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.
Cazorla, If the quality of the football is great, Norwich v St Pauli is exactly the kind of game I would watch. Deciding to only watch big names is exactly what messed the Italian league. Boring, win at all cost approach between underserved big clubs is exactly what alienated fans. A new raft of new managers changed the style of football. Suddenly you have Atalanta, Napoli and others that play an exciting style of football. They are nowhere near the finished article, but you can see the progress. Germany is a little bit further in that cycle. But a decade… Read more »
“I’m glad we are in the inside not the outside because I would like the best players at our club…”
And what if the governing bodies of each league ban the interaction with ESL teams? What then?
ES
All your post shows is your tribalism over being a true fan of the game along with your support of Arsenal over the years.
Those that have supported Arsenal along with having a genuine love of the game overall would have had a better experience.
All they can do now is reminisce about that because it has been taken away.
You meanwhile can continue on with your base basic tribalism.
Jim
There s no divide.
US fans think it’s a daft idea but are less likely to be emotionally flipping out.
The graveyard of professional sports is littered with failed projects. I don’t even think the ESL will evert take off. It’s dead on arrival. .
Pedro has just delivered an example how quickly the fans of clubs involved will come on board this scheme.
You can rationalize anything if you try hard enough.
The next big issue needing solving is how big a raise Arteta needs on his pay.
He can’t be managing Arsenal in Super League on a measly £5mil a year.
I think we are seeing this purely as fans who would bleed ourselves dry for our clubs and believe in the fairytale of the FA cup giant killings but it’s all a myth perpetuated by business people so we spend more money… As crass as it may seem money talks…
ES – you haven’t got a club any more. Try getting a season ticket when the prices go up again and again to reflect the “super” status of the club or when they decide to remove the seats and put up electronic advertising or better still, move the club to a 100,000 seater stadium in the US because it generates more revenue.
With respect, I think people are being short sighted with regard to what’s being proposed and where it’s going to end up.
@Jim Leahy…
Would never happen…. domestic leagues wouldn’t cut their nose off to spite their face in this way… believe it or not fans only make up a small amount of club revenue… The domestic leagues would not risk losing the real mo yeah that TV brings… the same way FIFA will rollback on the idea of banning players when sponsors start to pull out!
Rambo See I get that argument but you’re simplifying things and are overlooking how clubs come to compete in the first place. It is for the most part getting the right people in. As I said we have spent 300m since 2018 but we are falling further and further down the table. By your financial logic, we ought to be improving every year. Just shows you that when a club is run terribly from the top down on the footballing side, it is near impossible. United toiled in medicority for years because of terribly footballing decisions, not because they didn’t… Read more »
“With respect, I think people are being short sighted with regard to what’s being proposed and where it’s going to end up.”
Exactly, will it become like American Football with no away fans because the distances are too far to travel every week?
The real question is what will Sam do when we are still at mid-table for the PL and mid/lower table for ESL with no fear of relegation or incentive to being top of the table? Ohhh most likely nothing. Why, spend when you are going nowhere?
Look at the NFL, they have implemented a minimum salary cap to make sure the owners actually spend money on the team and not pocket the TV money..
– No fear of relegation but do not want to spend to compete? Pocket the money!
andy 1886
You talk crap. I have watched Arsenal when footballers were paid basic wages of under £10 pw.
Arsenal is now run as a business just like every other club in EPL. That is the progression of
the professional game. The only way that Arsenal is going to be competitive is to play by
the same rules as every other major club.
If you do not like or accept those rules then I suggest that you support some other club with
different expectations or better still an amateur sport where there are not the same expectations.
“This ESL that we must be in could be viewed in the future with scorn and ridicule.”
Or or it could be a success with every top club begging to be part of it. Ifs buts coconuts
What’s the probability say though? A League founded by the biggest clubs with the best players With a billion followers around the world will be ridiculed….
“Would never happen…. domestic leagues wouldn’t cut their nose off to spite their face in this way”
Why wouldn’t they? Impose a ban on trade with ESL teams and within a few years, the ESL falls apart and the associated clubs fade away into obscurity.
