CNN:. When health officials in Ohio's Mercer County opened their first Covid-19 vaccine drive-thru clinic in January, available slots filled up instantly, and more than 500 people were vaccinated in a single day.
Nearly three months later, with plenty of vaccine supply on hand and eligibility open to all residents 16 and older, officials struggled to fill appointments, said Kristy Fryman, the emergency response coordinator and public information officer for the Mercer County Health District. About 264 people received their first dose at the district's clinic earlier this month -- roughly half the number of people who were signing up at the start of the rollout.
"It's very concerning," she said. The rural county is home to roughly 41,000 people and earlier in the pandemic had the highest Covid-19 case rate in the state, Fryman said. "We don't want to go backwards," she added.
Demand has dropped off so much, the health district decided to end mass vaccination clinics for first doses and instead, transition to smaller clinics that require fewer resources and volunteers. But it's not just that hub that's seen a slowing demand: other vaccine providers in the area are reporting the same pattern, Fryman said. Roughly 27% of the county's residents have started their vaccinations, according to Ohio's Covid-19 vaccine dashboard.
I think this was inevitable the moment the premiership came into being and many of the reactions we are currently seeing we saw when the premiership first came into being. I’m not overly passionate about football. I’m don’t get many of the objections that seem to be based on an emotional and a rose tinted view of football based on the game it used to be. I’d be grateful if someone could say what is so wrong with this.
The formation of the PL didn’t stop Leicester City from becoming champions of England.
That Agnelli wanker actually despises Leicester. In fact, one could make a case for Leicester’s win being a key part of all this. Can’t have clubs like that devaluing the investments made by those Americans.
Predictably disgusting proposal, and what a surprise that the greedy six are involved.
Regardless of anything else it completely devalues the EPL even if it went ahead on the terms in which it is being laid out. If the 'founding fathers' qualify automatically, they no longer have to worry about EPL performance. And of course the money they take down from this would render the EPL even more uncompetitive as their B teams would be so far ahead of everyone else.
It will happen, and I think the EPL and UEFA are powerless to stop it. So let them go and perform in their global freak show for the Asian and US audience and kick them out of domestic football.
At home, the football bubble will burst but we will hopefully reset the domestic competition, impose some level playing field rules and we will have a competition that is fun and competitive and less worried about chasing shirt sales in Asia.
Sad day but it's been coming.
I am very opposed to this having been a Man Utd supporter since 1955 and a season ticket holder until recently.
My main concern is no matter the threats from UEFA and FIFA of banning Super League players from their competitions I am not at all certain how it would stand up in law on restriction of trade
My hope is that common sense will prevail and the Super League is a tool for getting concessions out of UEFA
On that last point, I think they’ve gone past that. Even if they back down I won’t be going to Arsenal again.
Football as an “industry” relies upon the philosophical thought experiment of Trigger’s Broom. “It’s not been easy keeping the same broom for 20 years, I’ve looked after it. It’s has 17 new heads and 14 new handles”.
New players, new managers, new playing styles, new kits, new stadiums even. But the continuity of tradition is what allows you to feel that you’re supporting the “same” team as you did as a small boy in the stands with your grandad.
The Super League tramples on this continuity of tradition so severely I suspect it will break the illusion for a great many.
Now financially the gamble is that it doesn’t matter, the overseas markets have still watched matches on TV even in completely empty stadia. But it’s quite a gamble to take in my opinion. If you’re double or bust maybe you’d roll the dice on this. But that’s not the case for most of the Premier League teams. Perplexing.
Predictably disgusting proposal, and what a surprise that the greedy six are involved.
Regardless of anything else it completely devalues the EPL even if it went ahead on the terms in which it is being laid out. If the 'founding fathers' qualify automatically, they no longer have to worry about EPL performance. And of course the money they take down from this would render the EPL even more uncompetitive as their B teams would be so far ahead of everyone else.
It will happen, and I think the EPL and UEFA are powerless to stop it. So let them go and perform in their global freak show for the Asian and US audience and kick them out of domestic football.
At home, the football bubble will burst but we will hopefully reset the domestic competition, impose some level playing field rules and we will have a competition that is fun and competitive and less worried about chasing shirt sales in Asia.
Sad day but it's been coming.
I am very opposed to this having been a Man Utd supporter since 1955 and a season ticket holder until recently.
My main concern is no matter the threats from UEFA and FIFA of banning Super League players from their competitions I am not at all certain how it would stand up in law on restriction of trade
My hope is that common sense will prevail and the Super League is a tool for getting concessions out of UEFA
On that last point, I think they’ve gone past that. Even if they back down I won’t be going to Arsenal again.
Which is fine and noble but I promise you that others will fill your place once Arsenal vs Real Madrid is on the fixture list twice a season. Not to mention the European Super League Arsenal vs Tottenham.
They’ll have to fly them in from China.
Better hope there aren't any Covid restrictions then.
