Breakaway League

[magnkarl]

Barca are already in the shits, this was their way of getting out. Messi is reportedly on wages of over 150k a week, he'll be the first to go.

The heroes in this? The fans, Zlatan, Rashford, Henderson (from what I hear he pulled Liverpool's cronies aside and had a go) and the wider footballing world. It's time for the German model now. Also for our own club, billionaires are fickle people.

[AstonMartyn88]

Interestingly I spent yesterday playing FIFA 21 Online as Villa to see if I’d come across anyone playing as a similar club. The answer?

Spurs

Liverpool

United

Liverpool

Barca

Juventus

Spurs

Liverpool

The people I was playing against are who this whole thing was aimed at. Good riddance. 

[AJ]

The governing bodies have to do something.

They have to show at least, there are consequences for being a threat to the game. All these so called " big clubs", have gotten to where they are while playing under the FA and FIFA. If they want to form their bullshit league because they either want more, or they believe it is their only course for survival because they are so badly run, it isn't the current governing bodies fault. 

It doesn't necessarily have to be motivated for a desire to punish, but a need to protect itself. Not only to show consequence, but also to take away from these clubs what has motivated them for their selfishness in the first place. Take money off them. Restrict their revenue. Deduct enough points to make them struggle for a season or two. Adopt a more fairer and equal distribution of TV deal revenue. Impose transfer embargos. All things which would send them backwards to remind them that clubs must earn success, and not be entitled to it.

If nothing is done by FIFA and friends, there is nothing to stop them from trying again, and they have already signaled they intend to. If nothing is done, and these shit garglers are third or fourth time lucky, then UEFA, FIFA, the FA, and the rest of the football justice league have only themselves to blame, and so they should be.

[markc]

Steve Parish on the BBC just some very well.  said he's been living with since he's been in football,  the constant threat that everyone doesn't tie the line and give these teams their own way this kind of thing would happen. Goes onto to moan about the changes to the CL and says uefa need to stop pampering to these teams.

it's a good listen and the attitude we need from all the other owners. 

 

[HanoiVillan]

8 minutes ago, markc said:

Steve Parish on the BBC just some very well.  said he's been living with since he's been in football,  the constant threat that everyone doesn't tie the line and give these teams their own way this kind of thing would happen. Goes onto to moan about the changes to the CL and says uefa need to stop pampering to these teams.

it's a good listen and the attitude we need from all the other owners. 

 

Do you have a BBC Sounds link, or a time reference?

[markc]

18 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

Do you have a BBC Sounds link, or a time reference?

was on the BBC news about 7.15ish so may well play it again shortly

[S-Platt]

8 hours ago, Pissflaps said:

I am willing to bet my right nutsack

Surely it's your right labia majora 

[Dodgyknees]

 

 

[DCJonah]

I'm sick of reading that they shouldn't be punished because it's not the fans or the players fault.

Sheffield Wednesday are going to be relegated to league 1 because of a points deduction. That's not the fault of the fans and players, yet no one kicked up a fuss about it. 

**** these 6 clubs. They deserve to be punished. They tried to destroy football in this country and happily would have if people hadn't united against it.

[Mark Albrighton]

 

[Don_Simon]

48 minutes ago, magnkarl said:

Barca are already in the shits, this was their way of getting out. Messi is reportedly on wages of over 150k a week, he'll be the first to go.

The heroes in this? The fans, Zlatan, Rashford, Henderson (from what I hear he pulled Liverpool's cronies aside and had a go) and the wider footballing world. It's time for the German model now. Also for our own club, billionaires are fickle people.

£150,000,000 a week is more likely. 

[Sulberto21]

3 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

I'm sick of reading that they shouldn't be punished because it's not the fans or the players fault.

Sheffield Wednesday are going to be relegated to league 1 because of a points deduction. That's not the fault of the fans and players, yet no one kicked up a fuss about it. 

**** these 6 clubs. They deserve to be punished. They tried to destroy football in this country and happily would have if people hadn't united against it.

Exactly these mofos need to be made an example of. If I was in charge no prick will ever try owning a club anywhere with this intention. 

[sidcow]

5 hours ago, Hornso said:

Skeptic in me believes any punishment will be a slap on the wrist at most.

It's 100% clear that this is the way it's going to be. 

I think the Government may still take action though and this "pressure on English Clubs" I think came from them. 

That sports minister bloke whose name I don't know was still rattling on about it on the news this morning. 

Edited April 21, 2021 by sidcow

[sne]

In a dream world I'd love to see this togetherness among the fans carry on to continue the protests against American football owners who believe that everything is for sale and can be Americanized and against Real & Barca who think think they are football and above everyone else, and against dictatorships that use football to sportwash.

