Champions League restructuring

[Walmley_Villa]

And classless twats sack Jose.

Seems more than a coincidence that it's today - wonder if he kicked off at Levy about the whole thing?

I can't imagine Pep is impressed either as it devalues their CL semi-final and he doesn't like to talking to the press at the best of time.

[Dave]

And classless twats sack Jose.

Very harsh. He got Spurs into the Super League in his first full season.

[SheffieldVillain]

Quote on the BBC from Christian Purslow.

Aston Villa chief executive Christian Purslow says the proposed Super League is a "grotesque concept". Speaking to BBC Radio Four, he said: "These proposals do away with sporting merit. It would enable a small number of clubs to be in this competition come what may and, for millions of people in football, that goes against everything the sport means and stands for.

"The idea is that the uncertainty that comes with sport, that makes it so compelling, that we all love, is actually damaging to the business model of these huge clubs.

"So the scheme is designed to take away that uncertainty, to give predictability to their businesses so that, if they're badly managed or have a poor year, they're still in the premier tournament. Does that sound like sport or football to you? To me it sounds a grotesque concept."

Well said Christian.

[andyh]

And classless twats sack Jose.

Very harsh. He got Spurs into the Super League in his first full season.

Ace !

[andyh]

Fucking hell.....it’s all kicking off, Pru.

[sickbeggar]

I wouldn't kick them out. Serious. It's going to effect the money we get off SKY and weaken us. Let them stay in, suffer having to play all the extra games, lose the CL money with maybe us gaining it. To break cover like this, they must have the financial backing of major players so its going to happen. Why not benefit from it?

Because it's the thin end of the wedge. The end goal is clearly an NFL style 24 or 32 team Super League, with franchises in the major European [footballing] cities, and then in time in places like Qatar. It'll be a completey closed shop, and then we'll just be left with completely devalued national leagues.

Well was that not the gameplan anyway? They've certainly been edging towards that scenario as it is. All this is grabbing a bigger slice of the cake that we wouldn't have been asked to taste anyway. I'd be very surprised if SKY didn't know all about this anyway because you don't piss off your major revenue supplier and just announce it to them. Bottom line is there will be less money  and less exposure for us if we chuck them out the PL. This way, at least the foreign fans will still pay to watch ManU in the PL.

I'm not sure if you've missed what I'm getting at. They'll only be in the Premier League for the time it takes them to get the fully fledged Super League up and running, then they'll leave and just play in that. We'll then be left with the Premier League with us and Everton as the biggest teams left and the likes of Sheffield United and Norwich making up the 6 who have left, and with the best will in the world, nobody's going to pay good money for that.

Well we're a bit more robust than a lot of leagues I think, so if that happened I wouldn't be that worried. Certainly more than 15 clubs capable of 40000 plus attendances in the pyramid. I think people would still come through the turnstiles to watch it.  I have no wish to watch Liverpool play Man U 4 times per season with no relegation/promotion although I can imagine that would appeal to overseas viewers but it sounds no better than the CL to me. They seem to be talking about some sort of promotion relegation anyway because well if you don't you get stagnation.. Anyway if you let them stay, you have them over a barrel. The PL wouldn't sign an agreement where they could fuck off in 5 years because there's nothing in it for them.

[Monty]

And classless twats sack Jose.

Seems more than a coincidence that it's today - wonder if he kicked off at Levy about the whole thing?

I can't imagine Pep is impressed either as it devalues their CL semi-final and he doesn't like to talking to the press at the best of time.

Pep is a hypocritical sellout, and the whole sanctimonious Barça hierarchy are too.

[Mister E]

The Premier League are in a bit of a bind. They have signed TV deals a commercial arrangements with sponsors that assumes a 20-team
stable league and - implicit - the presence of the so-called Giants. It will find the money drops off quickly, so its ability to wave a big stick at the scabs is somewhat limited.,

[Scott Nielsen]

And classless twats sack Jose.

Very harsh. He got Spurs into the Super League in his first full season.

Ace !

Yes, excellent.

