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Richest clubs launch plan to be richer - European Premier League


jamboinglasgow

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6 minutes ago, Tazio said:

Anyone remember Rollerball? James Caan film from the 70’s, bear with me on this one.

Super rich teams from around the world playing a sport against each other, players making obscene amounts of money representing ruthless owners. Teams flying on planes to matches in far flung cities where only the biggest and richest could compete. 
Seemed ridiculous at the time, and now they want it to happen in football.
Give the European super league a few years and they start to eye up the big Argentinian and Brazilian teams with their huge crowds and money-making potential, or closer to home the Egyptian teams that draw huge fanatical supports to their games. next thing you know football is even more of a global money-making machine for the few. Live crowds are just eye candy to make the matches more exciting on screen. Young kids give up on their local teams to support the mega teams, or franchises more correctly. The slow death of football as we know and love it. 


Football in Scotland is dying a slow death as things stand. I’m really optimistic that this could be a springboard to a really competitive UK wide league that would whet the appetite. I really believe if a breakaway happens in England then the possibility of a UK league of however many divisions must be explored. This might be a golden goose moment 🤷🏻‍♂️ 

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There is also the way that, in the last week or so, we have seen the top 6 in England try and carve up the domestic game and then Europe’s elite start their breakaway plans. 
 

And all this when the game below the elite is in danger of total collapse due to Covid and hundreds of clubs are in real threat of extinction. 
 

Scum. Taking advantage of the situation.  Total scum. 

 

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fabienleclerq

If it goes ahead you'll have 5 top English teams. The rest will make a decent league and the OF will join them guaranteed. 

 

Football really has been stolen by the rich. 

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Just now, Nookie Bear said:

There is also the way that, in the last week or so, we have seen the top 6 in England try and carve up the domestic game and then Europe’s elite start their breakaway plans. 
 

And all this when the game below the elite is in danger of total collapse due to Covid and hundreds of clubs are in real threat of extinction. 
 

Scum. Taking advantage of the situation.  Total scum. 

 


It is shan when you think that the very foundations of English football have asked the upper echelons for help, they merely turn their backs and negotiate a deal to form a European super league worth billions. So very very sad. Football in the UK needs a jumpstart, this might just be it 🤷🏻‍♂️

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5 minutes ago, ShedBoy said:


Football in Scotland is dying a slow death as things stand. I’m really optimistic that this could be a springboard to a really competitive UK wide league that would whet the appetite. I really believe if a breakaway happens in England then the possibility of a UK league of however many divisions must be explored. This might be a golden goose moment 🤷🏻‍♂️ 

I’m not as cheery about the idea of a UK league as other people seem to be. In terms of size the Scottish teams outwith the OF aren’t big enough to bother the top tiers. The English Championship is still in the top 10 of richest leagues in Europe with lots of clubs with very big stadia and supports compared to up here. Bournemouth reaching the EPL with a tiny stadium is often held up as what can be done but they have big money behind them, which could stop at any time. Love it or hate it the fact is that if the top clubs left the EPL the new top clubs would be the likes of Everton, Leicester, Villa, etc. All huge organisations with big crowds and the associated income. I’d love Hearts to be able to compete in that climate but it just isn’t feasible.

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1 minute ago, Tazio said:

I’m not as cheery about the idea of a UK league as other people seem to be. In terms of size the Scottish teams outwith the OF aren’t big enough to bother the top tiers. The English Championship is still in the top 10 of richest leagues in Europe with lots of clubs with very big stadia and supports compared to up here. Bournemouth reaching the EPL with a tiny stadium is often held up as what can be done but they have big money behind them, which could stop at any time. Love it or hate it the fact is that if the top clubs left the EPL the new top clubs would be the likes of Everton, Leicester, Villa, etc. All huge organisations with big crowds and the associated income. I’d love Hearts to be able to compete in that climate but it just isn’t feasible.


Yep, I wouldn’t see us going into the top league (whatever they would call it) but certainly I think we could compete in what is league 1? 🤷🏻‍♂️ I’m sure we’d find our level over time 👍🏻

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2 hours ago, indianajones said:

Sounds like a terrible idea. Zero interest from me.

 

Would be the final nail in the coffin for football really. 

 

Right from the start this is about a closed shop for the likes of AC Milan who haven't bothered to develop in the last 20 years. 

 

If it was 10 years ago, which it could have been there would be no Man City or PSG anywhere near it. 

 

And if there is no relegation... 

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Lord Beni of Gorgie
56 minutes ago, CostaJambo said:

Imagine the carnage if they took one of the ugly sisters but not the other! For that reason, I'm in.

Merger 

 

😉

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Lord Beni of Gorgie

FIFA backed. Effort to wrestle back importance,  EPL doesn't need this but heads have been turned 

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If this pile of crap happens then I'd like to think other clubs would just refuse to do business with them and shut them out.

