Champions League restructuring

[andyh]

Even if this does not go ahead, there needs to be consequences for those who pulled this stunt.

And their inclusion of Spurs, a club who have won SFA in their history, was the ultimate insult to illustrious clubs all over Europe.

Completely agree.
They have exposed themselves for the greedy, self serving ****** they are and have shown the rest of football they don’t give a fuck about them.

There MUST be a punishment, but I fear after seeing the Palace owner being very mealy mouthed over the whole thing last night, I won’t hold my breath.

[Jon Crofts]

Everton response is majestic.

https://www.evertonfc.com/news/2111866

Classy as you'd expect from the better half of Merseyside.

[Baldy]

I blame Aston Villa for this mess and also the likes of Leicester, Everton and West Ham.

How dare we spend millions in the transfer market, hold on to our best players and threaten the monopoly the Big 6 worked so hard to achieve.

We should be ashamed of ourselves. 

[sickbeggar]

The odd thing for me is that this is the chance that the English clubs have to dominate the Champs League with the big Spanish 2 and Juve in a financial mess. Why should they bring football down just to help them save their necks?

you're thinking of this in sporting terms rather than money terms. Why risk the dangers of potentially underperforming and losing to poorer teams? If it was all about money = success, then ManU wouldn't have gone 6 years without a CL win and a title. This way the money is guaranteed however much they stink the place out.

[andyh]

Have you ever read such bullshit and claptrap as is coming out of the arse of the Real Madrid owner?

Real Madrid President Florentino Perez said the decision to create the new league, which his club would be a part of, was in part taken because "young people are no longer interested" in the game.
He told a Spanish TV show: "Audiences are decreasing and rights are decreasing and something had to be done. We are all ruined. Television has to change so we can adapt."

[lovejoy]

Can the Premier league kick these clubs out? I have no interest in watching a league where 6 clubs have a guaranteed massive financial advantage and the rest are just fodder (even more so than now).

Can you imagine how competitive a league with Us, Leicester, Evington, leeds, W Spam etc would be?

[Scott Nielsen]

My bet is that this is about tv rights in Asia. The clubs want those outright, uefa/fifa/pl won’t give them up.

Well being outside of UEFA, Fifa, PL and they can also set their own rules on squad sizes, foreign players, and any other rule they want to implement to allow them to field all the "top" players in these "top" teams. Whole swathes of subs (remember the big teams wanting that this season), quarters instead of halves or at least added Advert refreshment  breaks on 22 and 67 minutes. Other things that will enable more advertisers to pay.

I think the latter is more likely. These will be mid-week games so in the evening in Europe. That's the middle of the night out here, during work week, so I can't imagine the viewership out of Asia will be considerable.

[Pat Mustard]

Even if this does not go ahead, there needs to be consequences for those who pulled this stunt.

And their inclusion of Spurs, a club who have won SFA in their history, was the ultimate insult to illustrious clubs all over Europe.

One of the best quotes I saw yesterday was that asking Spurs to join a European Super League is like asking Bananaman to join The Avengers.

[Baldy]

Can the Premier league kick these clubs out? I have no interest in watching a league where 6 clubs have a guaranteed massive financial advantage and the rest are just fodder (even more so than now).

Can you imagine how competitive a league with Us, Leicester, Evington, leeds, W Spam etc would be?

Throw in Southampton and we have the new Big 6. Please, let it happen.

[Nev]

I have a feeling this morning that this isn't going to happen.

[PaulTheVillan]

So we'll be wearing similar shirts to Leeds in our warm up tomorrow.

[Behind Bluenose Lines]

Dear Premier League

Could you please expel Man City (and the rest of the ****) before tomorrow night, so you can automatically award 3 points to the opposition team, Aston Villa?

My nerves would appreciate it

Thanks xxx

[Pat Mustard]

The remaining Premier League clubs need to come up with a response to this that indicates we are already planning for a future without these clubs.  At the moment all the momentum is against any ESL, but I can see that wavering once they effectively start trying to bribe lower league and grassroots teams who are already struggling with the promise of immediate cash injections. 

The FA, EFL and Premier League need to get ahead of the game with realistic proposals about how they can help the rest of the pyramid - a start could be dividing up any prize money due to be awarded to the 'Big 6' to the rest of the league.

[tomd2103]

Apparently UEFA negotiating a £5.2b deal with Centricus Asset Management, a London based hedge fund
Currently UEFA doles out £3b each year
So I think I see where this is heading
UEFA does the deal based on the new “improved” CL format that was agreed yesterday. The “dirty dozen” were happy with the format but not the allocation of dosh.

So, UEFA agrees that the extra £2.2b should go mainly to the 12 to pretty much compensate for the money they would have got from JP Morgan (which was only as upfront loan anyway)
The 12 “reluctantly” agree to step back into the fold, claiming that their action was only intended for the good of the game at grass roots level
We all move on....nothing to see here

Clive this is my worry as we will end up with worst of both worlds. I wish UEFA had not approved their own proposal yesterday and set it aside for a while. I would rather these weasels are chucked out and we restart with a reset. Keeping them in at the high price they will demand is just slow death.

Yep.  If they are allowed to press ahead with the ESL and stay in the Premier League then it's game over.  The extra financial advantage they will have on top of the already existing one will make the league even more uncompetitive and then there will be the whole situation around European qualification, with the non-ESL teams still presumably able to qualify for the UEFA competitions.

[ChicagoLion]

Agree the PL is the key to this. If the PL says (in accordance with its rules), you can not play in this competition and remain in the PL then the ESL is dead in the water.