European Super League

[CaseUteinberger]

This was a quick death of a **** idea. Celebrating with a Rusty Nail cocktail.

 

[Rex Stone]

Used to think the same, but I love the NBA. Yeah you can't watch every game, but the massive amount of minutes played means stats become a lot more relevant and highlights are endless. You pick and choose what you watch and don't miss a lot.

I agree about the transparency as well, probably not talked about enough. We should know exactly how much every players earns in wages and bonuses, it helps keep everything in check. The only reason these people want to keep transfer fees and wages hidden is to eliminate scrutiny and help facilitate corruption.

I’ve struggled with the NBA this year. Even 5 years ago there was some diversity in play styles but I honestly believe the analytics have killed it.

30 teams chucking up threes but only ten of them do it well.

As for football the game needs to go back in time tbh and can only do that with wage caps and fan ownership.

Seeing guys like Mahrez, Vinicius, Gnabry and Jota not playing every week will kill the game. The talent needs to be redistributed fairly and clubs can’t keep spending what they don’t have.

Big clubs will always be favourites due to bigger grounds and academies but a system propped up by petrodollars and crooked tv deals isn’t sustainable.

 

[Riou]

"Super League suspended"

...uhhh...it will be back, probably in a worse form too.

 

[carter777]

"Super League suspended"

...uhhh...it will be back, probably in a worse form too.

OMG not the f**king Super Super League

 

[Rex Stone]

Can’t call him Penandes anymore guys

 

[TakeChillPill]

Coming in 2022 the Superduper League

 

[TakeChillPill]

Can’t call him Penandes anymore guys

I like fernandes man has integrity. Doesn't take no bs.

 

[Iceman10]

I hope the media show same effort now and put pressure on fifa about Qatar and the awful things going there.

Well that's the thing really. Many sources of money in the game going into big transfers and the entertainment are dubious at best, and the status quo including FIFA, UEFA, FA, Sky Sports, British government, etc. have stood by and ridden the slippery slope until now. Who has been one of the biggest victims over the last two decades? Arsène Wenger and Arsenal, due rewards from doing things the right and classy way being robbed, starting from Abramovich.

Most of these oligarchical owners are dubious, I'm sure for someone like Abramovich people in Russia would much prefer they and their country were more stakeholders in their oil wealth instead of it concentrated among a few oligarchs and Putin, to maintain power over downtrodden people in a pseudo-communist country. Brussels rails against Putin while the fat cats there are quietly getting rich from Gazprom lobbying backhanders. For Middle East ownership there is wealth concentrated while human rights are abused, and the same will happen as Chinese money increasingly comes into the game.

There is so much hypocrisy in the game right now. I'm sick of people laughing at Arsenal and running down this club while forgetting although we've been badly run for the last five years much of Arsène Wenger's best work was robbed by financial doping of Chelsea and City, and yet people who mock Arsenal seem to often admire these two clubs while forgetting all of that.

 

[Melquiades]

Yeah there has to be a way to get the good stuff of the NA franchise model into the game without bogging it down with the bad aspects. I used to love hockey too, but playing 82 regular season games just to eliminate a handful of teams before the playoffs start seems crazy to me now. No point even paying attention until like March or so.

Heh, better than the 162 games in 180 days for MLB!

But yeah - some of the stuff we see in the NA model (salary cap, revenue sharing) will be difficult to achieve but there are some simple things like Standard Player Contracts and financial transparency that are just easy layups that should be automatic for a league with any sort of competence.

 

[Dokaka]

I’ve struggled with the NBA this year. Even 5 years ago there was some diversity in play styles but I honestly believe the analytics have killed it.

30 teams chucking up threes but only ten of them do it well.

As for football the game needs to go back in time tbh and can only do that with wage caps and fan ownership.

Seeing guys like Mahrez, Vinicius, Gnabry and Jota not playing every week will kill the game. The talent needs to be redistributed fairly and clubs can’t keep spending what they don’t have.

Big clubs will always be favourites due to bigger grounds and academies but a system propped up by petrodollars and crooked tv deals isn’t sustainable.

