Top European Soccer Teams Agree to Join Breakaway League

[Auldbenches]

4 hours ago, Smith's right boot said:

After this - 

 

Games played at a time to suit the American / Asian markets. 

 

2x 30 minutes half with the clock stopped when the ball is put of play. This will allow adhoc commercials to be played during the game. 

 

Games to be played routinely in usa/ Asia( already happening) 

 

Teams to move there. 

 

Football at the elite level is ****ed. 

Shaun Lawson mentioned the Juventus guy wanting to sell tv packages for the last 15 minutes of games.  Would you trust them not to manipulate some games to help that market?  We have the right to be this cynical.  

[Auldbenches]

2 hours 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 !

There's something in me that agrees with not really wanting to qualify for Qatar.  Just encouraging everything that is wrong.  Thousands of construction deaths that are just accepted etc.

Football at that level is ugly now.  

[Heartsofgold]

1 hour ago, Seymour M Hersh said:

 

I wasn't arguing otherwise. 

I know mate, my apologies, I didn't mean to come over as harsh or condescending as my post did.

[jock _turd]

I think they should be allowed to get on with it on the very strict understanding that if they go ahead with their plans they are out of every other league and European competition for ever. My opinion is that fans will get fed up watching the same old same old after a very short time. 

[Pasquale for King]

1 hour ago, Berra than you said:

Is it a restriction of trade? They are still being allowed to play football just out with UEFA or FIFA comps. Given many internationals don't get paid for euros or world cups might favour uefa. Besides, football contracts seem to be a rule into themselves anyway.

I think those contracts wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny either, it’s just a case of going to court like Bosman or Webster. If you can’t play international football it’s a restriction of trade either from your employer or UEFA/FIFA I would think. 

[Auldbenches]

1 hour ago, Jambo 4 Ever said:

What impact, if any, could this have of Scottish football?

could it even be positive for us?

Someone on here made a good point about using it to our advantage as Scotland being a place of traditional football.  No var etc.   Don't know if our things like summer football might help but theres scope there to utilise this.

Elite football is boring anyway.  

[Pasquale for King]

1 hour ago, Brian Whittaker's Tache said:

We're not in the EU anymore!

 

Scotland isn’t involved.

European laws like human rights still stand, we didn’t leave Europe. I meant the clubs that are still in the EU. 

[WageThief]

5 hours ago, MCW1976 said:

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.

 

If we look at the last 100 years then it doesn't look that bad.  Especially if we are in cycles.  In about 20-30 years we'll go unbeaten in Glasgow for about a decade (i think).  

 

Then we'll sell our best midfielder to Spurs to help them win the prestigious JP Morgan Eurasian Premiership Superbowl Final.

[Guest ToqueJambo]

1 minute ago, Auldbenches said:

Someone on here made a good point about using it to our advantage as Scotland being a place of traditional football.  No var etc.   Don't know if our things like summer football might help but theres scope there to utilise this.

Elite football is boring anyway.  

 

Nailed it. We're better off out of it. The logical next step after this will be more of a franchise system and new franchises suddenly appearing from nowhere (in "developing markets") and getting into the top league, American sport style. It could even develop into a global league, which would be even more shit.

[Auldbenches]

27 minutes ago, ToqueJambo said:

 

Definitely - it's a weekly stramash fest and without the OF bigotry dragging everyone else down that community aspect and the humour and weirdness of our league would come through a lot more.

Completely agree what you are saying about us taking advantage of this.  Keep it genuine without var etc and others would like it.  Great point 

[Auldbenches]

Just now, ToqueJambo said:

 

Nailed it. We're better off out of it. The logical next step after this will be more of a franchise system and new franchises suddenly appearing from nowhere (in "developing markets") and getting into the top league, American sport style. It could even develop into a global league, which would be even more shit.

Someone on sportsound mentioned it being down to the mindset of American owners.  They just don't get the emotion involved in our game.  Spartak v some shite or  kille v Motherwell with ot having a bearing on something? What are you watching?  Couldn't give a shite what they say about Scottish football, I love it.  Englush games aren't that much better and our fan culture is miles better.  

Grounds might look half empty, but that's not Scottish football's fault. 

