It’s not just in England where the Super League fallout is radioactive. Here’s the latest from Nicky Bandini.
The backlash against the Super League in Italy has taken aim at Agnelli more than any other individual. His previous role as chairman of the European Club Association, and apparent betrayal of a close relationship with Uefa’s Aleksander Ceferin, inevitably placed him in the spotlight. Agnelli also chose to put his face forward, however, when he granted an interview to Corriere dello Sport and La Repubblica in which he sought to justify the move.
Colin Young gets in touch. He’s an Arsenal fan. “I’m firmly in the camp that supports punishing ‘the 6’ even if it means their supporters and players bear some of the hurt. What we have was no accident. Here is something that was deliberately planned by owners who already knew their power, who knew they had the fortunes and thus the potential rewards for all of their clubs fans and members in the palm of their sweaty hands.
“I keep hearing that this ESL was all about ‘greedy owners’ but I don’t agree, for me it was more about them strengthening their control but... they took their eyes off the ball. They forgot their responsibilities. They need to be reminded - and that’s going to hurt. No, they need a very unsubtle reminder of their duties as owners; to their fans, to their viewers, to all the other teams, to the sport itself.”
It’s a common opinion. We wait and see what level of intent the powers that be (the powers that nearly weren’t) have an appetite for, and a remit for.
Uefa is considering imposing sanctions on the 12 clubs involved in the failed attempt to establish a breakaway European Super League. Its president, Aleksander Ceferin, has warned they will “suffer the consequences” of “their mistake”.
The Guardian understands that the appetite to punish the renegade clubs – including the Premier League’s “Big Six” – is growing at European football’s governing body despite Ceferin hinting otherwise on Wednesday.
Time for you - yes you - to have your say.
Why was Boris Johnson so against what is essentially a free-market globalist enterprise? This might explain it. There’s only so much freedom in the market
Antonello Guerrera (@antoguerrera)
Johnson’s fury against the #SuperLeague project escalated beyond UK borders with his top aide putting big pressure on UAE. Top scoop by @hzeffman https://t.co/Dve5vLf8Qm
April 22, 2021
This story is being briefed at the moment; a couple of prominent fans have made similar statements. So, did Ed Woodward jump before he was pushed? Or did he jump after he pushed for a Super League?
It’s quite possible, of course, that Joel Glazer, prominent in Sunday’s night’s media releases and who issued an open letter fans on Wednesday, was leading the charge. And Woodward saw that it was a bad idea. After all, so did most people.
Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews)
Ed Woodward resigned as Man Utd's executive vice-chairman because he could not support the owners' plans to join the Super League, Sky Sports News has learned.
April 22, 2021
Looks like Bilbao has been withdrawn as a venue at Euro 2020.
fcbusiness Magazine (@fcbusiness)
Breaking: Authorities in Bilbao say they been withdrawn by UEFA as a Host City for Euro 2020.
April 22, 2021
Munich and Dublin are up for discussion, too, with Irish deputy prime minister Leo Varadkar saying: “We think June is too soon. I think if they continue to insist on [having 25% of the stadium full], it’ll be hard for it to go ahead quite frankly, which is unfortunate.”
What’s that got to the Super League? Well, Covid-19 has been the trigger for the breakaway clubs eyeing their bank balance and making a break for the border.
Meanwhile, in Germany, in an attempt to get the season finished on time, presumably for Euro 2021 (in June 2021), quarantine measures are being taken for the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga.
It’s all part of a piece.
DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga (@DFL_Official)
#DFL Executive Committee adopts two-stage quarantine measures for last three matchdays of the current 2020-21 season of the #Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 ➡️ https://t.co/wGHDhkFtqf pic.twitter.com/oMOk3X3xd6
April 22, 2021
This promises to be perhaps the set-piece of the day.
Peter Høst (@Peterhoest)
Arsenal have confirmed that Josh Kroenke WILL be attending the Fans' Forum today - which has been rescheduled again to 4:30 (UK)
April 22, 2021
Here are the keys development so far today.
- Manchester United fans gained access to the training facilities at Carrington, protesting at the club’s involvement in the Super League and to the ownership of the Glazers.
- Florentino Pérez, the Real Madrid president, has blamed one breakaway English club for Super League’s collapse
- Aleksander Čeferin, the president of Uefa, has said that the clubs involved in the failed attempt to establish a breakaway European Super League will “suffer the consequences”.
- Josh Kroenke will appear at an Arsenal Fans’ Forum this afternoon where he is expected to be grilled by supporters about the European Super League fiasco. Mikel Arteta has said Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke has apologised to him over the failed plans.
Right then, my watch is over - John Brewin is here to coax you through the next part of the day. Email him!
“I’m a 25 year old Spurs fan and have to say it’s been a tough couple of days,” writes Shane Moody. “For me, and I think this is incredibly obvious, football needs to look at its pricing, for both tickets, and TV packages. I love watching live games and want nothing more than to be able to go more frequently, however, it is just too expensive. I can barely afford to pay for the Spurs membership to be in for a chance of getting tickets, let alone the tickets themselves (they’re always sold out by the time they get to general sale meaning you have to pay for the membership to get early access) leaving me feeling excluded from the sport I love so much.
And to make matters worse, TV packages are in excess of hundreds a year. You end up paying for channels you don’t use and in normal times, not guaranteed to be showing your team. As a younger person with other priorities (like saving for a mortgage deposit) I struggle to see how I could justify such an expense.
My final bone to pick is the KO times. I do not truly believe that anyone wants to go to 8 pm game on a Monday night just so Sky can call it ‘Monday Night Football’ and justify their expensive TV packages. Late Sunday games are equally as bad. And this has only made it harder for me to go to games as I moved to Bristol two years ago.
Surely if as Perez said, they were thinking of younger generation, why would they add more cost to the game, who can afford to travel every other week across Europe to watch their team play away? And I’m in no doubt that the TV rights would be with yet another provider that would have to subscribe to. The problem is not the length of games and younger people losing interest, it is the cost involved.