Force them to rethink. To protect the competition balance, stop sportswashing, fight racism, subsidize ticket prices, rein in agents and regulate them and f**k off VAR. 

Uefa and Fifa think they won. They are not the good guys thou as we all know. Call them out too.

The fans helped stop this but nothing has changed. It's still wildly corrupt and the Euro's will still be played in Baku and the WC in Qatar. Infantino would happily sell out anything and everything to anyone who pays. He's the worst thing to ever happen to football. And that takes some doing after Havelange, Blatter and Platini.

Odds are it will all fizzle out thou.

[Sulberto21]

Messi is on near to a £1m a week.

And Henry ""your club"... Representative for Wellingborough.

[sne]

"I'm really sorry (I got caught)"

Edited April 21, 2021 by sne

[HKP90]

6 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

There's no way this was a distraction bluff - they didn't need one, the changes to the Champions league were already settled and they definitely didn't need the embarrassment, the share price collapses and the resignations. They f***ed up.

In terms of punishments, I'm in favour of this being about individuals - we do need the clubs, the league is better with them in it and the fans, players and coaching staffs at these clubs didn't do this, it's not on them. I wouldn't be looking at points deductions or bans.

The individuals though, we should go after hard; Agnelli and Woodward have resigned - they and the other CEO's should all be banned from footballing activities for life. The CEO's are one thing, the owners another - the clubs involved should have restrictions placed on them until they are sold into new ownership, their voting rights should be suspended and they should be removed from any committees on which they sit, solidarity payments should be held in trust for the new owners.

The war is over, but it's more important that we win the peace.

It's vital that this starts a process of change, one that includes fans, governments, UEFA, FIFA, the PFA, the ECA and the Leagues - we need to make sure that there is never again so much power concentrated in the hands of such a small group of clubs. To do that, it's vital we find ways to financially enable clubs like Ajax, Roma, Lazio, Lyon, Everton, ourselves and many others so that the playing field becomes more even and the power is spread into a wider group of hands, and in doing that we also need to put in place regulations that help all clubs reduce their total spending. I'd like to see stronger legislation, and a more democratic management of leagues and competitions - I'd like to see the Premier League voting extended to any club that has been in the league in the last five years - so that for example, Norwich, Bournemouth and Watford could still vote - that reduces the influence of small groups by creating a larger voting circle - I'd like to see the same principle attached to European competition, so that if  you want to change the Champions League, then three quarters of the teams that have competed in it over the last three years need to agree with you and it then needs to be ratified by UEFA.

I'd like to see an acceptance that even the biggest clubs will sometimes need to tighten their belts and take a few years out from the very top of the tree, that it's not completely impossible that Real Madrid don't win the Champions League for ten years while they settle their debt and build again. I'd like to see a form of FFP that takes debt as it's major indicator of a clubs health, and that restricts the spending that clubs can do based not just on their top line, but on what they owe - so that we never again get into a position where a club has so much debt that they are desperate enough to bring down the whole game in order to service it - if Barcelona are a billion pounds in debt, they shouldn't be allowed to spend until that debt is reduced and if that means they finish mid-table in Spain for a couple of years, so be it.

We need to cut off the head of this snake, remove these toxic individuals from the game, then slowly restructure so that it's a healthier place to be, with better competition that's better for football, all of football, not just a dozen brands. I know that sounds impossible, but as things stand, the debts and the demands of these clubs are like rust and they will creep back and keep creeping back until we treat them. 

Time for a proper change.

 

 

Great post. 
I personally think that salary caps might be the only way to stop the runaway inflation that has meant the top clubs becoming cash fed titans. 
 

They clearly cannot manage themselves. A little judicious regulation seems fair. 
 

I work in an industry that deals with the legacy of industry getting away with whatever it wants unchecked for decades. We only stopped it through regulation.

[fightoffyour]

6 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

There's no way this was a distraction bluff - they didn't need one, the changes to the Champions league were already settled and they definitely didn't need the embarrassment, the share price collapses and the resignations. They f***ed up.

In terms of punishments, I'm in favour of this being about individuals - we do need the clubs, the league is better with them in it and the fans, players and coaching staffs at these clubs didn't do this, it's not on them. I wouldn't be looking at points deductions or bans.

The individuals though, we should go after hard; Agnelli and Woodward have resigned - they and the other CEO's should all be banned from footballing activities for life. The CEO's are one thing, the owners another - the clubs involved should have restrictions placed on them until they are sold into new ownership, their voting rights should be suspended and they should be removed from any committees on which they sit, solidarity payments should be held in trust for the new owners.