Sport is only entertainment if there is competition. That’s exactly why most US league are based on a communist basis within a competitive market. Draft are exactly build to correct team imbalance. The worst teams have given first draft to improve their squad the next season. Sport Entertainment is all about drama. Predictability is the enemy of drama. The problem is that rich owners do like unpredictability if the consequence is a loss of revenue. The concept of a club like ManUtd being eliminated in the FA Cup by an amateur clubs is alien and anathema to them. It is… Read more »
“What’s the probability say though? A League founded by the biggest clubs with the best players With a billion followers around the world will be ridiculed….”
A league that no one wants? What will it be like when fans beginning boycotting games en mass?
Don
I see this very differently
I see this ESL announcement as a failed attempt by the big clubs to leverage their influence to negotiate better deals for themselves.
This is a strategic negotiating tactic blunder – a threat to walk out.
It’s not workable.
Stop spazzing out every 5 minutes
Arteta’s transfer budget just multiplied by 10x
And what will we do with that PEDRO SIGN ANOTHER 5 PEPE’s?
You should be thinking how much the juniors supporters will have to
pay to watch a match .
Rambo
“A League founded by the biggest clubs with the best players With a billion followers around the world will be ridiculed….”
It will mean nothing when these biggest clubs are so obviously detached and cut off from 99%% of the rest of the footballing world.
It will be a case of these small number of clubs preening each other and congratulating each other. It won’t relate beyond that.
Only to the global tv audience that will see it as the next episode to watch on the TV like the next Netflix series.
Plastic.
“Only to the global tv audience that will see it as the next episode to watch on the TV like the next Netflix series.”
Bang on, what happens to every club in the ESL identity? They will become faceless franchises that can be moved around.
Lanquadilie
Football Season Ticket prices have not risen by much since we moved to Emirates and indeed costs have fallen recently.
I suspect that if we join the ESL The commercial and tv revenues will be increased dramatically and that will stabilise ticket prices.
What is more likely to impact on Arsenal ticket revenues is if the club does not improve its
football performance and play at the top level. I am a realist and expect the ESL to succeed
even if there are many who disapprove of its formation.
ES: “You talk crap. I have watched Arsenal when footballers were paid basic wages of under £10 pw.”
So fucking what ES? WTF has that got to do with this Super League?
I see you never address the actual points I raise. You make statements about us ‘competing’ in the SL while we’re not even competing in the PL – what bollocks.
You talk about ‘Merit’ – we’re mid-table, we’re not included ‘on merit at all.
Address that and save the fantasy island fairey tales for you more gullible cronies down at the old boys club.
“What is more likely to impact on Arsenal ticket revenues is if the club does not improve its
football performance and play at the top level”
And how are we to do that finishing bottom of the league every year?
Best thing that could happen to those that are sick and tired of player faking, referee disasters and now bad competitions. Real reason now to leave Arsenal and behind and watch sports competitions where this shit is not happening. Still you got the World Cup and European championship and a lengthy court battle ahead. Fuck this shit and I hope Pedro that your investment in this blog will survive but the Arsenal and its history as I know is no longer.
Dissenter Maybe you should try being more emotionally invested instead of dismissing the emotional investment of others. You seem to always be on the side of down-playing matters like it’s the grown thing to do. Normally it’s some dickish remake about getting a laugh out of a rival, now it’s about something much bigger. Football fans are by definition fanatics. We’re invested in the sport, so when large-scale change is afoot there’s going to inevitably be reaction to that. Slow clap for you to sit there and act aloof to it all, what a guy you are. When that asteroid… Read more »
They don’t give a shit about us they won’t care about season ticket holders either
You will get corporate fans now like you do when the NFL come to Wembley football died last night
Oh and our owners are one of the guys that killed it they need to go now
Pedro This was a curate’s egg but ultimately an exhausting read. Change is good you suggest. I hear you but in this case I don’t believe you. To the suits its a move to a more lucrative business model putting more money in the pockets of people who already have rather a lot. But to us “legacy fans” the proposition has no redeeming features. None whatsoever. Poor us! Sob… Ozy and Englandsbest, and you Pedro to a certain extent, sound like accountants and management consultants. That’s not intended as a positive thing in this case. This will flatten the up… Read more »
The European Super League will fail Where will they sell their players outside of their own league? Nobody will be able to afford to pay their cast offs, let alone pay a fee on top The disconnect between the revenues of the ESL teams, and the rest, will be too big Where’s the talent going to come from, if the grassroots can’t afford to put money into developing younger players, and keep their academies afloat? I’d be surprised if it lasted 5 years The concern is how much carnage they will have caused to the game by then, and how… Read more »
Jim Lahey — Being American myself is part of why I’m so keenly against this plan. I see what they’re doing and it looks like American sports. Still fun to watch, sure, but at the end of the day it’s a cartel whose only true concern is profit for billionaire owners. They reap the benefits no matter how good or bad their teams are are. Teams are even intentionally bad so as to stockpile resources and get better later. As a structure, the American model can’t match the excitement of football. Because however skewed football is by money already, the… Read more »
Highbury N5, there used to be a football club here, now it is just another business. Money talks and people mumble, big business has turned what was a thing of passion into a thing of fashion. Football has become a beast with an insatiable appetite for money, the ESL proposed is the latest attempt to sate the beast. What happens in 25 years time when the ESL can no longer satisfy the ever escalating greed of the clubs it comprises? Have to say I was totally blindsided by the position Pedro has taken. Swimming against the tide of popular sentiment… Read more »
Emirates
What merit are we included on?
