More sacks than cups?

bob_summers said:

Life is much simpler down here in the drop zone of EFL 2, such fripperies don’t concern us

Click to expand...

Velma's Dad said:

Meanwhile I'm still trying to work out why the biggest news story all today is about six football clubs saying they're going to play in a new European league. An issue of such public consequence that it apparently merits immediate statements in parliament from government ministers that they are going to block it. Glad we've got our national priorities sorted out then, even though I, and I suspect a pretty big chunk of the population, are indifferent to the point of not really giving a flying f*ck about which football teams choose to play against which other football teams.

Click to expand...

andyinluton said:

As Manchester United apparently have a fan base of 1.6 billion, followed not very closely by Tottenham with 179 million, and then another couple hundred of million supporting the other 4 clubs, I do think it is actually quite important & newsworthy.

The combined viewing figures if all six have a televised match, are similar to that of Saturdays funeral.

The amount of money involved are huge the joining payments are £300m x 15 clubs, & the implications for clubs all the way down the football pyramid are huge.

Click to expand...

Ch1pbutty said:

I am not a football fan, but many of my friends /workmates are and it generates a huge amount of revenue and seems to keep the nation happy so can see why the government have put it into on the top of their list; The last thing needed at the moment is thousands of normally law abiding people demonstrating in mass,( as men, women, children, all ages & colours)...try to manage the crowd control & press aftermath on that one!

Click to expand...

GrannyJen said:

Jose used to boast about how many cups and trophies he's won.

Is he now trying to match the collection with sacks?

Click to expand...

Nick.C said:

He makes a pretty good living from getting the sack - it must be millions in pay off each time

Click to expand...

Velma's Dad said:

If you're talking about global 'fan bases' I don't see why the UK government should see it as its mandate to interfere in the international dimensions of the sport/industry. Indeed, if the British-based clubs involved think they can boost their 'export' earnings through the new league, that's a good thing surely? Why is this suddenly a matter of urgent UK government policy?

As for UK football audiences, there have been some ridiculously overstated figures quoted in news media reports over the years, based on absurd numbers put out by the TV channels to blow smoke up potential advertisers' rear ends. I'm going to have to rebut your contention that combined viewing figures for the 'big six' are anything like the total who reportedly watched the funeral on Saturday - that would mean that one in five Britons would watch one or more of those matches. I just don't believe that. (Not that I much care either how many watched the funeral, but that's another matter!).

From what I can see, maybe 2 million people or so typically watch Premier League football on TV in the UK, sometimes as high as 3 million or even higher on a really big Saturday. Those are pretty big number but still a small minority of the population. And they will all still be able to watch Premier League football in the future with or without a new Euro league. Hey, they could watch European football as well if they wanted... as far as I know the shape of the ball and the rules are basically the same.

Yes the Euro league announcement all a hugely big and interesting development to people who are really into football, I'm sure. And bound to be the predominant sports story this week by the BBC et al, and with business section interest also. But given that fewer than half of Britons say they are actually interested in football at all (MORI surveys etc) it's going to be a minority who are really that bothered by the emergence of a new league, or its implications for other football leagues.

But presumably perceived to be very important to voters in Red Wall constituencies. Which is I suppose why the Prime Minister sees it as essential to drop everything to personally chair a round table meeting today to 'address the issue'. (More important apparently than needing to chair or even to attend COBRA meetings last year when the country was about to be hit by a pandemic that would go on to kill more than 125,000 people.)

Some sense of proportion and balance is all I was hoping for but I see it's still number one news story on the Beeb this morning and doubtless still will be this evening.

Click to expand...

Amarillo said:

I think that the Government is taking this matter so seriously because of Brex*t. Having just left the EU, the last thing they want is a closer (re)union through sporting links.

Click to expand...

Velma's Dad said:

Well the BBC must be of similar mind then. While the Super League thing remains their lead story all day, the attempted murder by bombing of a police officer and her child in Northern Ireland, in the context of escalating tensions and violence across the province, appears to be presumed as of far less importance than football.

But I'll shut up now and have to accept that we seem to be living in some kind of dystopian, infantilised theme park.

Click to expand...

Amarillo said:

Rising tensions in NI are also B****t related.

Click to expand...

GrannyJen said:

Whilst not wishing to bring politics into a lighthearted thread ...

OH!! THat's already happened!

I think football is a mess anyway. Too far removed now from the fan base to be relevant, too overpaid and too hijacked by wealthy countries for their own ego trips. The complete wrecking of the Premier league and the EFL would be most beneficial perhaps as it may allow us to rebuild our football league on the Bundesliga principle of fans having large stakes in football clubs.

Manchester City V PSG a case in point, Abu Dhabi v Quatar .

Click to expand...

andyinluton said:

Thats why I support Luton Town, busted from top flight to none league by the FA for reporting themselves over a dodgy deal by previous owners/management.

Now owned by a company that will only spend within its means with a self imposed wage cap. Getting back from Non-League to a comfortable mid table place in the Championship & doing it with little money has been exciting.

If Luton has money in the bank & didn't loose any last year, and Man Utd are £474 million in debt and lost £20+ million last year, which is the bigger club?

Click to expand...

Amarillo said:

I think that the Government is taking this matter so seriously because of Brex*t. Having just left the EU, the last thing they want is a closer (re)union through sporting links.

Click to expand...