Top European Soccer Teams Agree to Join Breakaway League

[Hagar the Horrible]

20 minutes ago, The Mighty Thor said:

I firmly subscribe to this.

 

You could have the Dublin Celtics and the Belfast Rangers and totally clean Scottish Football up in an instant.

Clydebank  tried that and it was closer than reported, plus if Celtic got their dream move to the EPL there next step was go go to a 100k all seater stadium in Dublin, the irony being a politically reublican team wanting to go to imperalistic league they confess to hate

[kingantti1874]

I wonder if players “could” walk away from their contracts.? I’m not saying they would do this but I do wonder if they could do it.
 

[Pasquale for King]

Just now, Martin_T said:

 

Would be pretty fatal for Scotland, no Tierney, Robertson or McTominay.

Going to get ****ed anyway but  i agree. 

[kingantti1874]

1 minute ago, Martin_T said:

 

Would be pretty fatal for Scotland, no Tierney, Robertson or McTominay.

tbf other teams would be weakened more than Scotland. England for example would be absolutely ripped to bits. 
 

that would be funny

[shaun.lawson]

1 minute ago, kingantti1874 said:

tbf other teams would be weakened more than Scotland. England for example would be absolutely ripped to bits. 
 

that would be funny

 

And Scotland would beat England about 5-0 this summer  

[Hagar the Horrible]

2 minutes ago, Martin_T said:

 

Would be pretty fatal for Scotland, no Tierney, Robertson or McTominay.

Not really Scotland just are not that good even with them, but no Ronaldo or Messi will hurt Argentina and Portugal more, Spain and Italy will be poor, England would be worse than San Marino. 

[kingantti1874]

3 minutes ago, shaun.lawson said:

 

And Scotland would beat England about 5-0 this summer  

Every cloud. 

[Smoked-Glass]

5 minutes ago, shaun.lawson said:

 

And Scotland would beat England about 5-0 this summer  

Lol. 

 

Will it affect international?  

[niblick1874]

1 hour ago, Boab said:

The most depressing stat that came out a while back was that most EPL teams would still show a profit if no fans were at any games. Before the pandemic incidentally.

If ever there was a indictment of the modern game, that was it !

 

1 hour ago, Armageddon said:

Also what I find totally annoying, the funding is coming from JP Morgan - utter pish, I wonder who is REALLY behind the funding, JP Morgan is just a front.

 

There is nothing left. They have taken everything including the ball. What the young are left with is all contrived. Home entertainment from the safety of your own little space. 

[milky_26]

Just now, Smoked-Glass said:

Lol. 

 

Will it affect international?  

they are saying any players who play for those teams would be banned from international football

[shaun.lawson]

1 minute ago, Smoked-Glass said:

Lol. 

 

Will it affect international?  

 

Yep.

 

 

[Smoked-Glass]

4 minutes ago, milky_26 said:

they are saying any players who play for those teams would be banned from international football

Brilliant if it works for us this summer 

[Hagar the Horrible]

This would be the very best England could muster up

 

Pope

 

Ming - Keane - Rice

 

Bellingham - Bartley - Maddison -Ward-Prowse  - Wilson

 

Grealish  - Sancho

 

the bench would be pickford, other than that you are looking the lower leagues

[AlimOzturk]

Genuinely think Leicester winning the league spooked a lot of big wigs. Your Tottenham’s/Arsenals of this world know without some sort of intervention to curtail competition they could become also rans and slip down the pecking order. 
 

This is horrific news for football as a whole. I mean grass roots football and will always remain and I am glad I don’t support a club of that magnitude where by all principles get abandoned for the green dollar. 

[Turkishcap]

1 hour ago, MCW1976 said:

I’m not saying I agree with the Super League. I understand where it comes from, but it’s just more crass, unfettered capitalism. It’s nauseating.

 

But ... how many Hearts fans have agreed over the years that nothing changes for us. We go through the motions every single season. 4 ties against the same bored teams and bored fans, ad nauseam.

 

I say, let’s see what happens here. This is such a major explosion, that there is gonna be a lot of debris. 
 

Barriers have been breached (and how). A lot of change can come from this. It may be that the SL never gets underway, but there has been a paradigm shift - a massive one ... and that gets a thumbs-up from this Hearts fan who, if things don’t change, can predict the next 30 years of how every season will pan out for us, ie., just look at the last 30 years (some would say 100) for a spoiler.

 

 

Good point.

[Martin_T]

21 minutes ago, Hagar the Horrible said:

Not really Scotland just are not that good even with them, but no Ronaldo or Messi will hurt Argentina and Portugal more, Spain and Italy will be poor, England would be worse than San Marino. 

 

Argentina were my favourites for the Euros until I heard Messi might be ruled out.