To me the solution is clear and obvious (not a VAR joke), football has got to become more affordable. Start with a dedicated streaming service – £15 a Month for the 10 months the season lasts. You can make it flexible so if it’s a tougher month users can cancel. Games can go back to 3pm as Sky won’t be involved. Remove all the pre-sale tickets so that all fans have an equal opportunity to get tickets. And most of all, lower the price of tickets. And if the required sacrifice to do this is to cap player wages, then do it. Cap agent fees. Cap transfer fees. Cap spending. The rate of football fees increasing is a lot higher than wage growth, and that’s got to stop.
And in relation to a fitting punishment for the rich 6 (I refuse to call them big 6 when we’re not always the top 6). For me relegation is the only way. Get these owners to experience what true football really is, remind them what really makes football exciting because I think they’ve forgotten. And this way, they see first hand the struggles the rest of the football league has to go through in their wake.”
Yes, I agree with almost all of this. I think that every club should make a percentage of tickets pay on the gate for kids with an adult, that every Friday, any unsold tickets should be handed around local schools for free, and that clubs should be fined for empty seats.
I disagree slightly on kick-off times - a Monday night away is a beautiful thing because everyone there is fully committed, so you often get the kind of banging atmosphere that requires people who’ve been at it all day, and you also extend the weekend. The video below, for example, was taken after the game had finished and with the majority of those in it facing a bus ride from Southampton to Manchester.
I’m sure that at some point, the league will take control of its own telly broadcasts, and at that point it should, in theory, become much more affordable, while I think that all players should be repped by the PFA so that money doesn’t leave the game and go into the pockets of agents.
Yellow ticker behaviour: Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Bernard, Yerry Mina, Andre Gomes and Fabian Delph are fit for Everton.
“To add to league sanctions in my previous email,” returns Stephen King, “I’d like to see the Premier League immediately deem all directors involved as having failed the Owners and Directors Test. Surely undermining the integrity of the league would count?”
Absolutely. I’d be redrafting that yesterday and applying it tomorrow.
“I support Manchester United and this whole thing is abhorrent,” says John Bernard Major, “from the whole concept to the current grandstanding smokescreen from Uefa masking their own hideous flaws. Make no mistake, these rebels should be punished. One thing I find issue with however is not punishing the club because the players have had nothing to do with the whole debacle. Try saying this to players of Bolton or Sheffield Wednesday - they aren’t in charge of the finances of their clubs but still find/found themselves with hefty points deductions to negotiate.
I wonder whether we can reach protection for some of these clubs via a more circuitous route - I’ve been of the opinion for years that football clubs should be governed by a restrictive covenant like areas of towns are to protect their character - a bit like conservation areas or grade listing. They do it for any house some rich fop has lived in for five minutes 400 years ago so why not football clubs? Any decision regarding the fundamental purpose of their operation that takes them further away from their community or purpose would have to be specially scrutinised by an independent regulator and be potentially subject to appeals process through the courts. The clubs are as civically important to communities as works of architecture are. I understand this is ultimately the intention of the 50+1 theory but might this route be quicker to implement?”
I think we need to find a better solution for clubs like Wednesday and Bolton – I suggest a few preventative measures below – but yes, clubs need to be awarded special status as community assets to begin with, but 50+1 remains the end goal (as far as I see it).
“As an FC Porto fan,” says Antonio Jorge Silva, “I’m saddened that in this year’s Champions League only ONE team from outside the Big Five was able to get to the quarter-finals (happily it was FC Porto). Last year there were ZERO teams from outside the big five leagues passing the group stage. Three years ago, only FC Porto and Ajax were able to go through. This is a clear trend. Games like Chelsea vs Tottenham in the final stages of Champions League ... really, who wants to see that? We can see that in the Carabao Cup (and we don’t). We want underdog stories, we want that clubs such as FCP orto and Ajax are able to fight neck-to-neck with the Big Five. We want Grasshopper and Dinamo Zagreb back in the Champions League. I find no interest in a Champions League with five or six clubs from the UK or Spain (four may be a compromise..) If I want to see that I watch La Liga or the Premier League.”
I agree with all of that.
“As a North American football fan and therefore removed from the understandable emotions linked to the ESL,” writes Michael Walsh, “I just wanted to share a point that I think is being missed. I do not support the ESL and I believe that participation in any European competition needs to be based on qualification in a domestic league. However, the ESL concept does (did?) address an issue I have which is that there are not enough meaningful games between the biggest clubs in Europe. Given the current Champions League format, you can go years without seeing a matchup between certain clubs. As an example, I believe Manchester United and Real Madrid have only been paired twice in the last 20 years, granted MU has not qualified every year.
As someone who is a fan of football as opposed to a supporter specific club, I want to see as many matches as possible between the biggest clubs in England, Spain, Italy, and Germany. I realise that UEFA’s proposed revamp of the Champions League for 2024 might help address this slightly but I am not sure it goes far enough.”
I disagree with this – United-Madrid is special precisely because it doesn’t happen often, and if the teams are good enough they’ll earn more meetings – see United v Juventus in the 90s, Chelsea-Barcelona in the 00s and United-Barcelona in the 00s/10s.
“Despite what Jamie Redknapp said last night,” says Stephen King, “this isn’t something that can be swept under the carpet and forgotten about. I’m more in the G Nev/Alan Shearer school of thinking that sanctions must be swift. If Leeds were fined £200,000 for trying to gain an advantage by observing another team train, then an attempt to subvert the whole structure of football should be met with maximum penalties. I’d like to see the following:
UEFA: impose 2 year transfer bans
Leagues: impose a -25 points deduction from next season, if not this season, or immediate relegation.
National associations: fines as a proportion of each club’s revenue, maybe 10%, to be distributed down the pyramid and to grassroots organisations.
