It already is a closed shop, that’s my point.
That would be the dream, I think ourselves & Chelsea are probably using the threat of walking away (subtly) to agree parity in termsThere's multiple parts to UEFA. There's the Secretariat - Ceferin and the employees - the national leagues and the clubs. Within the latter two, there's the powerful national leagues and others and likewise for the clubs, with the old G14 lording it over the other European clubs. So a lot of vested interests vying against each other.
I don't envy anyone in Ceferin's position, who has to try to keep all those competing forces in balance. The big clubs bring him his revenue so tend to have the loudest voices but inevitably and eventually, appeasing them season after season will just lead to them demanding more. Then, as we're seeing now, they'll ditch you when they think it's in their interests to do so.
I've said it before that Ceferin is probably our friend, in as much as he wants to keep everyone happy as far as possible. I believe he tried to stop the FFP shit but (again) a breakaway was threatened by our enemies. Maybe the CAS case was actually the catalyst for this ESL. The timing certainly fits.
I'm now even wondering if we're playing a long game in this, possibly working with Ceferin.
Maybe hopelessly optimistic but I wonder if we've fluttered our eyelashes at the breakaway group, understood their plans, suckered them in, then betrayed them by leaking the Super League plans and then we'll pull out, leaving them isolated, maybe even out of their national leagues and international outcasts. The PL needs 15 clubs to agree something as major as expulsion so 6 clubs in the ESL renders that path impossible. But if we were to withdraw, maybe Chelsea too, then a majority vote that sees the US-owned clubs outside the PL is obviously achievable. It would be stunning revenge.
But, as I say, maybe I'm just being hopelessly optimistic.
But then we could have done that without signing up. We could have got this to a point where we verbally committed but then walked away. That would have been a PR master stroke.
They are going to form there own TV company and control the broadcasting rights themselves.I'm absolutely sure that's true. I am just wondering whether there's an opportunity perhaps to scupper it. I dunno, TV companies like everyone else are greedy and self-centred.
Except he isn't "fxcking up the league", he is acting like a good owner and doing all the right things. The things we praised our owners for rightly before they backed this closed shop, however reluctantly they may have been.It’s about football in general and Neville is happy living off the back of the rags and owning a football team himself fucking up the league pyramid but doesn’t like it when someone has the audacity to tell him to fuck off. Clearly going to have to agree to disagree here.
Uefa have probably been taking to the other 11 aswell. What have they offered them?
Watch your back city.
I know most won't love him but this was good, trying to put it across to the American public what's happening in Europe.
It‘s as much about business stability than ‘greed’. A franchise model guarantees income streams. No more uncertainty over qualifying or not qualifying for CL. It’s also about control over the product and the clubs that generate the most cash, receiving that cash.
The aim is to shift from a competition with jeopardy to an entertainment model with only mild or manufactured jeopardy. Football as content on Netflix.
The other factor is these clubs are in financial trouble, Madrid made no signings and are looking to finally build a new stadium, Barca are a billion in debt, same with Spurs and no one is making money. There is a €350m sign on bonus just for turning up. UEFA aren’t promising any real new cash until 2024.
There will be a European Super League, the only debate is will it be under the umbrella of UEFA or outside it.