2021 European soccer megathread

[Captain Ron 12866]

44 minutes ago, Hagbard Celine said:

1 hour ago, Dutch said:

I don't think the American owners of the clubs have an idea of the depth and level of supporter involvement/attachment to football clubs ...

they do have an idea, and they give zero fucks.  the idea that the fans are stakeholders was tested in mls and it failed, so they (the american owners) have decided it's pax americana and the europeans will shovel the shit and eat it.

 

They also look at it from a much different view. They see who the WORLD fans follow, not the rank and file of England, Italy and Spain (and eventually France and Germany). The fact is that once you get out of England (where these are just 6 of many), the bulk of World fans follow one of the big 6. I don't see a Leeds, Leicester City or Everton thread here on Surly. They know where the fans and $$ are at.

[Captain Ron 12866]

2 minutes ago, C-Man said:

Funny you mention it. From The Athletic:



No aggy

 

 

But Nebraska?!?!?

 

 

[mdmost 42999]

Don't realignment my soccer thread. 

[Surly Bevo 24908]

1 hour ago, WBT said:

I think the reaction would be more negative than positive.

From fans at large, the majority of which would be left behind...sure.  From the fans of the included schools, including the one supported on this site?  

NO

FUCKING 

WAY

[Dutch 4465]

17 minutes ago, naija said:

did anyone really think the managers were confidants of the owners?

I think that ended with Sir Alex and Arsene Wenger (before Kroenke).

[Hagbard Celine 10849]

5 minutes ago, Captain Ron said:

But Nebraska?!?!?

aggy: but corn haven't won shit in 25 years!  wait..... wut?

[G650 14229]

8 minutes ago, C-Man said:

Funny you mention it. From The Athletic:



No aggy

https://theathletic.com/2529433/2021/04/19/staples-college-football-super-league-alabama-notre-dame-nebraska-and-a-lot-of-hurt-feelings-texas-am-tennessee/

 

Well, old Andy just highlighted why CFB is going down the drain like the NFL. There aren't 12 teams worthwhile. It's Alabama, Ohio St and Clemson. That's it. Texas and Land Thieves if you are feeling charitable.

[alincoln 2371]

12 minutes ago, G650 said:

We get it man, you are all in on the Super League.

I have mixed feelings.  I do think it would be very interesting to see the best consistently play against the best.  The proposed additional watering down of the Champions League will only further reduce the interesting matchups.  The talent gulf produced by the massive influx of cash has also created too many bunkering contests in league play which were far rarer in the 90s.  It's just not very compelling soccer to watch a Big 6 team try to break through deep banks of 5 and 4 players every other week.  The Super League would provide a welcome respite from that style.  

On the other hand, it's not much of leap from a Super League to a complete abandonment of the national leagues which would destroy soccer history.  Dumping a bastardized CL in favor of the Super League doesn't trouble me much.     

[G650 14229]

2 minutes ago, alincoln said:

  I do think it would be very interesting to see the best consistently play against the best. 

It's basically the opposite. No one wants to watch Real play City every week. It's completely lame.

[WBT 20561]

12 minutes ago, Surly Bevo said:

From fans at large, the majority of which would be left behind...sure.  From the fans of the included schools, including the one supported on this site?  

NO

FUCKING 

WAY

Roughly 1/2 of them would be below .500.  FUCKING WAY

[Captain Ron 12866]

4 minutes ago, G650 said:

It's basically the opposite. No one wants to watch Real play City every week. It's completely lame.

Well that would be the most boring schedule ever:

Week 1 Madrid v Man City
Week 2 Man City v Madrid
Week 3 Madrid v Man City
Week 4 Man City v Madrid
Week 5 Madrid v Man City
Week 6 Man City v Madrid
...

[mdmost 42999]

7 minutes ago, G650 said:

It's basically the opposite. No one wants to watch Real play City every week. It's completely lame.

I don't want to watch Liverpool lose to Real Madrid every week, that's for sure. I've had enough of that recently. 

[Surly Bevo 24908]

1 minute ago, WBT said:

Roughly 1/2 of them would be below .500.  FUCKING WAY

That would be bitching about performance after the fact, not that they were in the show.  I'm not talking about after the fact results on the field.  None of these schools if they are who I think they are have fanbases who are gonna sit there and say "oh no we don't want to go to the show because we might lose". I sure as shit wouldn't have that reservation about Texas if this had popped up the last 10 years and we damn sure would have lost if things had played out on the field the same way.  

[Captain Ron 12866]

@Speedtrucker mentioned FIFPRO a few pages back - they don't have any power. The fact is the players are kind of helpless here because there isn't a real union to represent their needs. The players probably don't want this because they don't want to have games week in week out against top flight teams on their bodies. Playing relegation fodder is great because you can sit your front line stars every so often to not run them into the ground. This does nothing to help that. 