It’s a collection of the biggest brands in football, is that our claim for belonging to the “elite of Europe”?
Biggest and best aren’t the same, we’ve know that for years.
“The majority of fans around the world are dead against this. You seen the comments sections online? Mass outpouring of disgust at this announcement.”
That’s where there is a huge cultural divide, some people see football as content (as some said, like Netflix), they want to tune in once a week and see the big games, then tune out. Others care about the club and its identity and traditions.
The Champions League is a real tournament full of history and pedigree, not some half-baked competition thrown together by business men to squeeze money out of the clubs.
Wiglaf aka DonTheDumb
The internet is always crying about something or the other these days. Fvck all that means.
If this ESL shit ever goes live, I for one will be here to sniff out your then millionth moniker. Lets see if your outrage now actually means something and you are a man of integrity( embarrassing that you link integrity with a football club but whatever works for you) or you’re full of turd.
Oh my god, so much doom and gloom. I have not seen a SINGLE good reason why this is bad. It might hurt smaller teams? Well…
“The Super League has planned a ‘Solidarity Fund’ of about €10 billion for smaller clubs, which would be about €6 billion more than what UEFA is currently contributing. Reports, @melchorcope.“
It’s bad for football? The Champions League and Europa League and teams spending 250 million on Mbappe and the World Cup being in Qatar is good for football?
350 million could reshape this team for the better.
Charlie
I’m not the one overreacting to a poorly thought out and unworkable idea that the ESL is.
I think it’s a strategic blunder that these clubs have made to advance their goals in a negotiation with UEFA. Who’s going to fund a competition that no player will want to play in and no proper fan wants to tune into?
It is not going to happen.
“That’s exactly why most US league are based on a communist basis within a competitive market. Draft are exactly build to correct team imbalance.“
Don’t tell the rednecks who worship at the altar of NFL every Sunday that they support a form of socialism, or they might take to the streets with their AR-17’s to get their country back.
Clubs will recruit players using the draft system in the ESL.
Klopp of Liverpool must resign tonight which is being rumoured.
He must do it.
He has built his image almost primarily on being at one with the match going fan and the home based fans in the city of Liverpool.
He will know along with the rest that this aspect of the game has now been absolutely ripped away.
And when he does resign as hoped he will get huge respect from others. More respect with this certain act than him winning trophies.
Kroenke never bothered to compete with the likes of Chelsea and United and some people think he will put his money in to have us compete with the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona in ESL. He bought Arsenal because he thought Wenger would secure top 4 season in season out with minimal investment and thereby enhance the value of his investment. With Wenger gone and Emery and Arteta stuttering, ESL is like a godsend for him. He can go back to his comfort zone of minimal investment in our squad and guaranteed turnover from TV rights. We will become… Read more »
andy 1886
It is called “reality” The game has changed whether you agree or like it or not.
You may not like living in a consumer driven world, but there are plenty who do.
Watching Arsenal at the Emirates rather than on TV or internet is my preferred choice. I am
able and willing to spend £2,000 a year on my season ticket and I am pretty sure that there
are plenty of others able and willing to do likewise.
“It’s bad for football? The Champions League and Europa League and teams spending 250 million on Mbappe and the World Cup being in Qatar is good for football?”
Who has spent 250m on Mbappe? And the world cup in Qatar has been continuously condemned. So just because there are some shitty aspects to football, it’s fine to just chuck on another one?
