European Super League

[WGC Goon]

So it's obvious the American owners bought these teams with a hindsight this was gonna happen

Stan Kroenke knew this was on the horizon and this must have influenced his decision not to sell the club to Usmanov.

[GP]

Look at the La Liga table on the Rel Betis website

https://en.realbetisbalompie.es/

Never mind, looks like they removed it.

[IBK]

Stan Kroenke knew this was on the horizon and this must of influenced his decision not to sell the club to Usmanov.

Of course he did!

[Niall_Quinn]

Wenger

https://www.football.london/arsenal-...enger-20413860

Spot on again

There's a very important lesson to learn here, as Mr Wenger himself would say.

These "surprises" do not happen by surprise. They are planned long in advance, in the shadows, while denial is issued left, right and centre in public. That's how Wenger knows - because conspiracies (which is precisely what this is and has always been) leak out, little by little. You don't always know precisely what's going on, you don't always know the details, but you can see the direction all the birds are flying.

Thinking back two Wenger's great teams striding around a sun soaked Highbury, going toe to toe with what was essentially a gang of hoodlums from Manchester, the anticipation, the build-up, the rage, the joy, the packed pub afterwards. Or the disbelief if we somehow lost, the genuine hatred for Mike Riley (who now seems like a half decent ref by today's standard).

It's not so long ago. When rotten individuals get control of something they can destroy it very quickly.

That should be remembered in all aspects of life, not just football.

[Niall_Quinn]

You could ask the same about Spurs. Yes, they're better than us right now but only marginally. They haven't won a big trophy since 1991 (no, Spurs, you don't get to count the league cup), they haven't won a title since Noah was in short trousers.
BUT, what do Arsenal and Spurs have in common? Shiny new big stadiums and a large, global fan base. Think of all that lovely money!
It's so transparent, it's embarrassing.

I can't see this happening. It's united football fans in their distain for it so who is going to watch? Who is going to pay to watch, more to the point.
If the answer is "that large global fan base" then maybe that's true, but it'll basically sever the last dangling thread of connection between the traditional fan and the club. But I guess if you're a business that doesn't matter. So long as the money is coming in from somewhere, right?

I think you are overestimating their reliance on what you call "fans"

You probably mean fans who live in this country and want to actually attend games in, relatively speaking, tiny stadiums that are potentially dwarfed in audience size by the great god pay per view TV.

When they say "European" league - have a bet right now that it will become a global league with mega-bankrolled teams from China and the USA.

The "fans" they are salivating over are not the same as the lower income, local lads who used to turn up in person. Unless we're going to go all Red Star Belgrade, the traditional fans will simply be sidestepped as irrelevant. The greedy pigs have said as much - Covid, the gift that keeps on giving, saw the stadiums shut down. You can say that was an unfortunate consequence of an unforeseen pandemic - fine. However, purely coincidentally of course, it has also been a fantastic trail run for future sport in general, where evrything will be consumed from a distance provided you have the credit card in hand.

[Niall_Quinn]

I would say that is pretty much a given, this is a heavily 'American influenced' idea of sporting competition.

"This corner kick is brought to you by ENOC - keeping the world moving!"

Modern players can't take corners properly, so that'll be one of the cheap slots. I suspect diving and rolling around screaming will be prime time.

[Niall_Quinn]

I really don't understand why anyone is surprised about this move. This didn't happen overnight, or recently. As far as the EPL is concerned, it started when foreign commercial investors - particularly the Americans - were invited to run our clubs. That was when the genie was released, not now. If you look at it from the perspective of owners who only care for their financial investment a Super league basically run on the American model - makes total sense.

I hate the idea like most fans - but for me its ironic to see EPL clubs who have wallowed in the obscene TV money available - are now up in arms when the big bucks approach is taken to another level. You jump on the express train, and then wail when it fails to stop at your station.

The talk of clubs being banned from the top flight or players being banned from playing for their countries is about as real a threat as the sanctions being taken against racism. It won't happen because revenue trumps everything. It seems ridiculous that our club (and Spurs) should be considered as part of the elite given current form, but look at the rich list and it seems less absurd.

It's depressing, but clearly this is the future, and ther is little point in wailing about it now.

They're after the revenue, not the football. So an ex-giant that happens to be shite carries as much weight as a present day giant with an ever expanding revenue base. And this is just the start. Endorsements, advertising, sponsorship, football players plastered over every screen selling every product imaginable.

I hope they can still find the time to turn up for the match, prior engagements permitting.

[KSE Comedy Club]

Modern players can't take corners properly, so that'll be one of the cheap slots. I suspect diving and rolling around screaming will be prime time.

Absolutely.

Imagine a penalty kick...........

'a penalty advertising slot is £30m sir'

[Niall_Quinn]

I have no doubt global fans would lap it up, they provide more commercially for these clubs than any domestic fans do. Certain foreign TV stations can also comfortably outbid BT & Sky in securing deals too.

I always wondered why Amazon was suddenly interested in streaming sporting events. And now they have all that extra loot they picked up from a million competitors shut down during year of nonsense I guess they be one of the mega-corporations that can buy in at ground level and own sport thereafter. Really opens up a lot of opportunity when you don't have to pay tax.

[Niall_Quinn]

Absolutely.

Imagine a penalty kick...........

'a penalty advertising slot is £30m sir'

There will probably be a 10 minute interlude so they can run 9 minutes of ads and a 1 minute pre-penalty kick show. Hosted by Gary Lineker.