In the immediate future, these clubs must realise they cannot just spend whatever they want in the pursuit of more wealth and power. Time for the free market in football to end before it attempts to destroy the system again (love it when football and capitalism collide!).
In the medium to long term, it is time for salary caps, set agents fees, an end to ever spiralling TV deals, pricing for young people, affordable season tickets and possibly the start of affordable football streaming service, Premflix. There will never be a better time to reign all this nonsense in and we should do it soon, otherwise this situation will happen again.”
Relegation is never going to happen for the reasons discussed below but agree, this is our chance to make a better day and we mustn’t step off now.
“This morning felt like this had all been a dream,” writes Craig Walker. “Sky Sports News continuing their agenda that they invented football in 1992 and the fact that Man City and Spurs both won last night was where their focus should be. Is conducting a poll of whether Phil Foden is Man City’s player of the year really the news story to which they should be giving airtime? Was Mourinho’s sacking where their focus should have been on Monday?
I’m a long-suffering Everton supporter and we haven’t had much to shout about on the pitch but we are proud of how our club reacted to this coup attempt, how it treated its staff during the pandemic and the brilliant work it does for the local community.
To hear of pundits and ex-players saying that punishment affects the players and the fans is infuriating to a set of fans who were deprived of seeing arguably their greatest-ever team compete amongst the European elite for five years. Our club did nothing wrong then, and in truth, Everton have never reached the summit of English football in the decades since. That ban affected a whole host of clubs including Oxford United, Wimbledon, Coventry City, Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Wednesday. There are numerous cases where points deductions were enforced against clubs and it unfairly affected the blameless fans and players - Wigan Athletic spring to mind. I didn’t hear much outcry when Bury were forced out of business.
If there is no punishment undertaken then I hope, at the very least, that Sky Sports, BT and all of the print media (the Guardian included) ban the use of the term ‘the Big 6’.
Thing is, Everton were part of “the big five” who sought to take money from those who weren’t in the 80s, which is to say that, in general, clubs tend to behave according to their exchequers - a point beautifully made in a more general way by the brilliant Shalom Auslander in this piece. What shall we call the big six instead?
“As a United fan,” confesses Keith Thomas, “I agree with your point about punishments for the owners of the six clubs. The ideal way to do this would be for the government or FA to impose a German-style model of 51% fan ownership, with compensation for the owners restricted to a nominal sum, funds raised by sales of the shares to fans going towards paying down club debts (without allowing the same owners to access these funds or refinance or borrow money) and to increasing payments to clubs down the football pyramid. This appalling idea was the responsibility of those owners and they, not fans, clubs or players, should be the ones to bear any punishment.”
I always thought that when United listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the ability to do this vanished. But I’m no company law expert - anyone who is, please do email in to suggest ways this might be done, not just for United but for all clubs. Presumably the government isn’t going to requisition shares? But could they loan fans money to buy a share? Compel owners to issue more shares?
“I’ve written an overly long rebuttal to Zadok Olinga’s enquiry,” emails Kylan Zarbalian. “Feel free to ignore it but I’ve written it now:
This whole concept is based on the thought process that the mega teams of right now (mega in terms of finances and outlay rather than performance on the pitch in most cases) deserve to be the elite teams forever, regardless of what they achieve on the pitch.
Who would have classed Chelsea or Manchester City amongst the Super League elite 25 years ago? This will prevent stories like Leicester being promoted and winning the league within 2 seasons, or Atalanta following a system so effectively they regularly qualify for Europe ahead of bigger and richer teams.
Furthermore, this would actually encourage some teams’ owners to invest even less money in their clubs. Who would think the likes of Kroenke or the Glazers would have any qualms about finishing bottom of the ESL year in/year out if there’s no threat of financial losses? That doesn’t stand to make better football matches.
Also, those in favour talk about how exciting these games between the big teams are. Firstly, they aren’t always - often cagey bore draws. And secondly, they’re exciting because they’re rare and they frequently include a contrast in styles developed through the history of the clubs’ domestic leagues. If you homogenise all the teams, you will eventually lose that. Thirdly, there needs to be jeopardy, otherwise you might as well just watch friendlies between the teams.
Inevitably, this was also going to lead to matches being played across the world. This may not be as important to some international fans but football is about tradition and history, and to completely shun the community that birthed these clubs and supported them to get to this stage is a sad indictment of where the game is today.
You also automatically devalue the domestic league because only one team can win the title. If you’re out of the title picture within the first 10 games of the season who cares about the next 28 matches since you don’t need to try and qualify for Europe or even avoid relegation with this stupid closed system. You also ensure that the richest teams get even more of a financial advantage over the other teams and ensure an even greater disparity on the pitch.”
Also, if you’ve got a league effectively run by itself and for itself, who’s making sure the laws of the games stay as they are, who’s regulating it, and who’s running the compliance unit?
“It didn’t take very long did it?” asks Richard Harris. “Within a matter of hours of the six Premier League clubs hastily backing out of the ESL, the BBC were trumpeting this morning about City only needing three more wins to claim their fifth PL title.
Is it just me or has that achievement when it undoubtedly happens been stripped of its value? Likewise Liverpool’s title win last season. As an English fan I always support English teams in Europe but right now I’m hoping PSG win the Champions League and Roma or Villarreal win the Europa League – just so none of the ESL breakaway clubs get their dirty hands on the silver. I don’t think forgiveness can come for any of the PL six without a change of ownership.”
Honestly, I’d say that PSG are not better than the breakaway six, and I don’t think that City’s title is less of an achievement because of this. It’s not difficult to criticise the provenance or quantity of their money, but that was so before this week, in mine.
“As a United fan, I’d be happy to see all six relegated,” emails Peter Logan. “I think something as drastic as that along with, say, 51% legislation, is required to protect the game. Relegation will, as they say in my part of the world – make them smile on the other side of their face – the Championship clubs will benefit financially from the gate receipts and the Prem 6 will be hit hard in the pocket which is what they deserve for their greed.”
