The Football Thread

[Paul keohane]

They can super league it all they want..if no one watches/pays for it on tv...and no one turns up at the ground when fans are let back that will soon sort it out....

As a Liverpool fan..I hope we get turfed out of every other competition if it goes ahead...

Fans not turning up at stadiums wont make a tapp of difference,its small money in the scheme of this.There will be a string of fans willing to go to these games regardless of the initial reaction over thr last 24 hours.

[astfgyl]

The Asian and American audiences will make up for any loss  of traditional support.

[Snare]

" the Spurs motto is "To Dare Is To Do" - Mourinho leaves having done very little daring or doing in his 17 months at the club."

Well put by Phil McNulty in BBC Sport.

[Mower Liberation Front]

City, Chelsea, Barca and Atletico supposedly pulling out, Agnelli and Woodward are gone.
Been an interesting last couple of hours, hasn't it?

[Emphyrio]

Mad to see CEOs fall on their swords. Twas a ridiculous idea but didn't expect this kind of fallout.

[Mower Liberation Front]

If Woodward handles his departure and payoff the same way he handles transfer negotiations, he probably won't actually leave United til late July, and then with only the original amount he was offered.

[astfgyl]

Yeah it seems a bit fucked at the moment but Perez insists that the contracts are binding so it will run for a bit yet

[astfgyl]

Seems  that Chelsea might have a tiny bit of class after all. What a crazy few days so far

[Emphyrio]

Chelsea saving football. The world is truly fucked!

[Trev]

Not too surprised at City and Chelsea leaving, they're both pretty much vanity projects for the owners and don't think they would have risked losing a shot at the Champions League.

Everything else that's gone on this evening though...

[astfgyl]

I said Chelsea might be showing a bit of class, but watching this game v Brighton I'm not so sure

[CorkonianHunger]

Can't believe Ed Woodward is gone, absolutely delighted. 15 years of his tripe.

[Ollkiller]

Glazers next.

[Kurt Cocaine]

A statement of a different style from the Milan ultras.

Milan supporters group Curva Sud released a different kind of statement that hit out at the world of football in general.

"Honestly, it makes us laugh to see all those people in the control room of football suddenly claim we fans are first and foremost.

"The Super League is just the latest in a long line of innumerable manoeuvres over decades that has made football into a business.

"The birth of this new competition would certainly be another shove to the football of old, which is by now a distant memory, and will inevitably obscure the tradition of the various national leagues, robbing football of the undeniable principle of sporting meritocracy.

"But the thing that most leaves us indignant is the hypocrisy of all those who contributed to making this sport nothing but a business, those who today stand up in name of the fans, but only because they saw their remunerative and seemingly untouchable project fall apart.

"Football did belong to the people until the 1990s, when the Champions League was born, destroying the old European Cup. From that moment, an unbreachable chasm has been created between the big and small clubs.

"Football did belong to the people even when nobody lifted a finger to stop the increase of ticket prices that was imposed by some Presidents.

"Football did belong to the people even when nobody stepped in to stop the rise of the super agents, who took player salaries to ever more astronomical figures, which could only be sustained with TV rights, the same TV companies that imposed increasingly chaotic fixture lists, with games on improbable days and kick-off times.

"Football did belong to the people even when rules were imposed to stop any rapport between the players and the fans.

"Football did belong to the people even when Supercoppa Finals were played on other continents or the dates of some games were changed a few days before kick-off, damaging those fans who had booked trains or planes to get to the stadium.

"Football did belong to the people even when some clubs were allowed to circumvent Financial Fair Play, while others with less influential Presidents were penalised.

"Football did belong to the people even when the World Cup was forced to Qatar in 2022, despite moving the entire calendar and disregarding human rights violations.

"We could list numerous other examples to show the absolute hypocrisy of the words we're hearing from the football chiefs over the last 48 hours.

"The Super League is just the latest disgusting step, but those who took football to this point are no less grotesque, so save us these ludicrous performances of rhetoric and morality.

"Now that the money is running out, feel free to fight it out between yourselves, but don't you dare name the fans. PIGS!

[CorkonianHunger]

Glazers next.

If everything settles they'll stay in and just replace Woodward with another pawn. Hopefully more pressure and sanctions and they're gone and we can have a fresh start next season. If that means no big signings so be it.

They should learn from the Germans and do the 50+1 fan ownership.