The Mail Bag
New investors will pave the way for a European Super League
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For several years the consensus has been that the ?big 4? will remain un-challenged, and that the EPL will remain the ?premier league? in every sense ? financially, prestige and international exposure.
Ironically, this very success, and the ability of the larger member clubs to attract huge foreign investors will ultimately lead to its downfall.
As the cosy relationship between Sky, UEFA and the ?big 4? becomes increasingly threatened by other clubs backed by Billionaires and Sovereign Funds, surely the opportunity exists for a break-away league to be formed. This breakaway league will feature the top 6 or 7 English teams, the top teams of Spain, Italy, Germany and Holland plus a few more.
The reason is simple ? currently only 4 English teams can grasp the Champions League riches and that may be reduced to 3 in the near future. Simple maths dictate that 6 or 7 don?t go into 4 or 3 and listening to the ambitions of Manchester City?s new owners it is clear that domestic success and the UEFA Cup will not satisfy new foreign investors in cash and prestige terms.
The challenge for Everton, and Bill Kenwright is to ensure that Everton become one of these new super-backed clubs. Without the new investor with the ability to pump in huge investment, we will be a medium sized fish in a very much smaller pool. This threat in itself, of course, increases the risk for a new investor, and the longer it takes for the club to find such an investor, the narrower the window of opportunity becomes.
The time for action is now. We may not feel entirely comfortable about having a hugely wealthy owner given our ?People?s Club? credentials, but if we ever wish to dine at football?s top table again, we must act now.
The clock is ticking, for us and the Premier League.Paul Quinn, Posted 03/09/2008 at 14:33:02
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Which is why one of the reasons the English Premier League is the most popular football league in the world, the global fans can read the players’ name on the jersey, understand the manager/player interviews, and read FourFourTwo without babelfish. No point in selling Marca at the newsstand if we can’t read what Becks is up to.
The Premiership is almost if not bigger than the World Cup. The World Cup ends when England get knocked out. It’s because in part due to the English Language making it more accessible to global fans. How difficult it must be to say "the refs a wanker" in spanish??
As the Super League has no tradition (which these buisness types don’t quite understand is the rock on which football is based), the tropheys they play for may not have the backing of fans, or at least hold the interest (not including I’d say the Asian market which is what they all want a slice of).
So if it all goes tits up, the Top 4 and whoever may find themselves coming back with tails between their legs and starting from scratch in the Unibond.
They can bugger off...
Whilst Bill wants to get us our own billionaire I do wonder whether those running the Premiership teams including Scudamore as Premiership CEO are looking ahead over the next few years and gauging what lies there.
I can visualise a time when the Top 4 has become a Top 6 or 7 all run/owned by billionaires or corporate giants and they all want their clubs to be exposed on a regular and global basis. The 3 - 4 clubs missing out on the CL will not stand for it .Weekend fixtures of Man Utd vs Wigan will cut no ice and they would want Man Utd vs Barcelona , Chelsea vs Bayern Munich , Man City vs AC Milan , Liverpool vs Zenith St Petersburg . We will be faced with a rebellion of initially 20 European teams all wanting a slice of the global commercial revenues, and maybe in time teams from S America , Middle East and Asia Pacific. Scuadmore will have his wish of globalisation but not the model he was hoping for.
Spectators will be faced with watching their teams only at the home games as the travel times/expenses will be far too much for any ordinary fan to afford. Entry prices will all level out probably at the most expensive price , equivalent to £60 a game today at Chelsea. Hooliganism will not exist as opposing fans will not meet.
These 20 clubs will not run youth programmes as all their players will be bought from the feeder clubs ? Everton , Wigan , Seville , Napoli etc , who will be given hand-outs to allow good academy programmes to be put in place.
Entry to the global league will not be on a promotion/relegation basis but by one club loosing its funder and another one taking its place by placing a non-returnable entry fee of £100m.
A salary cap of £200,000 per week will initially be put in place for all players , but it is expected that this is likely to be broken when Ronalndo is enticed from Man Utd to Man City.
These 20 teams will not allow their players to play in International matches , only in the World Cup finals after pressure from the players themselves., earlier knock-out rounds will only use players from the feeder clubs.
That?s it for crystal ball gazing but I dread the day our beloved club goes down either path depending on whether we have Bill in charge or Mohammed Lotsamoney from Basra.
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1 Posted 04/09/2008 at 07:50:26
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Outside of our shores our teams become more and more dominant - the premiership is outcompeting the rest as a whole and is worth as much as CL to most. This success is bringing in the big investors increasing competition and therefore interest.
Why should the top clubs disturb this business model? They compete financially with Real and Barca and comfortably beat the Italian & German clubs with France nowhere - most of which were miles ahead in the 80’s. The success of the Prem is ever expanding while the top Spanish clubs can only sell themselves. If they committed to a European superleague their european competitors would be strengthed on an equal footing to themselves whereas the Premiership seems to be demonstrating a competative advantage?