New Super League

[johnny crossan]

Don’t forget ALL the German clubs told the American (Woodward and Glazer) run ESL to fuck off !
Why didn’t MCFC ???????

Sturmfuhrer KHR was the ESL prime mover until he was charged with corruption and handed over to Agnelli.

[BlueinBosnia]

What I hate about all of this is our reputation went to shit.
I don't care the rest, but just that this is horrible for our name.

The clubs need to come out and explain this. Simple.

Factored into their decision for sure - there is no doubt about the nature of the beast now though - if indeed there ever was.

They need a voice that will explain the reason behind this and why they did that because I think players might be targeted on the pitch. In our case, Villa will play a final Wednesday.

Well, if rumours are true and the clubs involved are being chucked out of Uefa tournaments, they're chasing a CL place by virtue of a top half finish...

[johnny crossan]

Milly doesn't like it anyway. Sky can't find anyone to interview who does.

[Alex Sapphire]

Looks like the club statement has been removed from the OS
Storm in a teacup

[trueblue64]

Looks like the club statement has been removed from the OS
Storm in a teacup

No the statement is still on the site

[Sparklehorse]

It’s still there, the EDS triumph has taken over.

[johnny crossan]

Ratboy fulminating just now - reckons City will be break ranks and the ESL will collapse. Extraordinarly gushing about our owners and what they've done for Manchester - they don't want to put their PR legacy at risk, he says there is no hope for a Rags & Dippers u-turn though.

[City64]

So more facts emerge..........
This ESL American shit show is being bank rolled by JP Morgan who Ed Woodward is associated with . Woodward Joel Glazer and the American cunt who owns Liverpool will operate and direct the ESL with crank American Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke who does absolutely fuck all sitting in the wings doing absolutely fuck all but making a fortune out of the ESL .
Once again I ask the question what the fuck are MCFC doing getting into bed with these disgusting cunts ?????

[Lev Bronstein]

A few random thoughts
1) “Football was created by the poor”. Not really, the genesis of the game as we know today arose from the Public Schools. Look at the first few finalists of the FA Cup.
2) As professionalism took root in the 1880s, the Football League was set up to guarantee a reliable revenue stream. Sounds familiar?
3) Ownership as a means of promoting a “brand” is nothing new. Mill owners in Northern towns would use the local club as a way of enhancing their status. A world of murky skulduggery lay just beneath the surface
4) Up until the 1980s there was no automatic promotion into the league, the bottom clubs had be re-elected in competition with certain non-league clubs. An election the existing clubs rarely lost. If the league expanded, new clubs would be “invited” to join.

What makes any sport, especially football interesting and worth following is uncertainty and success because of merit. The weak can defeat the strong because they are better on the day. Sadly, the history, if not the tradition of football is that the powerful and the moneyed, will use their position and resources to minimise uncertainty and undermine merit.

I’m against the formation of the ESL as much as anyone, but, let’s not get misty-eyed about the past.

[johnny crossan]

Looks like Spurs and Arsenal not making the top 4 matched similar panic at Juventus and Liverpool, Barca & Madrid face financial ruin and the scum chose their moment to strike very skilfully. Along with the Chavs we are now the best last hope of saving football civilization from the Yanks, we are already qualified, we don't need the money, we want to keep our reputation + we hate all rags.

[john68]

Looks like Spurs and Arsenal not making the top 4 matched similar panic at Juventus and Liverpool, Barca & Madrid face financial ruin and the scum chose their moment to strike very skilfully. Along with the Chavs we are now the best last hope of saving football civilization from the Yanks, we are already qualified, we don't need the money, we want to keep our reputation + we hate all rags.

That post reminds me of a proud moment, largely forgotten, in our club's history.
During the reign of Bernstein and Keegan, there was a move by a group of bigger clubs in what is now the Championship. to break away from the Football League, as the Prem had done and set up a Prem Div 2.

With City being by far the biggest club in that division at the time, the thing needed City's support to move forward.

Both Bernstein and Keegan were quite vociferous in their opposition to a breakaway. Ther reasoning being that all the clubs in that division had won the right to be there, no matter what their size, history or resources.

That City had to play the likes of Crewe Alex and Stockport County, meant that those clubs had reached that division on their own merit and it would be wrong to eject them on the grounds of size or resources.

For some reason, that event has been largely forgotten.

Sadly on this occasion, the financial stakes are so high, it would be financial suicide to do similar now.

[PaulieIrish]

First off, I’m as appalled as anyone about this ESL. But I did read a comment somewhere that caused me to think about the whole ruining football thing. It was along these lines. The PL has always been all about money. And being part of that club has already changed football in front of our eyes. Most games now are with 10 players behind the ball hoping to defend for a point, or if they are lucky to snatch a breakaway goal. It’s why people like Mourino exist. It’s anti-football with the purpose of smothering the teams who actually can play so that the less fortunate teams can continue to feed from the PL money trough.

So football as we know it now is different, stifled from what it should be at its purest. maybe, just maybe, watching the best teams that are on a somewhat level playing field will be more interesting.

