European Super League Fizzles Out

[Sunk]

// All six Premier League teams involved in the European Super League are set to formally withdraw from the competition.

Manchester City were the first club to formally pull out after Chelsea had signalled their intent to do so by preparing documentation to withdraw.

The other four sides - Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham - are set to follow, with a statement expected later on Tuesday. //

Well, that didn’t take long to implode. Thankfully.

[chelle7272]

Shouldn't ever have come about in the first place.

[jim360]

I mean, the six European teams are still in for some reason. Whether they stay in is another matter, since there's nothing to "stay in" any more.

[Mozz71]

I hear that Atletico are on the verge of withdrawing and that the Juventus CEO has resigned (or is resigning). I think by tomorrow afternoon, it'll be Real Madrid looking around wondering where everyone else went.

[jim360]

https://giphy.com/explore/confused-travolta

[tomus42]

I don't know what all the fuss was about.

[tomus42]

..seriously, can someone explain to me why this is all over the news as if it's the most outrageous thing that's happened in the last 50 years?

[Ken4155]

Tomus, the fuss was about some of the richest clubs in Europe forming a midweek breakaway closed shop league - in addition to (not instead of) existing competitions - in order to make themselves even richer. People talk of a level playing field. There is hardly that now, never mind if this league had gone ahead.

[Jackdaw33]

All six English clubs have signalled their intention to withdraw. Not even a nine-day wonder.

[bunkmoreland]

It shows you what people power at all levels of society, and the fear of the super rich fearing they are going to lose too much money to the backlash can do;

[jim360]

As long as the European clubs hold on it could still happen and damage the reputation of European football for a long time.

Oh wait nvm both Milan teams decided to pull out.

[Cloverjo]

Tomus, I’m with you.
I don’t know why the PM and the education secretary felt the need to get involved. Nothing to do with them, is it?

Husband is a big football fan but he didn’t seem bothered.

[jno]

I would have thought taking all these superwealthy clubs, locking them in a resort and leaving them to play each other till Doomsday was quite an attractive idea. TV could give the time saved over to reviving the Wednesday Play and reruns of Bonanza.

[tomus42]

Ken, I still don't see the issue. As long as they're not quitting the existing competitions they're in - and hence drawing the money away from them - then why does anyone give a isht?

[jim360]

Well, they obviously would be pulling out of at least one of the competitions they'd have normally been in: at the very least, a team wouldn't be able to play in the Champions' League (ECL) *and* the ESL. due to scheduling. Since also the ESL would have had several of the bigger ECL draws and would have been more or less closed shop, invitation-only, with the founding teams guaranteed entry, the other point is that this would undermine the meaning of the national leagues. No point fighting for every point if you're guaranteed to appear in a multi-billion pound tournament.

[Canary42]

/// I don’t know why the PM and the education secretary felt the need to get involved.///

1. A nice little vote-catcher.
2. A useful smokescreen.
3. Whips up anti-Europe feeling

[Jackdaw33]

Some truth in that, especially no. 3.

[tomus42]

Canary, you forgot

4) serves to distract the news from government corruption and cronyism.

[Lie-in King]

Excellent news.

[jim360]

It was covered in (2) though.

[tomus42]

Sorry, I'm not really a football person but I still don't get the outrage.

If a subset of clubs want to go off and form their own elite and pointless league as well as participating in real ones, why shouldn't they?

The richest clubs are the ones that win everything anyway. Leicester was a brilliant exception, but how often does that happen?