Tag Archives: super league

Super League sign up now fan invasion at Old Trafford how will the FA punish Manchester United?

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Sometimes clubs get into trouble and face sanctions when, in essence, it’s not even their fault. Take Manchester United whose ground was invaded by protesting fans at the weekend which led to the postponement of their game against Liverpool.

Protesting fans and in some cases barbaric which included a police officer receiving cuts to the face stormed overwhelmed security at the ground and in droves fans were on the hallowed turf inside the stadium. One could question why the club should be sanctioned by the FA, and it would be a good one. United had security in place there were simply too many fans and one thing led to another. For the FA it is an embarrassment given that the game could  not go ahead and now they will have to find a date in a very congested fixture pile up with the league set to finish in just 3 weeks time.

Claim all the innocence they want United will be charged and they will surely be encouraged to ban the fans caught on CCTV and camera by TV reporters. What should that punishment be? It could well be a ban from playing at home for a few games, there will surely be a fine of some sort but that will be loose change to United. We must remember how the Glazers have stayed defiant and despite protests have said they are going nowhere. Instead they noted that the club were worth £2 billion and they were hoping to increase the value of United during their ownership to £10 billion, it was a classic predictable response from wealthy American owners.

Some have argued that the game should be forfeited and that Liverpool should be awarded 3 points. This would seem farcical given the current situation of the clubs chasing a top four finish. How unfair would that be on Leicester, Chelsea, West Ham and Tottenham?

As for punishments when are Manchester United going to face one from the FA or UEFA over the Super League sign up? Is it even going to happen now. At one point UEFA said that clubs would feel the full force, the full force of what exactly? The one club that didn’t sign up to the Super League was PSG who have now been knocked out of the Champions League ensuring that the final will take place between two clubs who two weeks ago wanted nothing to do with the Champions League come next season.

The longer the FA and UEFA do not respond to what has been a chaotic and lack of due respect to football as a whole the longer they are looking like weak organisations and something certainly needs to be clarified.

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Should Manchester United, Liverpool and the other clubs be punished for wanting a Super League?

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The Super League was laughed out of football folklore before the first chapter had commenced, almost everyone connected with football despised the idea of the new competition. One could say it wasn’t even a competition as it was closed to 99% of other teams, but now that project is in tatters surely there should be ramifications.

The six clubs in the Premier League that wanted a breakaway were Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham. It is thought that Manchester United and Liverpool spearheaded the negotiations. These clubs represent the big six in English football, though not all this season have acted in that manner.

One has to wonder now with the Super League dead in the water only 3 days after being announced when the FA are going to step in? It doesn’t matter that the clubs have pulled out, that’s just one step back to normality. How about the fact that these clubs wanted and also signed for a breakaway to happen? According to Real Madrid president Florentino Perez this was a legally binding contract. Well Perez got a taste of his own medicine as these clubs have simply walked away, just as they had walked away from UEFA a few days ago.

So what should the FA do? Fines are really no good, that won’t punish the teams enough and the ideal scenario would be a points deduction. Now if you are a fan of any of the six clubs you could be angry about this, save that anger and remember all the protests against your own club at the beginning of the week. Ultimately this is about weeding out club owners who have very little care about the fans and the history of the game.

Each team should be deducted at least 10 points and of course that should mean the 12 teams involved. This is a time when the FA and UEFA need to flex their authority, they can’t be messed around like this.

For UEFA the Champions League resumes next week and how awkward does it feel and look that 3 of the four semi-finalists opted to leave this competition all behind this past weekend? Only PSG, and much to the surprise of the football world wanted no part in the Super League. The French champions will surely be pumped up now to win the competition.

Let’s wait and see what the FA do, that’s if they do anything, but they need to do the right thing, these clubs did wrong, and they need to be punished.

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UEFA need to say no to the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Liverpool for a super league

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In this past week a story has emerged yet again of the proposal of a super league which would replace the Champions League and would not be a part of a UEFA competition.

Super Leagues have been touted seriously since the early 1990s and UEFA already had to react to the threat and created the Champions League in the 1992/93 season. Before that the European Cup was of course only open to the winners of each European league. The Champions League used an expansion that went from 2 clubs with some of the top leagues in Europe having four clubs that can qualify for each season.

Now the elite teams are flexing their muscles again and UEFA’s Champions League is under threat once more. There is more money to be made and more exposure to be had with an independent super league and the richest and most successful clubs want as much as they can get. Instead of rejecting any ideas UEFA have tried to react again, and if these new proposals go through then if you support a mid table club this has far reaching implications and you will want to read on.

The controversial move would be backing the bigger clubs even if they are having, by their standards, a poor season. Take Arsenal who are in 10th place currently in the English Premier League. UEFA are proposing that if the league was to end today that Arsenal would qualify for the Champions League not based on their league position of course but based on their co-efficient points. In other words the last 5 seasons would count. It would mean that if, say Manchester City had a poor couple of seasons coming up, it wouldn’t matter their qualification for the Champions League would be secured anyway.

This is a slap in the face of course to the integrity of the sport and gamesmanship. What about the ‘surprise’ teams of the season, do they not count? Do we not reward the hard effort of for example West Ham and Everton who have punched above their weight this season? Do they just get disregarded? What do real fans think about this?

Once we make a mockery of a sport there seems no going back and UEFA have bent over once to create the Champions League for the elite teams, why would they feel they have to bend over again, why be put to ransom? Well the answer of course is not losing your product which brings in tens of millions of euros per year. But at the same time you are the governing body, does that not count for something?

It is easy to blame UEFA for changes in the rules, but in truth they are being held to ransom and panicking about losing their competition. Clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Liverpool need to stop throwing their tantrums and demands about. They are involved in competition that is what sport is all about, if you have a bad season you can get punished, accept it and move on and work harder.

The irony of course is the fear that the elite teams have of not qualifying for a competition where only one team can win it. But the owners do not care as much as the fans for trophies, it’s the money involved that reigns supreme in their minds and the added sponsorship on top- related of course to money.

The big clubs are at fault here. New ideas should always be welcomed in football, but not to the point that it destroys the very fabric of the sport and the people within it.