Let's us get on with it, we are alright.  Take those barstewards out if it...

 

[Tommy Brown]

29 minutes ago, Francis Albert said:

It would be ironic if after being an independent football nation since football began we were in effect swallowed by England in a British league at a time when many think Scotland is on the brink of independence.

I have zero interest in Hearts competing in the second or third tier of English football.

Cheers FA

I was dumbfounded reading all these posts slating a European Super League.

Then some seeing it a as chance to join the English Championship, you couldn't  make it up.

[Pasquale for King]

1 hour ago, TurboT said:

Am I right in thinking that's 178 games to get the 36 teams down to the last 16?

180 + 8 I reckon. 

[Tommy Brown]

2 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

180 + 8 I reckon. 

180 group games then 16 (8 h and a) to get to 16? I think.

 

I'm not checking, cause they stick it up their arse.

[Fozzyonthefence]

23 minutes ago, ShortmanRossco said:

Where do you think realistically the Old Firm would finish Tazio personally speaking? Conversation/Argument I routinely seem to have with Old Firm fans. I think they would get absolutely tonked in the Premier League and have them down as Playoff contenders in the Championship.... Maybe second place at best due to a poor Championship season. 

It’s a completely pointless debate if you’re just going to speculate where Rangers and Celtic would finish in the EPL with their current squads.  The only thing we know is if they had access to the Sky millions their playing squads would be much, much stronger than what they have now.
 

But nobody has any idea how well they would do - big crowds in England are not that important in terms of profitability (most EPL clubs can make a profit without any fans) and are also no guarantee of success (see Newcastle, Villa, Leeds, Sunderland).  But maybe some rich billionaire would invest in them like Man City and Chelsea, who knows.  

[Pasquale for King]

1 minute ago, Tommy Brown said:

180 group games then 16 (8 h and a) to get to 16? I think.

 

I'm not checking, cause they stick it up their arse.

Was it home and away I missed that, makes sense. I was lost when FF said the top 8 teams qualify for the last 16 though so not unexpected 😆😂. 
 

[Paolo]

1 hour ago, ToqueJambo said:

 

 

👏 Doncaster is a shameless hypocrite who works for the benefit of a small number (two) of very wealthy clubs. He's no different to the super league clowns.

Correct. Perhaps on a smaller scale,  but still the same thing.  

[Francis Albert]

26 minutes ago, AlimOzturk said:

Do you currently find it entertaining that Celtic winning treble trebles and 9 years of dominance followed by the rangers 2.0 coming back to potentially dominate alongside? I don’t. Least in a UK league set up we could potentially attract better standard of players and dream of bigger things than playing second fiddle to the bigot sisters. The thought of not playing them that often also attracts 

In my lifetime Hearts have won 10 trophies (proper ones, not the second division) and been within a hairs width of winning several more. We have competed often in Europe over 60 odd years and against some of the biggest teams in Europe, and have only been disgraced once (Birkirkara).

 

I remember going to pre-season friendly at Millwall and hearing Millwall fans mocking us because they thought we treated it as a European game. Millwall? I think they have played once in Europe but they aren't a million miles from us in fan base and potential. That or not much more would be our standing in a British League.

 

 

[Mikey1874]

Interesting to see a club not just the fans making the point

 

 

[dobmisterdobster]

1 minute ago, Francis Albert said:

In my lifetime Hearts have won 10 trophies (proper ones, not the second division) and been within a hairs width of winning several more. We have competed often in Europe over 60 odd years and against some of the biggest teams in Europe, and have only been disgraced once (Birkirkara).

 

I remember going to pre-season friendly at Millwall and hearing Millwall fans mocking us because they thought we treated it as a European game. Millwall? I think they have played once in Europe but they aren't a million miles from us in fan base and potential. That or not much more would be our standing in a British League.

 

 

 

Fun fact: Millwall and Hearts were both eliminated from the UEFA Cup by Ferencvaros in the same year.

[Malinga the Swinga]

48 minutes ago, SectionDJambo said:

Yes

We can all imagine the huge relief around UEFA HQ that the imbecile secretary of a league in Scotland, which caters almost exclusively for it's 2 biggest clubs, has offered his support. Now they can really go after those 12 clubs in the knowledge that he is right behind them.