If nothing else, we should take this opportunity to take a cold hard look at what we actually have today maybe...

[Bournemouthcityfan]

https://undraftedthenetwork.com/2021/04 ... L0dPZqd5F0

An article which may explain the motivations of teams wanting out of the premier league and showing that the “good guys like PSG “ are just as bad.

[Dimples]

The PL is corrupt. Best example was Dippers VAR assisted PL title last year.
The CL is corrupt. For ex, our matches versus Dippers and Spurs.
UEFA is corrupt. No need

[Dimples]

The PL is corrupt. Best example was Dippers VAR assisted PL title last year.
The CL is corrupt. For ex, our matches versus Dippers and Spurs.
UEFA is corrupt. For ex, moving to CL format from the European cup format to appease the big clubs.
FIFA is corrupt. For example allocation of World cup to Qatar.
Football at every level is corrupt.
Once the TV money started rolling in and the PL was formed, football transitioned into a business. The Rags dominance was not a coincidence.
All the domestic leagues in every country are uncompetitive since the TV money arrived. Natural since the bigger clubs get the biggest share.

What is happening now is just a natural progression.
The top players will now play in the ESL (or something similar), all other football will readjust financially (less spending) and life goes on.

What I find incredible is that local fans still think they matter and have a say. Local fans nowadays are useful to create a bit of atmosphere. That is it. The money comes from the global TV audience. Every business will follow the money. Wake up, this includes football.

BTW Gary Neville is a fraud. He said not one word against Sky or the Glazers for years. Now he is putting himself forward as a noble saviour of football. Don't fall for that BS.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Don’t really know where to start on this.

On the one hand, can we as fans actually really do anything to stop this should we want to? As RossMCFC posted in 2013, which by the way was a quite outstanding and prophetic post, and John68 and NQDP as well, this has been on the cards and agenda of the elite football businesses for a while now. This hasn’t been something thrown together since the start of the pandemic and rushed through before the announcement of the changes to the CL. This is something that has been worked on and tweaked behind the scenes for some considerable time. And as such, does anyone think the owners of these Founder Clubs are going to change their minds and stance on this? Can’t see it.

We as fans are consumers of the club we support. And there will be an argument football is nothing without fans and while that is certainly normally true, this last year of fans being absent hasn’t unduly diminished the brand of football and the appetite for it. In fact more matches have been televised as a result. And let’s be honest, the TV market in Asia and America dwarfs that of the UK and Europe. As has been previously mooted, this is a proposal based on maximising those revenues.

So, if as a club we took the stance that we would wait and see before throwing our hat into the ring, or even dismissed it out of hand (unlikely scenario that as we have likely be involved in the planning stages for some time and will be aware of what this project entails) then do we run the risk of being left behind? Maybe there was pressure that there are a number of clubs who could/want the remaining places. Plenty of big clubs aren’t named, Bayern, Dortmund, Ajax, Benfica, Porto, Napoli, Celtic to name a few whose fans I’m sure would say they are deserving of a place at Europeans Elite top table. Maybe our hand was forced. Maybe we have planned for this all along. I doubt we will ever truly know. But the fact remains we have signed up for it and we have made our bed, we have to take what the chips allow

What is uncertain is how it will affect the respective domestic leagues across Europe. The extra games will put increased burden on the players and the timing of the fixtures. How will the current International breaks fit in? Will domestic cup competitions be sacrificed by the founding clubs? Where will that leave the integrity of those competitions? Broadcasters won’t pay the same rights they are doing with the best sides not in it. The Premier League as an example are saying they are against the proposals and they are considering banning the 6 teams in question. They might be saying this publicly but privately they know it isn’t ever going to happen. The broadcasting revenue both domestically and from abroad which is in the billions per annum will be massively reduced at the next contract renewal. No broadcaster will pay billions per year to have on Super Sunday a ‘top of the table clash’ between an Everton and Leicester, or a West Ham v Villa. The respective fans of those clubs would obviously watch but the average punter won’t be bothered, ergo lower revenues. So the PL will have to bow to the demands of the ESL. I suspect we may see leagues reduced from 20 to 18 clubs to help ease fixture congestion. We may see the leagues finishing later in the year by a couple of weeks. We shall see. I can certainly see this as a death knell for the League cup. And maybe the ESL members won’t contest the FA cup. Certainly, across Europe the domestic cup competitions aren’t held in as high regard as our FA cup so for a lot of Europe the member ESL clubs not competing in their respective domestic cup competitions won’t be seen as poorly as it will in England. That will be a shame as a lot of fans, myself included, rate the FA cup very highly. But something will have to give.

I assume the ESL games will be on a traditional home and away basis? Are there plans for neutral venues? Could we see in the not too distant future, City for arguments sake building a stadium in the UAE and have ‘home games’ there? Given that match going fans aren’t going to contribute much in the way of extra income, that will come from simple participation, maybe the geographical locations may be a big consideration for TV times and rights. Our own FA cup is now broadcast at tea time because of the global TV audience, not in its traditional 3pm slot. Fans will still be able to see PL games at the Etihad.