That’s never going to happen, and I’m not sure it’s logistically workable – it’s not fair on the teams in the Champo who wanted promoted and it’s not fair on the players either, though as a fan I’d love to watch my club Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday and go to some different places.
I’ve just seen that Elizabeth Olsen wanted to change her surname growing up, must be because of that backpass against Spain.
One of my favourite aspects of football folklore is that in Denmark, if you’ve messed something up or had a bad day, it’s described as “en rigtig Jesper Olsen – a real Jesper Olsen”.
On which point, this is every bit as brilliant as you’d expect, likewise the book.
“As a fan of one of the clubs involved,” says Toby Moses who moonlights as the Guardian’s TV editor, “I’m delighted to see this idea die a death, but am finding it increasingly hard to stomach the Uefa grandstanding in the aftermath. Ceferin’s organisation is the same one that has spread Euro 2020 across the continent, to the detriment of fans; allowed FFP to whither on the vine, thus allowing financial doping by oligarchs and nation states to totally warp football finances (driving Real and Barca in to financial ruination as they foolishly spent to keep up – boosting their support for a Super League); and hosted a Europa League final in Kazakhstan, a country near impossible to reach for the ordinary fan - meaning I missed watching my team in a final for the first time since 1994. If football is really to put its house in order, Uefa is a big part of the problem, not the solution.”
Yes, agree with almost all of this. As it goes, I don’t totally object to the Euro plan – it’s an anniversary and, in theory, gave countries who’ll never host a tournament the chance to be part of one. Picking Wembley over Cardiff is absurd, but otherwise. And yes, for the duration of this week Uefa were the solution to the problem, likewise the Premier League and government, but now they’re back to being the problem and require urgent reform and refocusing.
On Perez: Ceferein has known for a long time that Perez does not want a president like him. “And that’s an even bigger incentive for me to stay ... he wants a president who would obey him, who would listen to him and who would do as he thinks. And I try to do as I think is good for European and world football.”
How much power do fans have?
“The fans are very numerous, they love their club very much and if the fans get angry, it’s a kind of revolution. And no country can afford it. I find it very responsible from the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to take a sharp stand on the side of the fans, not only because of the culture and love of football, but also because it ensures order in the country.”
So is this what billionaires have underestimated in this story - just the power of fans that is different in Europe than in the US?
“On the one hand, it’s not just American owners, but also quite a few European owners. They’ve all underestimated us all. This is typical of people who are mostly surrounded by those who nod to them and tell them that they are the best, the most beautiful and the smartest. It is true that not all US club owners who are in Europe and there are many more have the same view. I spoke to the owner of Roma, to the owner of Marseille who are American billionaires and they called me and publicly stated that she would never join such a league because they respect the fans and the tradition of the club. So it would seem unfair to me to say that American owners are different - it is true that their sport system is different, some get to know each other very well, others but they have found out now.”
What kind of conflict was this really about? What is football supposed to be?
“Young people are still very interested in a football match, it is completely clear to me. The fact is that football is a sport, that it is a passion, a school of life, that you can learn from football. I am too. You can’t look at football as a product. You can’t look at the players as customers or consumers, you can’t look at how many you have in your account or how many new followers you have on Twitter instead of the result after the game, this has become common with certain big club owners and they have simply lost touch with reality. showed up in the UK 24 hours ago or something.”
“One Spanish journalist asked me after the congress why I didn’t talk to them. I replied that since we talked to them for two years, then they disappeared in the middle of the night. I won’t look for them in Europe to talk to them. Now, of course, everyone would prefer a dialogue, and I’m not saying we won’t talk, but I think we’ll have to assess the situation for a particular club and then see how it all turns out, but first you have to be at least about honest that you can expect dialogue from the other side.”
How will things proceed from here?
It’s about football. I can I sit next to everyone, and in addition to the matches we organize, I also set the seating order. So I can also put someone a little further away from me. In fact, if any club wants to play in our competition, they will have to approach us and we will have to sort out the things that happened now. However, I do not want to go into details, as we are still negotiating with the legal team. However, I would say that it is a very good decision by the English clubs and that we will also take into account that they admitted their mistake, that they understand that they did wrong ... We all make mistakes.”
“The doors of Uefa are open, and at the same time everyone will have to suffer the consequences for their actions,” he added. Is there a man who can go through this as Uefa president? To give UEFA interests in front of you? Ceferin ensures that it can separate. “I think football is an exceptional, well interesting, activity. I think all these clubs are part of Uefa. Of course, I will never have a personal relationship with certain people again. I can always separate that.”
Thoughts on Barcelona and Juan Laporta
“To some extent I was disappointed by everyone, but I must say that maybe Barcelona is the least. Laporta was elected a very short time ago and I spoke to him two or three times. He was under considerable pressure due to the financial situation in which is a football club, and he inherited it - it was not his fault that the situation was like that, so he was obviously under a lot of pressure, but at the same time, as a cunning negotiator, he secured an exit strategy.I might want to say something else that Perez said before - clubs have losses, but also because they are poorly run. If you overpay players, unsuitable players, and therefore do not achieve a result, it means a loss. For example, Bayern Munich has no loss and won the Champions League. So it is not always to pronounce only on covid-19, to which many are pronounced. But the president of the German league also said: Sad club management.”
How important was it that Bayern did not participate?
“I was in constant contact with Bayern general manager Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Borussia Dortmund general manager Hans-Joachim Watzki, who were very supportive and offered maximum support by PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who would logically be he could be one of the first to join this story with the Super League.”
Why didn’t he?
“Because he believes in football and because the Emir believes in football, because he knows that the pyramid should not be torn down, because he met with his fans, because they work with their fans. He was one big support and he was with us all the time, without him, Rummenigge and Watzke, it would be harder for us to succeed. “
What will happen as regards this season’s European competitions?