SPFL board trying desperately to be relevant. Who gives a **** what our board say. We certainty don't. 

Said it before, we got **** all support from anyone when we got screwed over last season. Don't give a **** if these rich clubs screw over other rich clubs. If I hear integrity mentioned once more, I'll throw up. Where was integrity last season when Partick, Stranraer and us got ****ed up. Nowhere, that's where. Now it's everyone else's turn, so take your medicine and shut the **** up. 

[Armageddon]

Gary Neville is absolutely amazing 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[Pasquale for King]

5 minutes ago, Paolo said:

Correct. Perhaps on a smaller scale,  but still the same thing.  

Indeed, if they offered him a job he’d be off like a shot. 

[Mikey1874]

 

 

[Tommy Brown]

1 minute ago, Pasquale for King said:

Indeed, if they offered him a job he’d be off like a shot. 

and totally true

[Seymour M Hersh]

1 minute ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

 

 

 

[S Form]

One thing about the proposed Super League - it wouldn’t be as predictable as the Scottish Premiership.

[Tazio]

3 minutes ago, Armageddon said:

Gary Neville is absolutely amazing 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Not the wisest at the start of the show from Carragher saying fans should organise protest marches on the grounds. 

[sadj]

12 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said:

It’s a completely pointless debate if you’re just going to speculate where Rangers and Celtic would finish in the EPL with their current squads.  The only thing we know is if they had access to the Sky millions their playing squads would be much, much stronger than what they have now.
 

But nobody has any idea how well they would do - big crowds in England are not that important in terms of profitability (most EPL clubs can make a profit without any fans) and are also no guarantee of success (see Newcastle, Villa, Leeds, Sunderland).  But maybe some rich billionaire would invest in them like Man City and Chelsea, who knows.  

Be interesting to see wages to fan attendance income calculated for a lot of teams.

[sadj]

5 minutes ago, Seymour M Hersh said:

 

 

Saw people on twitter hijacking the patriots day game feed to say im not going back to football until FSG get out of football 🤣🙈

[sadj]

9 minutes ago, Armageddon said:

Gary Neville is absolutely amazing 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Whats he saying?

[Mirror]

When I saw the message and the plane, I thought I was watching an old video from a few years ago.

[upgotheheads]

The calculation will be that they don't need English fans for this idea to be a success, after all we know that millions of Chinese support ManU,  Liverpool, Spurs etc. The club's name is just a marketing tag, sad though.

Edited April 19, 2021 by upgotheheads

[Nookie Bear]

1 hour ago, Byyy The Light said:

 

I'd do it gradually rather than chuck us in at the deep end.  Drop the league winners in to Championship and the runner up in to the league 1 promotion play offs. Then repeat over a number of years or something like that.  

 

 

I don't for a second think it would be easy to get in to the premier league but I watched Rotherham against Birmingham at the weekend and it was pretty bad.  Not just in terms of entertainment but the general standard.  Establishing ourselves in the championship, not having to play teams 4 times a season, the opportunity to attract better players etc are all worth consideration.  Granted I very rarely attend away matches so the travelling doesn't come in to it for me.

 

I really can't see a scenario where any club other than Rangers or Celtic will win the league here. I was 39 last week and haven't seen anyone other than those 2 shitehawk teams win the league.

 

 

If we had the budget of these Championship teams we would easily hold our own there. 

[Tazio]

1 minute ago, Nookie Bear said:

If we had the budget of these Championship teams we would easily hold our own there. 

If only football was that simple. 

[Tommy Brown]

3 minutes ago, Nookie Bear said:

If we had the budget of these Championship teams we would easily hold our own there. 

Depends who is in charge  

[AlimOzturk]

1 minute ago, Tazio said:

If only football was that simple. 

Scottish football held its own for long enough before money ruined the game. If we were given the same resources I can’t see why we couldn’t again. 

[Sooperstar]

One second they're saying fans and players of all clubs need to come together against it, then the next Carragher is getting humpty cos the Leeds players are wearing t-shirts against it, as if it is something against the Liverpool players.

[Tazio]

7 minutes ago, AlimOzturk said:

Scottish football held its own for long enough before money ruined the game. If we were given the same resources I can’t see why we couldn’t again. 

