Football Super league rumours yet again !!

[ted fenton]

"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"

[nerd]

"Whatever the 6 do they signed a contract to the ESL , but also sound the EPL contract whoops .Section L9 of the league’s handbook states member clubs shall not enter or play in extra competitions without the prior written approval of the league’s board...... This is not good , pts deduction only genuine outcome ,but expect it to be suspended , so nothing actually happens, but they are entitled to smash them ."

[cholo]

"The elephant in the room is players wages and agents fees. The likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid can't afford to pay them forever, neither can they afford to not attract the world's best. They are up shit creek and terrified of a more level playing field where perhaps a Valencia or Seville can attract the same players on relatively speaking more sensible wages. The artificial mystique of the ""big"" clubs would soon start to fade if some sort of financial parity was implemented."

[Mike Oxsaw]

"Politicians are looking for anything vote-winningly popular at the moment, so this could have legs, err, legislatively. One would hope that at the meeting of the 14, what action to take should this all collapse would at least have been raised, if not discussed."

[Kaiser Zoso]

Did they not breach several PL rules then? Does the PL just laugh breaches off usually?

[Darby_]

I’m surprised anyone thinks there will be a punishment. The only punishment I think anyone can hope for is to create a law that stops it from happening again. Something like the ‘golden share’ idea where fan groups get a veto over certain issues like clubs moving to new competitions. That rule by itself would probably chase away these yank hedge fund speculators. In reality I don’t expect anything to happen at all. Everyone will forget it and go back into denial that the rich clubs will one day come back and try to create a closed Euroleague again. But I’ll hold out a little bit of hope that the right thing will be done.

[Stevethehammer]

"I would love the Premier league to show some bollocks and let the season play out, and then right after the last kick of the game, deduct 20 points from the teams that formed the breakaway. Those clubs would then be up in arms, going mad etc. All the TV money would have been paid up so no moaning, complaining from Sky/BT. Premier league then issue a statement that literally says. The perceived top 6 should stick to the fucking rules. Enjoy no European football next season. CUNTS."

[SurfaceAgentX2Zero]

"The reaction of Sky/BT/Amazon will be interesting. The ESL was a plan directed entirely at them. The 14 clubs in England and the others elsewhere were mere collateral damage. They will have to bid for the next round of TV rights knowing that the potential biggest games might not get to happen. They are all fuming, incidentally."

[Keep dreaming]

"This panned out just as I predicted. The next sensible thing to do would be to deduct points from those six clubs, but we all know that won't ever happen."

[Haz]

Really good and entertaining piece here - https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/john-henry-s-super-league-apology-sets-new-standards-for-drivel/ar-BB1fTWwB?ocid=msedgntp Enjoy!

[mashed in maryland]

Probably the first but more funny to assume the second

[lowlife]

Not read much on the sacking. Performance related or to do with his reaction to the ESL?

[mashed in maryland]

I just think its funny that the #1 legacy of all this malarkey is gonna be Spurs sacking their manager and everyone making memes taking the piss out of them.

[lowlife]

Or maybe they haven’t.

[lowlife]

"To put more pressure on the owners for being absolute twats basically. I’m sure they’d love their players to not be called up for their national teams, but equally sure pretty much all of those players want to play for their national team. If some of the sentiment from the players is to be believed, I wonder if there was a threat of some of them boycotting/refusing to play as they weren’t consulted. Anyway, Spurs now 2-1 up, wankers."

[boleyn8420]

No punishment whatsoever unbelievable. Sky just said Man City still need 11 points for the title in reverential tones as though nothing has happened and arnt City just an amazing team. They should need 26 points for the title and be spoken of as one of the 6 that tried to line their own pockets at the expense of everyone else. Not going to happen but disgusting no punishment

[swindon hammer]

Why would Southgate come out and say he would refuse to pick any players from the big 6? This situation wasn’t down to the players and Southgate seems to have a great relationship with most of them having closely worked with a lot of them for the past 4 years. Anyway I’m sure the respective owners would prefer their players weren’t reporting for International duty 5 times a year so it wouldn’t matter to them.

[BRANDED]

Exactly. Debt is cheap for the right people in the right place.

[ParadiseLost]

"Several billions of dollars of debt that would have been resold to the general market at today’s low interest rates. If things don’t go well its the bond holders who will get stiffed. Remember in the deal the clubs gets lots of guaranteed money. The Glaziers and co can take that income and turn it back into dividend payments for themselves. Of course if the clubs themselves went to the market for money things might be more difficult. Many of them are highly leveraged, any of them now have assets on the book that don’t look too clever. All those expensive players that no one has the money to buy anymore and all with contracts running down to be worth nothing. So, how about a nice big cash infusion and guaranteed cash flow stream, cheap. Someone at Moody’s will give a nice rating on the bonds - after all the new entity doesn’t have that historical debt baggage. Think how much West Ham to pay for their loans. Think how much Spurs with the debt on the stadium might have to pay. But borrowing money under the guise of this new league - cheap as proverbial chips."

[lowlife]

"Has there been any comment or reaction from Gareth ‘yes Sir’ Southgate yet, or is he waiting for the FA to tell him what to say? Would have loved him to say he’d refuse to pick any players from the ‘big 6’"

[lowlife]

"Has there been any comment or reaction from Gareth ‘yes Sir’ Southgate yet, or is he waiting for the FA to tell him what to say? Would have loved him to say he’d refuse to pick any players from the ‘big 6’"

[Too Much Too Young]

"One hopes karma materialises in draws and defeats for the shameless 6 until the end of the season at least.. No one likes them, the players will carry that monkey on their backs and it will affect their mentality. Has to."

[BRANDED]

The good think to know is there is several billions of dollars of debt ready and waiting at JPM at the push of the button if the magic money button.

[ted fenton]

Spuds losing 0-1

[Lily Hammer]

"The World Economic Forum website, talking about the Great Reset, is where I first heard this phrase “Stake Holder.” Now I hear it all the time."

[ParadiseLost]

"Agreed Mike, and they’ve kidnapped this concept about ‘sustainability’ which translates into ‘needed Return in Equity’. Was the pumping of so much debt into Manchester United by the Glaziers sustainable? Was paying De Gea (not even a clear number one) at 375 bags a week sustainable? But now, now we have a manufactured crisis, so we need to change a few things... With their income and their sponsors they are way more ‘sustainable’ than 99% of the rest of the clubs and they’ve plenty of assets that they could sell. But then they need Sancho from Dortmund don’t they - at 100 million plus. This ‘poor us’ is going to be the new theme. Being a ‘sustainable’ club so the Glaziers can pay themselves nice dividends."