“The key is that the season has already started, the key is that the televisions would claim damages against us if we didn’t play the semi-finals. Therefore, there is a relatively small chance that this match will not take place next week. But it will be a little different in the future.”
When did he know that the Super League project would fail?
He says he certainly knew in himself Monday morning, right after their announcement on Sunday night. “I was confident in myself and so I told my delegates at the congress: In 24 hours from today, this will not be the case. But I was certainly convinced after the congress when I started getting calls from the clubs that came out.”
Is the super league dead now?
“In my opinion, there has never been a Super League at all. It was an attempt to set up a phantom league of the rich that would not follow any system, would not take into account the pyramid of football in Europe, tradition, culture, history. they came the day before and were worried about what would happen to football, he said: Give me 24 hours and this league will be gone.”
When and where did the turning point that buried the billionaires who founded the Super League take place?
“It was a combination of different factors. It first started with our statement along with the leagues and other clubs when we strongly opposed the establishment of this league. It was a Sunday afternoon. They came in at night with a press release and We had an executive committee in the morning, we approved all the changes and after that I had a press conference where I told all the backgrounds as openly as possible. After that came a response from the office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and French President Macron came forward very quickly. But most of all, of course, the fans helped, who staged a real revolution and did not allow themselves to be despised, ignored and thought they could be bought.”
“Do not doubt, we do not support the establishment of the Super League, I think it is not in the interest of fans and football. How can it be right then that we have a situation where we have created a kind of cartel that prevents clubs from competing and competing with each other as I think it violates the basic principles of the competition and if this principle of the competition is to be secured, we will look for, as I said, a way, a legal solution, but I hope they can find a way forward on their ow.
What did Boris Johnson’s intervention achieve?
“According to the English media, his call was fatal, in which he told the owners of English clubs that ‘they can arrange a really high luxury tax and that, thanks to Brexit, they can greatly complicate the procedures for issuing temporary residence permits to foreign footballers in England”.
“He is aware that citizens are actually one of the lowest economy class, they live hard, and they spend the last money to watch football matches, which is their passion, relaxation, which is part of European culture, part of history. And it seemed to me the reaction is very logical - he didn’t care what happened to football, because that would affect the citizens, of course. “
“We were in contact and I also spoke to his Cabinet today. They responded excellently; I must say I was impressed by their effectiveness. They immediately said they were available to us for anything to go public with a very sharp And that reaction from the British government has helped a lot.\’
The president of Uefa is considered to be a very capable man, which is also proven by the fact that he stopped the creation of the new Super League in 48 hours. Did he really know nothing about its origin? However, 12 owners were involved in it, then there are lawyers ...
“We have negotiated with the clubs, but this is the 247 clubs in Europe that are members of the European Club Association - about the future of the Champions League after 2024. I talked the most with the president of the club association, who always told me that they were with Every now and then I hear some rumors that something is being prepared, but I may have naively said that I can’t believe it - that people talk to their mother every day, that they actually negotiate with us about the future and ‘have something behind’ What happened in the end was that the Executive Vice President of Manchester United called me on Thursday and said: ‘You have prepared excellent reforms, I am very supportive of them and I am glad that we will be voting on this tomorrow.’ We had a meeting on Friday. was led by Andrea Agnelli, as the then president of the club association, and everyone voted for the changes as we proposed at Uefa, so the same people who had already signed something else at the time voted for the changes ... But then there’s the story more complications and.”
But was he too naive at the promises of Agnelli, who was also his private friend - he is also his daughter’s godfather after all - because he believed he wasn’t playing a double game, that he was against the Super League?
“I may have been naive, but I always say it’s better to be naive than a liar. I’m just naive.”
But when did he know Agnelli had betrayed him? When he turned off his phone on Saturday night and didn’t answer again?
He says Saturday was really very interesting. In the morning, he first got a call from someone he didn’t want to mention otherwise, and who told him he had reliable information that the founding of some Super League was to be announced on Sunday night. “Then I got calls from five clubs out of those 12, they all apologised to me that they were sorry, but that they had to sign it. Because if they didn’t, they would have dropped out of that league and so on. I called Agnelli right away, he didn’t. Then I slowly just got him on the phone, I said what’s on it, and he said to me, ‘This is bullshit, it’s not true, it’s all made up.’ Then I said ‘ok, if it’s made up - because so much again I’m not naive - then let’s make a statement to the public and say there’s nothing wrong with that.’ He said: ‘Great, you make a draft, and we’ll talk.’
Then I tried to get it again with a draft, but slowly I just got it and he said that he doesn’t quite like the draft, that he will change it a little and call me. But he never called again and he turned off the phone. This happened on Saturday night or on the night from Saturday to Sunday. I was driving to Switzerland at the time, and then I got a call from the last of the 12 clubs to sign. He told me, ‘Look, I have to sign tomorrow morning, otherwise I won’t be a part of it.’ I told him: ‘Okay, just tomorrow Let’s start a war. If so, tomorrow you are my enemies.’ And they said: ‘We would like to be friends, in the Super League.’ But I said it just doesn’t exist. And that’s how it started. On Sunday night, I think around midnight, one, they announced. What’s interesting again - it’s about European football, and they published in the middle of the night. Obviously for the American market. Which, in particular, further angered some fans.”
Ceferin says no one has told him as many lies as Angelli told him. He told Reuters today that the severance of relations with the Uefa president is a detail from private life. “Yeah, right. I don’t think if you’re talking about business, it’s not very private. If I were talking about where we’re going on vacation and what the kids are doing, I wouldn’t talk about it publicly. But if someone puts it under ask the fate of European, which also means the fate of world football - because of its constant untruths, but it is still a public thing that must be shared. And I am always ready to confirm it. Of course, it is difficult to admit, but it is probably better to say that it is a separate matter.”