Did it? 

[Tazio]

The heavyweights are getting involved. 

 

[Brighton Jambo]

I think the government will stop this.   I can’t think of a topic that has united people from across the political spectrum so strongly.  In WM today the SNP were wholeheartedly agreeing with the Tories which is flying pigs territory.

 

This is such a huge opportunity for the Government to ingratiate themselves in the eyes of millions and I don’t think they will pass that up.  

[Guest ToqueJambo]

38 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said:

It’s a completely pointless debate if you’re just going to speculate where Rangers and Celtic would finish in the EPL with their current squads.  The only thing we know is if they had access to the Sky millions their playing squads would be much, much stronger than what they have now.
 

But nobody has any idea how well they would do - big crowds in England are not that important in terms of profitability (most EPL clubs can make a profit without any fans) and are also no guarantee of success (see Newcastle, Villa, Leeds, Sunderland).  But maybe some rich billionaire would invest in them like Man City and Chelsea, who knows.  

 

You're right that there are some very unsuccessful  clubs with huge supports in England. I'd lean towards Celtic being the most likely to do a Chelsea or Man City and attract a buyer and grab more of a global audience. Rangers would be more likely to be like Newcastle IMO. I think they'd struggle to become genuinely popular beyond Glasgow and NI. However, you could see how billionaires might be drawn to the rivalry.

[Tazio]

The whole thing is quite mind boggling when you consider how many top leagues and teams there are in Europe and they are getting their entire wellbeing threatened by so few. 

[Berra than you]

1 hour ago, Pasquale for King said:

I think those contracts wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny either, it’s just a case of going to court like Bosman or Webster. If you can’t play international football it’s a restriction of trade either from your employer or UEFA/FIFA I would think. 

But if it's FIFA's competition they can ban who they like, no? Uefa can ban players for X amount of games for all manner of things from gambling to racism. If it's in their rules (or is placed in their rules shortly) that playing in an unsanctioned competition is an indefinite ban, I don't see how they couldn't do that.

[AlimOzturk]

7 minutes ago, Tazio said:

Did it? 

Is this serious?

 

Aberdeen won a European trophy with Alex Ferguson at the helm. Rangers/Celtic had some of the best players in the world. We beat Bayern Munich. Dundee United reached a semi final in Europe. Pretty certain that’s holding your own. 

[Hagar the Horrible]

8 minutes ago, ToqueJambo said:

 

You're right that there are some very unsuccessful  clubs with huge supports in England. I'd lean towards Celtic being the most likely to do a Chelsea or Man City and attract a buyer and grab more of a global audience. Rangers would be more likely to be like Newcastle IMO. I think they'd struggle to become genuinely popular beyond Glasgow and NI. However, you could see how billionaires might be drawn to the rivalry.

Rangers have more supporters clubs worldwide than anybody else. There are more ex pays who support them worldwide. They are already popular beyond Glasgow. Us canada. Hong Kong Australia and NewZealand etc

[Francis Albert]

13 minutes ago, Tazio said:

Did it? 

Yes. For a century until the 70s Scotland matched England in international encounters. In the 50s as the series in this season's programme shows Hearts were peers of the biggest English clubs. In tours Hearts travelling first class in Canada met up with the Newcastle squad travelling

coach. 

Of course all that has changed but we held our own for a century. And nothing will.reverse that. SO why give up our independence?

[JackLadd]

3 minutes ago, Hagar the Horrible said:

Rangers have more supporters clubs worldwide than anybody else. There are more ex pays who support them worldwide. They are already popular beyond Glasgow. Us canada. Hong Kong Australia and NewZealand etc

 

For context Sevco have 600k Twitter followers vs Man U's 25m. 

[luckydug]

1 hour ago, Francis Albert said:

It would be ironic if after being an independent football nation since football began we were in effect swallowed by England in a British league at a time when many think Scotland is on the brink of independence.

I have zero interest in Hearts competing in the second or third tier of English football.

I would be finished with Hearts if we left the Scottish set up. 

[Malinga the Swinga]

54 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

 

Well that's me convinced. One load of millionaires protesting about another load of millionaires. Presumably Leeds didn't get invited as they'd have accepted it in a second.