Champions League Reforms and The Super League

[rynny]

 

[Andicis]

 

[ramsbottom]

13 hours ago, Andicis said:

The whole of Europe gets the pick of 5 spots, how generous Florentino. 

That 2nd tweet should read "will be able to play the 14 best teams, and Spurs".  Or joking aside, "will be able to play the 15 greediest teams who're up their own arses".

Edited April 20, 2021 by ramsbottom

[rynny]

 

 

[DarkFruitsRam7]

52 minutes ago, David said:

A few have come out to voice their dislike for the idea, but not sure what they can do.

Players like Milner won’t make a difference, only has another season or two in him.

Now if a significant number of young stars all came out and said we’re out once our contracts are up, maybe they would listen, not sure. 

They are contracted to play, all they could do is run their deals down but when you have a player that’s been on 150k pw at say United, is he going to be happy walking away for say 50k a week at West Ham to make a stand?

They will have lifestyles and investments in place where it would be a huge hit for them. 

They can hand in transfer requests, go on strike, etc.

Your second two paragraphs don’t change anything I said in my original post. They’d have to be prepared to give up some of their extraordinary wealth for the good of the game. Whether or not they do that comes down to how principled they are in my book.

[Day]

6 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

They can hand in transfer requests, go on strike, etc.

Your second two paragraphs don’t change anything I said in my original post. They’d have to be prepared to give up some of their extraordinary wealth for the good of the game. Whether or not they do that comes down to how principled they are in my book.

They could, but a transfer request can be rejected or a silly price tag slapped on their head. 

Strike, sure, at which point they won’t be paid, how long does that go on for?

I don’t see a significant number of players doing that to go against this sadly.

[DarkFruitsRam7]

5 minutes ago, David said:

They could, but a transfer request can be rejected or a silly price tag slapped on their head. 

Strike, sure, at which point they won’t be paid, how long does that go on for?

I don’t see a significant number of players doing that to go against this sadly.

If the players banded together and took strong action, I firmly believe they'd win. Haven't people been moaning about individual player power for years? Imagine how powerful they could be if they acted collectively.

But, like you, I don't see it happening. Though Henderson calling a meeting of the captains is a positive sign.

[ramsbottom]

27 minutes ago, rynny said:

 

 

Who made it? Considering Boris gets the assist, more than likely a Wetherspoons loving gammon. Decent effort though ??

[AndyinLiverpool]

10 minutes ago, David said:

They could, but a transfer request can be rejected or a silly price tag slapped on their head. 

Strike, sure, at which point they won’t be paid, how long does that go on for?

I don’t see a significant number of players doing that to go against this sadly.

Players  don't have to slavishly follow orders. I doubt there are that many even now who have contacts longer than the next 2 or 3 seasons. Some of those are massive assets to their clubs. It may not take many of them to say publicly that they won't renew and explicitly state why and suddenly you have a bandwagon.

During the coup attempt in Russia in 1991, tanks rolled up to the Russian parliament building where Boris Yeltsin and his supporters were gathered. As those supporters prepared to oppose those tanks, the commander of the tank column said, 'Stand aside. We are with you.' And promptly turned their turrets outwards to defend the parliament. At that point the coup was over. One small act of defiance in the face of terrible odds.

It doesn't take much.

[ramsbottom]

11 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

If the players banded together and took strong action, I firmly believe they'd win. Haven't people been moaning about individual player power for years? Imagine how powerful they could be if they acted collectively.

But, like you, I don't see it happening. Though Henderson calling a meeting of the captains is a positive sign.

Is the PFA classed a union? If so, they can strike...

[Ghost of Clough]

1 hour ago, David said:

They only have one season left on the deal don’t they?

Maybe, haven't looked into it to be honest.

1 hour ago, FindernRam said:

If ESL are booted from the Premier then they have no domestic games apart from the 10 games a year amongst themselves. Can't see sky wanting to pay overly much for that. Also Sky have largely squeezed the sports market as much as it will bear, hence all the deals they offer.

I have BT sport (paid by my ST saving) but most of the Champions league games have been pretty dull so may drop it next year no matter what form the CL takes.

Football as a spectacle has been dying for years with over coaching, negative tactics, fit players who can do box to box all game to flood the penalty area in defence. Very few really exciting games anymore. 

The ESL proposals will be a huge catalyst for change but I have no idea where it will go. Not sure I'm bothered anymore.

Much is being made of franchising , states style, well it's day may be over! Lots of stats to indicate that attendance and TV audiences are way down. Even the Super bowl is down 30% in viewing figures. 

They've squeezed the TV market. The future is streaming, much like how Amazon provide their games. Yesterday, one poster mentioned Man Utd having 150m global fans (no idea how accurate that is). Charge them to watch the game at just £1 per home game in a 12 team league equates to £1.65b a year. At such a low price, you won't have people watching illegal streams either. That's just income through streaming. With so many viewers, imagine how much they could earn through advertising on to of that!

