"How modern football became broken beyond repair"

[king canary 7,656]

A long but fascinating piece by Miguel Delaney for the Independent- worth checking out here.

Follow up piece about what can done to save it here.

Titles may strike some as dramatic but it puts into perspective a lot of nagging issues I've felt with modern football, the influence of money and the unwillingness of clubs/leagues to think about protecting the competitive nature of the sport as a whole in favour of personal enrichment. 

[Canary Wundaboy 1,359]

Good read, I wonder what Arsenal fans think considering they were part of the “big six” for so many years, big new stadium, rich owners, but are now looking increasingly like falling into the “everyone else” bracket.

[Nuff Said 5,173]

Not sure I read anything that wasn’t blindingly obvious already TBH.
 

One thing I don’t get is the ‘threat’ of a European super league. I feel, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this, that the sooner the so-called big clubs **** off to a sterile, ‘means nothing’ super league, the better. Yes I know it would reduce the amount of money available for the clubs left behind, but wouldn’t the end result of that be that players wages went down? So they have to manage on £20K a week instead of £50K? No-one’s going to starve.

[king canary 7,656]

18 minutes ago, Nuff Said said:

Not sure I read anything that wasn’t blindingly obvious already TBH.
 

One thing I don’t get is the ‘threat’ of a European super league. I feel, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this, that the sooner the so-called big clubs **** off to a sterile, ‘means nothing’ super league, the better. Yes I know it would reduce the amount of money available for the clubs left behind, but wouldn’t the end result of that be that players wages went down? So they have to manage on £20K a week instead of £50K? No-one’s going to starve.

I thought it was interesting to have these top clubs basically confirming they only care about themselves and not the general health of the game. Also, I thought the points on the uselessness of FFP to ensure a competitive competition was interesting.

I agree with you that actually longer-term a super league could allow the remaining teams to rebuild something better. However I think the damage would be more extensive than just a drop in player wages- I'd assume several clubs reliant on solidarity payments/TV money would go bust. 

[Canary Wundaboy 1,359]

I wonder how many of those top 6 clubs have actually considered whether their fans would be happy with the Super League idea and whether they’d get half as much revenue by alienating their entire local fan base?

[Nuff Said 5,173]

1 hour ago, Canary Wundaboy said:

I wonder how many of those top 6 clubs have actually considered whether their fans would be happy with the Super League idea and whether they’d get half as much revenue by alienating their entire local fan base?

Agreed. Away fans would pretty much die out, and the fixture list would be the same season after season. I’m assuming there would be no relegation as that would be turkeys voting for Christmas.

I suppose the theory is that with a worldwide fan base it wouldn’t matter, but I would have no interest whatsoever in it, and I doubt I would be alone.

[king canary 7,656]

1 hour ago, Canary Wundaboy said:

I wonder how many of those top 6 clubs have actually considered whether their fans would be happy with the Super League idea and whether they’d get half as much revenue by alienating their entire local fan base?

I think fans are pretty tribal and would certainly go along with it initially. The sell will be watching the best players play each other week in week out and not having to slum it against teams like us and Burnley. Also I'm sure the big clubs will paint it that they bring in the most revenue, it is only fair they get more of it. All **** but it'll work.

 

[Surfer 1,547]

Bring it on I say, as we’d never be one of those clubs I’d be more than happy competing against the other left behind unfashionable clubs like Leicester, Leeds, Everton, Arsenal and Man Utd. 

[East Rider 551]

6 minutes ago, Surfer said:

Bring it on I say, as we’d never be one of those clubs I’d be more than happy competing against the other left behind unfashionable clubs like Leicester, Leeds, Everton, Arsenal and Man Utd. 

Was hoping cr4p teams like these are sucked up into the super league

[Surfer 1,547]

No way. Let’s say a European Super League has 16 teams - after Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Inter Milan, Lazio, PSV, Lyon, Marseille, Bayern Munich and Dortmund plus Hertha Berlin, Celtic and Ajax for geographical and political balance there’s only three spots available for Liverpool and Man City and someone else... would the European countries allow England to have more teams than them? No. So something must give here - either a Euro 1 and Euro 2 league or some of the “biggest names” in English football will be left out. 

[Branston Pickle 3,681]

Presumably you mean PSG rather than PSV, Surfer?!🤔😀

The problem of any breakaway is just who does get in there - is it ‘right’ to have a load from one or several countries with none from others? It surely has to have some form of promotion/relegation so you’d expect it to have two tiers.  It’ll take a few years for those sides/supporters to realise it has ruined what they had, but it’ll be too late for them then.

[Canary Wundaboy 1,359]

1 hour ago, king canary said:

I think fans are pretty tribal and would certainly go along with it initially. The sell will be watching the best players play each other week in week out and not having to slum it against teams like us and Burnley. Also I'm sure the big clubs will paint it that they bring in the most revenue, it is only fair they get more of it. All **** but it'll work.

 

No away fans, no local derbies, no sense of community or banter with other teams and fans that share a primary language...

I don’t think the fans will go for it. Playing Barca in the Champs League is exciting. Playing them twice a season just for points will get boring real quick.

[king canary 7,656]

46 minutes ago, Surfer said:

No way. Let’s say a European Super League has 16 teams - after Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Inter Milan, Lazio, PSV, Lyon, Marseille, Bayern Munich and Dortmund plus Hertha Berlin, Celtic and Ajax for geographical and political balance there’s only three spots available for Liverpool and Man City and someone else... would the European countries allow England to have more teams than them? No. So something must give here - either a Euro 1 and Euro 2 league or some of the “biggest names” in English football will be left out. 

I assume you're building this Super League in 1988? Marsaille?

The European countries would have no say in how many English teams are in it, only the clubs involved, and they will care only about which clubs can bring the most revenue. So any Super League will contain at least 5 English teams but probably only two French teams at most.

[king canary 7,656]

20 minutes ago, Canary Wundaboy said:

No away fans, no local derbies, no sense of community or banter with other teams and fans that share a primary language...

I don’t think the fans will go for it. Playing Barca in the Champs League is exciting. Playing them twice a season just for points will get boring real quick.

No away fans? Wouldn't count on that.

Also from an English perspective I think the derbys would probably still be in tact. Say the 'big 6' of Man U, Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea all went with it. All of those team would have a major local or historic rival to play against.

[Indy 3,314]

My biggest issue with this report is that it appears to blame the clubs and not realty apportion any blame to the greedy players and agents who have driven the salary to the unmanageable amounts now needed to be competitive!

I agree there must be control measure in place to stop clubs massively over spending, but there should also be a salary cap on the maximum anyone player can earn and a salary maximum any team can spend on their squad wages.