Football has to be a monopoly or it doesn't work. There is no prestige. You think football would be better if there were 2 or 3 World Cups every year held by different organisations?

x-off made the point of comparing the 2 teams in terms of CL. I think Atalanta are on a completely other level to Leicester on this end while being far more disadvantaged. They failed to make the final last season by a minute. They don't even earn a measly fraction of what Leicester do just from the EPL alone.


True.

If this goes through, which is looking more a more likely. What's to say that the super league won't evolve into that monopoly? And simply be a replacement for UEFA. You think UEFA are losing their sh!t over nothing? This is huge trouble for them and their survival and they know it. I personally say good riddance.

Prestige and glory are buil over time. The European cup was devised decades ago and turned into what it has become today. There's nothing set in stone saying the super league won't evolve over time either.

There are already reports of teams like Roma, Bayern and PSG being the other 3 clubs. There will be 5 invited clubs for now. This could grow over time. Making the CL obsolete and clubs will be the better for it imo

Han, no offence but you are being very myopic about this whole argument. You are simply viewing this as a UEFA/FIFA-Super League war. You're focusing only on the business side, who's more corrupt. You're not looking at the bigger picture, i.e. the game of football.

You think greed is only one sided? These clubs are just as greedy and scrupulous as the governing bodies they're trying to fight against. But they're not fighting for what is right and wrong, they're simply fighting for the big bucks. They want to make more money, turn football into a bigger business and get richer and richer. And in doing so, they're killing the founding concept of competition that drives this sport.

Clubs have to fight and earn their right to participate into a major international league. If you're reserving this right by default only to a handful, what's the point anymore? What will Roma, Lazio, Atalanta, Napoli etc. fight for? Participate into a Champions League without any "champions" in it? Such a competition is not even conceivable because nobody will watch it and nobody will care to play in it anymore. It disrupts a system that might be governed by a corrupt entity, but that is founded on meritocracy.

I agree. I don't understand your view Han. But, honestly even if what you are painting out the UEFA/FIFA to be...this Superleauge idea is no better.

BTW, why the hate on UEFA and Fifa? Surely, any organizing committee will have a lot of hate...nothing special. And, I'm not saying they're perfect but they've done some good things as well.

But you're viewing this through a lens of nostalgia for something that has long been lost.

Sorry, but football IS a business. Milan has been left behind because we simply cannot compete with EPL and oil money. And FFP continues to tie our hands in this matter. And when FFP is not enforced fairly and the same on all the clubs, then you end up with this. UEFA have overstepped imo, they have gotten too greedy and not kept the clubs with the biggest fanbases, ergo the biggest commercial pull happy. You said it yourself. No one would want to watch the CL without these teams in it.

I'm not worried about this because the people behind it know what they're doing. All the clubs involved have ruthless owners. Most of which are Americans. The Glazers, Kroenke, and Elliot don't do anything half @ssed. Elliot held Argentina hostage FFS, you think they care about the soul of the game?

Gary Neville said something critical today, the Glazers don't put their name on anything, not unless they're going through with it. Plus Florentino Perez is the one who is pushing this through. These are not people who waffle when it comes down to crunch time imo. Plus the JP Morgan Chase factor is huge.

So whatever happens moving forward, I think tis is going to be a good thing, whether it happens or not. This will either give UEFA the massive kick in the teeth they need and they negotiate something better with the clubs or this things happens and the CL and EL will be abolished within a few years and this thing becoming the norm.

And btw. Where is the meritocracy in what PSG, City and Chelsea have done in the past few years? Or what about Bayern, Juve, Madrid Barca, etc? They have all basically been in this automatic inclusion format for years now because they purposely weaken their own leagues. Either by monopolising the TV money or buying out all the talent because they can.


Watch the vid I posted in the previous page.

There are literally labour camps set up in Qatar. People have died building stadiums there. All so they could organise a tournament in a country where it's practically impossible to play the competition during the summer. All so that the executives get huge pay-outs from the Qatari government.

People dying for FIFA Execs' greed vs. clubs wanting to get what they are owed...

Nobody said this is something half-assed. If they're going through with this then they know exactly what they're doing. But it's wrong. There's nothing nostalgic about competition. It's the foundation of sport. And this format goes against every principle that's made football the most beloved sport in the world. It's unsportsmanlike, to say the least.



Bayern, Juve, Madrid, Barca etc. built their names and who they are throughout the decades. They aren't called big clubs for no reason. But because you have big clubs doesn't mean smaller clubs shouldn't have a right to compete. You simply cannot create a monopolistic league of elitists and sh*t over the rest. It's disgraceful beyond comprehension.

And what happened with Chelsea, PSG and City isn't much different from what happened with Milan and Berlusconi in the 80s. Only difference is that these clubs along with the rest have inflated prices to ridiculous extents, and I will always remain by my belief that that is what has ultimately led to where we stand right now.

Also, it's not like Citeh and Abramovich are monks. Come on... UEFA corruptness or Abramovich corruptness.. honestly, I don't see much of a difference.

I think this is especially bad for Milan. We'll get a lot of hate now.

And btw, I may be wrong in all of this but atm, I just ron't see it as the end of football, catastrophic event that you do.

We'll see how this unfolds but personally I just think that atm it's mainly a mine is bigger than yours showdown with UEFA. We'll see who caves first. I just personally think the clubs have more leverage here

Bug clubs always get hate. From Milan's perspective, this is an if you can't beat them, join them situation

I've seen that video many times. I love John Oliver.

It wont grow, though? That's the entire point, for a handful of clubs to get their guaranteed income every year. They don't want to share money with others they deem "lesser", so it won't grow.

20 clubs will be better for it. 20 out of thousands. That's not good for sport.

It will be good for football if these franchises and their customers no longer compete in football leagues, yes.

Piss off and leave us football clubs and fans to the football.

Don't agree with a lot of what Han says these days, but strangely we appear harmonious on this.

It's less that I support the ESL, more that I like seeing someone new 'up and at them' for once - and the crying foul over this seems frankly as bad as the conduct of UEFA and FIFA themselves.

As for corruption, I didn't say this was about corruption, I said as an aside that UEFA and FIFA also happen to be corrupt.

PS this is as much a protest against the new CL format is as it is about money.

Honestly find this board laughable at times - for over a decade you've all whined about UEFA and the elitist CL and the conduct of these bodies - and now someone threatens it you're whining about that instead.

Comical.

And we had a great story like Leicester winning the Premier League. An underdog who overcame the elite. Now? You won't. It's only the elite.

What is laughable is complaining about elitism and then as soon as they fail to win something, they literally remove the competition, and hailing that as a good thing.

Love him. I can't count the amount of John Oliver rabbit holes I've gone down over the years. And moat of the stuff he does is about American capitilasm at it's worst and doesn't really effect me in any way. But he's so good that I can't help but watch vid after vid


But right now all of this is conjecture. The big heads will do what they think is best in terms of consumerism, and if that means expansion, then that is what will happen.


Disagree there. Where would these domestic leagues stand without these bigger clubs? The entire concept of the EPL is basically null and void without them in it


But why would this stop another Leicester from happening? The domestic league will still be there and so will European football under the UEFA umbrella

And this is hardly about elitism. This is all about the money. Perez just basically said they asked Arsenal and Spurs to join because they needed the extra bodies (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)