Yesterday may have been the biggest day in European football history. The announcement that twelve of Europe’s biggest teams, including six from the Premier League, have signed up to a new competition that they can run themselves is truly a seismic moment. I cannot remember a day like it in my time as a football supporter. Nothing has united all football fans in a common cause quite like this. There were numerous posts on social media declaring “football is dead.” This is a threatened shake-up to football’s structure and to the hierarchy of power within the football world. But what does the news that Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Man United and Tottenham have signed up to a breakaway competition actually mean? And is it the doomsday scenario that it seems to be?
Bad: Greed, greed and more greed.
It is impossible to start with anything else. This is not a sporting decision. As much as the chairmen of the clubs and instigators of the Super League might want to say otherwise, everyone can see that this is a decision taken in the interest of business and nothing else. Quite simply, the richest clubs in Europe have decided that they can be making even more money and that they’re now prepared to make that happen. The promise of an initial £3.5 billion investment from J.P Morgan for all of the Super League’s founder clubs is really the only detail that matters. It’s all the owners are thinking about. And given that these men that run the elite clubs are among the wealthiest in the entire world, this can only be seen as insatiable greed in its most detestable form.
Good: UEFA had this coming.
Despite all the blame that is rightly being laid at the doors of the clubs in question, it is also important not to be fooled into thinking that UEFA, or any of football’s other governing bodies, are the victims here. Indeed, one of the few good things to come from this announcement is that it is a wake-up call that UEFA have sorely needed. The people that run football are fundamentally inept. Take away the corruption, the racism scandals and the petty squabbles of the last ten years and UEFA is still a failing organisation. They have failed to control the egos of the continent’s elite clubs for far too long and something that has seemed inevitable for the last few years has finally occurred. Is it really any surprise that the leaders of the clubs, who despite all their failings are obviously all experienced businessman and negotiators, think they can run things better? Look around at other sports to see how a proper governing body acts. The RFU and the Gallagher Premiership recently relegated their reigning champions and most successful club, Saracens, for breaching salary cap restrictions. They saw something they didn’t like and acted quickly and emphatically. The crimes of our biggest football clubs make Saracen’s misdemeanour look like nothing and yet they have been repeatedly unchallenged and unchecked by the governing bodies. UEFA accused the clubs in question of “disrespect” in their statement yesterday. No shit Sherlock.
Bad: A goodbye to competition.
One major issue with the Super League as a concept is the fact that the founder clubs have made themselves immune to relegation, meaning the creation of a model like those in American sports. And no relegation means no consequences which means no competition. Has anyone ever watched a mid-table clash in the closing weeks of the season, where neither team has any chance of achieving anything nor the threat of demotion? It sucks. And with this concept, that could end up being nearly every other game. In fact, let’s use my own club, Chelsea, as an example. They could lose every single game they play in the Super League without any consequence whatsoever. How can that possibly be right?! Now for the argument that models like the NBA or the IPL are examples of how this can still be entertaining; they work for their respective sports because there are no clubs that are left on the outside. Football is the most watched and most played sport in the world and there are tens, if not hundreds, of clubs around Europe who should quite rightly be screaming: What about us?!
Good: It is time to throw tradition away.
The one argument that has been raised against the Super League that, for me, does not hold up is the call for traditions to be honoured. In a brilliantly impassioned speech, Gary Neville slammed his own club Manchester United as well as singling out Liverpool and Arsenal for spitting in the face of their hundred-year-old footballing heritage. I love Gary and it is people like him who should be making these decisions rather than fighting against them, but I have to disagree with him here. I’m not one for tradition. Yes, the clubs in question wouldn’t be in the position they are without the legendary contributions of figures like Herbert Chapman, Bill Shankly and Sir Matt Busby, but these men all lived and worked in a very different time. Footballers got paid in shillings and you were allowed to break an opponent’s leg without being booked. We have moved on. And like it or loathe it, the increased revenue generated by TV rights and sponsorships and an ever-growing global audience has meant that the clubs with the biggest names now have more power and influence and this has led to an uneven playing field. The Champions League is a fantastic and thrilling competition once we get to the knockout stages but with the odd exception, the same ten or so clubs will always ease through their groups, year in, year out. A failure to adapt to these changing conditions and a missed opportunity to have the biggest players and managers playing against each other more frequently is a bad thing. If the Super League was meant to replace the Premier League, this wouldn’t be a relevant argument. The fact that it is taking on the Champions League is far more understandable.
Bad: A crime against football.
And now for the part that really makes my blood boil. As referenced above, the increased globalisation and commercialisation of football has made some clubs stronger than they have ever been. Bayern Munich nearly always win the Bundesliga. Juventus, albeit about to be dethroned, won nine in a row. The three Spanish clubs have a gigantic advantage on the rest of the teams in their league. This is boring. I could understand why they might seek a change and a new challenge. But not the Premier League clubs. They are the biggest disgrace of them all. The reason we constantly declare that we have “the best league in the world” is because of its wonderful unpredictability and competitiveness. At time of writing, West Ham and Leicester occupy two of the four Champions League spots. Leicester are ten points clear of Arsenal and have just reached the FA Cup Final. If you want to look historically, Manchester United haven’t won the Prem since 2013, Arsenal not since 2004, Spurs not since fucking 1961! How dare they think that they have any right to raise themselves above their fellow sides. There is nothing that suggests they have any kind of monopoly or domination of any kind. You could even argue the gap between the best and the rest has actually narrowed if anything! The Premier League is the strongest division in Europe and I think we should have more Premier League clubs playing in the elite European competitions as they are good enough to be there, but not like this. Not without actually earning it.
I will finish with one final statement. The reason why I, and I think quite literally millions of others, love football above all other sports and even most things in life, is because in a ninety-minute game, there is always a chance that anyone can win. In sports like Basketball, the chance of scoring is so high that the better team will nearly always come through. In football, it can only take one moment. One deflection, one unexpected screamer, one piece of tactical thinking, one brilliant turn, one heroic block, one horrendous error or one piece of freakish, beautiful luck and the game can be won. Think every single FA Cup upset over the last hundred years, think of Greece or Denmark wining the European Championships against all odds, think of Leicester winning the title just five years ago! Think of the Aguero moment, where a whole fanbase went from agony to ecstasy, from bottle-jobs to champions, with one swing of a boot. That is what is at stake here. Football is the underdog’s sport. The sport where just about anything can happen. And anyone who thinks they are above all that, who thinks that they can act outside of these conditions, cannot really be a football fan at all.
George F Brown 