The European Leagues & Competitions Thread V2

[Vesper 28,767]

IF we try and drag this out and have another go in a year or two, I am OUT

done

I will not follow a club that goes into some 'no chance at relegation' fucking yank franchise system that ends up with us ostracised and our player banned

nope, not having it

I will just find a smaller club to support, like wifey's QPR

maybe they get lucky and a rich owner buys them and gets them up to 'stay perm or so in the EPL' level

or maybe Brentford or Fulham

I have no interest in some plastic, tricked-up phoney league

 

[Fulham Broadway 16,829]

Yank billionaires will try again. Their greed knows no bounds, they know there is a market of millions of Chinese gamblers out there

[Vesper 28,767]

25 minutes ago, Vesper said:

£8m is supposedly the pull-out penalty

yes, I was thiking that too, thats what I get for not followig up on some asscunt arse fanbois statement

I just saw 300m euros penalty

which makes a lot more sense

https://www.caughtoffside.com/2021/04/23/super-league-dissenters-will-have-to-pay-monumental-fine-for-backing-out-of-the-project-contracts-reveal/

Quote

Whether the clubs will be in a position to rejoin at a later date isn’t clear, and given that the reason for doing so initially appeared to be centred on a financial windfall, the news that each club will be find €300m for backing out won’t be music to their ears.

 

[Fernando 6,453]

I assume that goes to Real Madrid and just like that they resolved their financial situation. 

I bet they did that in purpose knowing it will fail but to collect that money for themselves. 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[DDA 9,690]

Not sure if this was posted in here yet but wow... not a truer word spoken by J.Barnes. 

Nail on the head.

 

[chippy 342]

Good number of Gooners have turned up telling Kronke to do one.

[Jase 43,479]

#CeferinOUT trending on Twitter. lol

With the Super League out of the way, it's now UEFA's turn to face the problems with their silly Champions League reform plans...

[Tomo 21,733]

5 hours ago, chippy said:

Good number of Gooners have turned up telling Kronke to do one.

It's a pointless protest.

Most of them will still back the likes of Arteta, Xhaka and Bellerin while buying merchandise and tickets.

No point protesting against owners if you then go and back their symptoms (players and a manager only there due to their lack of ambition) and line their pockets.

United fans are just as bad, they claim they hate the Glazers then gas up top four finishes and claim they're progressing, exactly what they want.

Edited April 23, 2021 by Tomo

[OneMoSalah 8,776]

On 22/04/2021 at 13:25, Clockwork said:

Honestly why should West Ham be in the CL based on one fluke season? It is still merit based if you award teams who are consistently playing at higher level. Teams like West Ham are too volatile, one season they may push for push for top 4 and next season they may struggle to stay at the PL level.

Are you serious? Take your head out of your arse.... if a team finishes in a CL spot they deserve to play CL. Thats how competition works. If you don’t like it maybe find another sport.

Its like saying whats the point in us winning the title with Jose and then with Conte as the seasons after each of those we finished miles off the pace. 

And that would also spit in the face of Leicester’s amazing achievement back when they won the league, which was an absolutely huge, historical moment. 

On 22/04/2021 at 13:35, Clockwork said:

He shouldn’t be sacked, let’s be real everything goes through Roman and he has to sign off on it. Also it is unwise to give in to bully tactics.

Bully tactics?

The Super League could have potentially derailed 3 of the major domestic leagues, the CL and all the divisions underneath each domestic leagues.

By the way these clubs not giving into the PL and the demands of the fans who undoubtedly want change also at board level after they basically tried to strong arm the leagues and UEFA into giving them want they wanted by saying they had the intentions of joining a super league, would be an absolute joke. 

Its a good job fans cannot get into the stadiums because there will still be huge fall out to the end of the season and probably for a period during the summer to the new season starts because of this.  

[chippy 342]

1 hour ago, Tomo said:

It's a pointless protest.

Most of them will still back the likes of Arteta, Xhaka and Bellerin while buying merchandise and tickets.

No point protesting against owners if you then go and back their symptoms (players and a manager only there due to their lack of ambition) and line their pockets.

United fans are just as bad, they claim they hate the Glazers then gass up top four finishes and claim they're progressing, exactly what they want.

For sure, a one off protest by a couple of thousand fans isn't going to make him leave. But next season  fans will be back in stadiums (hopefully) and you could have literally tens of thousands making it very clear they want their owners to leave. Not just chants, but repeated mass walkouts during games. If they carried that on for several weeks I think that might well be enough to make owners quit.

Trouble is, in this economic climate, who's going to buy a football club for a couple of billion?

[Magic Lamps 11,653]

2 hours ago, chippy said:

For sure, a one off protest by a couple of thousand fans isn't going to make him leave. But next season  fans will be back in stadiums (hopefully) and you could have literally tens of thousands making it very clear they want their owners to leave. Not just chants, but repeated mass walkouts during games. If they carried that on for several weeks I think that might well be enough to make owners quit.

Trouble is, in this economic climate, who's going to buy a football club for a couple of billion?

Good point. The fans will make their wishes clear that is for sure.

The second point i think you are way off. Everyone who owns big sums in stocks has multiplied their wealth. Recessions and the subsequent recovery are the best time to grow a fortune and many billionaire have done so. There will be tons of buyers out there.

[Mário César 975]

On 22/04/2021 at 13:25, Clockwork said:

Honestly why should West Ham be in the CL based on one fluke season? It is still merit based if you award teams who are consistently playing at higher level. Teams like West Ham are too volatile, one season they may push for push for top 4 and next season they may struggle to stay at the PL level.

wtf dude?

