Television rights - individual overseas rights deals.

[Mister E]

If they do breakaway, we'd need UEFA to be strong, protecting it's national associations by leaving us with the European competetions.

Problem is, Perc, I can't see UEFA letting the 'star attractions' walk away. There will be some deal where the likes of ManUre, Citeh et al will still have access to the big competitions.
More likely that UEFA would see the opportunity for another Euro vase for the new Premier-Championship Division.

[Stu]

Looks like Man U and Chelsea want no part of Liverpool's proposal: clicky.

Can the Prem have a vote to boot Liverpool out?

Ah, I can dream.

[Concrete John]

Looks like Man U and Chelsea want no part of Liverpool's proposal: clicky.

Can the Prem have a vote to boot Liverpool out?

Ah, I can dream.

Anyone else almost disappointed by this?  I'd love to see them fuck off and wait for the inevitable crawling back!

[pauliewalnuts]

I understand this argument from Ian Ayre:

"What is absolutely certain is that, with the greatest of respect to our colleagues in the Premier League, but if you're a Bolton fan in Bolton, then you subscribe to Sky because you want to watch Bolton. Everyone gets that. Likewise, if you're a Liverpool fan from Liverpool, you subscribe. But if you're in Kuala Lumpur there isn't anyone subscribing to Astro, or ESPN to watch Bolton, or if they are it's a very small number. Whereas the large majority are subscribing because they want to watch Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal"

But what he fails to recognize is that he needs a Bolton in order to play a match in the first place.  If there were no Boltons then there would be no games for his team to play (apart from the other three he mentions).  It's time for the Boltons to call his bluff and threaten Liverpool with a breakaway.

They want to have their cake and eat it.

They want to play the Boltons and other clubs they usually expect to take three points off, so they can cash in on the glamour of the Premier League.

They just don't want Bolton to get their fair share of the moolah. And, have no doubt about it, you can bet your bottom dollar that if this happened for overseas rights, it would be no time at all until they started wanting the same for domestic rights as well.

I think what we're seeing here is the ill considered spoutings of a club who have realised they're slipping away from the top group at a rate of knots, and can't afford to do anything about it.

[Concrete John]

I think what we're seeing here is the ill considered spoutings of a club who have realised they're slipping away from the top group at a rate of knots, and can't afford to do anything about it.

I do think it's showing that it's Liverpool worrying about competing with Barca/Real and not those who actually NEED to worry about it.

[PeterWithesShin]

I was against the PL back then as I had visions of it becoming a money machine. The scary thing is, for me at least, is that my worst visions of the PL future didn't come close to the current reality.

The sooner Man U, Chelsea, Dippers, Arse and Man C all fuck off to their European Super Wetdream Wankathon League, the sooner we may have a chance of getting our game back.

[pauliewalnuts]

The Fiver amusing on the subject today

BITING THE HAND THAT GREEDS YOU

The Fiver's always prided itself on displaying knowledge of its subject deeper than a philosophy lecture at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, so it's with some distress that it learns Liverpool's Hungarian chairman John B Henry knows almost nothing about the Goodison Park club he bought three years ago from a dragon round the back of Sainsbury's.

In an interview with Big Paper's David Conn, Henry admits he knew "virtually nothing about Liverpool Football Club nor EPL" when he invested in the club, while chairman Tom Werner said at the time he "certainly knew about Manchester United", something which will endear him to Liverpool fans around the world. So, if Henry's Fenway Sports Group didn't know that much about Liverpool, what was the impetus behind the purchase of the club?

Well it turns out it was that most American of things: the dreaded spectre of socialism. In the US, where Fenway own the Boston Red Sox, profits are shared more equally among sports teams, something that Werner isn't too keen on. "We realise [the Red Sox] are part of a league, but we feel the burden on the top is higher than appropriate," said Werner, checking for communists under the bed. "We feel we deserve the fruits of our labour," he added, checking for trade unionists and anarchists while he was at it.

