The Super League | FA + PL: New Charter & Fines | UEFA: Settlement

[Marvin]

Why did Man Utd and Liverpool invite us into their super league?

One way that they could have garnered support from their own fanbase and maybe even other clubs too is by saying OK UEFA you had your chance. You failed to legislate against the Manchester City's and PSGs so if you don't do it, we will. We are setting up our own league which will be based on sustainability. These are its founding clubs, and they do not include PSG and Manchester City.

I don't know what City did and why. It would not surprise me at all if there has been some level of cooperation between UEFA and Manchester City in seeing off a common enemy. If you look at the outcome, Manchester Utd, and Liverpool's hold on the game, and even their own clubs has been weakened considerably. UEFA are now free for a while from the threat of the cartel. It may have been an accident. It may have been a design. For me City going in at the very last moment, and then being the first to exit suggests subterfuge. We may have emboldened them to expose them only to shoot them down.

Are corporate plots like these real, or just in our imagination? One thing is sure. We are dealing here with some serious individuals and the alternative is that City behaved like bungling idiots.

 

[wolviedinho]

No one is coming out of this looking good. Most reports state we left first. What did anyone expect from sky? The bias of sky/bt will never stop. The red clubs are coming out of thus far worse than us no matter how they try and spin the narrative.

 

[Manc in London]

I honestly could not get wound up about it. It was nonsense and a non-starter anyway. What I found most amusing was that clubs, fans, journalists and pundits appeared to have suddenly realised the cabal are all about lining their pockets at the expense of others. If anything, it just highlighted the naivety of clubs, fans, journalists and pundits. Yet these will continue to view FFP as a good thing. Thick as mince.

 

[BertTrautmann'sParachute]

A caller has rung into talkshite and just said,you ready for this...."first thing John Henry should do is apologise to the families of the 96"......what the fuck.....unbelievable.....

Perhaps John Henry did it for the 96.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

I was thinking about this last night. The best solution for me in all this and to make things more competitive and interesting would be a completely random champions league draw. That way let’s say a team like Leicester gets top 4 and a lovely draw in the champions league. Just maybe they could progress to a later round and make a fortune or even win it. If we drew Barca Bayern and Real in the group stages and went out so be it. Also I would make the 4th place team in the prem play a knock out game with the Fa cup winner for the final champions league place. More risk and more excitement and more chance for smaller clubs to get in the big competitions.

It would be better, getting rid of seeding and having more chance of groups of death etc. And giving the smaller teams more of a chance of progression in a possible group of shite, or group of life, whatever the term would be! Also just having a straight knockout would be better.

But the issue is how on earth would anyone agree to that? Neither UEFA, the sponsors, nor the powerful clubs would want that. They want the best chance of glamorous finals, or the best chance of avoiding an early exit. Only fans would want those changes. So it won’t happen. Ever.

 

[BeerIsTheBest]

Like I said, I don't want those 2 "historic" places being awarded and hope they're removed. I think it's a sham and goes against everything we've all been saying for the last 2 days. BUT i've seen people on here say things like the new CL is basically just as much of a closed shop as the ESL, and that's patently nonsense.

It’s 5 years. Leicester get CL this year and then stay there and of course they can. There was a time when City’s 5 year ranking was shite and a couple of years out of the CL will see Liverpool drop down as well. As I say it’s two teams out of the whole of Europe. It’s shit but it’s nothing like as bad as the SL.

SWP. I think we are agreement. Didn’t mean to suggest otherwise and sorry if it came across that way.

 

[M18CTID]

well said. Too many posters on here clutching at straws and trying to defend the club. Our owners have behaved disgracefully

On the face of it, absolutely. But that’s only based on what we know for sure which is basically that we signed up to this shit show regardless of whether we were the ringleaders or not.

The thing is though, nobody - you, I, or anyone else on this forum and beyond - knows the full ins and outs of why the club did what they did. Let me make this clear - if it was just to chase the money, and/or because they were worried about being “left behind” then those who signed off on this have indeed behaved disgracefully. However, if this was part of a cunning plan to fuck our hated rivals over - and there are plenty of clues pointing towards that with Ceferin’s gushing quotes last night that he hasn’t repeated about any of the other clubs as far as I know - then that’s a different thing altogether.

