SN Blog 99 – The European Super League

I would like to start this blog by saying I do not speak for everyone at Spurs News.  We have four admins and I speak for myself here and my personal opinion.  I realise when writing a blog that is kind of a given however on this topic where my opinion is at odds with my fellow admins I feel it is important everyone is clear this is just me and we as a page have a neutral footing in this or any debate.  I personally however do not have to be neutral and I will share my thoughts.

I think Tottenham being a part of this European Super League is the lowest point I have had in my 30+ years of supporting the club.  You see the club have let me down on the pitch a lot, more than most of us even want to remember but that is the nature of sport.  Yes we can all argue different managers, better players etc etc could make for better results on the pitch but off of it how the club is run and decisions made by the club in the way it conducts itself … that is something that is not really down to chance.

When the club announced despite banking record profits it would be placing club staff on furlough it was a massive ‘own goal’ not only in terms of PR for the club, many sponsors putting pressure on them to reverse it but also with fans who felt very let down.  I was one of those fans and that was a low for me.  As a business owner struggling with my own business and decisions I was having to make seeing a business like Tottenham do that when they had X amount in the bank and an owner sat on one of his many yachts parked off of his own island… it was disgusting and PAY THE STAFF as a campaign made the club reverse the decision.  The damage was done though but I, like many, were pleased to move on from it on the basis that he pandemic brought about unique challenges for all of us and the club simply made a poor call in the midst of dealing with larger issues.

Sadly the same cannot be said about the European Super League.  Which by the way is just branding.  What is super about it?  This is a “competition” which is being financed by hedge funds and investment banks.  Its a money league so let’s from this point call it that.  I also put competition in quote marks above because when something is ring fenced is it a competition?  By ring fenced I mean there is no relegation, no qualifying.  By being a founding member of this money league Tottenham will be in it every year.

I have read many of my fellow fans reactions to this news and sadly, for me, many are supporting it based on the club getting a large financial injection for being a founding member.  What saddens me here is the lack of empathy being displayed for fans of any other club outside of these six English teams.  The lack of desire for competition.  Is this football?  Feels more like the NFL to me.  Now I am a fan of the NFL, I enjoy watching that sport but is that model where you have teams that are in the tournament every year no matter what regardless of sporting merit; is that the football we all know and love?

You see let us go back ten years.  The year is 2011 and Tottenham are trying to break the grip of the big blubs in England on the top four.  Now imagine those top four, away from us joined a league like this one.  We would be excluded.  The biggest clubs would get bigger and we would be left behind with literally no way to ever catch them.  Would you as a fan be on board then?  So why is it that you cannot see the problem.  The selfish attitude of “its good for us so who cares” really troubles me.  None of us like the fact we try and compete against Chelsea and Man City with their vast wealth and cash injections but that is on their owners; ours could do that and he chooses not too.  With this new competition and the financial advantage we would be given over and above every club outside of it… we are then no better.

The Premier League, English FA, UEFA and FIFA have of course all reacted to this news.  They have made it clear they are disgusted at the notion of these clubs forming this money league as it has nothing to do with sporting merit.  They have also made it clear that each club signing up could face retaliatory sanctions against them.  Now a lot of this at this stage of course is posturing BUT as reported by football lawyers, an organisation that is exactly as the name suggests, on Twitter.  The threats are real, are valid and could be enacted without any recourse of challenge due to these clubs breaching their current agreements.

The FA have said any club from England signing up the money league will be excluded from the FA Cup and the League Cup.  The Premier League have said any team signing up could be removed from the Premier League and the English football league have confirmed they would not accept them in the existing pyramid should that happen.  UEFA have stated these clubs would be excluded from all European competitions – which may sounds like a silly threat given they are setting this up be instead of European club competitions however UEFA make it clear that players for these clubs would NOT be allowed to play in the UEFA European Championships.  Harry Kane for example would not be allowed to play for England.  FIFA have added clubs would be excluded from World Club Cup and also players banned from the World Cup.

World Cup golden boot winner and England captain Harry Kane being told today that decisions being made by Daniel Levy could cost him the change to play for his country again.  Can you imagine that conversation?  Now let us pretend this is an idol threat and both FIFA and UEFA will allow these players to play for their countries.

Harry Kane is chasing the Premier League goal scoring record.  He is chasing all kinds of records.  Records that are being thrown in the bin by the club, again, making decisions to join this money league.  So again, let us pretend for a money that the very REAL threat from the FA and the Premier League is not enacted.  Tottenham and the five others join this competition and stay in everything else like nothing has happened.

Knowing that no matter what we do in the league we will always be in the money league.  What is the point?  Will we suddenly be able to compete more with more money?  Yes, we will surely crush the teams who are not part of the money league but what about our rivals from the said competition.  You see they will get the exact same money injection but they get it from their existing place of being ahead of us (Arsenal excluded) and so why would us getting the same money suddenly enable us to compete with them?  Likely scenario is we remain as we are just widening the gap between the top six and the rest of the league.

Now imagine what this will do to the transfer market.  Currently a Premier League team goes in for a player the price goes up as everyone knows the money in the Premier League is the richest in the world.  When you are a Champions League club too that goes up.  Money league teams will of course be forced to part with a severe premium on every player (and rightly so by other clubs).

So we get this extra money but players prices all go up too.  So what is the benefit of that extra money again?  Oh wait, maybe £300m a year guaranteed does not improve the team but instead clears the debs of the club and realises and even better asset for ENIC.  You see with no risk of losing our place in the money league it does not matter to the club owners if we lose every single game.  In three seasons the stadium debt is paid off.

Is that what we as fans care about?  We want to us as a team go for glory.  To dare is to do.  Where is the glory in this?  Where are the values in which we all believe in when it comes to football and our club.

So what about the fans in all this.  The official supporter groups for each of the six clubs have issues statements condemning the clubs in the strongest possible way for doing this.  Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust have gone a step further by demanding the board either step back from this and pull the club away or they will no longer work with the board until new owners are found.  This is a massive step from the Trust who on many occasions have made it clear they are there to try and bridge the gap between fans and the owners.  On this however they feel, a feeling I share, that the club is burning down 100+ years of traditions of football for their own financial benefit.

Do the club care about fans?  Well a leaked ‘money league’ document would suggest no they do not as they believe this competition will attract new fans.  In the documents seen by the BBC existing fans of these clubs are called “legacy fans” and they will be replaced by “fans of the future” who will be attracted to clubs like the franchise teams in the US due to the fact they play these exciting games against top teams every week.

So the fan reaction was considered and they deemed existing fans as replaceable.  The club have shown clearly they do not care about the fans and that is why I am angry.  That is why I am against this.  It is all about the money and to hell with anyone and traditions.  How Liverpool can use “never walk alone” again is beyond me.  Man Utd a club for the people based on working people… Sir Alex Ferguson has described these plans as disgusting and a slap in the face for fans of football.

If you really do believe this is a good thing please do try and put yourself in the position of being a fan of a team not part of the six for a moment and consider how you would feel then.  Then actually look around for a new club as remember you are just a legacy fan anyway, Tottenham no longer care about you, they are looking to replace you.

 

-Admin SJ

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