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Looks much like a bunch of friendly fixtures then?
'Secret' talks not about Super League at all - Football365
Bit rich calling it the International Champions Cup when none of them will be champions.
So it's not a breakaway league at first, they will start of slowly with an annual 'friendly' cup that has a ranking and so on, once that concept is established it will be time for the next phase. Because this will happen, they will start a league of their own because that's how cynical modern football has become. Its not about merit, its about cash.
To be honest they would probably get larger crowds than any other club here lol
Or in Woolwich's case spread rumours that you might buy them, but then don't.
I suspect that would be the same for many supporters of"super-clubs", especially the english ones.
Breaking with the most successful league to form a new one, where by definition most of the super clubs wouldn`t win in a competition with no pedigree?
Nah, I`m not too fuzzed.
I do get that the likes of the dippers want to protect their position, as they are likely to struggle with consistently qualifying for the CL. There are already 4 clubs with bigger budgets that beat them more or less every year, & then there is us that do the same on a smaller budget. In the next few years both us selves and Wet spam will have closed a lot of the financial gap (I get furious every time I think of their lease at the Olympic Stadium).
Now that there is finally an owner with financial musce, they might even have to struggle being top dog in their own village.
Personally I welcome the rise of more "rich" clubs in England, as I think we might get some of the competiveness of days past back again. The big clubs will still be big, but when its a matter of just picking the order of the same 4 clubs for top 4 spots, it gets old after a couple of decades.
Lots of talk years ago about a European league which eventually subsided with an expanding CL.
Whilst it would be foolish to put your faith in the chairman being decent and refusing any idea the supporters - the true support, still a significant proportion, would simply stop going. I would.
Whilst it would be foolish to put your faith in the chairman being decent and refusing any idea the supporters - the true support, still a significant proportion, would simply stop going. I would.
Most people on here seem to think we are the fans they are talking about, it's not us though, it's the future generations and football tourists, and because of them, this idea isn't as impossible as it sounds.
I take my boy football training and there a fair few kids running around in Barca shirts calling themselves Messi but I can guarantee you not one of them could tell you the result of Barca's last fixture...but they don't care, they've bought in to the hype and are doing what (as far as they are concerned) all the cool kids are doing. Following a Euro league will be no different to them, in the same way the kids and football tourists like to pick up on a winning side and place their allegiances there, they'll be just as keen to pick one of the Euro Super sides and bang on about how great their super club is, which in turn will cause others to pick a Super team to support so as to not be left out.
Sure, from our point of view it will be a far cry from the football experience we all know and love, but anyone could be fooled in to believing they are watching the game of the century if the camera angles don't show the half empty stadiums and a bit of artificially generated supporter noise is piped in, add some clever marketing, flashy graphics and overpaid pundits and the Sky generation will soon insist they are watching a better product than national club football.
Ultimately it would come down to the various FA's because this wouldn't be a FIFA or UEFA sanctioned competition and competing teams would need to arrange fixtures around their domestic dates and I'm sure the FA wouldn't be too pleased if their flagship product saw second string sides taking part due to upcoming ESL games. With that said, money talks and I'm sure the likes of the FA and FIFA would soon fall in line.
It does make me laugh however, the likes of Barca and Real have done so much to tip the scales in their favour ensuring they are the unchallenged and dominant forces in their league, and now they are complaining that their league is boring because they completely dominate it.
I take my boy football training and there a fair few kids running around in Barca shirts calling themselves Messi but I can guarantee you not one of them could tell you the result of Barca's last fixture...but they don't care, they've bought in to the hype and are doing what (as far as they are concerned) all the cool kids are doing. Following a Euro league will be no different to them, in the same way the kids and football tourists like to pick up on a winning side and place their allegiances there, they'll be just as keen to pick one of the Euro Super sides and bang on about how great their super club is, which in turn will cause others to pick a Super team to support so as to not be left out.
Sure, from our point of view it will be a far cry from the football experience we all know and love, but anyone could be fooled in to believing they are watching the game of the century if the camera angles don't show the half empty stadiums and a bit of artificially generated supporter noise is piped in, add some clever marketing, flashy graphics and overpaid pundits and the Sky generation will soon insist they are watching a better product than national club football.
Ultimately it would come down to the various FA's because this wouldn't be a FIFA or UEFA sanctioned competition and competing teams would need to arrange fixtures around their domestic dates and I'm sure the FA wouldn't be too pleased if their flagship product saw second string sides taking part due to upcoming ESL games. With that said, money talks and I'm sure the likes of the FA and FIFA would soon fall in line.
It does make me laugh however, the likes of Barca and Real have done so much to tip the scales in their favour ensuring they are the unchallenged and dominant forces in their league, and now they are complaining that their league is boring because they completely dominate it.
