Waking up the day after the news of the Super League and it still feels odd.
Spurs have sacked Jose Mourinho, a story I’d normally be basking in, but are they doing that because they want to gear up with a proper manager for this Super League windfall? They’ve gone from being able to attract Nuno, to now being able to attract a rockstar. They’ve gone from a certain Harry Kane exit, to now possibly keeping him.
I’ve spent 5 years writing about Stan K needing to do things the hard way, and in the space of one pandemic, he’s shortcut 5 years of pain and taken us back into guaranteed Champions League football. He did it all without spending his own cash. He brought us the Arsene Wenger FFP dream. We have the edge without the effort.
It’s a lot to take in.
Amazon and Disney are looking at stumping the $4b for the TV deal. That’s game-changing money. $350m just to sign on.
There are some lawyers doing the rounds that basically say UEFA have no say in this and the Premier League wouldn’t be able to stop it.
Some are saying the league might suspend the teams. Don’t be stupid. The 6 teams leaving are the 6 teams that matter. All of them are clubs that can make a super league on brand name alone. The Premier League likely won’t have much power in this.
One possible hope with this is that there is European Union or British government intervention. It’s been trendy for countries to get involved in big business to protect industry. We’ve seen moves on 5G, TikTok in America, medicine. Question, is football worth protecting? This is a culture wrecking move. There’s also not a lot of love for billionaires. Boris Johnson won with the little guys last time around, would he go against his elitist instincts and step in? Is Macron action-oriented or just hot air? Would Merkel accept this from yet-to-be-confirmed German sides? Where is the politics on this?
There’s not really a counter to creating a closed league, hence the botched PR launch. However, human nature is all about the in and out club. We’re programmed to want to be on the inside. In caveman times, if you were in the out-group, you didn’t eat. Well, shock horror, my DMs were firing on all cylinders this morning…
‘Awful… but’
Clear-eyed, this move for Arsenal, is hard to argue. David Dein led the first break away league way back when. We are crippled financially, there was no plan for the pandemic, clubs want to take back control of their destiny. Arsenal have turbo-charged the future with this move.
I suspect the calculation on this is that fans are easily won over. Morals didn’t stop human rights abusers taking over clubs. No one cared about blood money if it was being spent on big-name players over the last decade. It won’t take long for fans of the in-club clubs to sail over to the idea that this is actually a good thing because Arteta’s transfer budget just grew 10x inside a day.
The other part of this story is that there’s going to be a networked effect on the fan multiplier. The biggest clubs, with the most fans, always in the biggest competition, will grow their fanbase at the expense of outsiders or plucky upstarts. Where are the kids going to spend their $80 for football shirts? The clubs where the stars go every season. Wednesday night football will be a global spectacle that diminishes smaller ‘outsider’ clubs chances of moving forward.
Think about the shape of our summer now. We’ve gone from a hard sell, to one of the easiest.
I spoke to some people yesterday that had a ruthless mindset on the matter.
Why not change?
When you start at a new place of work, your first job is to look at how they do things and ask questions. You will always find something that is baffling, inefficient, and counter-productive. When you ask why… ‘we’ve always done it that way.’
Human nature is routine. Football is routine because it works. Change doesn’t have to be a bad thing. This could be the start of an ideas race. Rory Smith, who I’m sure will have some excellent thoughts on this, said that football without competition is content. Do fans want content? Or competition? Can a truer competition exist for the purist? Does that purist spend more money than the casual? So many unanswered questions.
I was speaking to Matt Kandela from the podcast who has been shaped by New York to be one of the ruthless business people I know. He asked why European football was only for the top 7 clubs in each country. Is that interesting enough? Is that exploiting all the opportunities there are? Why can’t we create European avenues for Championship teams? That’d be interesting. Norwich vs St Pauli? I’d watch. Monday and Friday nights are free. Is there such thing as too much sport? Baseball has 180 odd games as season. So not in America. What is the capacity for fans?
Why couldn’t the alternative Champions League be an awesome spectacle? In the current Super League, you have a shite Arsenal, a shite Spurs, a fairly meh Chelsea team, and a Liverpool in decline.
Super League vs Champions League. Let’s make this pure WWE.
Football fans go where the hype is.
The main losers here right now are the fans that will have to spend money on all these experiments.
… but football only dies if the others don’t fight back.