And this is just the start. Won’t be long before the next 15 or so European clubs in terms of revenue and standing want in and there will be an ESL2. Possibly with promotion and relegation between them. Assuming the original clubs still retain their broadcasting revenues of course.

In a roundabout way the driving factor behind a lot of this is in no small way down to FFP. The original g14 clubs tried to use it as a tool to stop new clubs coming in and displacing themselves from the gravy train. That failed and ourselves and PSG have established themselves as elite clubs in the CL. And rather poetically the FFP rules that they designed to protect themselves from clubs spending what they wanted and muscling in on them, have come back to bite them on the ass as when they fall from power they themselves can’t spend to get themselves back. So we are seeing a way for them to keep their spending power. We were for years denied a seat at the top table, we kept plugging away and qualifying every year until we wore the bastards down to the point where we couldn’t be denied any longer.

Will fans give up on City and football? Maybe. That is their right and choice. But I rather suspect most won’t. Football is in your blood, as it the team you support. It would take a seismic thing to walk away completely. I get that fans will vote with their feet and not attend matches, but most will surely watch the matches on TV? If not straight away then within a relatively short period of time. And if we assume there will be little difference to the PL, then fans may well boycott ESL fixtures but continue to support the club domestically attending matches as they always have done. The numbers will have been crunched and quite honestly, the clubs will still make more money with the ESL than at present so if attendances go down then so be it. The lost income will be replaced by new fans from the global audience that will pay for this.

Am I a fan of this? In all honesty I am unsure though I am veering to not. I just don’t like the idea of a closed shop where these founder clubs can’t be replaced. But if/when it happens I will still watch the games cheering my side on. I along with many others, don’t care for the CL and the corruption that the organisation has. But it doesn’t stop me cheering City on. After I’ve booed the anthem of course.

Will it be the end of football in this country? No, of course it won’t. It may even benefit the football pyramid as there will be more money to filter down with transfer fees etc. Of course it may not. But football has for a long time had it’s priorities wrong. Clubs in all four divisions are spending far too much on player salaries and have done for a while. The ESL won’t be the thing to destroy the football pyramid, it will be individual clubs greed and stupidity. As an example I know a young lad at Forest who is 19. He is on 500k a year. A lower end championship club. Utterly bonkers. And this won’t be an isolated case by any stretch of the imagination

On the notion the FIFA might ban players from appearing at International tournaments if they play in this. Absolute bullshit. Never ever gonna happen. Legally it would be a minefield because the players themselves won’t have had say in this. And quite honestly given a choice between a huge salary and playing in the ESL against playing for a club not in it but playing for your country for much less income, virtually all players would choose the ESL IMO. And what if a club goes in as one of the 5 clubs on merit? Utterly unworkable

This is very very likely to happen. Money talks and all of that. And if it for whatever reason it doesn’t get off the ground then what have lost? Really? A bit of respect? All will be forgotten in a year or two. And if it does go ahead then in probably less than a decade or even 5 years everyone will be like ‘can’t believe how worried we all were, it has turned out just fine’. People don’t like change as a rule. Other sports made big changes and adapted. Rugby went to a summer sport, imagine it going back to winter now! Cricket evolved with T20 and loads of people said it would be the end of first class cricket and Test cricket. Both are still going strong and all formats of cricket now benefit from each other. Football will adapt to the ESL in due course and probably quicker than we would admit to liking, but football will survive. It the beautiful game after all

This needs to go to Classic posts.

Amazing summary. From personal point of view sums up how I feel about it.

[Mase]

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

First off, I’m as appalled as anyone about this ESL. But I did read a comment somewhere that caused me to think about the whole ruining football thing. It was along these lines. The PL has always been all about money. And being part of that club has already changed football in front of our eyes. Most games now are with 10 players behind the ball hoping to defend for a point, or if they are lucky to snatch a breakaway goal. It’s why people like Mourino exist. It’s anti-football with the purpose of smothering the teams who actually can play so that the less fortunate teams can continue to feed from the PL money trough.

So football as we know it now is different, stifled from what it should be at its purest. maybe, just maybe, watching the best teams that are on a somewhat level playing field will be more interesting.

If nothing else, we should take this opportunity to take a cold hard look at what we actually have today maybe...

Sorry mate but I have to disagree.
The quality of football at the top of football pyramid is by far the best it has ever been. Amazing athletes with skill levels way beyond anything that hae ever been seen. Tactically it's way more complex and training is urecognisable from the past.

I say what I always say when I hear the "football used to be better" argument. Go watch some old tapes from 80's or even 90's. The pace of the game, the athletism of the players, the skill level, the tactical side of it.... it's all gone through the roof.

Era of greed in the cabinets for sure. Though one might ask was there ever a time when it wasn't about people skimming money out of the game. But we are living the golden era of football as far as quality goes.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

:lol:

You didn't think it was a good post then?

[sheblue]

It will be really interesting to see what Pep has to say for himself Wednesday when interviewed about it.