Logistically it’d also be a nightmare with those two in the Prem. Bad enough doing Newcastle. Decent away day though I’d imagine if you’re doing a weekend up there.
I take your point but the SFA is notoriously nervous about this, hence the hair pulling over a GB team at the Olympics.
“The proposed European Super League is “dead” without the support of teams in England and Germany, La Liga president Javier Tebas said on Thursday, also calling for the biggest clubs to reduce their spending to combat their current financial problems. “The Super League is dead without the English and German teams, let’s be realistic, it’s dead,” Tebas told a virtual news conference. “They cannot create the project they want to create. After 20 years of threatening a Super League, finally this threat came true and in 48 hours it has disappeared. This isn’t a problem of revenue, these clubs need to reduce their expenses. We don’t need to keep increasing earnings so that players can have seven Ferraris instead of six,” Tebas said. “This is a problem of distribution. My position is very clear, we don’t need to increase revenues, we just need to manage expenses. We are not ruined financially and we don’t have to take any exceptional measures.”
Such a simple, obvious point. A point missed (or ignored) by Perez and his sycophants. His claim that young people are dropping their interest in football was picked up on by a lot of newspapers as apparently it was the only point he made that is factually correct. The solution, according to Sen. Perez, is to basically create a real world version of popular computer games. What struck me when I first saw the list of ESL sign ups was how it looked remarkably like the selection of teams games like FIFA and PES put in their demo versions to entice youngsters to buy the full version). All it took to destroy that argument was the point made by a 17 year old who called in to the programme I was listening to. He very eloquently explained that youngsters haven't lost interest in football: They've been totally priced out. This lad came from a single-parent low income family. He worked weekends and evenings to put himself through college. A replica shirt is the equivalent of his family's weekly shopping budget. A season ticket would render his family homeless or at the very least facing eviction to a smaller rental property. This is why, he explained, young people are turning to illegal streaming sites more than ever. If Sky wants to charge £15 a pop for even the most irrelevant game, why would someone 3 clicks (7 without an ad blocker) away from getting the same thing for free be so dumb as to sacrifice a night out with mates in order to watch Burnley v West Brom? The blind arrogance of Perez and his ilk means they simply cannot see this. So their solution to the problem is to increase money even further, creating a ponzi scheme tournament of dubious entertainment value with replica shirts and ticket prices that would wreck the weekly budgets of millions of supporters around the world.
This is how they ****ed La Liga, too. They hoarded all of the cash and the worldwide audience shifted to the Premier League. People want reasonably priced entertainment and if you don't offer that then they'll either go elsewhere or refuse to pay it. Pricing out the youth simply kills things in the long run. It may seem attractive initially, but it's unsustainable.
Barca have confirmed they’re remaining part of the Super League, despite the fact 9 of the founding 12 have withdrawn. Zero shame, lol.
I think that it has to go to a members vote or something regardless so every chance it gets shot down, though I don’t know what the fan sentiment in Spain is towards this compared to here. I know Barca are skint and it might be the way they save the club without making big structural changes.
The elephant in the room for La Liga is that Barca and Los Ladrones can simply negotiate better TV contracts for themselves, a luxury the other teams don't have
It seems the other 14 teams are still intent on punishing the 6 - lots of talk of points reductions (particularly from Spammers), some suggesting 20 lol. I have to say that this is as much the politics of envy as anything because if anyone is genuinely suggesting that the likes Usmanov and Sullivan wouldn't have joined if they were invited then they are as mad as the chairmen who thought that this was a good idea. I think there will be penalties but they are most likely to be financial in my opinion. Maybe a transfer ban for 12 months which would be both a disaster and a blessing for us as Kane and Son would have to stay but so would the defence.
All away games to be played behind closed doors Come on, do you think The FA want the visual of Man Utd or Liverpool being booed? That might bring obnoxious entitlement into disrepute!
I thought transfer bans normally work by not allowing you to purchase players but you could still have players sold?
I find the notion of punishments or penalties to be utterly ridiculous. All evidence suggests that no one below the executive level of these clubs was remotely supportive of the move. Ultimately it was the joint effort of fans, players and managers speaking out against it that brought Perez' ponzi scheme to a halt. Any punishment the FA or PL has the authority to make would ultimately hurt the people who were against the plans more than it would the chairmen who signed. Unless a fine or sanction can be imposed against individual members of the executive (which it can't as none of them did anything even close to being illegal), I don't see much justice in a punitive response.