At the moment though, the fans deserve a full explanation and apology from the club.

 

[discopop]

I was thinking about this last night. The best solution for me in all this and to make things more competitive and interesting would be a completely random champions league draw. That way let’s say a team like Leicester gets top 4 and a lovely draw in the champions league. Just maybe they could progress to a later round and make a fortune or even win it. If we drew Barca Bayern and Real in the group stages and went out so be it. Also I would make the 4th place team in the prem play a knock out game with the Fa cup winner for the final champions league place. More risk and more excitement and more chance for smaller clubs to get in the big competitions.

And what happens if a team does the double?

 

[PabloZabeleta]

I like it, makes perfect sense. Never going to happen.

This is the pinnacle of how it should work. As you say, it's probably out of reach. But would be the best way

 

[Magicpole]

Personally speaking, I'm not sure how I feel. I'm not sure I feel anything.
I just feel numb.
While I'm glad we pulled out, I just don't feel the same closeness and emotion for the club as I did last Saturday.
I just feel a kind of sadness, a sense of loss, of sense of drift and alienation.
One thing this episode has brought home is that football is about more than how many trophies you can win, money you can spend, players you can buy, the size of your revenue and the number of fans in the stadium and worldwide, it isn't all about tribalism, it isn't all about rivalry.. It's about integrity, it's about fairness, it's about morals, sporting and otherwise, it's about community, it's about togetherness, it's about belonging. All these values were challenged and the truth of what football has become was laid stark and bare for everyone to see.
Genuine football fans will forever, I think, be changed by this experience. Having experienced both sides of the football coin, being piss poor and shit, and also now being mega rich and one of the best teams in the world, they will evaluate what football and being a football fan means to them. They will come out the other side and experience and view football in a different way and perhaps become better football fans.
I'm sorry if I sound a bit melodramatic but something I can't put my finger on seems to have irrevocably changed inside me.

Great post and the issues you raise are correct, but you need to put it into perspective regarding City as a club and institution. A small group of men you could fit in a family car caused this. Your club has been a pivitoll part of millions of people's lives for over 100 years. Through good times and bad and plenty of utter shit times in which the support stood their ground and kept the light on, no matter how bad people at the top ran the club. You have to remember one critical thing. You lot are Man City. Not any owner, any CEO, any suit who fucks things up and brings you into disrepute. For all their perceived and real power, you stood up when they tried to undermine what you stand for and you defeated them, for the simple reason that you are the club, and will still be long after they have moved on. I would be pissed off too, but, I would focus that anger on that small group of men, whose greed and total failure to grasp what our clubs mean to every supporter the world over.

It isn't the time to sweep it aside though. You deserve answers and those responsible need to pay a price. They are now aware that they might have all the money, but all their money couldn't stop the actual club, the support, from blowing them to fuck right out of the water. Be proud of that. Be proud your support had that integrity. Had the love of the game to say, go fuck yourselves, we will not have this. If anything, you should be more proud of City. You have loads of money and could have made more, but it went against being fair, being right. This to me would be a source of pride that you stood up and sent them scurrying. They aren't Man City, they have answers to give, responsibility to accept, those five or six men. They have let you down, but City was saved by the people who are City and who have been City since the first game played by men with big moustaches in shorts that could be turned into tents. Never forget that and take pride in that. You have sent a shot across the bows of men who think they can take an institution that you love and undermine whst it means. Their awful plan didn't set sail. It was intercepted before it left the harbour by City men and women and literally blown to fuck out of the water. So if you agree with me that we as the support are the club, are every club, then you can be proud of it. You haven't only helped City but you have given hope to us all that we can all reign in greedy, selfish, non football men and if they want to go ahead by going against all we hold dear, we can and will take them down. I'm proud of you, if anything you have shown how much integrity you have and a group of men have found out just how much and how strong that is. This was a battle that had to be fought for football supporters everywhere. You not only stood up and moved to the fight, you won. If you hadn't, the game we love would have died. Don't get me wrong, I would expect no less, but I tip my cap to you all. That's what you should take from this. You stood firm and helped save the game. That seems dramatic, but it isn't, it's true. If these billionaires and their CEO's got away with it and you did nothing, then City would be fucked. These men have an integrity problem, the people who have been City, who are City now and who will be in the future won.