West Ham Online

"Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur all agree to plan. Five English clubs are among 11 European teams who have signed up to a breakaway Super League in an extraordinary development on the eve of Uefa's announcement of a new Champions League format. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/18/sports/soccer/super-league-united-liverpool-juventus-madrid.html"

Good post Russ

"Rossal 10:57 Mon Apr 19 That's an interesting take. I wonder how the players would feel if the FA's across the world came out and said any players playing in the ESL won't be selected for their countries as the clubs in the ESL are not registered under the countries FA. This is why a joint approach and response from FIFA, UEFA, FA's and Leagues should come quickly. It would soon put a lid on this madness."

"GSP, I think we are likely to be one of the 3 'other' teams referred too. If so the sooner we opt out the better, not good (rich) enough to be a founder member these three clubs will be there as make weights who can be jettisoned later to make way for 'bigger names' in Germany, France and wherever. Where too then, certainly not the premiership? The whole thing is obscene and vile, how much more money do the so called top players need? If the premiership wants to show how tough they can be then deduct 10 points immediately from each of the six for breaking probably the biggest rule in the book, namely threatening the very existence of premiership football!"

"""You only have to see the reaction of the likes of Neville, Ferdinand, Carragher etc and what they have to say against their own clubs!"" If they were on the pay role, I doubt they'd be saying that. They'd be hoping it would happen to give them £500k a week."

"Bit of a declaration of war against the success of the PL and UEFA. The Italian, Spanish clubs etc.. hate the success of the PL and have bribed the top English clubs to beat it. So in effect this is a battle for control of the business of football and they have used non-relegation as a sweetener. The thing I find funny is that the big clubs think their success is earned by themselves, yet you've been playing against all the other domestic clubs for decades. With no one to play you dont have success. Its like they've got it backwards.. Otherwise your just the Harlem Globe trotters or something. The glory of the game is the competition and the fact that its ultimately by merit. Yanks really dont give a fuck about that apparently. The only saving grace is the it was the PL as a business that marketed the English clubs and made them big worldwide, not the clubs themselves. Its not easy to do. The Chinese have thrown money at football, FIFA have tried the world club thing etc.. its not easy. Essentially, the same clubs playing each other every week is kind of boring. And with no chance of relegation or major upset, less thrilling. I think Europe without those clubs could create a comparable competition that is just as interesting. And if players are banned from crossing leagues... I dont know how successful the new SL would be. My guess is that after a lengthy court battle, its UEFA that ends up losing control of the CL and the big clubs end up running it just like what happened with the PL. Maybe thats all this stuff is about."

Yes but the issue is take Sterling for example.....if he still wants to play for England he would have to probably halve his 300k a week wages as none of the prem teams left could get near his current wage.......would you pay 150k a week to play for England? Im not sure anyone would.... I also think they have egos and wont want to miss out on playing in the top European competition which this will become

It will mean these teams will get the better players more so than they do already. So instead of two top players for each position they will be able to afford more. Leaving the rest to scrap for what’s left.

"All really good posts on here about this. My own perception is that this is quite easy to remedy. From what I hear the clubs have to seek permission from their current leagues to compete. If they don't get it then they have to forcibly break away. Therefore, the first thing the PL bosses do is point blank refuse thus forcing them to break away. Then, if they do forcibly break away, the PL state that they will not be able to return by default and would have to then join the EFL and make their way up from the lower leagues. However, in amidst all this, the FA revoke their memberships thus forcing them to be an acting organisation outside of the EFL and then without any formal body. This then means they can't compete in the FA Cup or the League Cup taking away two other competitions from them. And if you don't fall under any specific FA body you can't then compete in any associated European competition and so this then rules them out of the CL and the Europa League. So all they are left with is this one European Superleague. And seriously, how boring is that? And, more importantly, how sustainable is that? So with that in mind, the dirty 12 may create their own cup competition and have a knock out competition. And then create another competition based on a round robin. But then that gets the same as the league format. May be fun for a while but would get boring. But the domestic leagues, the FA's and UEFA need to get tough and start playing hard. And they need to be prepared for these clubs to fuck off and do their own thing. But, they need to be confident in their own products to remain productive and exciting. I hope this doesn't happen but a small part of me hopes it does and is a fucking shambles and these clubs go out on their own and love in fantasy land whilst the rest of the world stay strong, positive and have an exciting game. I mean, this could actually be a new dawn for football without these poxy clubs."

