Breakaway League

[foreveryoung]

Can't wait to hear Simon Jordon on Talkshite tomorrow.

[sne]

This is geared towards paying customers in Asia, Africa, the Americas and the Middle East.

Who cares if the actual fans and Europeans are pissed off.

[Cliffy Biro]

Oh and the fact that Arsenal and Spurs have signed up for this so called "super league" is just absolutely hilarious, the absolute nerve of them to throw themselves in with the likes of Real, Barca, City etc what history exactly do spurs have again?

[villa4europe]

2 minutes ago, Genie said:

I think lots of people would watch it, it would pull all the best players in the world. 

If they get China, South East Asia and the States to watch it then that's it done, European fans and especially fans in the stadiums can't compete with the population numbers 

Anything that we call tradition or our opinion as to what football looks like is out of the window 

Your man who has sat at old Trafford every game for the last 30 years means nothing, he is not the target audience any more 

[AndyM3000]

Haven't seen too many factual statements about this league or what it entails but I thought that this is just a breakaway European competition to replace the CL and they still want to continue with domestic football as normal. I'd have no issue with this if the qualification is still based on league performance, I'm guessing they can't get the ball rolling with this as they'd have to go via the FA/Premier League who will shut it down straight away so they have done the next best thing and gone to the top clubs.

I can't stand UEFA/Fifa so will be interesting to see what happens here. I don't think the English football pyramid will survive if you take the top 4 teams out of it, the money they bring in is huge. 

[Rightdm00]

Something needs to be done for football as a whole. The current model doesn't work. Every club in the Championship loses money. Our promotion year we lost £70 million (which is still the record) and it was actually north of a 100 but we pulled that FFP scam by selling our stadium to ourselves lol. 

Your ability to compete for European place shouldn't be almost completely contingent on how many millions your owner is willing to flush.  The competition is supposed to be conducted on the pitch not a dick measuring contest of account balance sheets.  This BS super league will keep coming up til European football is reformed top to bottom. 

[Jimzk5]

I'm gonna say Liverpool will be the first to put out a bullshit statement saying its all been a mistake etc etc

[Don_Simon]

Let them go. 

And then when Arsenal and Spurs finish bottom and second bottom every year, they'll soon come crying back. 

[jacketspuds]

15 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

firm and hard action needs to be taken

[MNVillan]

I’m American. I don’t watch a second of CL football currently, couldn’t even tell you who is left this year. I would do the same for this new stupid league. No interest in watching Real Madrid pound down Arsenal on a Thursday night.

I really enjoyed our time in the Championship, because the passion of each club’s fans was so apparent. It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with Villa. The soul of AVFC is so apparent every match, whether it’s at VP or away. It’s pretty sad watching Villa play at Chelsea or Spurs and our away fans are the noise shining through my TV.

I can’t speak for everyone over here, but one relatively prominent American football blogger I follow is a massive Spurs fan and has already said this idea sucks.

[TheAuthority]

2 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

On the one hand, this is kind of what you want to read, but on the other hand, 'pot calling the kettle black' has nothing on it:

Statement by UEFA, the English Football Association, the Premier League, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), LaLiga, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Lega Serie A

'UEFA, the English Football Association and the Premier League, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and LaLiga, and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Lega Serie A have learned that a few English, Spanish and Italian clubs may be planning to announce their creation of a closed, so-called Super League.

If this were to happen, we wish to reiterate that we – UEFA, the English FA, RFEF, FIGC, the Premier League, LaLiga, Lega Serie A, but also FIFA and all our member associations - will remain united in our efforts to stop this cynical project, a project that is founded on the self-interest of a few clubs at a time when society needs solidarity more than ever.

We will consider all measures available to us, at all levels, both judicial and sporting in order to prevent this happening. Football is based on open competitions and sporting merit; it cannot be any other way.

As previously announced by FIFA and the six Federations, the clubs concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level, and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams.

We thank those clubs in other countries, especially the French and German clubs, who have refused to sign up to this. We call on all lovers of football, supporters and politicians, to join us in fighting against such a project if it were to be announced. This persistent self-interest of a few has been going on for too long. Enough is enough.'

Oh the irony. 

The door to this was opened in 1992, in addition to the formation of the "Champions" League (otherwise known as the race for 4th)

All of a sudden the PL and UEFA care about football and not making a profit - when it looks like they aren't going to get a cut out of the pie.