All the fans groups from the split teams are getting together to protest together
Jim lahey thats not good for football
“350 million could reshape this team for the better.”
Also to do what? Compete with other teams that have spent the same money and are already considerably better than us?
How many migrant workers have died in Qatar since the World Cup was awarded to it? 6,500? But right, FIFA is the victim here. UEFA banned a victim or racial abuse for 3 games for being angry about said racial abuse? Whereas his abuser got the minimum punishment of 10 games. But UEFA is the victim? The FA punish anybody who talks up against their incompetent referees that have cost us points again and again, but they are the victim? Small clubs are the victims? Yet they have a chance of entering the Super League and there’s a Solidarity Fund… Read more »
Seems the English love capitalism only when its away from home
Here here ozy
Dissenter
No, instead you’re trying to sanitise any emotional reaction on the idea that it was always possible an outcome, which is such a daft position to hold.
–
Hahaha Ozy thinks we’re a bit of cash spent away from tackling Real Madrid, Barca, and City. Thank fuck none of the other sides would also get a cash injection…
Jim Lahey, my bad. Was it 150 million or 200 million? How much is Messi being currently paid? Money has already tainted the sport.
And yes, 350 million goes a long way. Other team are ALREADY building ridiculous squads, and we can’t afford a single player without selling 5. So uh, yes. 350 million could make the difference between us finishing 10th and us competing for the title again. Unless nobody here wants us to actually be competitive again for UEFA’s sake in which case …. LOL.
Its because of ‘Netflix’ watchers that the PL and CL have grown to become the beast they are today. Not because of a few thousand local fans
There are numerous clubs in lower division who work really hard to get promoted to EPL so that they can earn a lot of money and become bigger and more stable. With EPL devoid of money without the big six, what will motivate these clubs and players playing for them to work hard and get promotion ? ESL in a way will kill off many small clubs if it leads to the big six banned from the league and of course there will be job losses too.
I do not think we’d be competitive in the Super League. At least not in our current state, cash influx or not.
However, domestically, it could make a massive difference.
What is the alternative? Saying no the Super League and not being a part of it when the likes of Tottenham are? We’d regress further and never finish in the top 4-6 again.
TR7, it sounds like the English FA would be the ones to kill off those small teams if they ban the top 6 from the Premier League, not the teams or the ESL.
“How many migrant workers have died in Qatar since the World Cup was awarded to it? 6,500? But right, FIFA is the victim here.”
Okay…. I will be the one to say it… Those numbers are over ALL construction in Qatar over a period of 10 years. 37 deaths have been contributed to the development of stadiums for the world cup. And as you know Ozy, Qatar’s population is made up of 89.5% migrants. So the numbers over a ten-year period are no worse than many European nations per capita.
“a few thousand local fans”
Christ….
Again ES, I’ll ask the questions you don’t seem to care answer:
How will we be competitive in the SL when we’re not even competitive in the PL?
Why are we in ‘on merit’ when we are struggling to qualify for even the lowest level of European football?
Your only argument seems to be “I can afford to spend thousands if they hike up the prices so screw everyone else”.
Oh, and funny how the well off love the consumer driven world while sneering at less well off – just like in football it seems.
As others have said if Arsenal are in the ESL then they will play reserve sides in the EPL so any talk of EPL performance is quite meaningless.
Jim, true! There are unclear figures about those who died while constructing stadiums, etc. I’ll give you that. However, Qatar had absolutely no business being awarded the World Cup. “ In the past 10 years, Qatar has embarked on an unprecedented building programme, largely in preparation for the football tournament in 2022. In addition to seven new stadiums, dozens of major projects have been completed or are under way, including a new airport, roads, public transport systems, hotels and a new city, which will host the World Cup final. While death records are not categorised by occupation or place of… Read more »
“What is the alternative? Saying no the Super League and not being a part of it when the likes of Tottenham are? We’d regress further and never finish in the top 4-6 again“
The alternative is no ESL, don’t think anyone is asking for Arsenal to cut their nose off. It’s a football-wide attitude that’s being challenged, not a purely Arsenal one.
You’re all for it why? Because it’s new? We get 350 mil which apparently means we instantly improve?
There is no guarantee of an ROI for this…..
If Klopp resigns he will be back in Germany managing a team there in quick time.
