazidis, the Arsenal chief executive, as he pursues a place on the Uefa executive committee in an attempt to gain more influence for himself and England in European football’s corridors of power. Gill’s position is heavily pro-establishment, with a strong desire to protect the status quo and in particular a competition structure that Uefa wishes to safeguard.
The establishment position was reflected at last month’s ECA general assembly in Doha, when PSG officials were explicitly warned about the dangers of an aggressive approach not only to expenditure but on strategic issues.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the Bayern and ECA chairman, specifically told the PSG delegation: “What you are doing is not positive for football.”
Rummenigge warned the PSG delegation of the need to realise that self- interest of one or two clubs cannot be allowed to overrun an organisation representing 207 clubs from 53 associations. When an internal survey was held about the future of the Champions League and Europa League, 75 per cent expressed “satisfaction or extreme satisfaction” with the existing format, which figures such as Rummenigge regard as a powerful rebuttal of threats to the club competition structure. While the ECA’s visit to Doha prompted talk that they were “cosying up” to Qatar and its controversial hosting of the 2022 World Cup, the organisation and its leading power-brokers are eager to distance itself from such allegations and in particular from the DFL proposal.
“There were a lot of mixed feelings about going to Doha, even within the ECA,” one source said. “In the end it was decided that it would be sensible to accept the invitation in order to take a closer look and to inspect the conditions on the ground there, so that, if we’re talking about the 2022 World Cup finals, we can do so from a position of knowledge.
“This [the DFL proposal] is consistent with everything the Qataris are trying to do, in terms of what next. There would be real opposition to this. People think that the sums of money being talked about can overcome every problem. In fact, the view of the top clubs would be that this kind of money would exacerbate problems.”
The Qatari FA moved yesterday to distance itself from the DFL project, saying it had “no involvement in any such initiative and has heard nothing to suggest such a concept is genuine”. The Times, having made no mention of the Qatari FA in yesterday’s report, maintains such a project has been discussed in European football circles.
Qatar 2022, for their part, are eager to quell the storm surrounding DFL at a time when their hosting of the tournament is under threat from a Fifa investigation into the bidding process. However, there remains an ambition not only to prove that it can make a success of 2022 but that, by showcasing its climate-control technology, it can persuade the International Olympic Committee to allow it to bid to host Summer Games in future.

blues-clues wrote:Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the Bayern and ECA chairman, specifically told the PSG delegation: “What you are doing is not positive for football.”
Rummenigge warned the PSG delegation of the need to realise that self- interest of one or two clubs cannot be allowed to overrun an organisation representing 207 clubs from 53 associations.

The cheeks of my arse clench when I read people like him saying stuff like that. I get a bit of inner turbulence & just want to keep hitting him in the face.

Ted Hughes wrote:
The cheeks of my arse clench when I read people like him saying stuff like that. I get a bit of inner turbulence & just want to keep hitting him in the face.

Same here. The guy's a bellend

Ted Hughes wrote:

blues-clues wrote:Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the Bayern and ECA chairman, specifically told the PSG delegation: “What you are doing is not positive for football.”
Rummenigge warned the PSG delegation of the need to realise that self- interest of one or two clubs cannot be allowed to overrun an organisation representing 207 clubs from 53 associations.

The cheeks of my arse clench when I read people like him saying stuff like that. I get a bit of inner turbulence & just want to keep hitting him in the face.

In Toni Schumachers very good book "blowing the whistle" rummenigge comes across in the same way. Vain, arrogant and with seemingly very little self awareness. Magath hated him too...