ThunderPower_14

I'd be happy enough with a classily finished claret body and blue sleeves. That's said, we're also probably overdue some stripes, maybe a modern interpretation of the 1999/00 kit. For the away and third kits I don't really care but I echo the call for at least one kit with just the lion in place of the entire badge.

Reminds me of us having that goal chalked off against Palace for Grealish going down after contact and a pass and not even appealing for the pen. Never ever happens to big teams.

Yep. I don't mind if that's a dive if it's called a dive everywhere, because I think he saw the contact coming and made sure he went down, but that was apparently the first yellow for a dive in the PL this season? There is absolutely no way in 1,000,000 years Kane or Salah or Fernandes get a yellow for diving there. It's pure corruption.

Absolutely. Both decisions that wouldn't have been made without VAR but the result is absolutely human error. I like the idea of a video replay for refs, I guess the current iteration of VAR is just allowing bad referees an extra opportunity to get a decision wrong.

Two of the worst VAR decisions ever in one night, both favouring SL clubs. As usual slow motion makes both incidents look marginally worse, but certainly not fouls. I usually argue that slow motion shouldn't be allowed in VAR replays but I'm not sure it matters here, because even in slow motion the only explanation for the Newcastle handball or West Ham red card decisions is corruption.

Yep, I couldn't feel less sympathy for them. They worked with UEFA to create this pulled up drawbridge style FFP system linked to revenue and not debt/liabilities and now they've screwed themselves. Nobody forced them to spend money they didn't have to try to maintain their dominant status as the price of football skyrocketed around them. UEFA will no doubt give them a slap on the wrist, but they should absolutely be adjusting FFP to something more sustainable.

The Italian one looks like a swanky website landing page.

I think people overstate the value of any specific club to the Premier League. I hate the idea that these clubs wouldn't be punished because of the worry that they're too valuable to weaken. Man City are massive because they have a bottomless money pit and win a lot. They were mid table nothingness in 2006. Chelsea were a yoyo club in the 70s and 80s. Arsenal are obviously on the slide. These clubs are simply rich at the moment, they won't necessarily be forever. If you'd started this Super League in 1996, would you have included Blackburn Rovers? Relegate them all to the national league and the Premier League will go on. Glory hunting fans will move on to the next team as they always do. The premier league is bigger than any one or two clubs.

You'd think after almost 20 years on internet forums i'd have learned to type quote tags in the right place, but here we are.

United's statement: Those long term challenges being that Manchester United expect to be outrageously richer than everyone else they play football against and to win all the time and that hasn't been happening as much lately. The cheek from these bastards, upset that their own efforts to price everyone else out of football has come back too bite them and now they want special treatment not only to survive, but to maintain their privileged position.

Agree, and they also need more than anything to stay in the CL. That's their Everest.

Their proposed solution to this is folly. Chelsea vs Real Madrid is currently a big game. It won't be a big game if it's played 4 times a year. The CL knockout matches draw so much interest precisely because they are rare matchups. Under their proposal where they stay in the domestic leagues, Tottenham vs Liverpool will be played 6 times a season. The idea that a massive number of people want to see the 6th match between Liverpool and Tottenham in a year is laughable, especially if it's PPV without an overarching TV deal. The longer this stupid comp goes on, the more mundane these fixtures get.

This is important. The players and managers are the most popular people at the clubs and they have the ability to drive supporter narratives. If the players and managers come out in favour of it, the supporters of those clubs will very quickly move to supporting the Super League as well. I think the SL clubs feel like they won't be evicted from UEFA comps because of the TV deals, but if I were UEFA I'd simply put the 4 non-SL teams from the quarters into the Semis. The punishment has to be swift and comprehensive. Challenge each club to withdraw from the SL, and if they don't, they forfeit their spot in the CL.

They'll be able to break the contract unless they signed a really dumb contract. The SL have assured everyone that clubs will still be able to play in their domestic leagues. I would hope the clubs would have been smart enough to write things like that into the contract, and when it turns out they can't play in their domestic leagues, the English teams simply withdraw.

I meant more about what UEFA might do if the PL allow these clubs to continue playing. Obviously the SL clubs won't be playing but maybe they'll decree that no club from England plays in UEFA European competition while PL teams play in the SL.

I suspect UEFA could ban Premier League clubs from playing in any European competition while there are SL clubs playing in the league.

Ultimately the PL are the 20 clubs. There is no way this gets through with 14 clubs opposed, surely

I can't really see how the PL will cave and let them stay. The PL are the other 14 clubs. Why would those clubs vote to funnel so much money to the other 6?

I'd hope UEFA ban them all for next season at the very least. UEFA must be absolutely seething. They've bent over backwards to funnel money into these clubs and they've just been sensationally betrayed by them. Hopefully UEFA can stay strong.

Yep. A big game against Barcelona isn't a big game anymore if you do it 4 times a season. I think they've missed what makes the Champions League exciting.

I can't see the Super League clubs holding their nerve if they can't play in domestic leagues. The fans won't support it. It's too unpopular. I don't think it goes ahead unless they keep their spots in the domestic leagues. Hopefully UEFA and the PL come down hard on them and kick them out. I could absolutely see a few phoenix clubs sprouting up if this was successful long term. Maybe Salford City suddenly become the biggest club outside the premier league.

Is it possible that Man City haven't signed up yet because they were worried about being immediately expelled from the Champions League and didn't want to miss out on winning one?

Cynically I can't see the PL or UEFA doing anything but trying to placate these teams into abandoning these plans. Immediate expulsion from European competition and a decree that they can't play in their domestic comps anymore if this takes off should be the response.

Completely agree with this. Nobody wants to see the Liverpool one called offside, and if it had been called offside in the pre-VAR era and the goal chalked off, all the discussion during the week would have been how badly the lino got it wrong. I absolutely hate this type of VAR offside and I completely agree that when it's that close, different people drawing the lines could get different results. I don't want goals scored against us chalked off in this manner because I don't want us to lose a goal in the same manner next week, and there seems to be one of these every week or two. Offside was a less controversial rule pre-VAR. That should be enough to revisit how VAR treats it. The solution to me is simple: Lose the lines. If VAR thinks something is iffy, give the on-field referee a couple of run throughs of the replay at normal speed from the relevant angle, and if they can see a clearcut offside, chalk the goal off. Do this for all VAR decisions. If you can't see the error in a couple of run throughs from a few different angles at full speed, it's not a clear and obvious error.

Harry Kane would be shouting at his TV screen right now