I've kind of liked the idea of keeping wages transparent and putting in some kind of "only X amount of players earning this amount of money per week allowed in squad" rule. Kind of like the max contract concept in the NBA, without the extremely restricting cap on how much that player can earn.

I don't have a problem with Messi or Ronaldo earning 700k a week. I have a problem with players like those you mentioned earning 120k a week to sit on the bench.

If you were only allowed something like 5 players in a squad of 25 earning above 100k a week (or whatever amount you find reasonable), it'd create interesting scenarios where a player like Mahrez might leave City for a club like Everton or Southampton because they're willing to offer him one of their "Elite player" spots or whatever you want to call it. This way, you allow the top players to earn top money, but you avoid the coalescing effect of all them being squad players at clubs with endless pockets. It'd essentially be a salary cap without a formal overall cap on the total expenditure, which I think is more realistic as it'd be absolutely impossible to introduce a salary cap that would satisfy both Burnley and Chelsea.

I don't mind the biggest clubs having the biggest superstars, but it's a joke when their benches are filled with players that would start for 14 other clubs within the same league.

 

[Melquiades]

I've kind of liked the idea of keeping wages transparent and putting in some kind of "only X amount of players earning this amount of money per week allowed in squad" rule. Kind of like the max contract concept in the NBA, without the extremely restricting cap on how much that player can earn.

I don't have a problem with Messi or Ronaldo earning 700k a week. I have a problem with players like those you mentioned earning 120k a week to sit on the bench.

If you were only allowed something like 5 players in a squad of 25 earning above 100k a week (or whatever amount you find reasonable), it'd create interesting scenarios where a player like Mahrez might leave City for a club like Everton or Southampton because they're willing to offer him one of their "Elite player" spots or whatever you want to call it. This way, you allow the top players to earn top money, but you avoid the coalescing effect of all them being squad players at clubs with endless pockets. It'd essentially be a salary cap without a formal overall cap on the total expenditure, which I think is more realistic as it'd be absolutely impossible to introduce a salary cap that would satisfy both Burnley and Chelsea.

I don't mind the biggest clubs having the biggest superstars, but it's a joke when their benches are filled with players that would start for 14 other clubs within the same league.

I like this a lot.

The problem with any sort of salary cap or individual wage cap is that it will never happen in Spain and Italy and those leagues would then always be able to cream the top players. This would allow rich teams to spend on top players ... to a point. But not have a 200m bench.

 

[andeoch1]

I like fernandes man has integrity. Doesn't take no bs.

He a ****ing **** on the field , rat faced prick

 

[Rex Stone]

I've kind of liked the idea of keeping wages transparent and putting in some kind of "only X amount of players earning this amount of money per week allowed in squad" rule. Kind of like the max contract concept in the NBA, without the extremely restricting cap on how much that player can earn.

I don't have a problem with Messi or Ronaldo earning 700k a week. I have a problem with players like those you mentioned earning 120k a week to sit on the bench.

If you were only allowed something like 5 players in a squad of 25 earning above 100k a week (or whatever amount you find reasonable), it'd create interesting scenarios where a player like Mahrez might leave City for a club like Everton or Southampton because they're willing to offer him one of their "Elite player" spots or whatever you want to call it. This way, you allow the top players to earn top money, but you avoid the coalescing effect of all them being squad players at clubs with endless pockets. It'd essentially be a salary cap without a formal overall cap on the total expenditure, which I think is more realistic as it'd be absolutely impossible to introduce a salary cap that would satisfy both Burnley and Chelsea.

I don't mind the biggest clubs having the biggest superstars, but it's a joke when their benches are filled with players that would start for 14 other clubs within the same league.

Exactly. City’s second XI would almost certainly finish in the top four this year which is mental.

Mahrez staying at Leicester rather than playing 60 minutes every other game for City would’ve made the PL so much more exciting.

Also agree that max contracts are the way to go. It would have helped Arsenal enormously instead of giving out huge contracts to seven or eight players like we have done.

Maybe also tie in transfer fees related to the wage you’re paying player in a set scale. Ie if you’re going to pay a player 30k you can pay the club a max of 20M or something.

Kind of like a max contract offer which dissuades an unsustainable bidding war and helps smaller clubs generate revenue.