Competitions like the Champions League exist because it is where all clubs are trying to get to. If it was a closed shop it would not be a champions league. US sports are so insular it's no wonder hardly any countries play their silly sports. They call the NBA champions (world champions FFS), no other country takes NFL seriously so no competition.
Closing off European football competitions to include only elite clubs could make them far richer, according to the American sports executive who has held talks with the leading English Premier League teams about a shake-up to long-established league structures.
The Relevant Sports chairman, Charlie Stillitano, held talks with Woolwich, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United on Tuesday in London about this year’s International Champions Cup (ICC), an annual pre-season friendly tournament organised by his company. Stillitano confirmed they also discussed “restructuring the Champions League” – an issue high on the European Club Association agenda amid a power vacuum at Uefa.
Stillitano revealed that the European governing body has been keen on working with the ICC, which already attracts some of the world’s wealthiest teams to compete in games across the globe for a lucrative but meaningless prize. “We have even talked to Uefa in the past because they had an interest in our summer tournament,” Stillitano told the US satellite radio station SiriusXM. “That is something they would like to integrate into their portfolio.”
Joining forces with Relevent’s ICC would currently be incompatible with Uefa’s existing sponsorships. There are no plans with Uefa presently on the table but discussions have not been closed off.
Woolwich are the only team from the talks to go on the record in denying they advocate a breakaway Super League for Europe’s leading clubs.
Discussions within the ECA about the merits of advocating guaranteed Champions League places for prestigious teams come at a time when Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United are all in danger of missing out on qualifying for Europe’s top competition next season.
“What would Manchester United argue: did we create soccer or did Leicester create [it]?” said Stillitano, who met United’s executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, on Tuesday. “Let’s call it the money pot created by soccer and the fandom around the world. Who has had more of an integral role, Manchester United or Leicester? It’s a wonderful, wonderful story – but you could see it from Manchester United’s point of view, too.”
If the Premier League season ended now, Leicester and Tottenham would qualify for the Champions League alongside Woolwich and Manchester City.
“Maybe that is absolutely spectacular unless you are a Manchester United fan, Liverpool fan … or a Chelsea fan,” Stillitano said. “I guess they don’t have a birthright to be in it every year but it’s the age-old argument: US sports franchises versus what they have in Europe. There are wonderful, wonderful, wonderful elements to relegation and promotion and there are good arguments for a closed system.”
Stillitano believes Europe’s biggest clubs deserve to make more cash from the Champions League, given their contribution to making it such a financial success. He said fans are more likely to watch the Juventus v Bayern Munich and Woolwich v Barcelona games in the current round of 16 rather than matches involving PSV Eindhoven and Ghent.
“This is going to sound arrogant and it’s the furthest thing from it … but suddenly when you see the teams we have this summer in the ICC you are going to shake your head and say, ‘Isn’t that the Champions League?’” Stillitano said. “No, the Champions League is PSV and Ghent.”
Voicing the complaints he hears from clubs, Stillitano said: “I could make a lot more money, I can be a lot more visible, I can help my sponsors out but right now I am locked into doing certain things that are really historic.”
The Relevant Sports chairman, Charlie Stillitano, held talks with Woolwich, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United on Tuesday in London about this year’s International Champions Cup (ICC), an annual pre-season friendly tournament organised by his company. Stillitano confirmed they also discussed “restructuring the Champions League” – an issue high on the European Club Association agenda amid a power vacuum at Uefa.
Stillitano revealed that the European governing body has been keen on working with the ICC, which already attracts some of the world’s wealthiest teams to compete in games across the globe for a lucrative but meaningless prize. “We have even talked to Uefa in the past because they had an interest in our summer tournament,” Stillitano told the US satellite radio station SiriusXM. “That is something they would like to integrate into their portfolio.”
Joining forces with Relevent’s ICC would currently be incompatible with Uefa’s existing sponsorships. There are no plans with Uefa presently on the table but discussions have not been closed off.
Woolwich are the only team from the talks to go on the record in denying they advocate a breakaway Super League for Europe’s leading clubs.
Discussions within the ECA about the merits of advocating guaranteed Champions League places for prestigious teams come at a time when Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United are all in danger of missing out on qualifying for Europe’s top competition next season.
“What would Manchester United argue: did we create soccer or did Leicester create [it]?” said Stillitano, who met United’s executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, on Tuesday. “Let’s call it the money pot created by soccer and the fandom around the world. Who has had more of an integral role, Manchester United or Leicester? It’s a wonderful, wonderful story – but you could see it from Manchester United’s point of view, too.”
If the Premier League season ended now, Leicester and Tottenham would qualify for the Champions League alongside Woolwich and Manchester City.