[Pasquale for King]

3 minutes ago, Martin_T said:

 

Argentina were my favourites for the Euros until I heard Messi might be ruled out.

Are they in the group that’s played in Kazakhstan? Farce. 

[Hagar the Horrible]

4 minutes ago, Martin_T said:

 

Argentina were my favourites for the Euros until I heard Messi might be ruled out.

World Cup unless Robbie signs him which might just let him off the hook

[Pasquale for King]

UEFA gadgy Ceferin saying players should be banned immediately and legal discussions will start tomorrow. The players must be pissed of with this surely?

[TexasAndy]

I stopped watching Champions league football when it became exclusive to BT Sport and have to say I haven't missed it at all.   I don't even watch much EPL anymore.  I find that it has all become a bit disconnected from the fan on the street.   Happy to stick with watching Hearts and any other grass roots football locally.   

[lou]

14 minutes ago, Hagar the Horrible said:

This would be the very best England could muster up

 

Pope

 

Ming - Keane - Rice

 

Bellingham - Bartley - Maddison -Ward-Prowse  - Wilson

 

Grealish  - Sancho

 

the bench would be pickford, other than that you are looking the lower leagues

They would beat us I think, remember we would have no Tierney McTominey or Robertson

[Footballfirst]

UEFA's president Ceferin is not happy

 

"Andrea Agnelli is the biggest disappointment of all, I’ve never seen a person that would lie so many times, so persistently as he did. It’s unbelievable.”

"We didn't know we had snakes so close to us, now we know."

And yes Ceferin is godfather to Agnelli's daughter..

Ceferin also insists UEFA prepared to hold Champions League without the 'dirty dozen' - "We will do it with them or without them."

“The players that will play in the Super League will be banned from playing in the World Cup and Euros. Ceferin. They will not be allowed play for their national teams”  (Won't apply to this year's Euros as no-one will have played in the ESL)

"I got a letter signed by I don't know who because there wasn't a name on it. Probably it was a 'Super Person'"

“If I start with Ed Woodward, he called me last Thu evening saying he’s very satisfied with and fully supports the reforms + the only thing he want to talk about was FFP, when obviously he had already signed something else.

"How can you see all your fans protesting and you don't care? You are full of money anyway, but you want more and more and more. I've had enough that football clubs are assets - they are part of our history."

"Maybe Aston Villa is a big club" - in reference to how it can go in cycles which teams are the elite

[Pasquale for King]

18 minutes ago, Hagar the Horrible said:

This would be the very best England could muster up

 

Pope

 

Ming - Keane - Rice

 

Bellingham - Bartley - Maddison -Ward-Prowse  - Wilson

 

Grealish  - Sancho

 

the bench would be pickford, other than that you are looking the lower leagues

Still beat us 😆

[Footballfirst]

UEFA's executive committee has responded to the threat of a breakaway European Super League (ESL) by unanimously voting to sanction the new-look 36-team Champions League.

In a vote in Montreux, Switzerland, on Monday, the executive committee passed a resolution to expand the Champions League from its present format of 32 teams with the reshaped tournament, due to commence at the start of the 2024-25 season.

The change will see each club play 10 group games, rather than six, before advancing to a 16-team knock-out system in the second half of the season.

[Pasquale for King]

Talking about Woodward. 

[Hagar the Horrible]

4 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

UEFA's executive committee has responded to the threat of a breakaway European Super League (ESL) by unanimously voting to sanction the new-look 36-team Champions League.

In a vote in Montreux, Switzerland, on Monday, the executive committee passed a resolution to expand the Champions League from its present format of 32 teams with the reshaped tournament, due to commence at the start of the 2024-25 season.

The change will see each club play 10 group games, rather than six, before advancing to a 16-team knock-out system in the second half of the season.

That will be what 48 elite teams, not the actual champions of each league

[jambopilms]

7 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

UEFA's executive committee has responded to the threat of a breakaway European Super League (ESL) by unanimously voting to sanction the new-look 36-team Champions League.

In a vote in Montreux, Switzerland, on Monday, the executive committee passed a resolution to expand the Champions League from its present format of 32 teams with the reshaped tournament, due to commence at the start of the 2024-25 season.

The change will see each club play 10 group games, rather than six, before advancing to a 16-team knock-out system in the second half of the season.

Which was probably expanded to ensure more English teams get a spot

[Tiger]

How long before the scottish media start interviewing the ar5echeeks asking stupid questions about them being asked to join etc.

[CJGJ]

 

[Tasavallan]

I do not watch Sky or BT and do not miss European football.  My extent of football watching outside of Hearts is MOTD and Sportscene.   I am not part of the target audience.