Did the super league happen because Florentino Perez and Joel Glazer underestimated him?
“I don’t know, it’s also possible. Certainly, if someone goes into a project like this, so unverified, then they underestimate not only me, but the whole situation. After all, these people are very rich, so I was amazed they didn’t know what they were into. The fact is, I don’t expect anyone in football to underestimate me in the future.”
Why did he use such powerful words that he could never take them back?
“It is actually horrifying to me that, while you are enormously rich, profit means so much that not a single value applies to you anymore. You can tell lies; you can easily take them to a new competition without the players, coaches, anyone knowing. Zvonimir Boban said to me: “I signed for Milan because I wanted to win the Champions League. Not to sign then if we were to set up some phantom league that would satisfy only a certain number of the rich. For me - I don’t want to use too harsh a term - it’s downright horrible that greed can be so strong that you don’t care about the sport we love, European culture, European tradition, fans and, last but not least, personal friendships.”
“As a Liverpool fan I’d be quite happy to see all six clubs hit with a points deduction for next season,” says Richard Dunne. “They need to understand that they can’t dictate everything. At least all the big boys would have the same disadvantage and it would give the other 14 clubs a big advantage in terms of getting into Europe, after almost being effectively kicked out for the foreseeable future, if this plan had went ahead.”
I’m not sure six points would make much of a difference, or at least it wouldn’t to most clubs in the league, who still won’t be competing at the top end. My guess is most would prefer money and reduced influence.
Mikel Arteta says the Kroenkes apologised to him about their botched attempt to take Arsenal into a Super League. “Obviously they have the maximum responsibility of running the football club and this is what they said,” he explained in his press conference this morning. “They apologised for disturbing the team, not having the capacity or ability to communicate in a different way earlier and explain the reasons why. They wanted me to pass on the message to the players. That’s all you can ask for. The way they’ve done it, I have to accept it completely.”
It did not necessarily sound like an apology for the idea itself. Under intensive questioning Arteta generally defended his employers but he did say the ability to participate in a competition “has to be earned on the pitch”. He said a “big tsunami” killed the league, referring to the strength of reaction to it.
My colleague, Ed Aarons, emails to flag that Aleksander Čeferin, the president of Uefa, has said that the clubs involved in the failed attempt to establish a breakaway European Super League will “suffer the consequences”. Speaking in an interview with Slovenian website 24UR, he said: “There are 244 clubs on our side out of the 247 in Europe ... We expect they (Super League clubs) will realise their mistakes and suffer the consequences. It’s been a while since I last saw such a conspiracy ... From time to time I would hear rumours that something was being prepared, but I naively could not believe that the people who were talking with me on a daily basis about our future were, in fact, preparing a different thing behind our backs.”
Ceferin – who confirmed that next week’s Champions League semi-finals are expected to go ahead – also paid tribute to the role supporters played in forcing some ESL clubs to withdraw. “They staged a real revolution and did not allow themselves to be despised, ignored and thought they could be bought,” he said.
As we speak, I am, thanks to Rok Hafner who sent me the link, putting the transcript through Google Translate. I’ll stick the highlights up as I come by them.
“As a Dutchman,” says Henk Boon, “I watched the whole spectacle this week with mixed feelings. Yes, it was a great victory for football in Europe and I am very glad with the result. However, it is nowadays already almost impossible for a team outside the big five competitions to reach the quarter-finals (except perhaps Portuguese teams and Ajax). Those millions from the Champions League almost exclusively go to the big teams from the biggest leagues. That has to change. With the new rules in 2024 it is possible (and very likely) that there will be six qualified English teams for the Champions League. That’s two more than the qualified teams from Russia, Belgium, Netherlands, Ukraine, Scotland and 40 other countries combined. If you want to make European Football more exciting you have to make sure that there will be more opportunities and money going to the other countries and teams. So, the English teams have to give room for other countries.”
Yes, I agree with all of this. The best way to improve the group stages of the Champions League is either fewer teams from the big leagues, which is never going to happen, or redistributing wealth with the aim of raising the levels of teams from everywhere else, then giving them more places.
Our man at Carrington reports: There was only two security guards outside the main entrance to Manchester United’s Carrington training complex after the incident. One said police were called and arrived “pretty quickly” to disperse the fans, who are understood to have left at around 10.30am – about 90 minutes after they entered the facility.
There was no sign of any protest by 11am as the occasional blacked-out people carrier rushed in and out of the state-of-the-art complex, where United players have trained since 2000.
PA have reported on the Carrington protests:
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer spoke to a group of fans who took their protests against the Glazers to the training ground on Thursday.
The Old Trafford giants have been under the American family’s ownership since they completed their controversial takeover of the club in 2005. Their reputation managed to sink to a new low in recent days after attempting to launch the European Super League, with United co-chairman Joel Glazer named vice-chairman of the breakaway competition.
But the proposed league swiftly and spectacularly unravelled. United announced executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward would leave by the end of the year and Glazer admitted “we got it wrong” in an open letter to fans.
But anger understandably remains and a group of around 20 fans protested against the owners at the club’s Carrington training base on Thursday. United said in a statement: “At approximately 9am this morning a group gained access to the club training ground.
“The manager and others spoke to them. Buildings were secure and the group has now left the site.”
The Redissue Twitter account showed an image of fans on a training pitch with a banner reading ‘Glazers Out’ and another saying ‘51% MUFC 20’ in reference to the model of ownership used widely in Germany. In another image, protestors are shown holding a banner reading ‘we decide when you play’ outside the entrance to the main training ground building.
Solskjaer is due to speak publicly on the Super League for the first time at his next press conference on Friday.