If they had some real union representation, they could band together and say "Hey owners, you need us to play these games and we're not interested." But you haven't seen anything like this.

[Dutch 4465]

1 hour ago, mdmost said:

 existing fans who just want things to stay the traditional way they are are called "legacy fans". 

[alincoln 2371]

12 minutes ago, G650 said:

It's basically the opposite. No one wants to watch Real play City every week. It's completely lame.

Its no Rennes v. Krasnodar but I think we could live with it

Matchday 1

Man Utd v AC Milan

Barcelona v Liverpool

Chelsea v Inter Milan

Bayern v Arsenal

Atletico v Leipzig

Chelsea v Madrid

Tottenham v Juventus

PSG v Dortmund

[G650 14229]

2 minutes ago, alincoln said:

Its no Rennes v. Krasnodar but I think we could live with it

Matchday 1

Man Utd v AC Milan

Barcelona v Liverpool

Chelsea v Inter Milan

Bayern v Arsenal

Atletico v Leipzig

Chelsea v Madrid

Tottenham v Juventus

PSG v Dortmund

[Captain Ron 12866]

5 minutes ago, alincoln said:

Its no Rennes v. Krasnodar but I think we could live with it

Matchday 1

Man Utd v AC Milan

Barcelona v Liverpool

Chelsea v Inter Milan

Bayern v Arsenal

Atletico v Leipzig

Chelsea v Madrid

Tottenham v Juventus

PSG v Dortmund

 

That's great looking at a single week of a schedule with names as of now. But eventually this will sort out too to have an have nots. And the haves playing the have nots will be as boring as City vs Sheffield.

Edited April 19, 2021 by Captain Ron

[Speedtrucker 2071]

Its no Rennes v. Krasnodar but I think we could live with it
Matchday 1
Man Utd v AC Milan
Barcelona v Liverpool
Chelsea v Inter Milan
Bayern v Arsenal
Atletico v Leipzig
Chelsea v Madrid
Tottenham v Juventus
PSG v Dortmund

Psshh could they do it in Stoke in the rain?!?

I think not

[Hagbard Celine 10849]

7 minutes ago, Captain Ron said:

 

That's great looking at a single week of a schedule with names as of now. But eventually this will sort out too to have an have nots. And the haves playing the have nots will be as boring as City vs Sheffield.

the nfc east used to be must see tv.  now the only ones that watch are legacy fans.

[G650 14229]

2 minutes ago, Hagbard Celine said:

now the only ones that watch are legacy fans.

Even we don't watch tbh.

[hayden_horn 11362]

this is honestly quite depressing.

[mdmost 42999]

I think the endgame has been revealed

 

[Cheeseweasel 26438]

So two large investment firms are fighting over the future of Football? I think we are all going to lose regardless of the outcome.

[Hagbard Celine 10849]

5 minutes ago, mdmost said:

I think the endgame has been revealed

 

paywall

[Hagbard Celine 10849]

from mib in the pool thread

 

[Ted Lange 16083]

 

 

[yoladu 4090]

so if this game today was played with the proposed super league in place....

Would Liverpool have been playing the C team if they had a big match against Barcelona in three days? What would they be playing for today?

Didn't Klopp concede the PL title about 2 months ago. We would have a very disinterested Liverpool club playing for the nearly 50% of the season?

Edited April 19, 2021 by yoladu

[Ted Lange 16083]

42 minutes ago, Hagbard Celine said:

paywall

I didnt get the PW.....but here you go if you could read it

 

 

UEFA is in discussions with Centricus Asset Management over a 6 billion-euro ($7.2 billion) financing package to overhaul its flagship soccer tournament and stop plans for a new breakaway Super League, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Switzerland-based sporting body is working with Centricus on a plan to fund a new-look UEFA Champions League tournament, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information.

Negotiations are ongoing and there’s no certainty UEFA and London-based Centricus will reach an agreement, according to the people. A representative for Centricus declined to comment, while a spokesperson for UEFA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

It comes as UEFA prepares to battle with a new Super League that could mark the biggest upheaval of European soccer since the 1950s and end the Champions League’s decades-long reign as the world’s premier club contest.

A group of the world’s richest soccer clubs, including Manchester United and Real Madrid, announced plans for the breakaway league starting in August in a statement early Monday. The marquee names -- six from England, three from Italy and three from Spain have signed up so far -- would play each other midweek as an alternative to the UEFA tournament. In addition to what will be 15 permanent teams, another five will qualify each year for the Super League.

The 4 billion-euro plan, which is being bankrolled by JPMorgan Chase & Co., has already drawn heavy criticism from domestic leagues and politicians. UEFA has said it could ban Super League team players from national teams that take part in the national Euro and World Cup competitions.

Centricus has been in talks with UEFA for a number of months regarding financing, a person familiar with the matter said. The investment firm had discussed an initial package of about 4.2 billion euros, which was raised to 6 billion euros following the rival Super League proposal, the person said.