For reference, their total revenue (excluding Covid) at the moment is about £600m

[Gaspode]

2 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Maybe, haven't looked into it to be honest.

They've squeezed the TV market. The future is streaming, much like how Amazon provide their games. Yesterday, one poster mentioned Man Utd having 150m global fans (no idea how accurate that is). Charge them to watch the game at just £1 per home game in a 12 team league equates to £1.65b a year. At such a low price, you won't have people watching illegal streams either. That's just income through streaming. With so many viewers, imagine how much they could earn through advertising on to of that!

For reference, their total revenue (excluding Covid) at the moment is about £600m

That was me based off something Neville suggested - he reckon's (and I'm sure he's right in this case) that the clubs ultimately want complete control over the rights to their 'product' - they don't want to be beholden to the EPL or UEFA to sell tham as part of a larger package but want to take every penny from any deal. When you add in image rights, merchandising etc, you can see why the greedy barsteward owners don't care about 150 years of history....

[Day]

10 minutes ago, AndyinLiverpool said:

Players  don't have to slavishly follow orders. I doubt there are that many even now who have contacts longer than the next 2 or 3 seasons. Some of those are massive assets to their clubs. It may not take many of them to say publicly that they won't renew and explicitly state why and suddenly you have a bandwagon.

During the coup attempt in Russia in 1991, tanks rolled up to the Russian parliament building where Boris Yeltsin and his supporters were gathered. As those supporters prepared to oppose those tanks, the commander of the tank column said, 'Stand aside. We are with you.' And promptly turned their turrets outwards to defend the parliament. At that point the coup was over. One small act of defiance in the face of terrible odds.

It doesn't take much.

It wouldn’t take much, you’re right, but some of these players are controlled by agents that pretty much pimp them out to the highest bidder.

I just don’t see a significant number of high profile players making that stand. Would love to be proven wrong. 

Would love nothing more than a statement released which is signed by 500 of the top players saying they will refuse to play in any Super League game, but as I say, I just don’t see it.

Being a football is just a job for some, a way to fund their lifestyle, dress their kids and model wives in Gucci these days.

I hope some good comes of all this and football gets brought under control, let’s be honest the league we’re in desperately needs it.

[AndyinLiverpool]

20 minutes ago, David said:

It wouldn’t take much, you’re right, but some of these players are controlled by agents that pretty much pimp them out to the highest bidder.

I just don’t see a significant number of high profile players making that stand. Would love to be proven wrong. 

Would love nothing more than a statement released which is signed by 500 of the top players saying they will refuse to play in any Super League game, but as I say, I just don’t see it.

Being a football is just a job for some, a way to fund their lifestyle, dress their kids and model wives in Gucci these days.

I hope some good comes of all this and football gets brought under control, let’s be honest the league we’re in desperately needs it.

I think I am more hopeful than you. But, in the end, that's all it is - hope.

[Stive Pesley]

The sad thing is that I've yet to see or hear a football fan come out in support of this Super League plan, but fundamentally it's just the mega-rich arguing with the mega-rich, and the fans are being used as a pawn in the game. 

If we're all against the Super League because it means that too much money will be concentrated in a handful of clubs, we better take a look at who we're on the same side as. The Premier League will gladly take our anger and use it to their advantage

We shouldn't be arguing against the Super League because we want to preserve the Premier League. We should be arguing against both and aiming for a better solution that preserves the spirit of fairness and the connection to working class fans who won't earn in a life time what some of these players earn in a month

 

 

[Mostyn6]

56 minutes ago, Gaspode said:

That was me based off something Neville suggested - he reckon's (and I'm sure he's right in this case) that the clubs ultimately want complete control over the rights to their 'product' - they don't want to be beholden to the EPL or UEFA to sell tham as part of a larger package but want to take every penny from any deal. When you add in image rights, merchandising etc, you can see why the greedy barsteward owners don't care about 150 years of history....

Thing is, they’d soon get bored of the hype! If the bread and butter teams refused to play them without a 50% cut of revenue, there’d be no product to stream. Time-zones affect a lot too. 

[Gaspode]

6 minutes ago, Stive Pesley said:

The sad thing is that I've yet to see or hear a football fan come out in support of this Super League plan....

 

Watching TV I did see an annoying little chap in Hong Kong getting very excitied about the chance to see more of his beloved Man Utd - though in the big scheme of things I guess the huge Asian market is far more important to the greedy owners than a few generations of Mancs that have spent all their spare cash going to Old Trafford....

[Gaspode]

2 minutes ago, Mostyn6 said:

Thing is, they’d soon get bored of the hype! If the bread and butter teams refused to play them without a 50% cut of revenue, there’d be no product to stream. Time-zones affect a lot too. 

They've said the ESL games will be played mid-week - they've not said at what time.....?

[Anon]

I'm kind of hoping the ESL does get going now, just to see which of these players, managers, and pundits who are currently busy grandstanding about how awful it is and saying they'd never be part of it renege on their promises once they realise they can make a big fat pile of cash.

[Day]