Tony Pimlott sends in his mate’s thoughts: “Empty words from JW Henry. What about apologising to ALL football supporters worldwide, not just Liverpool? His apology clearly illustrates the attitude of the owners of these big clubs – it’s just all about us. Mick Quinn has also just been on the radio showing the same attitude – the clubs shouldn’t be punished as it’s not fair on the supporters. What about all the other lower-league clubs that have had points deductions due to dodgy practices by their owners? None of those have been the fault of the supporters but they’ve had to suffer. The Big 6 have only gone and tried to ruin the game of football for all supporters WORLDWIDE, but hey, let’s just let them get away with it, the amount of stick they’re getting is punishment enough, makes me sick. Looks like Uefa aren’t going to punish them in any way, we all know why – because they need them. Let’s see if the FA and the Premier League have got the balls to do anything, I doubt it.”
I’ve been saying this for years, but I think that all clubs should contribute to a fund that ensures no club ever goes to the wall. It’s true that it might encourage owners to speculate, but a serious test of who gets to buy clubs should make that far less likely, and a way of regulating things would be to make chairman prove they can afford a signing or a ground redevelopment before they make or undertake it. I also think rich clubs should pay into a different fund that lends money to poorer clubs at a low rate of interest.
“Re punishments,” says Gary Naylor, “I’m not for CL bans (‘points make prizes’ was pretty much what fans were demanding), but I’d quite like to see a six-window transfer ban and a fine equivalent to the last six windows’ spend used to fund clubs in trouble way down the pyramid. Fans and players relatively unscathed, the pyramid structure affirmed, the current season’s integrity retained, clubs in trouble helped and the 14’s own playing staff not raided by clubs so impecunious they need their own goldmine.”
This isn’t a value judgment, but of course fans are affected by transfer bans – and so are players. As a supporter of one of the teams, I don’t care too much what the punishment is and I’d certainly not get self-righteous about it, but if we’re looking to isolate those responsible, it’s not about hampering teams on the pitch – Kroenke and the Glazers effectively do that themselves – but about banning those responsible from being involved in football or, more likely I’d imagine, fining them heavily though most of them can afford to pay whatever the amount would be.
Gosh, this is like football’s Arab Spring! Or is it 1848, historians?
𝗥𝗠𝗢𝗻𝗹𝘆 (@ReaIMadridOnly)
📸 | Real Madrid fans outside the Santiago Bernabéu protesting the Super League. 👏🏼😍 pic.twitter.com/TVP6maxyKH
April 22, 2021
Red Issue (@RedIssue)
Carrington’s facilities manager came out to speak to the protesters, despite brandishing a scouse accent.
He was told the group wanted to speak to Solskjaer. The scouser said that he wouldn’t be coming out cos the group was “intimidating”.
They said they’d stay until he did.
April 22, 2021
Red Issue (@RedIssue)
The facilities manager went back inside to petition Solskjaer, who eventually came out alongside his coaching staff.
Solskjaer was asked where his voice has disappeared to, having previously become a patron of @MU_ST in 2005, supporting the campaign against the Glazers.
April 22, 2021
Red Issue (@RedIssue)
The protesters asked why he could take a stand then, as a player, but not now in his far more powerful position as manager.
He replied that “Joel” loves the club.
April 22, 2021
Oh, Ole. I guess it must be hard not to love something that’s given you and your family over a billion quid for free, but I’m not sure that’s the kind of love most of us feel for our clubs.
Chris Gibney responds to Zadok below, writing that “this argument needs ‘balance’ in the same way that arguments about climate change need balance. They don’t. Sometimes ideas are so ruinously stupid, greedy and ill-conceived that what’s needed is a united front of opposition.”
This point is extremely relevant to where we find ourselves as a society: over the last decade in particular, we’ve been handing platforms to those who deny societal axioms, particularly with regard to race, in the name of balance. Right and wrong still exists.
Email! “The sense of wonder doesn’t stop when you grow up,” says Richard Hirst of his footballing life. “I have cried twice about my football team as an adult:
- When I saw Fulham walk out at Wembley in the 1975 Cup Final, because I had never imagined that I would see anything like that. The fact that we lost was far less important than that we were there in the first place; and
- When I walked up the steps and saw the Hamburg stadium laid out below me before Fulham appeared in the 2010 Europa League final. Again, losing (although agonising in the last minute of extra time) was less important than the fact that my team had reached a European final.
At the other end of the scale, the first time my daughter cried about Fulham was as a five-year-old at Swansea when we lost and were relegated to the bottom division for the first time in our history. In 2018 we celebrated victory together at the Championship playoff final. Without the lows you cannot appreciate the highs. We need constantly to remind the Glazers, Kronkes and Agnellis of that, and that football is about more than spending power.”
Absolutely. If we’re doing this, I guess my eyeballs were sweating at the end of the 1999 Champions League final and at the end of Alex Ferguson’s last game as Manchester United manager, but full-on tears? When Jesse Lingard scored the winner in the 2016 cup final, after my wife and daughter had been racially profiled on their way into synagogue (on which point, this was not a segue I’d planned, but it would be odd not to mention that a report into racial inclusivity in the Jewish community has been published today).
I should note, below we wondered how a crowd might respond to the Glazers the next time they visit Old Trafford. Well, they’ve not been for two years and I doubt they plan on so doing in the near to distant future.
“At approximately 9am this morning a group gained access to the club training ground. The manager and others spoke to them. Buildings were secure and the group has now left the site.”
Thanks Luke and morning all! It’s been a week hasn’t it? Goodness me, I’m a wreck. But a relieved, happy and hopeful wreck which, if you’d offered it me on that dreadful Monday morning and to quote Ryan Giggs, “I’d’ve took it.”
I shall now hand over to Super League live blog supremo Daniel Harris to take you through the rest of the morning. Thanks for the emails, interesting stuff.
