European Super League

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Originally Posted by Marc Overmars

You can accept greed and money in the game because that’s par for the course now, however the main thing for me is the elitist, closed shop nature of it. Of the teams involved, only a handful of them would even be deemed good enough to win it. The rest of us would be there for a jolly up with essentially nothing to play for. It would be like a glorified friendly tournament for the majority with no incentive. Nothing to aim for, can’t be relegated, so what’s the point? It would be dull as dishwater but as long as they’re getting their billions fuck everyone else - that’s why it stinks of shit.

It’s not a league and it certainly isn’t a competition. Just an exhibition to showcase the biggest clubs to plastic fans across the world who lap this kind of stuff up.

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Yes and I agree but like I said before, it's the future. Sport purely as entertainment, with the element of real competition largely absent.

Ollie asked a few posts above why this proposed league is different from the Champions League it seeks to replace. Well its precisely because of it being a closed shop. Closed in terms of the teams who are guaranteed to be in it no matter how they perform, and closed by being self-fulfilling - namely the founding clubs will get ever richer at the expense of those left out in the cold.

But its only the natural progresssion of the direction the game, and all sports, have been travelling in for a while. You don't invest - as a disinterested financial institution like JP Morgan - in a league subject to the vagaries of promotion and relegation - ie competition. You invest in a product - like Netflix or Konami - that has inherent stability and can be directed by your algorithms. You then manipulate your market - ie fan base - until you are, literally, the only game in town. These people do not want large numbers of teams, and owners with access to their market, they want wealth to be concentrated in the hands of the privileged few.

Sport in the sense that we still see it, it ain't.

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Originally Posted by Letters

Manchester City's Official Supporters Club said the move showed "those involved have zero regard for the game's traditions", adding it was "determined to fight against this proposed Super League".

:haha:

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A telegraph journalist, Matt Law, said yesterday on twitter he was most disappointed with City & Chelsea for joining as they were the ones who “broke” the cartel of arsenal & united back in early 2000s.

Probably the stupidest opinion written on the entire ESL

Edit: he has just written this article

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...uropean-super/

Jesus Christ its beyond thick. If it was for abramovich & city, we wouldn’t be in this mess

I'm loving everyone's astute observations on the sheer hypocrisy of so many in response to this thing...

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Originally Posted by IBK

I'm loving everyone's astute observations on the sheer hypocrisy of so many in response to this thing...

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Personally, while I dont like the idea, I’m not actually that bothered and I think the hypocrisy is a major part of it. I’m not going to get angry because Sky or Uefa no longer get the money but instead someone else gets it. In fact, thats the only reason they are angry themselves because they longer get the pay day. Nothing to do with fans etc.

Fans have been shafted for a while and when you look at the thread the other day asking How bothered people are about arsenal these days, it probably explains why many are shrugging their shoulders knowing the fans will always be shafted whether its Uefa sky or this new ESL.

Ultimately this new ESL is all about who gets the money, the clubs or UEFA etc and quite frankly, not many will pick a side on that as most dont care

it would be nice if it was us wouldn't it but i don't think that's likely...

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Originally Posted by Ollie the Optimist

The response from Uefa, Fifa sky etc has been a complete PR disaster imo.

They are accusing someone else of greed and ignoring the fans which is something they have all done for years. How many of those involved in awarding the World Cup to Russia were then expelled from FIFA for taking bribes?

I actually think the more uefa etc bang on about greed etc, the more they will actually drive up support for this new league. Not many will be happy taking lectures on morality from that lot

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There is no response they can sensibly give to be fair.
They can't approve the plans because they've been completely shafted.
But any hand-wringing about money is hypocrisy of the highest order and no-one is going to buy any concern from them about grass roots football.

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Originally Posted by Mac76

it would be nice if it was us wouldn't it but i don't think that's likely...

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Definitely won’t be us. We probably need this more than any of the others involved. Spurs too.

We’re already irrelevant in the PL so this helps us a lot. Sadly.

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Pep Guardiola about the #SuperLeague: “Sport is not a sport when the success is guaranteed, and when the relation between the effort and reward don’t exist. It’s not a sport when it doesn’t matter if you lose. It's not fair if teams fight at the top and cannot qualify”. �� #MCFC

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Guardiola can get fucked. He joined City who have spent billions buying the best players in order to guarantee success. He spent vast sums of money at Barcelona to do the same.

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Originally Posted by Ollie the Optimist

Guardiola can get fucked. He joined City who have spent billions buying the best players in order to guarantee success. He spent vast sums of money at Barcelona to do the same.

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i don't really buy into the Pep hate - sure it's easier when you have nothing but great players, but Artetas' multiple mistakes show that whatever squad you have, you still need to organise them well, pick the right teams and be consistent

is he the world's greatest coach? we don't know until he wins the PL with, say, Southampton - although did winning with Leicester make Ranieri the world's greatest coach either?

i admit he's failed in the Champions League with Citeh - they ought to have won it by now - the best chance they had was when Liverpool won it after Pep chased everything sight instead of focussing on the CL, so yes that was a mistake - i can't believe any Citeh fan gave a shite about winning the quadruple compared to ensuring the best chance of winning the CL

so he's not perfect but he's not a 'fake' either IMO

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Originally Posted by Mac76

i don't really buy into the Pep hate - sure it's easier when you have nothing but great players, but Artetas' multiple mistakes show that whatever squad you have, you still need to organise them well, pick the right teams and be consistent

is he the world's greatest coach? we don't know until he wins the PL with, say, Southampton - although did winning with Leicester make Ranieri the world's greatest coach either?

i admit he's failed in the Champions League with Citeh - they ought to have won it by now - the best chance they had was when Liverpool won it after Pep chased everything sight instead of focussing on the CL, so yes that was a mistake - i can't believe any Citeh fan gave a shite about winning the quadruple compared to ensuring the best chance of winning the CL

so he's not perfect but he's not a 'fake' either IMO

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I agree you still need to coach them and in that sense, he is a good coach.

But its hard to take lectures from someone who when he decides a player isn’t good enough can just go out and spend tens of millions on a replacement without thinking because a billionaire gives him the money.

Not all clubs have that which is hwy we are in this mess