What I will say is that I have absolutely no interest in supporting UEFA and FIFA in this. Two of the most corrupt organisations in the history of sport. Fuck them. They’ve allowed this into the game. They failed to enforce FFP, they failed to get a grip on disgraceful schedules, they gave the World Cup to a country using slave labour to build their stadiums. They have no moral high ground on this.
… and that’s the rub in this. It’s like a Tarrantino film, everywhere you look, there are bad guys. You don’t know where to place your allegiances.
The big loser is the game and as a result, the fans.
The billionaire class moved in on our culture and they are ripping it to shreds.
Being on the winning side is better than being an outsider, but don’t enjoy it too much, if something is too good to be true… it’ll bite you in the pocket eventually.
For now, tell me what you think in the comments below. Gonna try and get a podcast fired up a little later today about it.
Divine Sherlock
Of course the establishment of ESL is about money. When was that not the case in Football?
Players won’t mind it’s more for them and everybody else.
The existing gravy train is in for a shock.
ES is right we must be in rather than being left behind.
ES
So your only reason re: ESL being inevitable is that it was always about the money ? Sporting Merit doesnt matter to you at all ? What you really want is Arsenal to not face the consequences if they arent ever winning anything . Isnt this what LeGrove was against when Arsene Wenger was delivering top 4 consistently ? Painful to see you having no ethics whatsoever.
Spanish
“ES is right we must be in rather than being left behind.”
You are not looking at the welfare of the club.
You are looking at the welfare of the owners.
Kroenkephobe How hard is this I believe in the free market, providing its based on free and fair competition, and not corporate or political protectionism, which are basically the same thing I’m not against a European Super League, I’m against the anti-competitive nature of it Society is build on competition, and that competition is healthy Competition is what drives society to be better, it drives progress and innovation and keeps people on their toes Without competition, people, businesses and bureaucrats, become lazy and corrupt, because there’s nobody to challenge the statuesque I’m a meritocrat, you only get out of life… Read more »
Divine Sherlock
Arsenal have been one of the best runt and successful clubs in World Football over a very long period of time.
Success is not measured on just a few years. Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool, Man City, Inter Milan, AC Milan and even Man Utd,Juventus, Real Madrid and Barcelona have all had their bad times.
´Then they should have to earn that right like everybody else’ Where have you been in the last 17 years? Earning the right ended when Abramovich bought the Chavs. Umpteen clubs since have been falsely built up by rich men or organisations. Chelsea, Man City, PSG, state backed Real Madrid where have they earned the right? Where was the outcry when that happened ? It was a whimper! It’s no good moaning about the SL now, football has already half eaten itself! As a football fan it’s a horrendous situation, as an Arsenal fan, thank fuck we got an invite,… Read more »
Its all insecurities of these owners , they dont want Clubs like Leipzig , Leicester , Sevilla , Napoli , West Ham to name a few challenging their authority over the money . They think they rightfully own it . I applaud Porto , Bayern and Dortmund not bending over backwards for them . Never have I been ashamed of my club , sadly its the case no more.
I get put a positive spin on it Pedro but I’m just deflated this morning
One kore step to the whole thing just being consumerism.
Arsenal are fucking shit right now, the liberty to think we can get better by blocking all competition is so wrong.
Us posting here is viewed as “engagement” to be “monetised” .
If I wanted to support the NFL’s and by all the merch in a league with no relegation I would.
This is an American mess, kronke, glazer all you lot fuck off
ES Arsenal have been one of the best runt and successful clubs in World Football over a very long period of time. Success is not measured on just a few years. Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool, Man City, Inter Milan, AC Milan and even Man Utd,Juventus, Real Madrid and Barcelona have all had their bad times. . . That gives them the god given right to stay immune from failure ? Also San Marino might not have the chance to ever beat a big team like Germany or France but that doesnt mean you should take that chance away from them ?… Read more »
Teecee
Money doping is a bad thing but in no way is it comparable to a closed league.
Those clubs you mentioned and every other club will not play in UCL if they finish outside the Europe places. Hence they still have to earn the right.
