It is a 90-minute exposé following the rise and rapid fall of the ill-fated European Super League (ESL). It is a quality documentary and if you can watch it, I thoroughly recommend it. It is clear from this documentary that whole thing was a shit show involving greed and incompetence of the highest order. The greed I knew about, the incompetence not so much.
The program follows the whole shebang, day by day, from start to finish. It is made clear that rumours had been circulating for years that the big Euro clubs wanted a stitch up. That was no surprise, all footy fans had heard the Super League rumours. What was surprising though was that the President of UEFA, Aleksander Čeferin, was completely blindsided by the revelation. In the docu, he explains that he was very friendly with the Head of the European Clubs Association, Andrea Agnelli, also the President of Juventus, and that Agnelli had given his friend assurances that there was nothing in the rumours. He had even done so the day before the announcement. After the announcement he refused to take Čeferin's calls. What was even more revealing was that Čeferin discovered that Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA, had been in on the conspiracy. It is well known that FIFA is constantly feuding with UEFA, which it regards as being too powerful. So, at the heart of all this was a complete breakdown of relationships between FIFA, the ECA and UEFA.
Another interesting part of the program was the revelation of motivation in the clubs. PSG and Bayern Munich refused to join the ESL because they realised the consequences, but the others pressed on regardless. For Real Madrid, Barça and Juventus it was simply that they were in financial difficulties and that they felt that they had outgrown their respective leagues. They had seriously overspent and now in the midst of a global pandemic and empty stadiums they needed cash badly. For Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool, the motivation came from their American owners' concern that England only had 4 UCL spots, and so UCL revenue streams could not be counted on. In the USA there is no promotion or relegation in sport so income is guaranteed. For City, Chelsea, Spurs, Inter and Atletico it was a question of not wanting to be left behind by their rivals.
A large portion of the program focuses on the backlash to the revelation. On that day Liverpool played Leeds at Elland Rd and Leeds fans quickly mobilised and headed to the ground to protest. Even though the game was played behind Covid closed doors they made their point. They gave the Liverpool bus a shed load of verbal and T-Shirts with "Champions League: Earn it" emblazoned on them were left in the Liverpool dressing room. Klopp was interviewed and was none too pleased at his players taking the shit when they had heard about the Super League at the same time as the rest of us.
This set the tone in the EPL. British fans mobilised and demonstrated their hatred for the ESL, with Chelsea fans in the vanguard. Very quickly the owners started to panic. The most surprising part of the docu was the response from the ESL clubs. There was no co-ordination, no plan, they thought it was a done deal, a master stroke from which there was no going back. The President of Real Madrid, Florentino Perez, appeared on Spanish TV to try to shore up the falling edifice, but it was too little too late. The English clubs were horrified when Boris Johnson spoke out against the ESL and vowed to defeat it, and FIFA boss Infantino was forced by Čeferin to publicly denounce the venture. One by one the EPL clubs fell, Chelsea and City first, the Americans were holding out for some sign of redemption, until they too capitulated the next day.
British footy fans are praised by the Europeans for downing the ESL project. It seems that a move to franchised sport, a la USA, was just not going to be acceptable in the EPL. We love our meritocracy on this side of the Atlantic, promotion and relegation means teams like Brentford and Bournemouth can reach the top league. We love our underdogs and the competitiveness of our league, and these are red lines not to be messed with by billionaire owners from overseas who do not fully understand our sporting culture.
I thought I knew the whole story of the ESL project, but was surprised at what I didn't know. In these footy-less days, Super Greed: The Fight for Football on Sky TV, is well worth a watch.
I thought I knew the whole story of the ESL project, but was surprised at what I didn't know. In these footy-less days, Super Greed: The Fight for Football on Sky TV, is well worth a watch.
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| Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports. |
Still, it's only a matter of time.
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