European super league

[aguero93:20]

Sure, but we won't get any recognition for it. That's my point. That, and that you can bet that the board will never accept that option. They try to reach out to us as fans, sure, but at the end of the day they are employed to meet Mansour's vision of City as the world's greatest club. They won't achieve that by opting for permanent obscurity, and if it means trampling on the fans and the good of the game you can bet that they'll go for it.

I'm not out for recognition or pleasing the owners here. I enjoyed our trophy wins because they were city wins, not because I wanted recognition from other fans. I thank the owners for giving us the opportunity but the club is more important to me. I'd rather go back to where we were than devalue domestic football in the way this would. I don't want to see domestic leagues become feeder leagues.

 

[aguero93:20]

What percentage of fans worldwide do you think care about this issue? I know that, from my time on the NYCFC forums for instance, the Yank fans are really upset that the PL refused to go ahead with playing a 39th game abroad for instance. "The good of the game" means nothing to them, because they have a totally different concept of what football should be, and it involves as much exposure for them as possible. There's only so much traction we can get by appealing to the core fanbase of clubs in the UK. Outside of people like us, the majority worldwide will be all in favour of this idea, and so our "brand" will be damaged overall. Heck, I bet if you polled all UK football fans you'd probably find that there are enough plastic bandwagoners in favour of the plan to drown out our voices even in the British market.

Sounds funny from the Irish fan but fuck fans worldwide.

 

[Falastur]

I'm not out for recognition or pleasing the owners here. I enjoyed our trophy wins because they were city wins, not because I wanted recognition from other fans. I thank the owners for giving us the opportunity but the club is more important to me. I'd rather go back to where we were than devalue domestic football in the way this would. I don't want to see domestic leagues become feeder leagues.

Neither do I, but my point was that you were responding to a comment I made saying that we could be consigned to where we used to be by our board rejecting the invite. I'm arguing that it's not in the board's favour to do so and therefore they won't even consider it. Therefore, the only way we can think about this is that it is the responsibility of the fans to bring this idea down, if it ever looks like it might go through.

Edit: Just to prove my point about the foreign fans/plastics overrunning the true football supporters, the Metro currently has an online poll about the Super League and after an hour the Yes to Super League voters are winning with 55%...

 

[aguero93:20]

Neither do I, but my point was that you were responding to a comment I made saying that we could be consigned to where we used to be by our board rejecting the invite. I'm arguing that it's not in the board's favour to do so and therefore they won't even consider it. Therefore, the only way we can think about this is that it is the responsibility of the fans to bring this idea down, if it ever looks like it might go through.

Edit: Just to prove my point about the foreign fans/plastics overrunning the true football supporters, the Metro currently has an online poll about the Super League and after an hour the Yes to Super League voters are winning with 55%...

Fair few sky 4 fans in there that don't fancy the competition anymore.

 

[WRicko]

I wonder why Stephen Ross was there. Big business person yes but really into real estate not TV/ Media etc. Could it be something far less controversial. Something about developing the game in the US ?

 

[crazyadi]

surely the FA would be concerned about the damage to the domestic game and as such could put a stop to a breakaway by not recognising the teams in it and therefore players not being available for national squads? I'm sure some big players still value their caps!?

 

[GeekinGav]

i remember the "elite' clubs doing this in the 90's, which forced the change of the European Cup format to be changed to The Chumps League.

probably doing something similar to get UEFA thinking to make.it a bit easier for English clubs to be more successful. don't see how though. only a knockout european competition would helped English clubs with less fixtures.

i think its more of that "39th PL game" idea but staging it in the States.

 

[Yaya_Tony]

Thing is, that's precisely the opposite of what would happen. There's a very good chance that if this Super League goes ahead, it will be a massive success. Even if it's wildly unpopular with fans here, it will be wildly popular with the foreign fans who bring in huge TV revenue, and it will be wildly popular with BT and Sky (who will likely not be forced to bid against each other) for marketing to the domestic armchair plastics who will lap it up. Then what you get for your refusal of the invite is consignment to the kind of level we were at before, only forever this time. On the other hand, assuming that fan power does bring down the competition, you can expect that the fans of the other clubs who also campaign against the league will pat themselves on the back for doing the hard work and City would get no recognition for refusing the invite - not beyond a week or two of positive press, anyway. Within the month City's part would be forgotten and it would be no net gain at all.

I hate it, but trust me - there is nothing to be gained at all by our board refusing to participate unless all of the other clubs look to be refusing too. On the other hand, it is our job as fans to throw up a wall of opposition, the same way that the 39th Step got shot down a few years ago. If we ourselves were to start the outcry against this, it would probably generate a lot more positive press than the club themselves rejecting the notion of their own accord, because you can bet that MCFC on their own will not be enough to bring a stop to the plans.

So...anyone for starting a petition, I guess?

Unless this completely replaces normal uefa competitions, that's not what will happen. It'll be like an extended Thomas Cook trophy /umbro cup, meaningless, whereas enough other clubs will be trying to reach the ones people care about.

That said, if it does happen, and all the cash goes into it, watch our sport die a prolonged death. No challenges, no chance of change, no exceptional stories or quality, it'll be the world wide death knell following the blatter and platini shenanigans, if no one accepts it, it's rejected. Any lower league club supporter dreaming of making it big can kiss that goodbye if this becomes a "thing", why would any investor even try if they weren't invited? On the plus side, maybe the disgust with and following resentment would lead to more dropping out, thus the new competition is meaningless and the importance of domestic success is inflated. In a few words, it's a fucking stupid idea.

 

[yankcitizen76]

This is shitty because ultimately it comes down to money. These clubs are using their prestige and size as leverage to guarantee themselves a large return while excluding other clubs. It smacks of elitism and I hope we don't go for it. Why Stephen Ross is there I have no idea. He was has always been interested in football and has set up international exhibitions before. But this seems pretty big for him.

 

[Cobwebcat]

I would guess that the competition would still contain the clubs it does but in addition certain clubs were guaranteed wild cards.

Still an awful idea. If it were invitation only there would be no point winning it as you could not call yourself the best. It would be like a pre season tournament.

Sounds like NFL. I would hope the clubs that were not guaranteed a wildcard would object and, if they did, I don't think the new competition would be a success.

There's also a chance it could be considered a cartel in European law?