So where better to head to than the Premier League, a place where a money-grabbing, eff-you mentality may as well be part of the fit and proper persons test. In fact, Liverpool are getting into the Premier League way of doing things to such an extent that they now want to sell their foreign TV rights on a club-by-club basis rather than share them with - shudder - poorer clubs. "What we are actually doing [at the moment with TV rights] is disadvantaging ourselves against other big European clubs," said Liverpool MD Ian Ayre, failing to mention that Liverpool have actually been disadvantaging themselves against other big European clubs by not being very good at football.

Ayre's charge for TV rights was undermined this afternoon when Manchester United and Chelsea distanced themselves from his ideas. Well done, Ian, you just made Chelsea look like a model of charity and love.

[Chris Smith]

Interesting reading the Guardian article earlier, the way that TV money is divided up is surprisingly fair with the top side only getting 1.5 the amount of the bottom. I can't see that they'll get the two thirds needed to change that arrangement so, for now at least, I think they've got little chance of changing the arrangements.

[pig]

It would be mint if 4-6 of them sodded off and played in a european super league. Would allow the rest of us for a few seasons to have a chance at winning stuff (it would only be even stevens until another club begins to dominate, and we are back in the same old situation.

It would be quite a good league to watch, would definitely get Sky again:

Barcelona
Real Madrid
Valencia
Sevilla
Bayern Munich
Schalke
Borrusia Dortmund
Hamburg
Ajax
PSV
PSG
Lyon
Milan
Inter
Juventus
Roma
Manchester Utd
Manchester City
Chelsea
Arsenal
Liverpool
Tottenham
Porto
Sporting Lisbon

I'm sure you could chuck a couple more in, have a super league of 30 clubs.

[Quiet Lion]

This is the beginning of the end, I reckon.

Nailed it first line

[Dante Lavelli]

Looks like Man U and Chelsea want no part of Liverpool's proposal: clicky.

Predictable, but rent-a-quote Dave Whelan is actually pretty spot on with his rant in that article.

[HK Villan]

For all the righteous anger, this is no more than we did when the Premier League started. We've no right to be planting our flagpole on Mt Moral.

It's different.  20 clubs can make a league worth watching, 4 can't.  I'm all for it if it means they bugger off and play amongst themselves.  The Asian masses would get bored with that pretty quickly and realize actually, it's not as much fun without the Boltons and all the rest. 

[PaulWinch again]

It would be a disaster.

[AV82EC]

For all the righteous anger, this is no more than we did when the Premier League started. We've no right to be planting our flagpole on Mt Moral.

It's different.  20 clubs can make a league worth watching, 4 can't.  I'm all for it if it means they bugger off and play amongst themselves.  The Asian masses would get bored with that pretty quickly and realize actually, it's not as much fun without the Boltons and all the rest. 

But when you've got 20 clubs in Europe who can make a league worth watching, I'd actually say its closer to 40, you're not really threatening them with much really are you?

And if they did bugger off to a Euro Super league what do people think would happen to the domestic TV deal it would be worth peanuts.  I'm not saying that that is necessarily a bad thing but it would affect us due to the reduced revenue, sponsorship etc meaning less money to invest on the football side of the club?  Catch 22.....

I think the other thing to note here is that if there was a Euro Super league probably two divisions of 18 - 20 clubs we're a more than big enough club to be involved in it.  No more waiting 3 seasons for a trip to hamburg or Prague you'd be doing it every fortnight!!! 

I must admit I hate the idea of it as it goes so against everything that I believe our national game should be about and the special nature of those European nights but the thought of a trip like Prague we had a couple of years ago every month or so, can appear attractive at first glance.

[Rigadon]

It would be a disaster financially for us, Everton, Spurs (why so many people assume they would be involved is a mystery to me), Sunderland, Newcastle and the other slightly smaller club sides in and around 6th - 17th.  However, seeing as there is currently nowhere for us to go or to win aside from a cup the wining teams can't be arsed fielding a 1st team for the temptation is to say carry on with a Euro Super League.   Not sure any of it is sustainable though so I think a prolonged non-competiton will prevail for a good many years.