 

What I note is the origins of the club owners.  They are in the sport for financial gain and not for love of the club. The FA/UEFA should have put restrictions on club ownership.

 

[Footballfirst]

From the Telegraph re the latest CL proposals.

 

What is the proposed new format?

In basic terms, it is a massive expansion of European football’s elite club competition from 32 teams to 36, and 125 matches to 225, from 2024/25. More fundamentally, it would see a complete revamp of the group stage.

Instead of eight groups of four teams where sides play the three others in their group home and away, it would consist of one single group in which each team will play five home matches and five away matches against 10 different opponents. Each team would be seeded and play opponents of varying strength. This is known as the ‘Swiss system’, a format pioneered by chess and since adopted by other sports.

The sides who finish in the top eight will qualify automatically for the knockout stage, while those finishing between ninth and 24th will enter a play-off to determine the remaining eight last-16 spots. The knockout stage will remain unchanged but the new format nevertheless will represent the biggest shake-up of the competition since it became the Champions League three decades earlier.

Why would it change?

Money. The 100 extra matches alone would allow Uefa and clubs to command more in television and sponsorship income. The ‘Swiss system’, which guarantees each participating team 10 matches instead of six, has been adopted for the same reason in the hope it will be more attractive than a group stage increasingly viewed as stale and predictable.

It is also designed to stave off the perceived threat of a European Super League, something highlighted by two of the additional four spots going to teams based on historical performances.

Who would get the four extra places?

One would go to the league rated the fifth-strongest in Europe, which is currently France, which would join England, Germany, Spain and Italy with four guaranteed spots. Another will go to the highest-ranked domestic champion from one of the smaller leagues.

But, in the most controversial format change of all, the remaining two would go to the clubs with the highest Uefa coefficient (historic ranking) who qualified for one of its other club competitions. That would mean the likes of Liverpool could finish as low as seventh in the Premier League and still be parachuted into the Champions League.

How will the planned changes affect the calendar?

The expanded competition would require another four match-weeks on top of the 15 already carved out. That will be almost impossible to fit into the existing English football calendar, meaning something will have to give.

There is no chance of the size of the Premier League being cut, meaning the impact will be felt by either or both of the FA Cup and – more likely – EFL Cup. The future of the latter competition is very much under threat, with England now the only country with two domestic cups.

Who would be the winners and losers?

The winners are the big clubs, the richest of which are likely to get even richer. The losers will almost certainly be smaller teams and especially those who do not qualify for the Champions League.

The additional 100 games risks cannibalising domestic revenues from the Premier League right down to League Two and Uefa will now be under major pressure to ensure any shortfall is filled by making solidarity payments. Whether the new format entrenches the on-field dominance of the big clubs remains to be seen but history suggests it will.

[Brian Whittaker's Tache]

https://twitter.com/kaihumphries/status/1383874994690609154?s=20

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tottenham joining a European super league is like Bananaman getting called up as an Avenger</p>&mdash; Kai Humphries (@kaihumphries) <a href="https://twitter.com/kaihumphries/status/1383874994690609154?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by Brian Whittaker's Tache

[Footballfirst]

Money makes money

 

 

[CJGJ]

The revamped 36-team Champions League was agreed on Monday.

It comes the day after 12 clubs, including six from England, announced plans to join a new, separate European Super League (ESL) instead.

The controversial new Champions League format is due to start in 2024 and run until at least 2033.

A planned announcement last month was scrapped amid arguments over club involvement in the running of the tournament.

The new format will see 36 clubs qualifying for an expanded 'first phase', where all clubs will play against 10 opponents of varying strengths.

This will result in a league table, with the top eight qualifying for the knockout phase and the next 16 going into a play-off for the remaining eight slots.

The format has been criticised by fans' groups, not least because two of the additional four slots will be allocated on the basis of past performance, to the clubs with the highest Uefa co-efficient that did not qualify for the Champions League automatically - but did qualify for another European competition.

If the process was in existence this season, Liverpool - depending on the outcome of the domestic cup competitions - and Chelsea would have been the clubs who stood to benefit.

The criticism around this format is that it would strip away the basis of qualification being around league position as a team could qualify for the Champions League despite finishing lower in the table than a team in the same league that missed out.

[Guest ToqueJambo]

This is good for Scottish football potentially. We'll be the only "proper" league in the UK - as close to old school football as you can get. It should be marketed as such to other audiences. It's also the start of a process that could lead to the OF leaving, which will make our league even better.

 

I pretty much stopped watching the CL when it became a circus. The old European Cup was miles better. Genuine champions playing each other in a much shorter tournament. The correct response to this by UEFA should be to bring in a short sharp tournament like that again, for champions only. It would show up the endless CL and now this for the Harlem Globetrotters-style nonsense it is. Football existed and flourished before all the TV money. In fact, it was much better. Who cares about fans abroad who never see "their" teams in person? Let them watch on TV when they can and save up to see the team in person one day. It's what every Scottish fan who had an English team has done for decades. 