Can't imagine many fans up for it either; how many, say Man Utd fans, would go to away games in Munich as opposed to Elland Road.

Anti football, anti fans, a bag of sh1te.

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gorgie rd eh11
33 minutes ago, JJ93 said:

What is it with Europeans and their obsession with trying to 'integrate' us into them? F off.

 

 

 It's not so much Europeans. Mostly American "investors" trying to make money. They couldn't give a **** about football, it's about cash. 

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1 hour ago, Tazio said:

Anyone remember Rollerball? James Caan film from the 70’s, bear with me on this one.

Super rich teams from around the world playing a sport against each other, players making obscene amounts of money representing ruthless owners. Teams flying on planes to matches in far flung cities where only the biggest and richest could compete. 
Seemed ridiculous at the time, and now they want it to happen in football.
Give the European super league a few years and they start to eye up the big Argentinian and Brazilian teams with their huge crowds and money-making potential, or closer to home the Egyptian teams that draw huge fanatical supports to their games. next thing you know football is even more of a global money-making machine for the few. Live crowds are just eye candy to make the matches more exciting on screen. Young kids give up on their local teams to support the mega teams, or franchises more correctly. The slow death of football as we know and love it. 

Good analogy ... and no longer that far-fetched, as you say.     Football is pointless viewing if you're not emotionally  invested in the outcome (in some way), yet Sky would argue differently based on their coverage and  subscriptions.   Maybe there's just lots of  fat lazy armchair bar stewards with money to burn out there  ?   

 

Like  many have said on here, Champs League on TV holds no attraction for me,  and neither will this nonsense if it ever happens.  Even MotD is losing its appeal.     For me, it's been "ONLY HEARTS" for several years  (not just  since the dodgy vote).  

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5 hours ago, Cruyff said:

Hopefully their globetrotting wankfest for plastic supporters in the Middle East, Far East and North America happens. 

 

Hopefully it is like a Rugby Union/League split. They can have their own Association, non-contact football, VAR etc... We can go back to a more traditional way. More domestic based sides like past eras and strip back some of the shite rules that have been introduced over the years. 

 

Hope it happens. Good riddance. 

Absolutely this. Couldn't give a toss what they do. 

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3 hours ago, JamboGraham said:

 

Follow the money...There will be Russian involvement long before Scotland.

Correct.  You can add Greece and Turkey too.

 

It's all about money and the Scottish market is too small.  They'll sell more SKY subscriptions in the mass market countries.

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Seymour M Hersh

Football is changing some of it will be good some bad. This Euro League chat comes around pretty much this time every year. Whether it comes to fruition is anyones goes. I think you'll find it will ramp up annually between now and the next round of CL TV negotiations (which if memory serves is 2024) in order to put/keep pressure on UEFA. 

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This certainly wouldn't affect us negatively, the opposite I'd suspect. 

 

It would certainly ruin English, Spanish, Italian and German football however. Especially England. Imagine being a born and bred supporter of one of those cluvs, your grandad supported them, your dad does, your brothers and sisters do. All of a sudden, the whole tradition and community of the club is ripped away and you're clubs playing for 100 million quid a game in feckin Shanghai or Manilla every other week. :rofl:

 

Everyone laughed at those FC Manchester fans when they started their own club or those that turned their back and went to watch Salford instead. Those guys knew the script. 

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8 hours ago, Jambo_Lambo said:

My stab at what a league of 18x could look like. Have included Celtic, perhaps out of wishful thinking. Would love to see the back of them frankly.

 

Does get you thinking about some massive clubs that would miss out. To name a few- Tottenham, Benfica, Napoli, Roma, Lazio, Sevilla, Athletic Bilbao, Schalke, the list goes on. 

 

Anyway, don't like the idea at all!

 

Liverpool
Man Utd
Man City
Arsenal
Chelsea
Barcelona
Real Madrid
Atletico Madrid
Bayern Munich
Borussia Dortmund
Juventus
AC Milan
Inter Milan
PSG
Marseille
Ajax
Porto
Celtic

 

The reason this sort of thing won't work is that 66% of these team will inevitablly end up outside the top 4-6 places in the league and the fans would lose interest very quickly. People actually want to see their team winning most weeks and if you take the 3 best teams from 6 leagues that's going to change very quickly for most of them. 

 

Arguably this season will be more enjoyable for us given we'll win more games and score more goals than your average season. What's more important the level you play at or the enjoyment you get at a game? 

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Geoff Kilpatrick

Include me out of this shit. Will not watch. Even my kids, who are used to the idea of "big games" and can name far more players with European clubs than I can, are revolted by this idea.

