European Super League

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KeithPratt
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European Super League

Postby KeithPratt » 06 Nov 2018, 12:16

Inevitable to a certain extent. If a regular appearance at the quarter-final stage of the Champions' League can be seen as a marker of pedigree, then the reality of that competition is that the number of clubs who reach that level and beyond is small. If the Champions' League was throwing up surprise participants at semi-final phase and later, then I think the argument doesn't become so clearcut. But with Real, Barca, Bayern Munich, Man City etc all reaching the business end of the competition regularly, then there is an inevitability about the competition moving to a league format.

Is it sustainable? If a club like Manchester City or Liverpool was playing elite European opponents week in week out, then I think the fans would continue to go as they do normally. The damage to the football culture of a domestic league is difficult to predict. There would be some fall out for sure, but maybe with the top 4 or 5 potentially outside of it now, then it would potentially make the Premier League, the Bundesliga, La Liga and Ligue 1 all much more competitive.

What do you think?

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Penk!
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Re: European Super League

Postby Penk! » 06 Nov 2018, 19:33

There is a part of me that thinks a Euro League played over a full season could be quite entertaining, certainly more so than the jaded, samey Champions League these days. I used to like putting together leagues like that on FIFA and PES with all the best teams (plus someone like Macclesfield thrown in there for the hell of it) playing each other over a full season.

It could work as a replacement for the Champions League if they dared let themselves be relegated. And if teams from the smaller leagues had a chance of getting in somehow. That might actually bring revenue to some of the smaller leagues. Maybe if, say, there were only one team per country/two from the top few leagues, who sat out their own league for the season, and only the winner stayed there the next year; everyone else had to go back home and try to qualify again, being replaced by the league champions. It'd bring some variety to both the MEGA MONEYBAGS LEAGUE and the domestic leagues. You'd still get the usual lot at the top of the Premier League but take Barca-Real out of Spain, PSG out of France, Juve out of Italy and those leagues are a bit more interesting again...

In real life though the model they have is a nonsense which is just aimed at making the top teams a shiteload of cash and stopping anyone else getting a piece of it.
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The Modernist
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Re: European Super League

Postby The Modernist » 06 Nov 2018, 20:24

I don't think it's inevitable at all. Or to put it another way I've heard people saying it's inevitable for the last twenty years.

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Re: European Super League

Postby Diamond Dog » 06 Nov 2018, 20:47

PENK wrote:
In real life though the model they have is a nonsense which is just aimed at making the top teams a shiteload of cash and stopping anyone else getting a piece of it.


Exactly. And that really ought to be the end of the debate. It ertainly isn't good for football as a competitive sport - it is the step over to franchise sport USA-stylee, where the owners are guaranteed revenues and never face the threat of relegation - or a Leicester ever happening again.
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Re: European Super League

Postby Diamond Dog » 06 Nov 2018, 20:55

And when you see the kind of financial chicanery the obsecenely wealthy are already capable of - seemingly without any real penalty from UEFA- it makes you wonder why they need the Super League concept at all, doesn't it?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46109638

In its latest claims, Der Spiegel says Manchester City used "creative solutions" to avoid costs, calling their endeavour 'Project Longbow'.

That included selling players' image rights to an external company, therefore writing off that cost from their accounts.

The external company paid City "almost 30m euros" (£26m) and were then reimbursed approximately £11m a year in secret by owner Sheikh Mansour's holding company, Abu Dhabi United Group.

The magazine said the name 'Longbow' was chosen, according to City's chief legal adviser, Simon Cliff, as it was "the weapon the English used to beat the French at Crecy and Agincourt" in the Hundred Years' War.

French Uefa president Michel Platini was the man behind FFP.

In an internal memo seen by the magazine, Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano said: "We will need to fight [FFP] and do it in a way that is not visible, or we will be pointed out as the global enemies of football."
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Re: European Super League

Postby Diamond Dog » 10 Nov 2018, 08:05

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46159075

Fifa is investigating allegations Manchester City broke rules banning third-party ownership in their links with Danish club FC Nordsjaelland.

On Thursday, Danish newspaper Politiken claimed City had signed an agreement with the Superliga side allowing them to recruit African players for free.

It allegedly gave them the right to sign players from Nordsjaelland's Right to Dream Academy between 2016 and 2020.


BBC Sport has contacted Premier League champions City for comment.

Nordsjaelland president Tom Vernon told Politiken no players had been "forced" to move - and the contract in question had "not been in force for some time".

He added: "We are confident that we are in compliance with all relevant football regulations in our running of Right to Dream and FC Nordsjaelland."

The contract in question allegedly stated Nordsjaelland "shall be obliged to use its best endeavours to effect the transfer" if City wanted to sign a player from the academy.


Not a good week for Man City.....
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