Champions League restructuring

[richtheholtender]

Why can’t football just left to be football.

[OCD]

The thing about stopping transfers between the big clubs is weird. I'm pretty certain that would be restraint of trade (within the EU at least). Either I'm wrong, or they didn't take legal advice which would be stupid, or they ignored legal advice and threw it out there because they are not serious and are just manoeuvring.

It's a double edged sword too. Yes, it stops them taking their best players off eachother who they don't want to sell but it also means they're going to find it hard to sell players that they do want to sell.

The player would have to join one of the clubs outside of those and probably a drop in wages. It is a restraint of trade on those players. I just can't see that being workable.

Watch the valuations of players outside of that elite go absolutely nuts too. Whatever Jack is worth now, imagine what it would be if those clubs couldn't trade with eachother and had no choice but to look outside of that.

[algy]

The thing about stopping transfers between the big clubs is weird. I'm pretty certain that would be restraint of trade (within the EU at least). Either I'm wrong, or they didn't take legal advice which would be stupid, or they ignored legal advice and threw it out there because they are not serious and are just manoeuvring.

It's a double edged sword too. Yes, it stops them taking their best players off eachother who they don't want to sell but it also means they're going to find it hard to sell players that they do want to sell.

The player would have to join one of the clubs outside of those and probably a drop in wages. It is a restraint of trade on those players. I just can't see that being workable.

Watch the valuations of players outside of that elite go absolutely nuts too. Whatever Jack is worth now, imagine what it would be if those clubs couldn't trade with eachother and had no choice but to look outside of that.

That's an interesting point.

Champions League teams' players would end up being difficult to shift, so their value would plummet.  At the same time, CL-standard players playing at clubs outside that elite would have no end of rich suitors, so would skyrocket.  You'd have a bizarre situation where  Southampton would have a more valuable squad than Man City...

[ChicagoLion]

After Bosman its a non starter, its just a red herring tossed in their so every one will ignore the bigger prize.

[cdbearsfan]

Will there still be qualifiers? Because otherwise then, theoretically, any league champion could be a Champions League team. Will Barcelona, Man City and so on really want to effectively ban themselves from signing the best players from, say, Ajax or Porto? Seems like madness.

[PaulWinch again]

As Jonathan Lieu has said today. Tell them to get lost and call their bluff. If they use the threat of a European super league, go on then fuck off and do it.

[AV82EC]

As Jonathan Lieu has said today. Tell them to get lost and call their bluff. If they use the threat of a European super league, go on then fuck off and do it.

And its about time the owners of the clubs suggesting this (yes Manchester United and Liverpool I'm looking at you) were bought to task for their role in this, there's too much beating around the bush with no real person owning it, all suggestions here and there leaked to the media and seemingly far too much influence at a compliant UEFA.

[ChicagoLion]

As Jonathan Lieu has said today. Tell them to get lost and call their bluff. If they use the threat of a European super league, go on then fuck off and do it.

Totally agree.
I have been saying that at some point Football will split and there will be competing Associations. The FIFA- UEFA - Local League Associations has held together so far but at some point it will blow. We could be seeing the beginning of this.

[LeeB]

As Jonathan Lieu has said today. Tell them to get lost and call their bluff. If they use the threat of a European super league, go on then fuck off and do it.

Totally agree.
I have been saying that at some point Football will split and there will be competing Associations. The FIFA- UEFA - Local League Associations has held together so far but at some point it will blow. We could be seeing the beginning of this.

Tell them if they want it then they're out the league, for good, and if it's goes tits up you can only come back at the lowest level. No way should they be allowed to do both, the impact of their closed income stream on the already crippled domestic leagues would kill it.

No, you fuck off into your Kerry Packer-lite and see how you get on without your bread and butter.

[in exile]

Why can’t football just left to be football.

I'm with you for what it's worth.

[PaulWinch again]

As Jonathan Lieu has said today. Tell them to get lost and call their bluff. If they use the threat of a European super league, go on then fuck off and do it.

Totally agree.
I have been saying that at some point Football will split and there will be competing Associations. The FIFA- UEFA - Local League Associations has held together so far but at some point it will blow. We could be seeing the beginning of this.

Tell them if they want it then they're out the league, for good, and if it's goes tits up you can only come back at the lowest level. No way should they be allowed to do both, the impact of their closed income stream on the already crippled domestic leagues would kill it.

No, you fuck off into your Kerry Packer-lite and see how you get on without your bread and butter.

Oh 100% - if they want to be their little Euro club then they should be expelled from the domestic stuff.

[Sexual Ealing]

The arrogance of these twats is breathtaking. The idea that the global armchair fan will be any more interested in watching a mid-table clash between PSG and Man City than they would be in seeing a brutal Old Firm game is mental.

[Mister E]

The arrogance of these twats is breathtaking. The idea that the global armchair fan will be any more interested in watching a mid-table clash between PSG and Man City than they would be in seeing a brutal Old Firm game is mental.

Yes, and there's a responsibility from local leagues to better-educate the global armchair fans beyond the obvious top 2 or 3 clubs in their league. Many of the Premier Leagues have interesting histories and current initiatives, and I wonder how much of that is really known and understood elsewhere.
Watching Sky and BT currently educates only about the usual 3-4 clubs.
Individual clubs could also do more to present themselves to a wider geographic audience.
Developing better awareness will -I'm sure - create greater pressure on maintaining a strong Premier League demand and a correspondingly lower interest in some drab Euro-League.

[Ad@m]

I thought we had a thread on this already but I can't for the life of me find it.

Anyway - looks virtually certain now - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56573883

The bit I hadn't heard before though is the introduction of two "wildcards" in to the competition - ie teams who haven't qualified through merit being invited to participate on some spurious UEFA coefficient.

And I thought the drawbridge couldn't be pulled up any more!

[ADVILLAFAN]

Basically make sure the top teams qualify regardless of whether they make it on merit.