Sheikhs shake world game with plan for Dream Football League

[LoveCity]

Oliver Kay who wrote is 100% adamant it isn't a hoax and said the French site wasn't his source.

 

[mancity dan]

From the BBC

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21775720" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21775720</a>

The Qatar FA (QFA) has distanced itself from reports claiming it will offer the world's biggest football clubs money to play in a glittering summer tournament.

A report in The Times claimed plans were in place for a 24-team "Dream Football League" (DFL), to rival the Champions League.

Play mediaCan Qatar host a summer World Cup?
However, Qatar has denied the claims.

"The Qatar FA and other Qatari football entities can categorically confirm that we have no involvement in any such initiative," a statement read.

"And we have heard nothing to suggest such a concept is genuine," it added.

The report claimed clubs including Barcelona and Manchester United would be offered around £175m to appear in the tournament in alternating summers, with four of England's leading clubs invited to participate.

 

[momo88]

F**** the medias from daily shit, times .... especially the dailyshit making a headline with a hoax!! what's the problem with journalism nowadays! when I red the story on mail went to see if any french newspaper talking about nothing then found cahier du football making a sarcastic article ! :)

 

[Hamann Pineapple]

Oliver Kay who wrote is 100% adamant it isn't a hoax and said the French site wasn't his source.

He's being made to look an absolute tit on Twitter. The French mob who created the spoof article have sent it to him and he's still trying to deny it. What a pillock.


<a class="postlink" href="http://blogs.thescore.com/counterattack/2013/03/13/new-twist-in-the-timesdfl-story/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://blogs.thescore.com/counterattack ... dfl-story/</a>

 

[Bobbins]

Anyone know what our owners relationship is like with the Qataris? I would have thought the rags and Liverpool would be automatic invitees, and after that it's perm any 2 from City, Chelsea, the Arse and Spurs. Again on the basis of long established global support, one might suppose Arsenal would get an invite, which would leave just one spot. Whilst we may be one of the two best teams in the land at the moment, would that count for 'owt in the face of Chelsea's trophy haul over the last 10 years, plus last year, they (Chelsea) recorded the 4th highest number of global replica shirt sales as well.

We might assume we would be a shoe-in, but would we? Old Captain Paranoia never sits too far from my shoulder.......

I'm a little bit puzzled as to why you think Liverpool would be shoe-ins? I'd have thought Us, rags, Arsenal & Chelsea with Liverpool and/or maybe Spuds hoping for an invite as "guests".
I know they have "history"(they're always telling us so it must be true) but I still can't see them being automatic picks.

When Liverpools accounts were published the other day didn't it say that only 3% of their income came from over seas ??

 

[waspish]

Anyone know what our owners relationship is like with the Qataris? I would have thought the rags and Liverpool would be automatic invitees, and after that it's perm any 2 from City, Chelsea, the Arse and Spurs. Again on the basis of long established global support, one might suppose Arsenal would get an invite, which would leave just one spot. Whilst we may be one of the two best teams in the land at the moment, would that count for 'owt in the face of Chelsea's trophy haul over the last 10 years, plus last year, they (Chelsea) recorded the 4th highest number of global replica shirt sales as well.

We might assume we would be a shoe-in, but would we? Old Captain Paranoia never sits too far from my shoulder.......

I'm a little bit puzzled as to why you think Liverpool would be shoe-ins? I'd have thought Us, rags, Arsenal & Chelsea with Liverpool and/or maybe Spuds hoping for an invite as "guests".
I know they have "history"(they're always telling us so it must be true) but I still can't see them being automatic picks.

When Liverpools accounts were published the other day didn't it say that only 3% of their income came from over seas ??

5m of there income comes from outside the uk! I'd love to know City's

 

[Blue Mooner]

Was just reading about this. You can be sure of one thing, if anything could get such a 'dream' moving then it is money.

UEFA have created an environment where this was bound to happen. They have now restricted the more ambitious teams from spending and expanding, and hardly help the smaller teams at all. They want the status quo. So they can hardly be surprised when another group sets up and says, "Right, well if we can not invest in your leagues then we will create our own league and we will want the best teams and players, so we will offer more money."