Edited April 19, 2021 by ToqueJambo

[Bazzas right boot]

19 minutes ago, CJGJ said:

 

 

 

Quite impressed they put professional banners together so quickly, puts our weeks of planning to get a felt tip pen and bedsheets Brigade to shame. 

 

 

[Sooperstar]

44 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

UEFA gadgy Ceferin saying players should be banned immediately and legal discussions will start tomorrow. The players must be pissed of with this surely?

I wonder if the players of a club like Liverpool, where they apparently have a special connection with the fans, will put up some kind of public protest against the club's owners before an upcoming match.

 

Not that it I'm in any way saying it should be on the players as employees to do such a thing.

 

It would also be grossly unfair to ban players of these clubs from the upcoming Euros, due to something they have absolutely zero control over. Cannot see that happening at all.

[Smoked-Glass]

47 minutes ago, TexasAndy said:

I stopped watching Champions league football when it became exclusive to BT Sport and have to say I haven't missed it at all.   I don't even watch much EPL anymore.  I find that it has all become a bit disconnected from the fan on the street.   Happy to stick with watching Hearts and any other grass roots football locally.   

This. 

 

The CL is awful. 

International is so much better. 

[Pasquale for King]

5 minutes ago, Sooperstar said:

I wonder if the players of a club like Liverpool, where they apparently have a special connection with the fans, will put up some kind of public protest against the club's owners before an upcoming match.

 

Not that it I'm in any way saying it should be on the players as employees to do such a thing.

 

It would also be grossly unfair to ban players of these clubs from the upcoming Euros, due to something they have absolutely zero control over. Cannot see that happening at all.

The whole piece says they won’t sanction players until they play in the ESL. 
The players union will surely get the lawyers onto it. 
Just commodities after all. 

[Tatlock]

Brechin city chairman has issued a statement to say that they will not be joining the super league or the highland league but might join the lowland league.

[Berra than you]

11 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

The whole piece says they won’t sanction players until they play in the ESL. 
The players union will surely get the lawyers onto it. 
Just commodities after all. 

Think they would have a case for this for the upcoming euros as as you say, nobody will.have yet played in the ESL. Beyond that I'd imagine FIFA/UEFA can ban who they like.

[Sooperstar]

15 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

The whole piece says they won’t sanction players until they play in the ESL. 
The players union will surely get the lawyers onto it. 
Just commodities after all. 

Ceferin has said he wants to ban the players as soon as possible and specifically called out the Euros this summer.

[davemclaren]

5 minutes ago, Sooperstar said:

Ceferin has said he wants to ban the players as soon as possible and specifically called out the Euros this summer.

I imagine if they throw the clubs out of their respective FAs then the players contracted to those clubs will effectively be banned anyway. No idea what the process is for that. 

[sadj]

England is the only country still with two domestic cup competitions.... 

[sadj]

Also that new format is awful , just adds to the big teams having no difficulty moving to the later rounds

[Boab]

28 minutes ago, Smoked-Glass said:

This. 

 

The CL is awful. 

International is so much better. 

Sorry, I disagree. 
The fact that Scotland are currently involved in qualification to a tournament which will take place halfway through a normal fn season and was only awarded with brown envelopes everywhere, tells me international football is goosed also. 
World Cup is now a farce and I hope we don’t qualify for this upcoming circus !

[Smoked-Glass]

5 minutes ago, Boab said:

Sorry, I disagree. 
The fact that Scotland are currently involved in qualification to a tournament which will take place halfway through a normal fn season and was only awarded with brown envelopes everywhere, tells me international football is goosed also. 
World Cup is now a farce and I hope we don’t qualify for this upcoming circus !

I didn't just mean the world Cup. The euro qualifying and nations league is also good.    I agree this current Qatar thing is sh1t.    But other world cups have been OK.  I also like to check the results in qualifying and find out when the next group draw is- never bother with CL. 

Edited April 19, 2021 by Smoked-Glass

[Unknown user]

2 hours ago, Mysterion said:

 

Putting Brexit aside - at what point would the European Court rule against UEFA for preventing coaches from working ?

 

I can't see revoking coaching licences being enforceable.

They don't rule against other trade bodies that demand similar certification

[Shanks said no]

Probably already covered but the boys from Bogotá springs to mind including our very own Bobby Flavell

[benny]

International football is crap as well.

Again like the champions league there are too many teams taken part in the finals.

Most fans preferred it when international football did not effect the domestic leagues.

Played on a Wednesday only.