The news of a breakaway Super League was like a bombshell in an unprecedented season due to the pandemic and the reaction to it was universal in its condemnation of the scheme. It’s an idea that has been around for some time and we’ve covered it on the blogs and touched on it in the podcast, but it seems more than just a pipe dream or fantasy with the so-called top six of the Premier League agreeing to join football’s elite or the equivalent of soccer royalty.
The feelings of resentment and disgust were clear from pundits, journalists, and more importantly fans, as the sneaky six met to thrash out a megabucks deal that would effectively kill off the Premier League. It was such a hot potato that even Boris Johnson made a statement available to the press indicating that his government would look at measures to prevent such a move.
In view of the massive protests and backlash from the fans and concerned authorities, the Premiership clubs decided to withdraw from the European Super League. The decision to retreat by these clubs came within 48 hours of announcing to create a breakaway league of their own alongside 3 LaLiga and 3 Serie A clubs.
Forget your allegiance for a moment, this move would have had a severely detrimental impact on the nation’s favourite sport, but more so the hand-to-mouth struggling minnows below the Premier League. It would also have adversely impacted the communities that the club had been founded to serve during the days of honesty, integrity, and loyalty.
Some businesses rely on the income generated by the competition of the contests in the league and these greedy owners put the prestige of the Premier League in limbo by even considering another lucrative move to sustain themselves in a changing sport.
It’s was a complete disgrace, fans sold down the river in a Judas-style manoeuvre that pisses on their loyalty and scoffs at their commitment over many years, not to mention the emotional and financial investment in clubs that no longer deserve it.
Such was the mood that many questioned whether to continue supporting their chosen clubs with several fans in support of sanctions, expulsions, and discontinuing the league altogether until the situation is resolved. The incentive for these clubs was money, lots of it, with a reported £3.5B in the kitty to those fortunate to include themselves.
In many cases, that wasn’t earned, Arsenal are currently a mid-table club still living off the Wenger years. Manchester United and Spurs aren’t exactly massively successful and Liverpool have just got back on track after 30 years in the wilderness.
Add Chelsea to the mix who aren’t exactly tearing up trees and the moneybag Johnny come lately’s Manchester City, who are only where they are through massive illegal overspending and the talent of Pep Guardiola and you can see why this move irritated the remainder of the Premier League clubs who weren’t even considered.
Who wants to play in a devalued PL where Aston Villa and Leicester battle it out for the pleasure of a worthless title. The Premier League need to stamp down hard on this money-hungry treacherous collective, who stand to reap huge rewards without fear of relegation in an American-style glitz and glamour event made for a television audience rather than fans.
What about the West Ham’s, Everton’s, and Newcastle’s with solid support who weren’t deemed good enough by the others to merit a mention, what happens then? Is the Premier League to become the Championship but without elevation to the Super League? Is the Championship to become League One and what happens to those further down?
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It was an awful scenario and one that would effectively destroy the national game and did we honestly believe that it wouldn’t have any impact on the International stage? The FA were certainly not going to allow Southgate to pick players from a league outside its own, it’s like football had become the ultimate casualty in a game where the fans, who pay good money to follow their clubs, weren’t invited.
Genuine fans had every right to feel betrayed, every right to boycott their club and voice their dissent in a move that threw away all common sense and their respective histories. It’s inconceivable that six clubs chose themselves to compete in a rogue competition that could reduce the Champions League to the status of the Carabao Cup, that’s if it went ahead, which it didn’t. It was the supporters that finally won this battle between fans and owners.