The one thing they lack is history, but I wonder how many teams will see it that way when cold hard cash is flashed in their faces. For me I feel this kind of arrangement, or at least a change in international club football, is inevitable. But I also fear that it is against everything I know to be football - pie and chips at the ground before the game, dad taking son generation after generation and so on. Even if clubs protected local interests in terms of support, who could realistically travel to many away games in such a league? And I would imagine that money would continue to be the driver here, so corporate sales would be a primary focus, maybe even a condition of acceptance in to the league.

I hope, as stated above, that at the very least it gets UEFA to move. They have to realize they are not the only option for clubs any more, or won't be very soon, and so they need to make their own systems attractive. They have the history, but their processes, behavior and attitudes are ancient and opaque.

Looking at Europe as a whole, I can see several clubs who would jump at this chance. PSG, Rangers and Celtic, Eastern European clubs... but the Qataris would want the big names. I sincerely hope that our FA, and UEFA in the wider sense, wake up and realize that these things work both ways - they provide the structure and governance for us to play, but it is the actual clubs that give them their living. In my opinion both our FA and UEFA do a pretty poor job of representing the full spectrum of clubs under their wings, and maybe this is the catalyst to make them listen a bit more to what the clubs need to survive and flourish.

You're making assumptions that the games would be played in the Middle East. Maybe the semis and final but I would guess they want full stadiums and the history of the bernebeau, San siro, camp nou, etihad stadium etc so I'm guessing there would be home and away games as there are now. Why would they make all teams play in the Middle East. That would be my guess and the sensible way forward with the 'dream league'

 

[JOGAMIGMOG]

Found this link re our global support.

http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-pages/208411345454-manchester-city-fc-official

 

[mancity dan]

Some interesting stats on there. More fans in Indonesia and Argentina than the UK. Almost the same in Malaysia than in the UK. 95% of facebook followers being outide of the UK.

 

[burning blue soul]

Was just reading about this. You can be sure of one thing, if anything could get such a 'dream' moving then it is money.

UEFA have created an environment where this was bound to happen. They have now restricted the more ambitious teams from spending and expanding, and hardly help the smaller teams at all. They want the status quo. So they can hardly be surprised when another group sets up and says, "Right, well if we can not invest in your leagues then we will create our own league and we will want the best teams and players, so we will offer more money."

The one thing they lack is history, but I wonder how many teams will see it that way when cold hard cash is flashed in their faces. For me I feel this kind of arrangement, or at least a change in international club football, is inevitable. But I also fear that it is against everything I know to be football - pie and chips at the ground before the game, dad taking son generation after generation and so on. Even if clubs protected local interests in terms of support, who could realistically travel to many away games in such a league? And I would imagine that money would continue to be the driver here, so corporate sales would be a primary focus, maybe even a condition of acceptance in to the league.

I hope, as stated above, that at the very least it gets UEFA to move. They have to realize they are not the only option for clubs any more, or won't be very soon, and so they need to make their own systems attractive. They have the history, but their processes, behavior and attitudes are ancient and opaque.

Looking at Europe as a whole, I can see several clubs who would jump at this chance. PSG, Rangers and Celtic, Eastern European clubs... but the Qataris would want the big names. I sincerely hope that our FA, and UEFA in the wider sense, wake up and realize that these things work both ways - they provide the structure and governance for us to play, but it is the actual clubs that give them their living. In my opinion both our FA and UEFA do a pretty poor job of representing the full spectrum of clubs under their wings, and maybe this is the catalyst to make them listen a bit more to what the clubs need to survive and flourish.

You're making assumptions that the games would be played in the Middle East. Maybe the semis and final but I would guess they want full stadiums and the history of the bernebeau, San siro, camp nou, etihad stadium etc so I'm guessing there would be home and away games as there are now. Why would they make all teams play in the Middle East. That would be my guess and the sensible way forward with the 'dream league'

with 24 teams competing they will need to distribute them around europe for the home and away games as you say, and the semi's and finals to be played in the middle east. that region cannot sustain that amount of interest from foreign visitors for the whole tournament on a regular basis, although tv money will be substantial.
however, if the games are played at the grounds of the teams in europe then maybe uefa and the national FA's will have some recourse to intervene?
make no mistake, this is not a piss take - pushing out a story like this is like dipping your toe in the water to see how hot it is, this plan will have been released deliberately and then rumoured to be a joke so no damage is done between the governing bodies and the middle eastern block countries. depending on the response from the supporters and teams (and governing bodies) it will then either be shelved or put into a more concrete form.