If he goes along with the ESL he has been an absolute fake in regards the image and concept of him that he has been portraying throughout his mangerial career.
Very interesting this Klopp situation.
£350 million “could” reshape our team But first we need to make room, which will mean moving players on Outside of Saka + Smith-Rowe + Tierney + Martinelli, who we need to keep Who are we selling our players too? We’ve just about to decimated the finances of the rest of football even further Are we going to trust the same people who signed Willian + Runarsson loose with £350 million? All the extra money will just produce higher prices Basic economics, supply and demand If we have a supply of money, and someone else has a supply of elite… Read more »
Rich – Where’s the talent going to come from, if the grassroots can’t afford to put money into developing younger players, and keep their academies afloat? ———————————————————– A very good point. They are proposing “solidarity payments” to the rest of European clubs. Whilst this may be more than FIFA/UEFA currently pay if it doesn’t cover the drop in revenue from TV then other clubs will go bust. They will need a feeder system of some sort to provide these top end superstar players. Players don’t become big overnight and many who promise such flop. Without a secure football ‘pyramid’ which… Read more »
From the Kroenke’s standpoint, the attraction of the ESL is clear. They get to be one of the 12-15 founding clubs divvying up a pot of $3.5 billion, and their losses are wiped out and replaced with a big fat surplus. The unambitious “self financing” model where we pootled along in the lower reaches of the top 4 under Wenger and upper/mid table thereafter will be replaced by a new equally unambitious “self-sustaining + JP Morgan funding” model. We will pootle along in the lower reaches of the ESL, but importantly with NO THREAT OF RELEGATION, the Kroenke’s spending relative… Read more »
Arsenal have to put money in up front….no guarantee on the $350 mil….
Spanish execs are playing three card monty
Ozy –
Yeah, I agree, Qatar should never have been given the World Cup.
https://mobile.twitter.com/ThekidEG/status/1384141658191659011
Looool. Make it like WWE indeed..
Charlie
Maybe you haven’t been around long enough to read some for the earlier comments, the emotional outpouring was fast becoming a xenophobic exercise.
Unrestrained emotions by a large group of people is no different from a mob action.
All for what?
An unworkable idea that will never get off the ground
I will say that I’m not exactly overly confident that the 350 million will go towards transfers or the infrastructure of the club, tbh.
Or that it would be used wisely by those who run this club. I guess time will tell if the ESL is stopped. If it is stopped, those founding clubs will face sanctions because they would lose all leverage. If it’s not stopped, which it looks like it won’t be or it can’t be, then it should make for an interesting next year or two.
Do not fall into the ‘projected’ gains BS trap
@Ozy –
Also, do you really believe that the squad will see the majority of any money pumped into the club?
Psy
The FA won’t be left with any other option but to ban these 6 clubs. Even if they don’t, EPL will be diluted because there will be no competition for top 4 places. Why will clubs like Arsenal and Tottenham bother when they are already secured a place in the top European tournament. Less competition will lead to less interest and lower earning. So small clubs and the league suffers anyway. Besides who knows these 6 clubs will probably be playing their second string 11 in EPL.
@Ozy –
“I will say that I’m not exactly overly confident that the 350 million will go towards transfers or the infrastructure of the club, tbh.”
Ha, answered my question.
““350 million could reshape this team for the better.”” This is laughable to the point of busting a gut. If anyone for one second thinks that Kroenke is going to spend any money on his team…why!!! There is no incentive to spend, the club is assured entry into the ESL and relegation is not an objective of the league for any of the founding clubs. Knowing this, who cares about spending money. For some of you, get it through your incredibly thick skulls – Stan bought Arsenal to make money, not spend it. The ESL makes perfect sense for him… Read more »
soon we will know what it is like to be a Sheffield United supporter.
Last post was addressed to Ozy, not psy.
Of course we will also be seen as lepers in the EPL along with the other founding members of this money grabbing scheme if we are allowed to play ESL and EPL simultaneously.
We will be despised at every turn and corner in the EPL along with the other founding members.
People may say so what who cares but it will just highlight that really we would be football outsiders now. Not insiders as some are implying.
TR7 The players would be motivated to be recruited into the super league (earn 20x money). The splinter clubs will be banned from domestic competition (even if it takes an act of parliament to overrule the courts after a year or two of haggling), at which point the super league will have to formally invite 5 more teams as permanent members (there’s no way back once you go), or launch 5 expansion teams (attractive to owners as they can charge £1.5bn+ as an expansion fee to each new owner, so maybe £0.5bn in cash to each of the founding 15).… Read more »
So, how about this scenario.