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Said it before - the minute American money men became involved in football clubs the game has suffered. These people are not interested in the sport, the fans, the players or anything else remotely important in the game. Money and only money is important. That mantra is now endemic in big clubs all over Europe. Maybe it is time these clubs buggered off and did their own thing leaving everyone else to get on with the sport in their own national leagues. When they go though they don’t leave their reserve sides behind as wee safety nets for them. Personally speaking I lost interest in the CL years ago. Riddled with corruption and run by an organisation salivating in sleaze.

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The Mighty Thor

Its the inevitable result of years of transition. 

As soon as the fans money became less important than the sponsorship monies then the fans became irrelevant.

 

It'll be like the NFL. Soulless franchises existing for TV only. 

 

It might be the wake up call the smaller leagues need to realise without fans football is a nothing sport. 

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19 hours ago, TexasAndy said:

I have already got bored with Champions League football.  I would have no interest in this whatsoever.  

This.  I don't watch it

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4 minutes ago, Bull's-eye said:

Never going to happen. 

 

The End.


It will, perhaps not in this format, but it’s inevitable because it’s the logical next step for clubs wanting to ring fence all the money for themselves. 

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Neil Dongcaster
7 minutes ago, cheetah said:

Armchair fans will love this

 

Folk that go to games will hate it.


Thinkk a lot of people under the age of 35 will like it.

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1 minute ago, Neil Dongcaster said:


Thinkk a lot of people under the age of 35 will like it.


Possibly. And most of Asia and Africa as well. 

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4 minutes ago, Nookie Bear said:


It will, perhaps not in this format, but it’s inevitable because it’s the logical next step for clubs wanting to ring fence all the money for themselves. 

 

A change in the Champions League format is the next logical step.

 

That's evolution, this story is a non-starter. 

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5 minutes ago, Bull's-eye said:

 

A change in the Champions League format is the next logical step.

 

That's evolution, this story is a non-starter. 


I think these clubs see this league as the change in the Champions League that’s necessary. 

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downunder jambo
13 hours ago, RENE said:

Thought I read on Sky that national leagues wouldn't be affected. Therefore these teams still expect to play in Their national leagues....

Yeah, my understanding of the proposal is that teams would continue to play in their domestic leagues at weekends and the European League games would be played midweek. So even if either, or both, of the old firm were to join we'd still be stuck with them!

Probably won't happen though!

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11 minutes ago, cheetah said:

Armchair fans will love this

 

Folk that go to games will hate it.

 

Unfortunately, arm chair fans vastly outnumber the people that go to games.  The global audience is where the money is, and not the season ticket holders (at least in the "bigger leagues".

 

4 minutes ago, Neil Dongcaster said:


Thinkk a lot of people under the age of 35 will like it.

 

Not me, I think it's a disgrace. 

 

We've already seen the Champions League become a stale, stagnant competition for the same teams every year.  It's not about winners, it's about who finishes in the top 4 of the biggest couple of leagues.  The genuine Domestic Champions of the smaller leagues get thrown into a huge hurdle-filled mixing pot in a blatant attempt to thin the herd early doors, leaving the Group Stages clear for your Manchester City and PSG Moneyball teams.  No-one cares about the League winners from countries like Croatia and the Czech Republic, and definitely not from your Lithuania, Albania and Montenegro's - even though those teams, by very definition of the word Champions, deserve to be there more than the 2nd, 3rd and 4th highest placed losers from England and Germany.  It's a rich boys club, and they want to keep it that way at all costs, because it's harder to sell games from "lower ranked" countries.  This is even more apparent with the Europa League, which acts as a safety net for the bigger teams who get pumped out unexpectedly.  Don't worry, you can drop into a competition filled with worse teams, to maximise your chance of getting something out of it.  Every year, the rich teams get richer, and make it more of a closed circuit for the rest of us.

 

They've ruined those 2 competitions, and now they want to try and do it to everyone else's Leagues as well.  Well, let them bash on and do what they want, but only if it means withdrawing from your own Domestic competitions completely.  No reserve squads, no Domestic Cup entries, and no takebacks.  More importantly, the Champions League and the Europa League leave you behind as well.  Say your goodbyes and piss off; play matches at 3am in Shanghai or 8am in Rio de Janeiro if you want, but when people start to get fed up, and you want a route back in, you can apply to start at the very bottom - if there is space for you. 

 

Maybe then, we can get back to leagues having genuine competition with different winners, instead of the same team every single year.  The Champions League can go back to the winning teams from around Europe, with the Europa League for the 2nd placed teams.  Let's stop rewarding failure by giving the top 6 or 7 teams a shot at increasing their purses.  Winner takes all, runners up get a smaller reward, and everyone else - better luck next year.  The teams that are left will be glad to be rid of them.

