Look back in history, Liverpool, man utd, man city. Chelsea and arsenal weren't the top teams in the county. The likes of Leeds, Blackburn even Bolton, so if the top teams were to leave they will be replaced by other names. How many times do we complain about how much players get paid, it will not be the end of football, I started following the lads in the early 80s, the passion from our fans has never changed, the commitment from the players were just as strong, if not stronger. They may have not earned enough money to set them up for life but they were still paid more than the average job for doing a job they loved. Some even got a free ford escort, what more can anyone want
Can't remember the last time I watched a CL game, if there's a desire for 'big' clubs to jump ship then we should restructure what we've got left and go again. No coming back once they're gone, football will survive without the TV money. Transfer fees will be come more realistic as will ticket prices for fans at the gate. Clubs will find a way, they always have.
The clubs won't be leaving their domestic leagues under the current proposals. It will be like a Champions League on steroids, ensuring that all of the (current) "big" clubs remain at the top and getting richer all the time. If someone was to "do a Leicester", they wouldn't get to play Barcelona and Juventus in the Gold League, they'd have to play lesser teams in the third tier Blue League. So it not only makes the rich clubs richer, it reduces the rewards for a "small" club winning their domestic championship.
I think you overestimate massively what they think they’ll be allowed to do, once fans mobilise. They will end up getting what they are given.
Well put. This is where the domestic leagues will have a case for either kicking someone out of the league or will impose a new rule where any cash raked in through unofficial competitions will not count towards FFP for the domestic league. If they allow the big teams to increase their income, which can then be spent on improving the domestic league position, then football will be officially ruined. Every top league will become essentially like Scotland where you have a battle between a few teams followed by everyone else miles behind fighting for scraps. What would be interesting is if all the other teams that will be left behind decided to form a breakaway domestic setup...now that I could get on board with!
Exactly. Keep the European tournaments going, keep our midweek league games going, keep the League and FA Cups going and start deducting points for clubs purposely fielding weakened teams. Clubs are complaining of playing too many games already, top clubs will be looking at trying to squeeze in another 20 games. If they’re allowed to remain in their domestic leagues, you could end up with a few of them being relegated hopefully, if they concentrate on the ESL. With a bit of luck, the top clubs will all reject the ESL, Saudi will help fund it and pull their clubs out of their domestic leagues to concentrate on the ESL and we can say goodbye to our dear neighbours who just recently ‘got their club back’.
Now that would be funny if the rest of the PL and FL decided to form a new English League and refused to invite any club that joined the ESL.
I don’t believe the fans have ever mobilised on a large scale before though, it maybe their own fans who put a stop to it, but I pray they don’t.
The court decision was a formality really, which is why it the case was brought. Knocking down a strawman. EUEFA never said the clubs couldn't compete in a different league. They just said that if they competed in EUEFA completions, they had to abide by EUEFA rules. Ditto the EPL. Let them play in anything. It is mostly boring and unwatchable anyway. Same clubs, same winners, same players, same gobshite talking heads on the telly. Yuk.
It is my hope that the players themselves start revolting a bit. They already have a mammoth season ahead of them, let alone having this on top too. Christmas is a crazy time of year and despite how ever much money you throw around, players get tired/injured. You want to be at home with your family, kids, not prepping for 30 games in 2 months etc
Fan (and general) opposition has led to them dropping the idea that it will be a closed competition. That would have been disastrous as it would have destroyed the pyramid system. The current proposals still seem pretty damaging to the pyramid but loosely retain its basic premise. That's not really been achieved through mobilisation but through the negative feedback that the original proposals generated.
I'm amazed they haven't released a statement on the matter, you know because they believe they are one of the elite clubs now
It will happen, Money always wins And sheep will watch it. Watered down version of The European Cup the same sheep that watch The Champions league, it used to be a proper competition, but then sponsors got it
Its proper **** now, 3rd and 4th placed teams from domestic leagues should not be in a "Champions" League tournament. Needs renaming to the Decent League
Is it not for all intents and purposes still pretty much a 'closed shop' though? The promotion and relegation thing is there to cloud it IMO. If for instance Liverpool were in the Star League last season and didn't get relegated to the Gold League then they would stay in the top league despite not qualifying for the Champions League this year. Newcastle would then go into the Blue League having qualified for the ECL this season but not be eligible to play against the likes of Real, Barce etc. in the Star League. The top tier teams would barely change as relegation would likely be followed by promotion and teams like Leicester, Newcastle etc. would maybe get to the Gold League but never reach the Star. So even less incentive for those teams who squeeze into Europe because they'll be playing the likes of Raków Czestochowa (POL), Aris Limassol (CYP), Olimpija Ljubljana (SVN), Molde (NOR) etc who will likely always occupy the Blue League... What happens though when Newcastle don't qualify for Europe say this season but gain promotion from the Blue League to the Gold? Does that push one of the clubs mentioned above out of the system and then more and more English, German, Spanish and Italian clubs end up in it via one good season and the Norwegian sides etc can't get in because it's full... That's how it looks to me anyway mate.
Absolutely! You're totally right, as far as I can see. It's only an open competition in name. It's still designed to keep the "big" clubs raking the money in and screw everybody else