[sickbeggar]

The Premier League are in a bit of a bind. They have signed TV deals a commercial arrangements with sponsors that assumes a 20-team
stable league and - implicit - the presence of the so-called Giants. It will find the money drops off quickly, so its ability to wave a big stick at the scabs is somewhat limited.,

Depends on the finances of these breakaway clubs. I imagine the likes of Chelsea and City are okay, but Arsenal, Man U, Tottenham etc.. Over in Spain, rumours Barca are not in good shape... Probably Italy as well. Can they afford to lose their place at the trough while they set this league up? The PL will take a big financial hit if they left straight away, but they'd survive.

[Risso]

Well we're a bit more robust than a lot of leagues I think, so if that happened I wouldn't be that worried. Certainly more than 15 clubs capable of 40000 plus attendances in the pyramid. I think people would still come through the turnstiles to watch it.  I have no wish to watch Liverpool play Man U 4 times per season with no relegation/promotion although I can imagine that would appeal to overseas viewers but it sounds no better than the CL to me. They seem to be talking about some sort of promotion relegation anyway because well if you don't you get stagnation.. Anyway if you let them stay, you have them over a barrel. The PL wouldn't sign an agreement where they could fuck off in 5 years because there's nothing in it for them.

I'm struggling to think of 15 clubs if those 6 bugger off. Us, Newcastle, West Ham, Everton, Sunderland. Leeds and Leicester at a push. Crowds that big would be a rarity anyway with that lot gone for good.

[Risso]

Depends on the finances of these breakaway clubs. I imagine the likes of Chelsea and City are okay, but Arsenal, Man U, Tottenham etc.. Over in Spain, rumours Barca are not in good shape... Probably Italy as well. Can they afford to lose their place at the trough while they set this league up? The PL will take a big financial hit if they left straight away, but they'd survive.

The whole point is yes they can, JP Morgan have pledged £3.5bn for the clubs. That's £300m each before they've kicked a ball. I imagine that with the potential world wide income they're eyeing up, they'd double or triple that if they had to.

[Drummond]

At least they've finally had the balls to announce it.

The issue we have these days is that because of the big TV deals, players get way more money than they used to. Without the TV money, there won't be the huge salaries for the players. In my view, that's not such a bad thing because the better players will still get a good wage, just not stupid money.

The fans will still go, because let's face it, we all like to watch competitive football (more so than friendlies) and want to win competitions. I stopped for an hour to watch an Under-13s game on Saturday and enjoyed it immensely.

Our games against these 6 are normally in higher demand, but they should just get replaced by other teams.

People have used the NFL as an example of what this would be like, yet if you look at American Football and see what else happens there, the College games are just as, if not more, atmospheric and the crowds are huge. The team in 30th place on the attendance list in 2019 had an average gate of 54,000.

I think football is so popular that it would remain. Albeit changed, but it would be for the better. There's a fantastic opportunity right now to let the greedy fuckers piss off and stop spoiling the game for everyone else.

[john2710]

Real & Barcelona have huge debts.
Juventus can't pay their wages.
The Glaziers have piled the debt onto Man Utd.
Spurs have a ground they haven't paid for, Small Heath have won more trophies in the last decade than Spurs.

They want more money so they can keep their badly run clubs afloat. But ultimately any extra money will go to the players & in 5 - 10 years they'll be back in debt.

[Brend'Watkins]

Quote on the BBC from Christian Purslow.

Aston Villa chief executive Christian Purslow says the proposed Super League is a "grotesque concept". Speaking to BBC Radio Four, he said: "These proposals do away with sporting merit. It would enable a small number of clubs to be in this competition come what may and, for millions of people in football, that goes against everything the sport means and stands for.

"The idea is that the uncertainty that comes with sport, that makes it so compelling, that we all love, is actually damaging to the business model of these huge clubs.

"So the scheme is designed to take away that uncertainty, to give predictability to their businesses so that, if they're badly managed or have a poor year, they're still in the premier tournament. Does that sound like sport or football to you? To me it sounds a grotesque concept."

Well said Christian.

if Lerner and co were still at the helm it would have been a very different approach. 

American owners...most of them it seems really want to NFLallise football. With all their wealth and you'd think brains they'd grasp that there is more to it than money. Culture, Community, history and love are all what make football what it is.  That doesn't exist in mercenary players playing the game in Kuala Lumpur in air-conditioned stadiums in front of a crowds that  have very little understanding about the spectacle they have attended.  I suppose you could say the owners wont care about that as long as the money keeps rolling in. People will tire of it.  Not much demand for the Harlem Globetrotters these days is there?