Edited April 18, 2021 by TheAuthority

[Spoony]

9 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

If they get China, South East Asia and the States to watch it then that's it done, European fans and especially fans in the stadiums can't compete with the population numbers 

Anything that we call tradition or our opinion as to what football looks like is out of the window 

Your man who has sat at old Trafford every game for the last 30 years means nothing, he is not the target audience any more 

Yeah and I think I always forget to fully appreciate this. I lived in Dubai for a bit and the Arabic football fan base really are just all about watching the absolute best players for massive clubs that they can then tweet stuff about and follow them all on social media. 
 

You only really have to consider the fact that Trezeguet has 2m Instagram followers to realise how insignificant European fans are.

Personally I’d sooner watch a league 2 game in the cold than tune in to watch Ronaldo and Messi. I just don’t give a damn about watching quality teams and players I’d rather just watch Villa or something closer to home. 

[leemond2008]

1 minute ago, MNVillan said:

I’m American. I don’t watch a second of CL football currently, couldn’t even tell you who is left this year. I would do the same for this new stupid league. No interest in watching Real Madrid pound down Arsenal on a Thursday night.

100% the same for me...except that I'm English

[MNVillan]

17 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

Well hats off to Neville, I am pleasantly surprised, a very impassioned little clip that. 
 

And I agree with him, firm and hard action needs to be taken to discourage this constant shit about super leagues.

The PL should disqualify these clubs from playing in Europe next year after this idea is shut down. Make it very apparent that those clubs are not bigger than the league.

Current table would have Leiscester, West Ham, Everton, and Leeds in CL, with us one point behind and in Europa.

Won’t ever happen, but a fan can dream.

[Spoony]

3 minutes ago, MNVillan said:

I’m American. I don’t watch a second of CL football currently, couldn’t even tell you who is left this year. I would do the same for this new stupid league. No interest in watching Real Madrid pound down Arsenal on a Thursday night.

I really enjoyed our time in the Championship, because the passion of each club’s fans was so apparent. It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with Villa. The soul of AVFC is so apparent every match, whether it’s at VP or away. It’s pretty sad watching Villa play at Chelsea or Spurs and our away fans are the noise shining through my TV.

I can’t speak for everyone over here, but one relatively prominent American football blogger I follow is a massive Spurs fan and has already said this idea sucks.

The Championship era was comfortably the most I’ve enjoyed watching Villa in my lifetime. 

[TheAuthority]

1 minute ago, MNVillan said:

The PL should disqualify these clubs from playing in Europe next year after this idea is shut down. Make it very apparent that those clubs are not bigger than the league.

Current table would have Leiscester, West Ham, Everton, and Leeds in CL, with us one point behind and in Europa.

Won’t ever happen, but a fan can dream.

I like Neville's idea of docking them all about 40 points. That would take the money off them.

[Spoony]

1 minute ago, TheAuthority said:

I like Neville's idea of docking them all about 40 points. That would take the money off them.

Would also accelerate their entry into a European super league so it depends what the end goal is

[Spoony]

I’d have thought that preventing players representing their country would be enough to knock this on the head tbh. 

[Cliffy Biro]

1 minute ago, Spoony said:

I’d have thought that preventing players representing their country would be enough to knock this on the head tbh. 

Absolutely not, im sure a small percentage take pride in playing for their country but a lot wouldnt give two shits if it meant them earning 300k a week in some super league. Look at the cricketers who do the exact same thing. They can go and make 10 years worth of central contracts in 1 year in the IPL.

[MNVillan]

What’s there even to play for in such a league? Money? A trophy?

In the Champions League you can claim supremacy in Europe. In the Premier League you can claim supremacy in England. In a closed league you can claim supremacy over 11 other clubs.

Closed leagues like the NFL and NBA work because they are far and away the best league and teams in the world in their respective sports. If this goes through and the PL, UEFA, and FIFA impose the sanctions they’re threatening, I truly believe there is a chance that some of these clubs will no longer even be the best in their home country. In 5 years if Arsenal finish 10th or worse every season, how many players would sacrifice a chance to play for their international side to get beat up on a weekly basis? Money talks, but that money might dry up quick for clubs that don’t have success in this league.