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How Will the European Super League Affect How You Follow Football & Your Team?


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While there’s a lot of well founded and correct criticism of this sham tournament today, I’ve seen a lot of people, whether knee jerk or deadly serious, saying they’ll walk away from their club, people questioning whether they’ll continue with supporting their club in the manner they do and others threatening to support another club. 

Just curious what peoples feelings are on this. 

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Gonna be honest, even if all 6 English clubs backtrack on this and the whole idea is scrapped... FSG have now made two attempts at a blatant power grab that's likely to put us closer to a European Super League. They tell us they love how Liverpool is a historic side and how they value our history... but it's all just bullshit marketing. They've shown they don't care about the history of the club or the actual fans of the club (or as these twats would refer to them... "legacy fans").

It seems they don't care about the fans (regardless of how much they big up the atmosphere at Anfield on the big European nights) - so I'd probably stick by Liverpool if they did backtrack on this idea... but I'd support the club in the same way I did in the Gillett & Hicks era. In that, I want these fuckers out of "my" club as soon as possible because they're doing all they can to kill football as we know it so they can get some extra fucking cash.

If they stick with the ESL idea, I think my support for the club I've supported my whole life is just absolutely dead. If we were still the club Shankly built, we wouldn't be considering joining this ESL - so you could argue the club is just being Weekend at Bernie's-d right now. And I think I'd agree with that, they're just parading around the shambling corpse of Liverpool hoping enough fans won't notice the rot and will support the club as though this is fucking normal.

For the first time in years, I've missed a Liverpool match. I could have very easily watched it, but I went out of my way to not watch it. I've just got no interest in supporting a club that's so out of tune with what the club is supposed to be.

No marketing platitudes from FSG will fix how I currently feel about the club or them. And I really don't know what they could do to make me happy with their ownership of the club again tbh.

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I think fans of clubs involved are in a difficult situation, I don’t think they should ever be expected to walk away from the club, they are the club. They should however be expected to boycott going to the match, protest etc. What good it will do I don’t know, but I do know that any fans who accept it and go along with it just don’t deserve an ounce of respect and will be helping remove the club from the fans and giving it completely to this privately funded league and the née fans they are after

Fans as a whole, beyond just this comp, need a kick up the arse. More needs to be done than just a complete reversal, the capitalism that has run rampant through this sport needs putting in check and the one/two horse league title races need bringing to an end. Clubs need more protection with keeping academy players.

This needs to be a catalyst for all of football to change, not just 15 clubs and their new comp

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I tried to type a post but I'm still not ready. Even blocking the Super League and forcing them to stay in the FA and UEFA competitions isn't good enough now, even if they don't get any concessions to convince them to do so.

What they've done to their fans makes me sick. The slimy nature of it, keeping it all under wraps then announcing it together and not even telling the managers and players, disgusting.

I don't think I can envisage any scenario in say 5 years time where the clubs in question are still competing in domestic competition in any way and I could be satisfied and engaged with it all unless they somehow purge every individual involved with these proposals which just isn't happening.

In contrast, I can quite easily see myself retaining every bit of love I have for the game if Everton are playing association football in England in five years. I don't need us to have a 52,000 seat stadium on the docks or a world famous manager or players who are remotely close to being the best in the world, or for us to be playing Man Utd and Liverpool. Whether we ended up competing for titles against Leicester and West Ham or more likely still finishing 8th every season, I honestly don't think I'd care as long as things were being done the right way.

This whole thing really puts things into perspective. I'd rather go 250 years without another trophy or any glory at all than be treated with the contempt that has been shown by the owners of these teams to their fans.

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I bizarrely have some optimism about the whole thing. There've been some fundamental problems in the game for a long time, I don't think these six clubs will actually manage to get it through given there is government intervention which not one of them would've expected, I think the whole thing may turn out to be a massive eye-opener of what unity amongst clubs and fanbases can actually achieve, and that's one thing we've lacked for years that's actually lead to the situation we find ourselves in now.

We may actually realise we have the power to keep the sport in better check and that simply having Sky telling us we've got the best league in the universe might not wash anymore.

I'm convinced something good has to come out of it. I know Neville & Carragher are hypocrites because they work for Sky (who are an evil, albeit a lesser one) but it's refreshing hearing mainstream football media in this country speak in such a way. Football in this country has this annoying habit of doing something shit, but not quite shit enough to bring about any serious opposition. Not anymore. This has opposition greater than any of them anticipated.

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3 minutes ago, Dan said:

I bizarrely have some optimism about the whole thing. There've been some fundamental problems in the game for a long time, I don't think these six clubs will actually manage to get it through given there is government intervention which not one of them would've expected, I think the whole thing may turn out to be a massive eye-opener of what unity amongst clubs and fanbases can actually achieve, and that's one thing we've lacked for years that's actually lead to the situation we find ourselves in now.

We may actually realise we have the power to keep the sport in better check and that simply having Sky telling us we've got the best league in the universe might not wash anymore.

I'm convinced something good has to come out of it. I know Neville & Carragher are hypocrites because they work for Sky (who are an evil, albeit a lesser one) but it's refreshing hearing mainstream football media in this country speak in such a way. Football in this country has this annoying habit of doing something shit, but not quite shit enough to bring about any serious opposition. Not anymore. This has opposition greater than any of them anticipated.

I'm not so sure. Normally when a few billionaires want something and most of society says "no we don't want that" usually the billionaires get what they want, even if it's in a roundabout way.