More on the Carrington protest story as soon as we get it. On email, Zadok Olinga calls for some balance with a bit of Brexit-related banter thrown in:
“There are millions of fans outside of Europe (especially Britain) who wouldn’t mind the #superLeague. We have no “local connections” to worry about. There’s been way too much anger and little explanation of exactly why this would be the “death of football”. Why couldn’t the leagues in England go on without the 6 want aways? How exactly would the super League stop kids kicking a ball into the net? ... Some balance to this conversation would be nice now that all the anger has died down.”
Thanks Zadok. Britain remains in Europe, I’d like to point out, albeit outside of the European Union. (Also not sure the anger’s died down ...) But I think there’s an argument that if clubs want to break away, they should do so - but they would also have to accept that they’ll be booted out of domestic football. With this project, the clubs were essentially saying - ‘We are bigger than the competitions we currently play in’ - and had the league gone ahead it was down to the governing bodies to show them that that is not the case, with the strongest possible sanctions.
An email arrives from Pete Fielding: “I’m a lifelong Manchester United fan and want my club to be heavily punished for this scandal. Can’t believe fans saying their clubs should get away with it now it’s over. It’s a disgrace, the game is bigger than a few seasons without European football for Six Snakes. Ban them, fine them, deduct points if you want and scrap this ridiculous new Champions League.”
Manchester United fans have gained access to the training facilities at Carrington, protesting at the club’s involvement in the Super League and to the ownership of the Glazers.
Red Issue (@RedIssue)
First team pitch: pic.twitter.com/lbVGzk9rhl
April 22, 2021
These protests are going to keep coming, there’s no question about that. What happens when fans are back in stadiums and - for instance - the owners of Liverpool and/or Manchester United arrive to take in a home fixture from the corporate boxes?
The question of what kind of punishments are now going to be handed out to clubs is obviously a thorny one. When the Super League still appeared to be going ahead, I was preoccupied with the issue of how it was all going to work with the players’ contracts (not that that was the biggest issue at stake, I just couldn’t see how it was possibly going to work ...) The players potentially faced losing out on representing their countries - and surely that may have opened the way for legal action by players v clubs - but of course the clubs would have incentivised the players by giving them a slice of the millions generated by their involvement in the league. Much like the old rebel tours in cricket, many players may have seen it as a price worth paying, and if they signed a contract to that effect consenting to the possibility of an international ban, they’d probably have had no recourse to any future legal action. Now, football has a legal minefield of another kind, because harsh punishments are deserved, but will no doubt be legally challenged by the clubs in question.
An email from Philip Malcolm: “Does it feel crazy to you how quickly fans of the six and the media have turned from “Ban us, relegate us, do what you want we deserve it.” to “You’d only be hurting the fans”? I’m not sure I understand how a transfer ban, European ban, points deduction or relegation for conspiring for at least a year to blow up domestic football would hurt the supporters, their club would still be there, they could still go to the game (ho ho ho), watch on TV etc. There need to be concrete consequences for what amounted to an attempted coup instead of just a cuddle and a “welcome back”. Otherwise, what incentive is there for other clubs to follow the rules on FFP or anything else if any punishment would just “hurt the fans”.”
Thanks for the email, Philip. As Jonathan Liew wrote last night, clearly there must be consequences for the clubs involved:
“Appeasement of football’s richest clubs has not worked and will not work. The vultures circle and they always want more. We’ve fed them, and fed them, and it hasn’t sated their appetite – it has just built their strength and fed their greed. This time the cabal of billionaire owners have overplayed their hand and their rapacious appetite has backfired in spectacular fashion.”
Kevin Miles, chief executive of the Football Supporters Association, gives his reaction to this week’s scandal:
‘Football wins’
The Manchester City captain Fernandinho believes football has emerged victorious following the collapse of the breakaway European Super League.
The Brazilian told Sky Sports: “It has been crazy. On Monday this Super League comes out, we were a little bit surprised. We didn’t expect that but, at the end, I think the good sense was the right thing to do. I think everyone who loves football didn’t support this Super League, including players at our club.
“We are so happy now because everything was turned around and all the people who love football are calm. For sure, we are happy because at the end football wins.” (PA)
What should be done to improve football’s governance? If you would like to be involved in the conversation, and be included in our coverage of this issue - one that is clearly going to be at the forefront of people’s minds in coming months - please fill out the form here with your thoughts, and one of our journalists may get in touch with you:
Hot off the press from Sid Lowe in Spain:
“The breakaway Super League collapsed due to the ferocity of opposition and because one of the English clubs, understood to be Manchester City, was not fully committed, according to Florentino Pérez.
“... He insisted that none of the clubs, all of whom he said had signed identical contracts which contain penalty clauses for pulling out, had formally left the association and claimed that they would continue to work to find “solutions”.”
Let’s kick off today’s live blog with some top Super-League-collapse analysis from Sean Ingle, Fabrizio Romano and Nick Ames:
“As the last clubs crawled from the smouldering wreck of the European Super League, the £4.5bn competition that promised to turn football on its head only to crash and burn inside 50 hours, the blame game was already beginning. Insiders tell of a disastrous public relations strategy, of little earthquakes inside clubs, and of the 12 clubs being unable to get their message across amid a continual onslaught: from fans, governments and football’s governing bodies. “It was like shouting into a hurricane,” one well-placed Super League source says.”
If you spent the last several days hunkering down in a cave, you’ll have missed all the scandal and drama of the European Super League saga, which continues to unfold. On Sunday afternoon rumours surfaced of an imminent announcement regarding a breakaway European competition for some of Europe’s top clubs. At around 11pm that night the official announcement duly arrived. A ferocious backlash ensued with football fans across the globe - along with governing bodies and governments - decrying the scheme. By Tuesday afternoon, with 1,000 angry Chelsea fans besieging Stamford Bridge, the project began to come crashing down as Chelsea and Manchester City announced their intention to withdraw - and before the day was done, the other four Premier League sides that had signed up did the same. Florentino Pérez insists the Super League is merely on hold for now, so there is plenty more to come from this story, and we’ll bring you all the latest news on it, right here.
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