It seems as though the idea of a breakaway European Super League has been discussed and debated endlessly.
From speculative reports going back around a decade, to concrete discussions, to this week when its very real threat will inform historic changes to the Champions League that will benefit the few at the expense of the many.
Yet it did not have to be like this.
I remember speaking with the owner of one Premier League club outside the “Big Six” a few years ago, who made a radical yet persuasive argument for how things could look.
He pointed out that it might be best for all involved if the “Big Six” packed their bags and were sent on their way. They could enjoy their Super League, their regular flights to Madrid, Barcelona, Munich, Milan, Paris, London, Liverpool and Manchester, but should then not expect to enjoy the lucrative advantages of remaining in the English football system.
It would, he continued to explain, present a unique opportunity to reinvigorate English football. To rekindle some of English football’s fallen giants – Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Portsmouth, Coventry, Leeds United, for example – and create a new, highly-competitive English football pyramid whereby not only the same handful of clubs compete for the Premier League title each season.
The suggestion was for a Premier League One and Premier League Two, a reshuffle of the pack in search of new aces, kings and queens. Imagine the global growth potential of some of those clubs were they regularly challenging at the top of English football and back in the Champions League.
Given the damaging effects that the proposed changes to the Champions League from 2024 could have in England, the minimal pushback in public by the leaders of English football comes as a surprise.
The consequences could be devastating in the long-term: the existence of the League Cup under threat, the prospect of clubs fielding even more weakened teams in the FA Cup, clubs outside the “Big Six” having qualification places taken from them and given to their superiors, decreased domestic TV broadcast deals and decreased revenues. The list goes on.
We have heard some criticism from Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish and EFL chief executive Rick Parry. But there has been no collective, organised resistance.
English football is not so much sleepwalking to its fate but remaining in bed fully wide awake with the covers pulled over its heads, hoping it all goes away.
Reports emerged last week that the Football Association had written to Uefa speaking out against some of the proposals, which the governing body would not even confirm or deny when asked by i on Monday.
Nor did it respond when the Our Beautiful Game group – backed by Gary Neville and David Bernstein – questioned the FA’s silence on the matter.
It feels as though in fear of losing Europe’s biggest clubs to their own breakaway Super League, Uefa and the member associations have resigned themselves to allowing the elite to further entrench their place at the top of football’s vast pyramid while maintaining all their current benefits.
When you think about it, it’s staggering, especially when you consider some of the hugely powerful bargaining chips the Premier League and Uefa hold: their own competitions.
Had the “Big Six” been threatened with the prospect of leaving the English football system, perhaps at least a couple would not have been so keen to up sticks and go.
As it is, the wealthiest clubs are close to getting the best of both worlds, leaving everyone else worse off.
Before you go…
The Brazilian Football Association (CBF) has passed an historic rule preventing each Serie A club from sacking more than one manager each season. The proposal has been made by the CBF in previous years but was for the first time voted through by 11 clubs to nine.
Only if a club’s second manager decides to resign is the club permitted to appoint a third. If a club sacks a second manager they must appoint a member of staff from within who has worked there for at least six months.
“It is the end of the coaches’ dance in Brazilian football,” CBF president Rogerio Caboclo said.
It is a move much needed in Brazil, where the top flight has seen 81 managerial changes in three seasons. Yet in the Premier League there appears to be the opposite trend. There have been only been three changes this season and the impact of Covid is undoubtedly having an effect.
Tightened purse strings, no fans in stadiums to display the collective anger of supporters in their tens of thousands. Would, say, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer be close to signing on for two more years had supporters had access to Old Trafford all season?
Sam Cunningham’s i football column is published in print and online on Tuesday mornings. You can follow him on Twitter @samcunningham
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/31xdJ7O
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