Dream or nightmare – A European super League? « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
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Dream or nightmare – A European super League?
by Don McMahon,
Like it or not, we are almost certainly headed in that direction and as the train, which has just left the station, picks up speed, even Arsene Wenger’s prediction that a merit-based European Super League could be 9 years away, seems somewhat conservative. Here is my take on how it might happen, what it would be like and what consequences European Football would inevitably be subject to should this happen:
WHY AND HOW IT MIGHT COME ABOUT
EUFA and FIFA have mismanaged European Football for at least the past 1decade. The original G14 was formed in response to the discontent and dissatisfaction felt by the bigger European Clubs at the greed, cronyism, nepotism, favouritism and bias shown by the governing bodies. They even discussed the idea of a breakaway super league back in 2007 and as the CL becomes more and more a pro forma exercise of the inevitable (Barcelona, Real, United and now City) their discontent grows. The CL monetary rewards do not represent sufficient revenue for the 3rd and 4th place teams and the avarice of these super clubs will only grow worse.
Once their tolerance level for the EUFA/FIFA travelling circus is surpassed, these clubs will likely threaten to breakaway and form their own League. Fearing the loss of revenues and reputation this would cause both bodies, the morons that manage both will quickly over backwards to accommodate their favourites. This means a Super League running with the blessings of FIFA and EUFA, after their palms have been sufficiently greased by the rich owners, of course.
WHAT IT COULD LOOK LIKE
We have to make a great deal of assumptions here, but one we don’t need to worry about is the composition of the League. It would likely contain between 24 and 28 teams. It would syphon off the top 4 or 5 clubs from England,France, Italy, maybe Germany, certainly Spain and possibly Russia. All these countries have big sugar-daddy sponsored teams (except for the Bundesliga) and that would be a hidden criterion for sure. Lets see which teams could constitute the first ESL season:
England: United, City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool
France: Lyon, Marseille, Lille, PSG
Italy: Inter Milan, AC Milan, Roma, Juventus
Germany: Bayern Munich, Schalke, Borussa Dortmund, Bayern Leverkusen
Spain: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, Villareal
Russia: CSKA, Dinamo, Rubin Kazan, Zenit St.Petersburg, Anzhi Makhachkala
Other potential applicants could be from the Dutch Eredivise and the Scottish League. If they played each other home and away and had one Super Cup competition added in, the average season, including a mid-winter break, would be around 44 games which is certainly reasonable. They could start in late August and end in late May but in a WC year, they could start in mid August and end in late April,giving the players some time off before the start of WC hostilities.
WHAT IT WOULD LIKELY MEAN FOR THE CURRENT EUROPEAN LEAGUES
1) It could spell the end of one or two leagues’ dominance in European football.
2) It would spell the end of EUFA and FIFA’s dominion in International football.
3) It could see local leagues having to merge their divisions to be more attractive and viable.
4) It would syphon off any promising talents to the Super clubs.
5) It would mean a realignment of power and therefore financial clout to the ESL Clubs (something that has already begun to happen anyway).
6) It would be a paradigm shift in Football, forever condemning lesser Clubs to 2nd rate glory.
7) It would invite and propagate enormous corruption, criminal involvement and subsequent loss of integrity as the match-fixing and referee manipulation could reach epic proportions.
8) It would truly universalize the European game worldwide and generate unimaginable media and corporate sponsorships and wealth for the ESL clubs and particularly the title holders/Cup winners.
9) It would permit, indeed foster a modernization of the Game and the Laws, particularly concerning video replays and goal-line technology. When an offside goal or unjust penalty could potentially cost a super Club up to 100m Euro in lost revenue, you can be sure the League management will be under enormous pressure to prevent such errors.
10) It would see Club Youth Academies and nations who continually produce talent, become the feeder organizations for the ESL members to the exclusion of their local leagues.
As Michael Calvin said in his recent Mirror Football article on such a league, ¨The Euromillions League will emerge from a perfect storm of greed, globalization and opportunism.¨ A very insightful and astute observation and one that is on its unstoppable way to be realized, thanks to the blind stupidity, ignominious mismanagement and avarice of Football’s governing bodies.
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