Centricus, which oversees about $30 billion in assets according to its website, is well connected to large, wealthy institutions in the Middle East and Asia, and helped SoftBank Group Corp. raise $100 billion for its massive Vision Fund.

The firm was started in 2016 by Nizar Al-Bassam, a former investment banker at Deutsche Bank AG, and ex-Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner Dalinc Ariburnu.

[Ted Lange 16083]

57 minutes ago, Hagbard Celine said:

from mib in the pool thread

 

This is an excellent read.   Fuck UEFA and FIFA

 

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by Ted Lange

[midtown 3345]

10 minutes ago, Ted Lange said:

This is an excellent read.   Fuck UEFA and FIFA

I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter and screw those crooked fucks

[Hagbard Celine 10849]

here at the end of the day.... it is rare we get to use that term at the end of the day......

i think the key problem is not the guaranteed revenue that comes without jeopardy.

i think it's national team football.  for the best players representing the best countries they can spend 10-15% of their career playing games that generate no income for their employers.

[Buzzrock 14902]

I have mixed feelings.  I do think it would be very interesting to see the best consistently play against the best.  The proposed additional watering down of the Champions League will only further reduce the interesting matchups.  The talent gulf produced by the massive influx of cash has also created too many bunkering contests in league play which were far rarer in the 90s.  It's just not very compelling soccer to watch a Big 6 team try to break through deep banks of 5 and 4 players every other week.  The Super League would provide a welcome respite from that style.  
On the other hand, it's not much of leap from a Super League to a complete abandonment of the national leagues which would destroy soccer history.  Dumping a bastardized CL in favor of the Super League doesn't trouble me much.     

Liverpool just drew with Leeds and it mattered. Furthermore it’s interesting because Leeds was just promoted this season. The big boys have to earn it and the smaller teams can find glory on any given week, and they benefit from the financial injection of playing the big teams. All of that will go away.

If you watched that clip that was posted earlier with the comments from the anonymous Big 6 board member you’ll see that the SL teams are hoping to be kicked out of all other competitions to focus only on SL. This isn’t about trading CL for SL.

The owners probably want to be kicked out of the other leagues so they can move matches to the weekend. In fact they are probably counting on it.

[Jive Turkey 12594]

29 minutes ago, Ted Lange said:

This is an excellent read.   Fuck UEFA and FIFA

FIFA and UEFA are like the NCAA on steroids and 100 times more corrupt.  

substitute NCAA for UEFA/FIFA and clubs for college football teams, and it's the same damn thing.

c

Edited April 19, 2021 by Jive Turkey

[Ted Lange 16083]

 

 

[Schulz2.0 28951]

1 hour ago, Hagbard Celine said:

from mib in the pool thread

 

"We didn't want to do this. UEFA and FIFA are so corrupt we were practically forced to fuck over the entirty of European football. It totally isn't just a shameless money grab."

[Schulz2.0 28951]

17 minutes ago, Buzzrock said:

The owners probably want to be kicked out of the other leagues so they can move matches to the weekend. In fact they are probably counting on it.

 

That's why they should just relegate them to the Championship.

[Ted Lange 16083]

Guys, they are trying to SAVE football!

 

 

[UDontKnow 10439]

13 minutes ago, Schulz2.0 said:

That's why they should just relegate them to the Championship.

Why not League 1 or League 2?

[Ted Lange 16083]

 

 

[naija 2854]

"If PSG and Bayern Munich refuse....."

it's like he comes from country with a history of an infamous organized crime group or something....

Edited April 19, 2021 by naija

[midtown 3345]

What percentage of fans/revenues has the SL acquired considering?  50%-70%   So far they have 11 of the top 20 based on revenue on board.   UEFA is shitting its pants 

[MoJames 8244]

Chelsea fan here.  I hate this.

Ditto.

[MoJames 8244]

Only good outcome of this I've seen is less international duty for Chelsea players.

[Captain Ron 12866]

1 hour ago, Ted Lange said:

Guys, they are trying to SAVE football!

 

 

Cynical view, but it’s what we’re all advocating for too. The evil we have vs some new evil that destroys it all. 

[Schulz2.0 28951]

Just now, Captain Ron said:

Cynical view, but it’s what we’re all advocating for too. The evil we have vs some new evil that destroys it all. 

The problem is that this is a great deal for 15 clubs. Everyone else is getting massively buttfucked. But UEFA/FIFA or something...

[mdmost 42999]

This was posted in the Liverpool thread but it belongs here as well. Fair play to Leeds on this one.

 

[mdmost 42999]

Done and dusted, fellas. Legally binding contracts! This guy's a disaster. 

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by mdmost

[Ted Lange 16083]

 

 

 

[mdmost 42999]

I think we should just let this guy just keep riffing. He's going to dig a hole too deep to climb out of all on his own.