“Maybe that is absolutely spectacular unless you are a Manchester United fan, Liverpool fan … or a Chelsea fan,” Stillitano said. “I guess they don’t have a birthright to be in it every year but it’s the age-old argument: US sports franchises versus what they have in Europe. There are wonderful, wonderful, wonderful elements to relegation and promotion and there are good arguments for a closed system.”
Stillitano believes Europe’s biggest clubs deserve to make more cash from the Champions League, given their contribution to making it such a financial success. He said fans are more likely to watch the Juventus v Bayern Munich and Woolwich v Barcelona games in the current round of 16 rather than matches involving PSV Eindhoven and Ghent.
“This is going to sound arrogant and it’s the furthest thing from it … but suddenly when you see the teams we have this summer in the ICC you are going to shake your head and say, ‘Isn’t that the Champions League?’” Stillitano said. “No, the Champions League is PSV and Ghent.”
Voicing the complaints he hears from clubs, Stillitano said: “I could make a lot more money, I can be a lot more visible, I can help my sponsors out but right now I am locked into doing certain things that are really historic.”
Why are Liverpool even at these talks when they have finished in the top 5 once since 2009?
The comments coming from that American geezer about LCFC in the CL is disgusting: "The CL does not need the like of LCFC' and '
"What would Man U argue, did we invent football or did LCFC?"
Modern football is fucked if cunts like this are taken seriously, in pursuit of $$£££.
Football club status should not be determined on how big your club is, financially, it is earned by performing the best at football.
Man City were not exactly a massive club until the Sheik took over.
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All of them clubs owned by American businessman apart from Man City. They all lick the Sheik's arsehole.
Why the fuck would Liverpool be there otherwise?
I mean, they haven't been a consistent top 5 club for the last 7 seasons.
So, how's it going to work. Nobody but those five plays in the CL regardless of the outcome of the PL?
Or do it for a few years until the money generated basically makes it a foregone conclusion that the top 5 clubs will be them?
If this happens I think it's time football supporters started taking matters into their own hands, getting militant and making sure they can't play games at their stadiums, by any means necessary.
I'm up for dismantling the emirates.
Why the fuck would Liverpool be there otherwise?
I mean, they haven't been a consistent top 5 club for the last 7 seasons.
So, how's it going to work. Nobody but those five plays in the CL regardless of the outcome of the PL?
Or do it for a few years until the money generated basically makes it a foregone conclusion that the top 5 clubs will be them?
If this happens I think it's time football supporters started taking matters into their own hands, getting militant and making sure they can't play games at their stadiums, by any means necessary.
I'm up for dismantling the emirates.
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Fuck it...let's do it anyway, who's with me?
The quotes from that Stillitano cunt have sent me into a wild fit of rage! The audacity of this fucking dumb yank to even make these comments public makes my blood boil. Champions league qualification is earnt by the skill and quality of your squad not by your potential to accrue tv ratings! The funniest part is the concept that the big clubs are finding that buying players good enough to reach the top 4 is too much of a financial burden so instead they will go off and form their own league where they don't have to spend as much as there will less competition! You really think that is a good business model you stupid yank fuck??!
Do they even have relegation in MLS? All I see is that teams get shut down and a new franchise is created somewhere else. See the likes of New York Shitty, Orlando and the LA Team (not Galaxy). I don't think the American's will ever understand the highs and lows of being a non-league team and aiming to get to the top.
Tottenham Hotspur epitomise this through the history of football, being the first non-league team to win an FA Cup, going from Southern League in the 1900's, up to Division 2 champions in 1950 to Division 1 Champions by 1951! Then being the first team in the 20th century to win a domestic league and cup double in 1961. Going into European football and becoming the first English team to win a major European trophy in 1963.
Would we see the likes of Nottingham Forest doing similar things and then winning back to back European Cups?
The romance of football would be killed stone dead with this awful European Super League.
Tottenham Hotspur epitomise this through the history of football, being the first non-league team to win an FA Cup, going from Southern League in the 1900's, up to Division 2 champions in 1950 to Division 1 Champions by 1951! Then being the first team in the 20th century to win a domestic league and cup double in 1961. Going into European football and becoming the first English team to win a major European trophy in 1963.
Would we see the likes of Nottingham Forest doing similar things and then winning back to back European Cups?
The romance of football would be killed stone dead with this awful European Super League.
Fuck me I wish I hadn't read that...the guy is an absolute wankstain. Fuck 'em, if they want to fuck off and join a Super League every fan of every other club should demand the FA boot them from the Premier league due to them gaining an unfair financial advantage by way of their participation in this competition, and if this Super League fails they are welcome back via the conference.