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re: European Super League Collapses
European Super League / UK Government, FA and UEFA Unite to Denounce Plans
The UK government and football’s authorities yesterday launched a furious counter-offensive against plans that threaten the entire structure of the club game
Dowden pledges to do ‘whatever it takes’ to thwart plans.. Poll finds 79% of football fans opposed to breakaway
The Guardian UK, 20 APR 2021.
The UK government and football’s authorities launched a furious counter-offensive on Monday against plans for a European Super League that threaten the entire structure of the club game.
The culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, supported by Downing Street, vowed to do “whatever it takes” to thwart the plans which feature 12 “founding members” including six leading clubs from England. European football’s governing body, Uefa, also threatened to ban any players involved from next year’s World Cup.
Prince William, the president of the Football Association, said he shared the concerns of fans and warned that the move by the breakaway clubs – Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur – “risked damaging the game we love”. In a rare invention he added: “Now, more than ever, we must protect the entire football community – from the top level to the grassroots – and the values of competition and fairness at its core.”
The proposals, unveiled late on Sunday, would see the Champions League supplanted as the dominant European competition. The “founder members” would be included automatically in the new super league, regardless of results. The football pyramid, which sees clubs rise and fall on merit, would be compromised. The other founder members are Spanish giants Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid, and the Italian clubs Juventus, Internazionale and AC Milan.
Addressing parliament, Dowden said the government would consider using competition laws and changes to club ownership structures to stop the Super League, which would see 15 founding members – with three more expected to join – share a £200-£300m “golden hello”, with five other clubs invited to take part every year.
“It was a tone-deaf proposal, but the owners of those clubs won’t have been able to ignore the near universal roar of outrage from all parts of the football community over the past 24 hours,” said Dowden. “This is a sport where a team like Leicester City can ascend from League One to the Premier League title in under a decade, earning the right to go toe-to-toe against European heavyweights in the Champions League.
“Instead, a small handful of owners want to create a closed shop of elite clubs at the top of the game – a league based on wealth and brand recognition rather than upon merit. We will not stand by and watch football be cravenly stripped of the things that make millions across the country love it.”
Asked by Julian Knight, the Conservative MP who chairs the culture, media and sport committee, what specific actions might be taken, Dowden replied: “What does the government do to facilitate matches, and facilitate those clubs, and looking at whether we should continue to provide that support.” He gave no more details, but possible avenues could be to restrict work permits for overseas players or to make it harder for clubs to have travel exemptions during the pandemic.
Dowden added that he knew “from my conversations with the Premier League they’re already proposing to take some pretty draconian steps to stop this”. A DCMS source, meanwhile, insisted that “everything is on the table”.
The government’s intervention came on another extraordinary day during which:
A YouGov poll found that 79% of football fans opposed the creation of the European Super League
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