It’s not really related greatly to Scottish football but it’s certainly been the big story of the week.
Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester Utd, Arsenal, Manchester City and Spurs make an announcement that they are establishing a new European Super League from the start of next season.
Already it’s been nullified but there’s almost certainly going to be repercussions in respect of how the football authorities, the media and supporters have reacted to the whole affair.
I was asked to do a TV interview on Monday night regarding it and I’m pleased that I was quite resolute in expressing my opinion that this new tournament would not go ahead.
When asked why, I said it would be because of the animosity this would unleash with FIFA, UEFA and the Associations attached to the club sides who have committed to the Super League. I knew that they would all take action against those clubs and the whole process would end up as a major legal case.
They would be accused of breaching the regulations which they are all party to. This would then result in the new tournament being adjourned and in the meantime the clubs, who had pledged their commitment to it, would most probably also be suspended from playing any matches.
The breakaway six obviously were mindful of the reaction that arose and realising there could be negative consequences, they very quickly resigned from the new league set up. It was possibly be just in time to allow them to continue playing in their domestic competitions but I would not be surprised if action is taken against the clubs because of their actions.
Already we’ve seen an alteration to major committees within the English game with key roles and committee memberships that were occupied by directors and executives of the six clubs being removed from their positions. This is only the start and I wouldn’t be surprised if further action was taken by the FA and Premier League. That’s not to say that UEFA and FIFA might also decide to apply sanctions to these clubs because they were acting to devalue and damage the current European and World club championships.
I still can’t quite understand what they were up to. Did they feel that by making an announcement that this Super League had been inaugurated might make everyone accept that it was definitely going ahead and the authorities would need to accept it. If this was the plan then a major error has obviously been made.
I can only consider that they realised there was no point in entering into discussions with their home or International associations as they realised when this new venture was being assembled, that there would not be any positivity or agreement to it. To fit in a 10 team midweek league tournament and then finish with a knock out competition when this came to an end would most certainly have created major discord with the League body.
They would certainly have realised that these clubs might not even take their Premier League fixtures seriously as they would concentrate on the Super League tournament because of the money that was on offer.
I think the matter has been dealt with in the correct manner and I’m pleased the English teams have now withdrawn their attachment to the new set-up. This scenario might arise again in the future but at least the clubs will be aware of the reaction they are going to receive and now realise they would most certainly have to carry out research in advance followed by deep rooted negotiations to determine if there would be any chance of it being accepted. I don’t think it ever will be.
--------------------------
It was a very interesting Old Firm match last Sunday with very little between the teams other than the fact that Rangers were able to take their chances. Allan McGregor was again outstanding and without doubt he’s firmly established as a Rangers legend when he can still be a man of the match against Celtic at 39 years of age.
In terms of the outfield players it was a really interesting fact that the best two Rangers players are separated by 17 years. Young Nathan Patterson, who’s 19, was outstanding in both defensive and attacking situations and if hadn’t been for his mistake that gave Elyounoussi a really good scoring chance, he would certainly have been meriting a 9 out of 10 for his performance.
Midfielder, Steven Davies, at 36 years of age has had an outstanding season and its incredible that he’s regularly producing this level of performance at club and international level. Midfield is the hardest position to play as you need to be able to constantly run for the full match and while Davies does a great job protecting the defence, he’s also highly involved in the creative play going forward and is a top class playmaker.
He remains a great example to all young players and most certainly also falls into the legendary category.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel