B
basilrobbie
Guest
After the sabre-rattling by FIFA and others yesterday, here is some helpful context.
The thing that interests me is that the six automatic English clubs that are being asked to break away are being offered a one off dividend of around £310m and then maybe in excess of £200m per year. That second number sounds a lot, but for two or three of them is probably only a modest improvement on what they have now.
It has to be offset against the money they would have earned had they stayed, of course. I suppose that the key question here is whether the dividend, plus the prospect of never being penalised for failing, is worth the cultural price that the club and - more to the point - its fan base pay for walking way from the competitions that made them famous and marketable in the first place. It's certainly got nothing to do with winning on merit, or triumphing over historical rivals, or what supporters might want.
The real challenge for the FSA and others, I guess, is convincing the Sky subscription buying "fan" that they are both part of the problem and part of the solution. Because without the TV revenue, this falls flat on its arse. Without fans getting behind it by turning up in large numbers in every week, it might fall flat on its arse anyway, especially when fans of the likes of (say) Liverpool realise that they have traded historical enmities with clubs like Everton and Leeds for the dubious pleasure of stuffing Benfica every season.
thefsa.org.uk
The thing that interests me is that the six automatic English clubs that are being asked to break away are being offered a one off dividend of around £310m and then maybe in excess of £200m per year. That second number sounds a lot, but for two or three of them is probably only a modest improvement on what they have now.
It has to be offset against the money they would have earned had they stayed, of course. I suppose that the key question here is whether the dividend, plus the prospect of never being penalised for failing, is worth the cultural price that the club and - more to the point - its fan base pay for walking way from the competitions that made them famous and marketable in the first place. It's certainly got nothing to do with winning on merit, or triumphing over historical rivals, or what supporters might want.
The real challenge for the FSA and others, I guess, is convincing the Sky subscription buying "fan" that they are both part of the problem and part of the solution. Because without the TV revenue, this falls flat on its arse. Without fans getting behind it by turning up in large numbers in every week, it might fall flat on its arse anyway, especially when fans of the likes of (say) Liverpool realise that they have traded historical enmities with clubs like Everton and Leeds for the dubious pleasure of stuffing Benfica every season.
European Super League: criticism mounts as further plans leaked - Football Supporters' Association
More details emerged this week of a breakaway European Super League consisting of 15 permanent teams – and the plans have drawn criticism from across the game.