I think they knew there would be massive opposition to this. That's why the timing of it is almost too perfect - right before the premier league is going to renegotiate TV deals, right after the Real Madrid & Barca elections. The initial announcement is done at a time where it's impossible to have fan protests in the stadiums (so they can't have visible protests during a match).

Imo, they knew there would be huge backlash to this and that's why the timing is the way it is... and they're hoping that in a few weeks some of the anger and outrage will have dissipated.

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2 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I'm not so sure. Normally when a few billionaires want something and most of society says "no we don't want that" usually the billionaires get what they want, even if it's in a roundabout way.

I think they knew there would be massive opposition to this. That's why the timing of it is almost too perfect - right before the premier league is going to renegotiate TV deals, right after the Real Madrid & Barca elections. The initial announcement is done at a time where it's impossible to have fan protests in the stadiums (so they can't have visible protests during a match).

Imo, they knew there would be huge backlash to this and that's why the timing is the way it is... and they're hoping that in a few weeks some of the anger and outrage will have dissipated.

There would obviously be fan backlash, but government backlash too? I'm not surprised by Neville or Carragher's reactions, but seeing the government come out and say what they have has pleasantly surprised me.

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2 minutes ago, Dan said:

There would obviously be fan backlash, but government backlash too? I'm not surprised by Neville or Carragher's reactions, but seeing the government come out and say what they have has pleasantly surprised me.

Ehh... I'm not that surprised. I remember when we won the CL and both Tory and Labour were trying to spin it in their favour. Boris Johnson's a populist and this is something that a lot of people in the UK find to be incredibly unpopular. Getting the government get involved in this is an easy way for him to score easy political points at a time where there's a lot of uncertainty about the direction of British governance on an issue of (relative) national unimportance (compared to say... normal political issues - it's obviously important to us, as football fans).

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I think even if they back track it feels like there's no way back for me now. It felt bad missing the match last night, because even as someone who doesn't go the match anymore, I felt a connection with this manager and these players for what they've brought to Liverpool. And of course, none of this is their fault but this just feels much bigger than the players or the manager on the pitch. 

I don't think I could even be arsed getting involved in any protests. As someone who took part in protests between 2008 and 2010 and went to Spirit of Shankly meetings when Liverpool were fighting Hicks and Gillett, it felt like a win for the fans at the time. But what did we do in reality? Got rid of one hedge fund for another, that's all. And yeah, the fans have had a few victories against FSG along the way (ticket prices, furlough) but these bastard's will always win eventually.

In terms of following football, I definitely wouldn't be just be picking a new team to support. I could definitely see me taking in a few lower league/non league games now and then though. There's plenty within an hour's train ride from where I am.

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If the top six were to be banished I think we will be fine long term. We will have to cut the cloth accordingly like everybody else but we have a great catchment area that can be taken advantage of.

I'd rather it didn't happen as seeing thousands of people up and down the country will be difficult to take. It also wouldn't be nice to know that a team as crap as Arsenal can buy any of our players at any given time. But I think we would be geared up for a competitive Premier League that would be box office.

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It's a total myth that the Premier League wouldn't survive without the ''Top 6'', it would be a bit different sure but people's love for their club (i.e - Everton) would not disappear just because we can no longer play Spurs or Arsenal. 

I think fans from clubs such as Manchester United/Liverpool would move to other clubs too, not all of course but certainly a portion.

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4 minutes ago, Whiskey said:

It's a total myth that the Premier League wouldn't survive without the ''Top 6'',

I don't think anyone is saying that... It could survive quite well but there would need to be some serious adjustments especially from a financial point of view.. 

As a fan, I already said in the other thread that football has been tailing off for me over the years anyway and this could be the final nail in the coffin but then again how hard will it be to walk away from?? I have supported Chelsea all my life, through the good times/shit times and the great times and you just can't switch that off.. I do think though that I could happily go and put my efforts into supporting another local team... might even be tempted to jump the bus and go to Brentford.. If I get seen in the area I can always make out I was visiting my Nan or something... :ph34r:

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Being in a league that would probably be unaffected by the ESL, I can't say it would effect myself, in the normal times of going to football matches.

What effects this has on the remaining European competitions hasn't really been answered, but normally don't get past the qualifying rounds anyway. Can't see that being effected.

Viewing football on television would be the main difference. Currently subscribe to BT Sport, almost purely for the European Competitions. Didn't bother with the group stages, but got it for the knockout rounds. 

If the elite clubs want more group stage matches, and most of them will probably turn out to be dead rubbers, and less knockout football... I'm not exactly sure what fans they seem to have surveyed for opinion here.

Also, I welcome any 'Big Six' fans that decide they'd like to adopt a Scottish club to get their fix. :D Whether you decide that you fancy a couple of trips to Edinburgh, a getaway to Inverness, visit the new seafront in Dundee or take in the sights of Deeside whilst in Aberdeen. Our tickets are cheaper, there are no half and half scarves and you definitely won't have any tourists with their camera out all game. :ph34r:

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12 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Ehh... I'm not that surprised. I remember when we won the CL and both Tory and Labour were trying to spin it in their favour. Boris Johnson's a populist and this is something that a lot of people in the UK find to be incredibly unpopular. Getting the government get involved in this is an easy way for him to score easy political points at a time where there's a lot of uncertainty about the direction of British governance on an issue of (relative) national unimportance (compared to say... normal political issues - it's obviously important to us, as football fans).

Even if the reasons aren't the right ones, I'd be happy to see them take some action to stop it happening, that's if they can.

The funding is a concern though. They must be pretty certain it will go ahead.

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