The ESL goes ahead. We are either 1) Expelled from the Premier League or 2) Allowed to continue but are relegated. If we are allowed to continue within the league there is no way we escape punishment.
So either we are a team that plays in the top European competition who have no domestic football, or play in the lower leagues?
We have spent 300m since 2018. 500+ million if you include Wenger’s last two seasons from 2016-2018. In that time, we have gone from finishing in 2nd spot on 70 points in 2015/16 before any of this half billion was spent to slipping out of the CL, further and further down the table all the while scoring less and less goals. We are now nearly 5 years later and we are scrapping for a top half of the table finish with 43 goals in 31 games despite spending close to 200m on a forward line of Pepe, Laca and Auba… Read more »
“We will be despised at every turn and corner in the EPL along with the other founding members.”
We will basically become Leipzig.
Uefa executive committee member Jesper Moller:
“The clubs must go (kicking out Chelsea, Madrid & City from the champions league semis) and I expect that to happen on Friday.”
Oh boy.
Hopefully this will die a painful death……..
And for what its worth, had UEFA and FIFA conducted themselves with even a modicum of ethical integrity, none of this would be happening today. The ESL is a direct slap in the face of both those corrupt organizations. They have absolutely no power or authority – ethical, legal or otherwise, to stop this. Idiots all for blowing a better than good thing that they once had.
Arsenal FC 2022
Despised by EPL clubs and their supporters.
Derided by European Super League Clubs and their supporters.
I mean, great we will be the sixth-best team in the PL and the 12th best in the ESL. Can’t wait for that
Lol would be fun watching Arteta stumble around in the bottom pit of the new ESL and Arsenal fans wanting everyone else to trust the process
Well if they are kicking out Real Madrid and the other English clubs from the CL we will naturally get kicked from this seasons Europa League.
Hope you are all enjoying your new ESL adventure.
I mean not like we’re any closer to winning the champions league or EPL as it is so maybe some change would be nice for us lol
Elmo
Also it will be extremely difficult for a lower league player to make in to an ESL club, a bridge too far that most of the lower league players will lose motivation anyway.
I just thought of a real positive thing. Let the referees become partial to those non ESL teams and any questionable decision plus some fictitious decisions all go against the ESL teams no more complaining about referee’s bad decisions.
A lot of snowflakes out there. There is no fair competition and there hasn’t been since Chelsea brought their way to win the PL followed by Man City.. Our owners sold out to the devil and in football greed is all around. If we were left out with ten years we will be in the backwater of football. Fans want to see us playing Real Madrid rather than Sheffield United on a wet Wednesday, and the rate we are currently going we will not be playing the big clubs for many years now. We are a big club and we… Read more »
@Wiglaf –
I hope you are correct.
Arteta in his presser says he knows nothing about the ESL move.
andy 1887 We will be competitive if we develop and/or recruit the right players. Clearly buying players as opposed to developing them requires funds and that would obviously come from playing in a league which attracts commercial sponsorship and tv funding A European Super League has been on the agenda since the 1980s and is nothing new. It has not suddenly appeared because we have got American Owners. I can assure that the Board of Arsenal will have discussed the proposition long before Kroenke appeared as owner of club. Let’s stop kidding that UEFA and FIFA serve the best interest… Read more »
“Fans want to see us playing Real Madrid rather than Sheffield United”
How about we earn it
Mourinho got the boot because he deserved it. He’s toxic and divisive, not to mention he committed the ultimate sin – he lost the dressing room because he throws his players under a locomotive all the time.
Mourinho is box-office poison and now a really bad manager. His schtick wore off a long time ago.
Batistuta
“Lol would be fun watching Arteta stumble around in the bottom pit of the new ESL and Arsenal fans wanting everyone else to trust the process”
Can you imagine the boring continuous narrative we would see every week on here playing in the ESL under Arteta.
Well he’s a novice so of course he is going to struggle against the best teams in the “best” league in the world. Give him time. Ten years could do it.
Meanwhile Stan K doesn’t give a fuck counting his guaranteed money.
TR7
“Arteta in his presser says he knows nothing about the ESL move.”
Kopping out or playing dumb.
Neither good from him.