If these clubs can’t stockpile players the transfer fees essentially just become solidarity payments as everyone can afford them.

I like this a lot.

The problem with any sort of salary cap or individual wage cap is that it will never happen in Spain and Italy and those leagues would then always be able to cream the top players. This would allow rich teams to spend on top players ... to a point. But not have a 200m bench.

Maybe if you barred clubs from entering Europe unless they met the financial rules the teams would fall in line quickly and you wouldn’t have to enforce it in every league.

Also Dok’s idea of a limiting wage cap is quite clever as it stops the big teams stockpiling talent which should diversify at an organic rate.

 

[carter777]

Society if the ESL had happened

 

[Taneruit]

Society if the ESL had happened

View attachment 2587

Don't like the architecture tbh.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

Well that's the thing really. Many sources of money in the game going into big transfers and the entertainment are dubious at best, and the status quo including FIFA, UEFA, FA, Sky Sports, British government, etc. have stood by and ridden the slippery slope until now. Who has been one of the biggest victims over the last two decades? Arsène Wenger and Arsenal, due rewards from doing things the right and classy way being robbed, starting from Abramovich.

Most of these oligarchical owners are dubious, I'm sure for someone like Abramovich people in Russia would much prefer they and their country were more stakeholders in their oil wealth instead of it concentrated among a few oligarchs and Putin, to maintain power over downtrodden people in a pseudo-communist country. Brussels rails against Putin while the fat cats there are quietly getting rich from Gazprom lobbying backhanders. For Middle East ownership there is wealth concentrated while human rights are abused, and the same will happen as Chinese money increasingly comes into the game.

There is so much hypocrisy in the game right now. I'm sick of people laughing at Arsenal and running down this club while forgetting although we've been badly run for the last five years much of Arsène Wenger's best work was robbed by financial doping of Chelsea and City, and yet people who mock Arsenal seem to often admire these two clubs while forgetting all of that.

I really dislike Kroenke but compared to a Russian oligarch or a Middle East Gulf State he is an angel. He is just a greedy **** and that's it. The others have blood on their hands. In the end there is just one solution and that is to break up the ownership structures like was suggested above. Doubt it will happen, but still will hope!

 

[Dokaka]

Maybe also tie in transfer fees related to the wage you’re paying player in a set scale. Ie if you’re going to pay a player 30k you can pay the club a max of 20M or something.

Not a bad idea. It forces teams to pay the players they believe in as well to keep others away, ostensibly forcing clubs to pay the players they value the most the highest wages.

Only downside I can see here is young players potentially being paid ludicrous wages just to drive up the transfer fee. You'd probably have to introduce some kind of limitation on transfers to avoid that, like a rule that says you cannot buy a player who signed a contract less than 2 seasons ago or something. Then again, would it be a bad thing if clubs like us invested primarily in younger players on lower wages to then sold them for profit whenever the biggest clubs had a new slot open? I don't know.

It's complicated stuff. You definitely need some strong revenue sharing to make sure this would work, and you'd need to rethink how you deal with clubs getting relegated. If the player values are set in stone through wages, perhaps the league could offer to "buy" the players when you go down and release them from their contracts to avoid you going down with a bloated wage bill and instead get a proper cash injection to allow you to reinvest without being weighted down by an unsustainable wage bill.

 

[al-Ustaadh]

"Super League suspended"

...uhhh...it will be back, probably in a worse form too.

Good chance. But let’s see how UEFA responds. Ball is in their court now.

 

[Iceman10]

I really dislike Kroenke but compared to a Russian oligarch or a Middle East Gulf State he is an angel. He is just a greedy **** and that's it. The others have blood on their hands. In the end there is just one solution and that is to break up the ownership structures like was suggested above. Doubt it will happen, but still will hope!

In truth the state of Russia, Middle Esst, etc. is exactly as per the CIA hidden agenda to have all other countries weak and/or corrupt, so sadly much of the "shining city on a hill" stuff is a lie. There is a lot of genuine entrepreneurship and innovation though of course, but vulture capitalism and fast buck stuff isn't that.

 

[celestis]

I’ve lost 2 stone recently thank you very much

Yup , yup been following your Insta story , inspirational