The war is over, but it's more important that we win the peace.

It's vital that this starts a process of change, one that includes fans, governments, UEFA, FIFA, the PFA, the ECA and the Leagues - we need to make sure that there is never again so much power concentrated in the hands of such a small group of clubs. To do that, it's vital we find ways to financially enable clubs like Ajax, Roma, Lazio, Lyon, Everton, ourselves and many others so that the playing field becomes more even and the power is spread into a wider group of hands, and in doing that we also need to put in place regulations that help all clubs reduce their total spending. I'd like to see stronger legislation, and a more democratic management of leagues and competitions - I'd like to see the Premier League voting extended to any club that has been in the league in the last five years - so that for example, Norwich, Bournemouth and Watford could still vote - that reduces the influence of small groups by creating a larger voting circle - I'd like to see the same principle attached to European competition, so that if  you want to change the Champions League, then three quarters of the teams that have competed in it over the last three years need to agree with you and it then needs to be ratified by UEFA.

I'd like to see an acceptance that even the biggest clubs will sometimes need to tighten their belts and take a few years out from the very top of the tree, that it's not completely impossible that Real Madrid don't win the Champions League for ten years while they settle their debt and build again. I'd like to see a form of FFP that takes debt as it's major indicator of a clubs health, and that restricts the spending that clubs can do based not just on their top line, but on what they owe - so that we never again get into a position where a club has so much debt that they are desperate enough to bring down the whole game in order to service it - if Barcelona are a billion pounds in debt, they shouldn't be allowed to spend until that debt is reduced and if that means they finish mid-table in Spain for a couple of years, so be it.

We need to cut off the head of this snake, remove these toxic individuals from the game, then slowly restructure so that it's a healthier place to be, with better competition that's better for football, all of football, not just a dozen brands. I know that sounds impossible, but as things stand, the debts and the demands of these clubs are like rust and they will creep back and keep creeping back until we treat them. 

Time for a proper change.

 

 

Brilliant post. I agree with everything except that I might be swayed by the arguments about the clubs involved being punished, since you have clubs going into administration through fault of the owners being punished with points deductions or breaking FFP rules and being handed completion or transfer bans.

Yes, the owners/CEOs are the main culprits here who needed to be fined (with the money being shared among the rest of the English football pyramid) and banned from football activities for life. But I certainly wouldn’t be against the clubs facing some punishment too. Nothing too ridiculous like being kicked out of the whole football league or even relegation, but something like 10 point deductions (if they have actually broken PL rules - their statements unsurprisingly describe leaving a group that has consulted about a new league and other such vague language that avoids saying they had actually joined a new SL) or season long bans from the CL/Europa (though here UEFA’s stance seems to be just happy to have them back so this seems unlikely from their side) would be suitable punishment and deterrent, hurting their ability to play in or qualify for those European competitions and the revenue they generate that is so desired/needed by these clubs, whilst also setting a precedent that similar actions in the future will result in similar yet more severe sanctions.

Finally, I also had the thought yesterday that a club’s debt should be the main deciding factor towards FFP, so I was surprised to have not seen it mentioned before. This would allow wealthy owners like our own to invest more or less as they please, whilst preventing the main problems that such regulations are intended to prevent from occurring - be that giant clubs amassing hundreds of millions in debt or little old Bury going bust. Of course, this doesn’t prevent a situation that was the real reason for FFP being introduced, which is a breaking of the cartel by a NSWE.

Edited April 21, 2021 by fightoffyour

[delboy54]

Very interesting last few days.....and 170 pages on this topic, and some great comments!!        this is my view...for what its worth

There needs to be a  water tight system in place to prevent this from happening in the future (and they will try again) with clear "if you do this again then this will happen to your club"

I don't see any "punishment" given out to these clubs

The owners could not give a shit about the fans or the club, they just see this as a vehicle to create even more money and improve their investment (esp the US owners -  they are obsessed with $$$)

I hate sky, don't have it and never will and they are the people to blame for this to be honest, they have gone on about "the big six" for years, and this term is insulting to every other club. What defines a big 6 club? the end result was that these so called big 6 clubs believed their own hype

The only way to punish these clubs is monetary, voting rights and transfer embargoes ...you have to hit the owners pockets i.e. their money and "investment"

VTID

Derek

 

 

[desensitized43]

13 minutes ago, Mark Albrighton said:

 

Apologises to the Liverpool fans and players...but not to the other teams and fans he tried to **** over. No acknowledgement of what this actually was, a greedy money/power grab. No assurance they won't try anything like it again. Time for the league, uefa and the other clubs to put their big boy pants on and draft some new rules to put these pricks back in their cage.