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Pasquale for King
17 hours ago, ShedBoy said:


Football in Scotland is dying a slow death as things stand. I’m really optimistic that this could be a springboard to a really competitive UK wide league that would whet the appetite. I really believe if a breakaway happens in England then the possibility of a UK league of however many divisions must be explored. This might be a golden goose moment 🤷🏻‍♂️ 

As much as it would appeal to be playing these big clubs down south I don’t think it’s that appealing to them? They have enough huge clubs outside the top flight to fill the gap if the 6 teams left, they don’t want or need the uglies just now why would they want us?

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gorgie rd eh11
13 hours ago, RENE said:

Thought I read on Sky that national leagues wouldn't be affected. Therefore these teams still expect to play in Their national leagues....

 

 

 Last weeks attempt to reduce the domestic season in England was with a European league in mind. It's all about the rich and powerful ensuring they keep all the big money, taking the competition and risk of having to qualify out of the equation.

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Pasquale for King
18 minutes ago, tian447 said:

 

Unfortunately, arm chair fans vastly outnumber the people that go to games.  The global audience is where the money is, and not the season ticket holders (at least in the "bigger leagues".

 

 

Not me, I think it's a disgrace. 

 

We've already seen the Champions League become a stale, stagnant competition for the same teams every year.  It's not about winners, it's about who finishes in the top 4 of the biggest couple of leagues.  The genuine Domestic Champions of the smaller leagues get thrown into a huge hurdle-filled mixing pot in a blatant attempt to thin the herd early doors, leaving the Group Stages clear for your Manchester City and PSG Moneyball teams.  No-one cares about the League winners from countries like Croatia and the Czech Republic, and definitely not from your Lithuania, Albania and Montenegro's - even though those teams, by very definition of the word Champions, deserve to be there more than the 2nd, 3rd and 4th highest placed losers from England and Germany.  It's a rich boys club, and they want to keep it that way at all costs, because it's harder to sell games from "lower ranked" countries.  This is even more apparent with the Europa League, which acts as a safety net for the bigger teams who get pumped out unexpectedly.  Don't worry, you can drop into a competition filled with worse teams, to maximise your chance of getting something out of it.  Every year, the rich teams get richer, and make it more of a closed circuit for the rest of us.

 

They've ruined those 2 competitions, and now they want to try and do it to everyone else's Leagues as well.  Well, let them bash on and do what they want, but only if it means withdrawing from your own Domestic competitions completely.  No reserve squads, no Domestic Cup entries, and no takebacks.  More importantly, the Champions League and the Europa League leave you behind as well.  Say your goodbyes and piss off; play matches at 3am in Shanghai or 8am in Rio de Janeiro if you want, but when people start to get fed up, and you want a route back in, you can apply to start at the very bottom - if there is space for you. 

 

Maybe then, we can get back to leagues having genuine competition with different winners, instead of the same team every single year.  The Champions League can go back to the winning teams from around Europe, with the Europa League for the 2nd placed teams.  Let's stop rewarding failure by giving the top 6 or 7 teams a shot at increasing their purses.  Winner takes all, runners up get a smaller reward, and everyone else - better luck next year.  The teams that are left will be glad to be rid of them.

Spot on, when the fans of these big clubs stop going or watching it on tv then it will die out. Most of these clubs are used to winning trophies, hanging around in the bottom 12 teams surely isn’t that appealing to them. 

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32 minutes ago, Nookie Bear said:


I think these clubs see this league as the change in the Champions League that’s necessary. 

 

It'll cost clubs serious money to break away, I dont think they can for at least 4 years anyway. Either way they won't leave the EPL, why would they.

 

This is FIFA wanting a piece of the European Pie and it'll come to nothing. 

 

No different to the nonsense spouted last week by Rick Parry and Co, chuck in a hand grenade tactics. 

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This sounds like FIFA trying to muscle in on the richest football association in the world: UEFA.

There's only one reason they would be doing that. The money in European football just looks like a drippng roast to the famously corrupt FIFA.

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Neil Dongcaster
2 hours ago, Nookie Bear said:


Possibly. And most of Asia and Africa as well. 


 And North America and South America.

 

2 hours ago, tian447 said:

 

Not me, I think it's a disgrace. 

 


I think ‘disgrace’ is  stretching it somewhat. I’ve met guys that attend east of Scotland and junior who have the same attitude towards Hearts. It’s all contextual.


When I lived down south I noticed a trend of people supporting a small local team and one of the big six, every other person I met had a London team plus ‘supported’ their local team.

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How boring would a closed doors league be? I mean even if it was the best 18 teams in Europe, the same big teams that win the champions league would be the team’s winning this plastic fest. 
 

im already way beyond bored of football, unless it’s Hearts I’m not really interested. I’ve watched one half of football in 7 months that’s not involved Hearts. 

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