Yeah, just like, when Jol was manager, our meeting with Ramos was discuss how Sevilla's DOF set up worked.They said it wasn't about a european super league but about the international champions cup preseason tournament
I'd imagine it does!
Can't see why any club in the premier league would want to risk rocking the boat. They've never had it so good. I suppose the greed is taking over.
another driving factor is that champions league TV viewing figures, and attendance at games are in decline. This worries the super rich clubs outside of England.
what none of them get is their preferred "solutions" will just make the problem worse, not better. They need to ask themselves why the average fan is getting bored with the champions league (boring seeded group stages, the ridiculous round of 16 that goes on forever, parachuting teams into the EL, generally making it harder and harder for teams from smaller countries, official UEFA policy to ensure there is NOT an even playing field etc etc).
Their solution? more seeding, more guarantees for rich clubs that they will still be in the competition come March, more barriers to the non-super rich, more barriers to clubs from important but small footballing nations like the Netherlands and Portugal, diverting more and more TV money away from the football "family" towards a small number of clubs - who already have rich backers anyway. And how exactly do they think the average football fan will react to such changes? Will we gratefully agree to pay higher and higher subscription charges to cable and satellite companies? Will we abandon interest in our domestic leagues in unbridled excitement over the super league mid table clash on tuesday night between PSG and Zenit? Will we f***!
Shame, shame on all the clubs who are speaking to this clown, back in the US it all comes out exactly what that meeting was about
http://www.theguardian.com/football...leicester-relevent-sports-charlie-stillitano?
Champions League does not need likes of Leicester, says US sports executive
Closing off European football competitions to include only elite clubs could make them far richer, according to the American sports executive who has held talks with the leading English Premier League teams about a shake-up to long-established league structures.
The Relevent Sports chairman, Charlie Stillitano, held talks with Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United on Tuesday in London about this year’s International Champions Cup (ICC), an annual pre-season friendly tournament organised by his company. Stillitano confirmed they also discussed “restructuring the Champions League” – an issue high on the European Club Association agenda amid a power vacuum at Uefa.
Stillitano revealed that the European governing body has been keen on working with the ICC, which already attracts some of the world’s wealthiest teams to compete in games across the globe for a lucrative but meaningless prize. “We have even talked to Uefa in the past because they had an interest in our summer tournament,” Stillitano told the US satellite radio station SiriusXM. “That is something they would like to integrate into their portfolio.”
Joining forces with Relevent’s ICC would currently be incompatible with Uefa’s existing sponsorships. There are no plans with Uefa presently on the table but discussions have not been closed off.
Arsenal are the only team from the talks to go on the record in denying they advocate a breakaway Super League for Europe’s leading clubs.
Discussions within the ECA about the merits of advocating guaranteed Champions League places for prestigious teams come at a time when Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United are all in danger of missing out on qualifying for Europe’s top competition next season.
“What would Manchester United argue: did we create soccer or did Leicester create [it]?” said Stillitano, who met United’s executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, on Tuesday. “Let’s call it the money pot created by soccer and the fandom around the world. Who has had more of an integral role, Manchester United or Leicester? It’s a wonderful, wonderful story – but you could see it from Manchester United’s point of view, too.”
If the Premier League season ended now, Leicester and Tottenham would qualify for the Champions League alongside Arsenal and Manchester City.
“Maybe that is absolutely spectacular unless you are a Manchester United fan, Liverpool fan … or a Chelsea fan,” Stillitano said. “I guess they don’t have a birthright to be in it every year but it’s the age-old argument: US sports franchises versus what they have in Europe. There are wonderful, wonderful, wonderful elements to relegation and promotion and there are good arguments for a closed system.”
Stillitano believes Europe’s biggest clubs deserve to make more cash from the Champions League, given their contribution to making it such a financial success. He said fans are more likely to watch the Juventus v Bayern Munich and Arsenal v Barcelona games in the current round of 16 rather than matches involving PSV Eindhoven and Ghent.
“This is going to sound arrogant and it’s the furthest thing from it … but suddenly when you see the teams we have this summer in the ICC you are going to shake your head and say, ‘Isn’t that the Champions League?’” Stillitano said. “No, the Champions League is PSV and Ghent.”
For people who care about football, and sport in general, this has been the best Prem season in living memory, precisely because of the competition and the unpredictability.
For people who care exclusively about the money football generates, this season appears to be a problem. Well good, fuck them. The stereotypical 'American business man' types, like this unspeakable blumpkin, understand nothing of why football is the most popular sport in the world, and why the Prem in particular is the most popular league. Shame on any club who gives serious credence to this idea, and to this douche in particular. He and his type are the antithesis what made football great in the first place.
Leicester being up there is the whole magic of the football league. It's all about the dream.There are NO good arguments for a closed system. Not when you have 92 league clubs all looking up.
FFS. It's already about the money, doing this would kill every last drop of fun remaining.
As for 'who created football'. Fuck right off. Man Utd didn't, either. Why shouldn't Leicester be in the CL? they won the games, they beat the teams below them and deserve to be there. If these 5 want to go, tell them to go and don't come back. Fans of those clubs will soon get bored of it.
When it comes to football, American businessmen are fucking moronic idiots. They are all OBSESSED with closed franchised systems. Since apparently, it is working so well with the MLSIt's strange because, without being patronising to them, the American fans on SC speak well about the game, yet whenever an American businessman or owner talks about it they just come across as complete morons.
Dont tell that to the mls execs or the fan boysThere are NO good arguments for a closed system. Not when you have 92 league clubs all looking up.
FFS. It's already about the money, doing this would kill every last drop of fun remaining.
As for 'who created football'. Fuck right off. Man Utd didn't, either. Why shouldn't Leicester be in the CL? they won the games, they beat the teams below them and deserve to be there. If these 5 want to go, tell them to go and don't come back. Fans of those clubs will soon get bored of it.