I’ll come straight to the point , if these 12 clubs think they are that good they can create the league , then they should have no trouble qualifying for the UCL . The very fact remains that they are troubled by that , troubled by the fact they will lose money over new clubs that are constantly emerging and beating them in sport by merit and with lesser resources . Clubs like Ajax and Atalanta , Lyon , Villareal . Just sickening to see this play out like this
Sorry ES but you can’t view sport in purely monetary terms otherwise it ceases to be sport and becomes just another pointless brain dead form of ‘entertainment’ for the casually interested when they have nothing better to do. What’s the saying? Knows the price of everything and the value of nothing? Wouldn’t it be ironic if the club that you live ten minutes from ups sticks and gets moved to become the Bangcock Big Guns so Tony gets to watch games in Stan’s new super stadium while you sulk back at home? Because that’s the logical next step (and we… Read more »
And on to the football. Really looking forward to see how Balogun , Eddie and Martinelli get on in the next few weeks without Lacazette and Aubamayang available for selection. If Martinelli is being used on the left, alternating with Pepe, then Balogun and Eddie should be Alternating in the striker’s position.. Eddie starts, Balogun replaces him on 60/70 minutes.. Balogun starts , Eddie replaces him on 60/70 mind. The loan striker’s role in this Arsenal team is the hardest job on the football pitch and often a thankless task with little reward. The striker expends a lot of his… Read more »
Yes but they are most likely to ‘earn the right’ because of spending money they didn’t generate!
I’ve always hated Man U but to be fair they’ve always generated shit loads of money. How can you say Man City have earned the right even if they win the PL when the owners sponsored themselves to the tune of 450m?
It’s so hypocritical to get angry at the SL and not these clubs being falsely built up by borderline illegal means.
The German ownership model is the way to go but that boat has sailed a long time ago.
What a pisstake like a well run club like leicsester who have got themselves into the champ league by being clever will now become shit because a bunch of Americans decide to block their entry
andy1886
I think the most damning thing I read was that these American owners dont even understand the concept of relegation . They are so scared of losing value of their precious clubs if that happens they want to discard that immediately.
andy1886
Also great point about stadium thing , the precedent has already been set by Kroenke when he moved the Rams.
Most likely to ‘earn the right’ and guaranteed the right are entirely different things though.
We can also hate the ESL and hate money doping at the same time. They’re not mutually exclusive and as Arsenal fans I believe we’ve already been doing the latter for a while now.
Rich
I composed something suitably pithy in response to your latest contradictory weep about the lack of fair play in football, but the axe seems to have swung on it. No swear words either even though it probably merited some. At least you’ll now have to re-evaluate your position that lefties are the root of all evil. Stay cool.
@DS – It’s only a matter of time before the SL clubs become franchises and people like ES realise they’ve sold their souls to the corporate devil.
China1, The time difference will have an impact on the far East appetite. It already had on the Champion’s League. A few years ago, UEFA floated with the idea of a morning kick-off for its final. That was made to cater specifically for that market. The idea never lift off the ground, but with the ESL, I would not be surprised if that idea was revisited. 20 teams means 10 games per round, so 5 on Tuesday and 5 on Wednesday. 2 games in the morning for the Far East market, 2 in the evening for the European Market and… Read more »
It’s amazing. We sold out to Stan over ten years ago. He has used the club as an asset and even with all the moaning fans have not protested enough against it. The Premiership is the biggest league in the world and our clubs are known all over the world making them a dream asset for Arabs Russians and Americans to exploit and launder money and every one has sat back and let it happen. Our water is controlled by a French company all the profits go back to France. We let all the countries in the world invest in… Read more »
SpanishDave, As a French man living in London, I take exception to your characterisation that it is all foreigners fault. The reality is that it was the greed of British owners that started that revolution. I may be wrong, but I believe that the only 1st Division football club foreign owner when the premier League was created was Irish. In fact most of the issues the world is now confronted came from a very Anglo-Saxon notion that the market knows better. Financial liberalisation and deregulation that became a mantra in the 80s are were pushed by British and US interest.… Read more »
andy 1886 I have not sold my soul to anyone. I was never a fan of the club being sold to Kroenke in the first place, but he was my preference if I had a choice between him and Usmanov. You can blame Dein for the situation we find us in. He went behind the backs of the Board when he convinced Kroenke to buy shares in the club. Let’s be clear the UK is an open market and we allow businesses to be sold to foreign owners. I don’t support Arsenal, because of the club ownership, but because it… Read more »
Wiglaf you’re only complaining because you didn’t trim your toe nails!
This reminds me of when I was about 10 we had a boy on my school football team called James. Proper head down merchant, would run through 100 players then hit it full power and hit the corner flag if you let him. One time before a school match his mum had to be called in for an emergency because his finger nails were too long to play. She had to come in and trim them or he wasn’t allowed to start 😂
I’ve damaged and lost so many toe nails over the years, I’d like to hope is never be offside, but with size 13 feet the truth is in 2021 if I’m in the opposition half my toes are permanently offside