Fascinating headline in The Sun today, proclaiming England’s five wealthiest clubs are “in talks to leave Champions League”, completely missing the irony that Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United have been planning to do without Champions League football all season.
Directors of those clubs, Arsenal and Manchester City, met in London to discuss the possibility of binning the Champions League in favour of a competition where Europe’s wealthiest were invited to participate, without the need to qualify. The meeting was attended by US sports entrepreneur, Stephen Ross.
There are a few points worth making:
The clubs leaked this story to The Sun. The intention is not to plot a breakaway, but to be seen to be plotting.
Breakaways have been threatened in football since the 1970s US ‘soccer’ league wanted to acquire top European players without paying transfer fees. They have never happened. Only change based on approval has ever been possible.
European law would stop such a breakaway in its tracks. The European Union allows football to operate various cartels under terms known as the Specificity of Sport. The game is already testing the boundaries of these provisions (which may be worth testing in court), but any move to like this would have no chance of succeeding.
Change
Change of some sort is inevitable, there is just too much money to be made for it not to happen. The risk is that the wealthy clubs put enough money on the table (or in brown envelopes) to get their own way.
Clubs in Europe will not allow their competitiveness in relation to clubs in England diminish.
Clubs in England will not perpetually allow their premium games against Barcelona et al to generate less revenue than games against Norwich City.
Top clubs in England have already tired of sharing around £1billion a year with smaller clubs who contribute little to the pot.
I know people are alarmed by this but as one of the already disenfranchised, we have little to lose. The status quo is squeezing the life out of our game. We need change. Most of all someone to put the money on the table required to create a meritocratic European weekend league – like Gazprom did with Russia and Ukraine.
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jimtim on 2 April, 2012 at 20:35 said:
No matter the outcome of the rangers saga. Scottish football will forever be the laughing stock of sport. Scottish football will be as far as im concerned dead . This pitiful country and its bigoted organisations ,have aided and supported a football club who have been proven to have broken the rules of the game in this country and many other countries governed by EUFA . Every loophole has been sought to help this football club to continue to survive , when in any other sport on the planet cheats and rule breakers would be dealt with according to the prescribed penalty for said crimes and wrong doing . Never again will the governing body of scottish football ,be looked at as a fair and honourable organisation . They will do the three monkeys . hear no evil, see no evil , and speak no evil . They will allow them back in to the top league . they will impose menial sanctions on them so as not to hinder them too much . And their phoenix type rise will be helped along by the honest mistake. Never again can we celts feel that we have a chance of an even playing field , what has gone on here is not about scottish football its about ONE clubs survival , their club . We have all witnessed the uneven hand of the governors of scottish football when dealing with our club . We all witnessed our manager being the ONLY one punished at the infamous shame game , we all witnessed farrygate, dougiegate , dallasgate . bougherra,s hands on to a ref ., spit the dogs assualt on our physio . And thats just last season, we can recall events many many years before that, as some of the old yins on here will testify too . Scottish football has been allowed to become a joke .In no other sport would this saga been allowed to go on. But every sanctioned delay breathes new hope into them , allow,s them more time to cover their work . and in the meantime the hacks continue to tell us its all to do about nothing . Its a pity we have no option than to stay in this cesspit ,but its a bigger pity we have to do it under the governance of the sfa
hail hail
jimtim.
Came across my post from April 2012 , not far wrong eh !
Celtic team to face Dundee: Gordon; Lustig, Boyata, Sviatchenko, Tierney; Brown, Mulgrew, Roberts, Rogic, Armstrong; Griffith
Subs: Bailly, Ambrose, Kazim-Richards, Commons, Allan, McGregor, Forrest
Lets all get behind the team but CM in midfield beggars believe, I despair for the young lads.
Hope young Roberts tears them a new one and therefore starts his run of games.
Loan signing or not we need good players to develop other good players coming through.
Really looking forward to seeing him tonight as still baffled why he did not play last Friday, especially as it was turf.
Charlie may just to help Broonie get back to fitness as he will not cover as much ground as SJ.
Mulgrew in midfield the big surprise, Roberts starting whets the appetite.
Plenty of muscle on show tonight, ideally I like more balance but I prefer too much muscle as opposed to too little.
Hopefully we won’t be inundated with 5 & 6 nil predictions, I’ll be happy with 3 points, I don’t expect Aberdeen to win so maybe tonight could be the night when we make the decisive break. Let’s hope so and let’s hope I get a good sausage..
Mediocre side. Sadly.
Thought I’d logged on to CQN!
Mibbe naw.
Don’t know about that Beefy, if it was Allan instead of Charlie, I think most on here would think it a top side.
I don’t know what his thinking is about playing Charlie midfield. Perhaps he fears that Roberts could be kicked off the park and has a big physical side on as a deterrent to any would be hard men.
Charlie Mulgrew
Good on you ,son.
I`ll never forget your run from outside the box , Kris`s corner kick and your marvellous headed goal against the hun.
Talking about Kris.You`re up there too.
All the best,lads.
Mulgrew gets a start while Allan is on the bench,absolute bollocks
Corkcelt,
Great post at 5.39.
Chicago Bhoy,
I hope you have a great time tonight.
Heading out now, watch out for the Huns during the updates.
Mon the Hoops.
Mulgrew is replacing Bitton/Johansen, not Allan.
GARYGILLESPIE – cheers, I was not suggesting that you were a board-hater, or, Lennon-canonizer, I was speaking generally from your point – my apologies for not making that clearer HH
Glad to see Charlie back for the run in – he has knockers on here – I am NOT one!!!
Corkcelt
Your post pretty much sums up how i feel about it all.
So what if we have to face a team someone started up to play at an available football stadium in an effort to make a quick buck.
It is unfortunate that the customers they sought were the ones that went to that pit and even more unfortunately it does look as though we are now going to have that team with them in tow as opposition next season, but it aint going to change a thing a thing for me regarding the thing i love that is Celtic.
Nobody will ever change that, whether it is a loathsome set of fans or someone i have a beef with on our board for some reason, or the cheating incompetent rulers of our game, etc.
Celtic is all that really matters to me and while she is having to compete in a corrupt league(guess the whole game is really) she needs all the help she can get so i will go when i can.
We have always known they cheat.
Fergus persued Farry and proved it was going on, albeit he only managed to do so on the third attempt once it was taken out of the SFA’s own kangaroo court(which i guess even managed to highlight the cheating more)
Can never make my mind up whether doing that and proving there was no paranoia, was more important than the legacy of the rebuilding of Paradise and those 10,000 extra seats.
Maybe that was the time supporters should have quit supporting Celtic?
It was proved to be corrupt then so why not walk away then?
They are always going to try to cheat us.
Its Scotland and its geared towards 1 fanbase.
Fek em.
Bring it on.
Hail Hail
Mon bhoys.
There’s a party over on the live update thread :))
HH
Mulgrew wouldn’t be in my team but, as has been said, maybe the manager is trying to protect our young lhads. They certainly won’t get it from the MIB.
Can’t get to the game tonight (nor the one on Sunday) so I hope those who say folk are voting with their feet don’t count me among that lot.
3 points are all that is required tonight. Come on Ronnie and those he has chosen to wear the Hoops.
BT,
My mate was telling me I should listen to the podcast of your Dad last night. I had to tell him that I don’t even know what a podcast is never mind know how to download one. He was very impressed.