"PL needs to chuck these teams out. PL chairmen will fear doing so as they will see TV revenue being lost but that will migrate over to ESL anyway. ESL teams will get 300m+ per season. If they stay in the PL how will everyone compete with that, the gap will just get bigger and they will just play their 2nd XI in the domestic league. Tell them to fuck off and they will be begging to come back in 3-4 years time."

"Kaiser Zoso 10:47 Mon Apr 19 Yes I do. I dont believe that all footballers are in the game just because of money. I believe that professional footballers love the game just as much as us. You only have to see the reaction of the likes of Neville, Ferdinand, Carragher etc and what they have to say against their own clubs! If they are kicked from domestic leagues and prevented from playing for national teams then the players wont want anything to do with this."

I actually hope this happens and they all fuck off and leave us alone to have a proper competitive league!

I think GSB knew this was coming and it was all part of their cunning plan.

"""This is EXACTLY what happens when you monetise things. It started in the early 90s"" There were lots of great things about football in the 80s. It being free wasn't one of them."

"this has nothing to do with a us model, and has zero comparison to something like the nfl where numerous measures are in place to try and ensure parity between the teams. this is purely an example of having your cake & eating it. you can't have half a dozen teams creaming a fortune from their own closed private midweek league, and still let them have a share of the domestic tv rights. If the premier league sits on its hands and does nothing, it's finished"

"I think this is great. Football could suddenly become a bit more interesting, let them fuck off. The best bit bit will be to see if any of these spineless wankers who run football go through with their veiled threats, and grow a backbone against the clubs they’ve sucked off for years."

dealcanvey 10:44 Mon Apr 19 Do you actually believe that? I think you might have a bit of an awakening in store.

dealcanvey 10:42 Mon Apr 19 The very least is that these clubs have forfeited their places in UEFA and domestic competitions. Fuck 'em.

stewie griffin 10:40 Them and the Glazers

How many players would not want to be part of their domestic leagues or their countries national teams? Dont underestimate the players. They already earn more money than they can spend and are football fans aswell. The players would have to back this and I don't see them doing so.

How many players would not want to be part of their domestic leagues or their countries national teams? Dont underestimate the players. They already earn more money than they can spend and are football fans aswell. The players would have to back this and I don't see them doing so.

legrandefromage 9:57 Mon Apr 19 Absolutely agree. In my eyes all the owners of the big 6 have now failed the fit and proper owners test. They should be forced to sell their clubs.

"The likes of Klopp have to speak out, given his previous rants on the modern game."

What a disgusting money grabbing idea. Good to see 95% of their own fans completely against it. Shows you what a cunty idea this is. If domestic leagues and UEFA hold their ground on this and kick them out of the leagues and prevent players from playing for their country this will be put to bed quickly.

"zico 10:15 Mon Apr 19 I'd be very surprised if the EPL/TV deal contained a clause that requires the ""Bog 6"" to always be part of the league. Whether or not it's ""expected"" that they will always be a permanent fixture is neither here nor there - it's just expectations. All I've seen about the deal is that it allows for the live broadcast of games between teams in the EPL - not for the broadcasters to dictate who is in that league. They may not like it if the ""Bog 6"" are suddenly no longer playing, but they signed up to broadcast matches from a league that already changed 3 teams every season. Nothing in that deal to say that any of those six cannot be included among the relegated clubs. As I said earlier - the authorities WILL be bought off."

"Given they are holding out for offers between £500m-£600 million for the club, I wonder where GSB loyalties currently lie on this. - Slagging it off as they are not one of the named teams. - Working feverishly behind the scenes to see if they can be included."