[NikkiCFC 7,942]

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

Summary:

Bruce Buck was the one involved in discussions for a Super League, other conspirators were never convinced Abramovich was keen on the SL. Particularly with respect to Russian Teams and Sponsors in the CL.

Organisers of the Super League were more interested in negotiating with Levy than Spurs, he has championed the Super League idea for a while

Henry and Glazer started speaking regularly to each other when City started posing a threat, especially when City suppoesdly breached FFP. Kroenke was another willing ally

The idea that Chelsea signed up late seems untrue, Buck concluded that the elite clubs had to sign up with Real Madrid or risk being left behind, implying to me at least that he was involved in discussions

Ed Woodward supposedly acted as the person who was a realist about discussions, what Soriano (City) would call Dr No. Woodward caved the day after the Super League was announced and called Glazer to say he couldn't back the project, as Neville was talking about him Woodward had already quit.

Conversely, European sources say Woodward hadn't opposed the SL and only resigned when the plan went awry

Woodward expected the SL to succeed despite him resigning and is now wondering if he acted too hastily

City were the club Perez was talking about when they said one club had no interest an it affected all the rest

City could've aligned themselves with PSG/Bayern but those two are regarded as Qatari funded and so siding with them seemed unthinkable. FFP was also a factor, in that they still hold a grudge against UEFA

None of the organisers expected the government intervening, the UK's Envoy to the Gulf contacted the UAE to warn it could damage Abu Dhabi's relationship with the UK. Abu Dhabi decided it did not want it to become a diplomatic incident

InHouse Communications, the PR company, was brought in because it was perceived to be close to the PM, after being involved in his 2008 London Mayoral campaign

The bigger problem was that none of the Chairmen/senior board members wanted to execute the PR strategy that had been planned.

Abramovich and Mansour never spoke anyway but Levy was considered not important enough to take the lead and Kroenke was not part of the core group led by the Glazers and Perez

The Glazers did not want to go in front of cameras and Henry was not keen either, nobody wanted to be the one to do it, despite people telling them they needed to convince the public

The SL found out via the media that City/Chelsea were pulling out

The organisation was done via Zoom/Whatsapp/phone calls. One group of the owners, then a separate one for the executives. Some privates groups of certain groupings too.

When it was announced, a lot of the clubs were finding out details from the press release rather than from discussions beforehand

Chelsea started telling department heads on Friday that they were joining but the language made clear that it had been some time in planning

Chelsea is owned for reputational purposes, like City. Chelsea's directors realised that if they tried to stick it out, Abramovich's reputation could be ruined with the supporters and that could not be allowed to happen

City had nothing to lose by withdrawing as they don't really have a relation with other clubs in the PL. Soriano gets on better with Perez

The Super League was being talked about in 2016, Ed Woodward and Ivan Gazidis were invited to give their opinions on it by others in the ECA. Woodward showed little enthusiasm

Bayern were keen enough on the idea in 2016 to check if they could leave in the Bundesliga, but there was strong resistance from their supervisory board and it never went anywhere

Part of the reason the Big 6 made the leap is because the 14 dislike them more now under Masters than when Scudamore was in charge

Klopp has made his feelings clear to Gordon about the SL, FSG were warned about this beforehand and Klopp is still disappointed despite apologies

A foreign Liverpool player was confused before Leeds as to why they were being booed

Henderson mobilised Liverpool opposition after the Leeds game, his leadership was amazing and the rest of the players were all behind him. All of them regard the CL as the pinnacle and did not like the closed shop

A lot of the Arsenal players dislike Kroenke, going back to the pay-cut and subsequent sacking of club staff. The players are increasingly questioning the owner

Levy was infuriated in 2016 when the other 5 of the big 6 were invited to meet an executive from the International Champions Cup

Joe Lewis, the Spurs owner, seems to have been part of the group and likely in on this. But Levy was the one involved in negotiations and was very intent on joining

The SL organisers insist they were deadly serious about financing the women's game to an extent that would make it more on a level with the mens game

The money is regarded as absolutely necessary for Madrid because of their stadium and wanting Haaland/Mbappe

One board member from a Super League club abstained from the vote in the board on joining because he was so torn

The potential bans of clubs from the CL/EL are regarded as not financially sensible as these clubs are the main money generators, but there is anger from a lot of clubs on the continent

Agnelli is denying resigning but it does not seem sustainable for a man hated by UEFA and Serie A to be in charge

Woodward is leaving in the summer, ignore the PR spin about it being the end of the year

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Vesper 28,767]

Global survey of most loyal players per team   While player mobility has increased in recent years, squad stability remains a key success factor in football. Issue number 335 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post highlights the footballers among current squad members having played the most domestic league matches during the last ten years for 540 teams from 35 top divisions worldwide. Sebastián Viera holds the record figure with 395 championship games for Junior de Barranquilla (Colombia). At European level, Leicester City’s goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel (372 domestic league games) outranks FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (340) and Manchester United David de Gea (337). Karim Benzema is the current Real Madrid squad member who played the most championship games for the Merengues during the last decade (322), César Azpilicueta (292) for Chelsea, Sergio Agüero (272) for Manchester City and Marco Verratti (221) for Paris St-Germain. At league level, the average number of games over the last ten years for the most used player per team varies between 263 in the English Premier League and 125 in the Australian A-League. All of the five major European championships are in the top eight position of the rankings. This result shows that stability goes hand in hand with money and that player mobility is exacerbated where clubs lack resources.

[Atomiswave 6,072]

5 hours ago, Mana said:

And this is why Bayern will always win the league. They have way too much dominance and power in the Bundesliga.