Football (Soccer) Thread

[Josquius]

Potential twist in the tail for British politics

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/labour-demands-minutes-of-meeting-between-num-10-and-ed-woodward-held-days-before-launch-of-super-league-265959/?fbclid=IwAR1d5npfRe7ImvrSyLECdKEfBR_7J163yeBwy9DSW9jfCFQ0x8rY3f_2lsY

Seems Johnson met one of the people behind the super league plans just days before it was launched...Potentially with support...
And no doubt in typical Boris fashion quickly flipped when he realised it was politically expedient.

[celedhring]

In my experience sports fans hate any changes until the games start and then we get tempted by the sweet siren call of athletic competition and make our peace with it. Sort of like how the lead up to every World Cup is nothing but people being enraged by all the corrupt FIFA shenanigans going on...and then the first match starts and we promptly forget about all of that.

The problem with this super league is that they are not even close to playing any games.

Barça playing Tottenham half a dozen times every season is hardly my idea of an irresistible sport proposition 

More seriously, what makes big games among great sides such a thrilling event is the stakes. This superleague's goal seemed to be reducing the stakes and guaranteing a bunch of games among big sides.

The World Cup features quite possibly the highest-stakes series of games in any football tournament. The format (although FIFA, true to form, is trying to ruin it) makes it that every single game matters.

[Duque de Bragança]

Potential twist in the tail for British politics

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/labour-demands-minutes-of-meeting-between-num-10-and-ed-woodward-held-days-before-launch-of-super-league-265959/?fbclid=IwAR1d5npfRe7ImvrSyLECdKEfBR_7J163yeBwy9DSW9jfCFQ0x8rY3f_2lsY

Seems Johnson met one of the people behind the super league plans just days before it was launched...Potentially with support...
And no doubt in typical Boris fashion quickly flipped when he realised it was politically expedient.

Duplicity by BoJo?! 

[Sheilbh]

Well - also they didn't have a broadcaster to sell the games.

There was a really good Grace Robertson piece about this and one angle was on the branding issues with sponsorship, but the other was the broadcasting. In England in 1992 there was a narrative and a brand reason for why the Premier League launched. There were significant investments in stadiums and infrastructure, Sky was this disruprtive new broadcaster putting huge resources into what the Premier League would look like which was all a lot more modern than the existing offer by BBC and ITV. It was generally a move from the late 80s nadir of English football (hooliganism, Heysel, Hillsborough, Bradford - "a slum game watched in slum stadiums by slum people") and Sky promised "a whole new ball game". Their advertising was literally of football going from black and white to colour plus perky 90s aspirational consumerism.

There is a pitch I can see Super League clubs making - they just felt they were above it and above needing customers. So for example that pitch would definitely involve a broadcaster - I think it would involve a streaming broadcaster specifically, with more emphasis on consumers/fans being able to choose how and what football they watch. Instead to the extent they made a pitch it just leaned into what many people have a problem with already - nothing exemplified that more than their decision to have more VAR in the Super League (probably to sell adverts) despite the fact that until this came along the big narrative for the English clubs at least has been the way VAR's ruining the game and managers, players and fans hate it

Apparently the Premier League is going to change their rules that if a club breaks away to form another non-authorised league then they will automatically be expelled from the Premier League. Which means you need to be pretty confident that the income from the new Super League can replace both your income from the Champions League and the Premier League.

Well yeah, it might be a challenge meeting the revenue projections (which were what, double that of the Champions League?) if the vast majority of your potential customers hate your new league intensely.

I think it was based on them being able to get 3 times the revenue of the Champions League. For fewer games

[Sheilbh]

Potential twist in the tail for British politics

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/labour-demands-minutes-of-meeting-between-num-10-and-ed-woodward-held-days-before-launch-of-super-league-265959/?fbclid=IwAR1d5npfRe7ImvrSyLECdKEfBR_7J163yeBwy9DSW9jfCFQ0x8rY3f_2lsY

Seems Johnson met one of the people behind the super league plans just days before it was launched...Potentially with support...
And no doubt in typical Boris fashion quickly flipped when he realised it was politically expedient.

I mean we'll see if that comes out. But the Number 10 line that it was a breakfast meeting about lifting covid restrictions and a return to fans in stadiums doesn't seem that implausible - especially given that it came a day before new broke that the Premier League were planning to adjust the schedule so every team would get one game home and away with fans.

Maybe it was about the Super League but I can't see any reason to suspect that.

[Gups]

Potential twist in the tail for British politics

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/labour-demands-minutes-of-meeting-between-num-10-and-ed-woodward-held-days-before-launch-of-super-league-265959/?fbclid=IwAR1d5npfRe7ImvrSyLECdKEfBR_7J163yeBwy9DSW9jfCFQ0x8rY3f_2lsY

Seems Johnson met one of the people behind the super league plans just days before it was launched...Potentially with support...
And no doubt in typical Boris fashion quickly flipped when he realised it was politically expedient.

Woodward didn't even know about the plan then

[Sheilbh]

Florentino Perez: "We're considering new steps for the Super League. Perhaps the proper way would be that the top 4 teams in the domestic leagues each season would qualify for it."

That's the Champions League. You've invented the competition you're trying to replace

Edit: Also from the Arsenal protest - I think I even prefer this meme use to the "We want our cold nights in Stoke"

[Sheilbh]

Shaping up to be another great weekend for the Super League clubs

[garbon]

I know we've already said it before but infuriating the crackdown on women wanting to feel safe while this nonsense gets a pass.

[Jacob]

Shaping up to be another great weekend for the Super League clubs

Any new developments? Any links.

I'm really enjoying this whole debacle and you're one of my primary news sources

[celedhring]

I think he just means they've had bad sporting results so far this weekend.

[Jacob]

I think he just means they've had bad sporting results so far this weekend.

Still satisfying

[Sheilbh]

Shaping up to be another great weekend for the Super League clubs

Any new developments? Any links.

I'm really enjoying this whole debacle and you're one of my primary news sources

Thanks - glad you're enjoying this debacle as much as I am.

I only have a couple of friends who are that in to football and one of us is a permanent expat. But we've booked in a Zoom tonight just to run through this.

I think he just means they've had bad sporting results so far this weekend.

Yeah obviously I enjoyed Leno's flumpf last night, but Newcastle scoring two goals (one written off for handball) in the last two minutes of extra time against Liverpool was a joy.

[Tamas]

I know we've already said it before but infuriating the crackdown on women wanting to feel safe while this nonsense gets a pass.

And now this:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/24/law-firm-takes-up-case-of-nurse-fined-10000-for-1-pay-protest

[FunkMonk]

Shaping up to be another great weekend for the Super League clubs

Indeed