Pure, selfish greed cannot prevail

Jim Potter 20/04/2021 10comments  |  Jump to last

If these selfish businessmen carry on with trying to destroy the fabric football and join this abomination then I would ban those 6 clubs in perpetuity from all of English football. No chance of ever returning. Bridges burnt.

The government needs to introduce legislation to tax these clubs into oblivion should they leave.

The work permits of all foreign players involved with those clubs should be extremely difficult to get or be retained.

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Their owners should be minutely scrutinised, and under their thin veneer of respectability will be so many cans of worms that they themselves could be destroyed by the Serious Fraud Office, HMRC or the National Crime Agency.

That even if they eventually choose (or have to) remain they are deducted points for the next ten years for threatening the very fabric and soul of our game and that they are demoted to The Championship or even League Two. That they are deducted i.e. 25 points from this season.

That any sponsor who signs up to this new league or club are boycotted by consumers. Let it become toxic to them, something they cannot be seen to support. People buy their products and the People are against this act of gross selfishness.

This ‘Super’ league will wither and die as the glamour of such games is in their rarity. When it is taking place every other weekend it will soon be like a wet Tuesday away at Stoke. The special night will become the mundane and normal. This is designed to be sold to the Chinese and world consumer, they don’t really care if we don’t sign up to watch it.

The ownership of all clubs needs to reviewed whereby fans own a significant stake and are entitled to have a say.

As much as I have always disliked all of these 6 clubs, I feel for their fans. It is not what they want. But many fans would prefer to stay in the current system and take their punishment rather than go to this shameful cesspool of avarice. They see that it is a self serving greed fest that has to be punished.

I have no faith in FIFA taking any meaningful action as they are as corrupt as these breakaway clubs. UEFA also will lose resolve and bend eventually. It is more the lack of these clubs involving them in the process than the act itself that has offended UEFA. If they had involved them then they have no backbone and would have been bullied into accepting some form of new league.

Whatever happens from now, the game we know and love has changed for good. Its very soul has been tarnished.

This is war and we must wage total war back on these clubs and owners. Show any weakness and they will prevail. If they are showing such obvious contempt for their own fans then you know what they think of the clubs and fans they are attempting to leave drowning their wake.

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Reader Comments (10)

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David Pearl
1 Posted 20/04/2021 at 16:22:59
Jim,
I recon both fifa and uefa will impose heavy restrictions because without these teams surely CL viewing figures will suffer enormously, as will sponsorship.

Can the 6 simply forget the idea, do an about turn, and without repercussion? I don't think so.

Mike Gaynes
2 Posted 20/04/2021 at 17:20:16
A heartfelt rant, but I strongly doubt the 14 will burn bridges with the 6. These people are longtime friends and colleagues with each other, and they've worked together on committees and commercial strategies for the PL. And they know that many of the executives at these clubs strongly oppose the SL idea, as do virtually all the players, staff and fans. The owners are the culprits, not the clubs.

They're not gonna be charged with crimes, have points deducted for a decade or be demoted to League 2. There will assuredly be repercussions, but assuming the SL doesn't succeed, the lawyers will work out some sort of settlement for the 6 to return to a semblance of good standing in the Prem. Much as we'd all enjoy seeing the RS and Man Utd humiliated, they won't be playing league games at Stevenage and Harrogate.

Jim Potter
3 Posted 20/04/2021 at 17:35:59
"Long time friends" Mike don't plot and scheme behind each others backs and try to undermine their livelihoods. Or perhaps I'm blessed by better friends?

I was angry when I wrote it (and still am) but they cannot just be excused without punishment should this self serving attack on our heritage fail.

Perhaps being American you are more used to the idea of businessmen running things, of closed shops and no relegation. This to us is an anathema. (I am in no way criticising you, just an observation).

Mike Gaynes
4 Posted 20/04/2021 at 19:26:48
Jim, my view has nothing to do with my nationality. Nor the norms of American business (which I suspect you are unfamiliar with).

Again, the club executives who work with each other in the Prem are not, repeat not, the owners of their clubs.

And their anger over the SL is at the owners, not their counterparts at the non-ownership level of the 6.

I did not say "excused without punishment"... I said the level of punishments you suggest in your article are not gonna happen.

Jim Lloyd
5 Posted 20/04/2021 at 19:46:13
I don't think there is unanimity in "friendships" among either the owners or their executives, Mike. I think there's undoubtedly friendships; but there's a sprinkling of smiling assasins amongst them.

If they all back down,as it is now looking likely to happen, I think now that the 14 will be forewarned and fore armed, that these clubs are total Mercenaries.
If any of these clubs had have /will carry on with the ESL, it has got to follow, that any club that does so, is no longer a member of the Premier League. So if they want to go, it isn't a punishment, it's a consequence of them leaving.

Jim Potter
6 Posted 20/04/2021 at 19:46:42
Well I lived in the US for 5 years Mike.

And the chief executives you are excusing all knew this was happening and said nothing. I can't excuse that betrayal. They are not, repeat not, friends of our game.

I don't think the levels of punishment I stated will happen either- but I hope we crucify them all.

My argument is not with you. It is with those Judas' that came so close to killing what I have grown up with and love.

Dale Self
7 Posted 20/04/2021 at 19:58:07
While I may discount the likelihood of such sanctions taking effect I strongly believe those suggestions should be shouted with the same level of volume and vituperative tone with which these weak ass proposals were presented. Will those kinds of actions solve the problem? Well I don't know-let's threaten the other side with that and see. Fair game, play on.
Jim Potter
8 Posted 20/04/2021 at 23:13:01
Well, it's over now, as far as English clubs are concerned anyway.

There has to be a root and branch review of how clubs are run and about agreements being legally (as well as morally) binding.

Those 6 clubs will have to change their hierarchies as those same faces that have sat in PL meetings and bare faced lied to their colleagues at the 14 other clubs just can never be trusted again.

Punishments have to be stringent.

Darren Hind
9 Posted 21/04/2021 at 04:40:43
There will be no punishments. At least there will be no punishments which will put a dent in the way these clubs have used their vast financial muscle to dominated the game.

I don't believe FIFA and EUEFA made the bully back down. The fans did that.

I see a massive fine for all clubs involved, but only one which is acceptable to them. Even a ten million fine for each of them would be would the equivalent of the loss of, say, a Tom Davies..
Ten million would sting, but it would be a mere flesh wound.

An opportunity for the existing governing bodies to swell the coffers and maybe an opportunity for smart lawyers to tie these greedy fuckers into a deal that will continue to make them only slightly less wealthy than a SL would have done

I'm expecting the the most savage punishment since Tony and Carmela Soprano stopped Meadow's allowance

Steve Brown
10 Posted 21/04/2021 at 05:50:08
Agree there won't be points deductions applied to the big (debtors) 6 - there should but there won't be. As Darren says, fines are more likely but will barely sting.

The bigger risk now for these rich owners is that the UK government will proceed regardless with legislation to change to governance of football (e.g. through implementing the 50 + 1 rule) and/or the appointment of an independent regulator with beefy statutory powers.

But then, that would require Boris to show consistency which is unlikely.


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