Predictably disgusting proposal, and what a surprise that the greedy six are involved.
Regardless of anything else it completely devalues the EPL even if it went ahead on the terms in which it is being laid out. If the 'founding fathers' qualify automatically, they no longer have to worry about EPL performance. And of course the money they take down from this would render the EPL even more uncompetitive as their B teams would be so far ahead of everyone else.
It will happen, and I think the EPL and UEFA are powerless to stop it. So let them go and perform in their global freak show for the Asian and US audience and kick them out of domestic football.
At home, the football bubble will burst but we will hopefully reset the domestic competition, impose some level playing field rules and we will have a competition that is fun and competitive and less worried about chasing shirt sales in Asia.
Sad day but it's been coming.
I am very opposed to this having been a Man Utd supporter since 1955 and a season ticket holder until recently.
My main concern is no matter the threats from UEFA and FIFA of banning Super League players from their competitions I am not at all certain how it would stand up in law on restriction of trade
My hope is that common sense will prevail and the Super League is a tool for getting concessions out of UEFA
On that last point, I think they’ve gone past that. Even if they back down I won’t be going to Arsenal again.
It does leave a nasty taste but I cannot give up a lifetime of support but I will not pay a penny more to watch the Super League on tv
Mind you I would not be surprised for someone like Amazon to screen the matches free
And I expect BT sports are in crisis as they televise European matches at present
Yes - Amazon will include the Super League with Prime. THIS is the real threat - not so much 12 clubs lining up for the firing squad, but someone coming along to torpedo the TV rights.
A new TV rights player is going to be a huge problem for Sky and BT.
Amazon and Disney could both front the sort of money we're talking about on a long term deal. The other alternative is that they roll their own online subscription or PPV model, hence the JPM backing to underwrite future subscriptions.
I think this was inevitable the moment the premiership came into being and many of the reactions we are currently seeing we saw when the premiership first came into being. I’m not overly passionate about football. I’m don’t get many of the objections that seem to be based on an emotional and a rose tinted view of football based on the game it used to be. I’d be grateful if someone could say what is so wrong with this.
Providing they can still play in their respective national leagues there's nothing much wrong with it. It's greedy but as you rightly point out, so was the Premier League.
To me this looks like a repeat of the power grab that took control of English football away from the bufton tuftons in the FA and gave it to the EPL instead. Which has, beyond any question, been a fabulous economic success. The effort this time is to remove power and the ability to gouge money from EUFA and give it back to the clubs that actually generate it.
Just because it worked so spectacularly the last time doesn't mean it is going to work this time of course. One of the keys to success to the EPL was the pyramidal structure was retained so that Championship clubs still had something to play for. Indeed the play off final became the most valuable game in football world wide. How do you have a league where 3/4 of the teams are exempt from relegation? Where do the feeder teams come from and why would the feeder leagues facilitate that?
EUFA are a terrible organisation; corrupt, incompetent and parasitical. They deserve everything that is coming to them. If this resulted in the breaking of their power in the same way that the FA's power was broken it would be a good thing in the long run. But that depends on the attitude of the national leagues and the EPL in particular. Are they willing to follow the super league clubs out of EUFA? So far the answer is no but watch this space.
I have to laugh again at "EUFA". Perhaps von der Leyen is running European Football? When people voted to leave it wasn't so that we could have BRINO - leave means leave and that means not playing in Europe. We need to pull out of EUrovision as well. Harrumph harrumph.
I think this was inevitable the moment the premiership came into being and many of the reactions we are currently seeing we saw when the premiership first came into being. I’m not overly passionate about football. I’m don’t get many of the objections that seem to be based on an emotional and a rose tinted view of football based on the game it used to be. I’d be grateful if someone could say what is so wrong with this.
I certainly fail to see why it is a matter for Government. Surely football clubs are independent organisations able to associate with others as they think fit. Not something Government should have an opinion on.
I think this was inevitable the moment the premiership came into being and many of the reactions we are currently seeing we saw when the premiership first came into being. I’m not overly passionate about football. I’m don’t get many of the objections that seem to be based on an emotional and a rose tinted view of football based on the game it used to be. I’d be grateful if someone could say what is so wrong with this.
The formation of the PL didn’t stop Leicester City from becoming champions of England.
That Agnelli wanker actually despises Leicester. In fact, one could make a case for Leicester’s win being a key part of all this. Can’t have clubs like that devaluing the investments made by those Americans.
Errrrrm .... Leicester's rise was based on a MASSIVE investment from KingPower in SE Asia!
"Games will be played mid-week, and all clubs will remain in their domestic leagues."
My sense is that the threat of being expelled from the EPL will make English clubs back down, they are not as financially desperate as the Spaniards
But who knows. Popcorn!
The only bluffs that are worthy of the name are detailed and coordinated.
Anything else is just going on tilt.
You're wrong, I believe. This is not a bluff. This is a very definite attempt to break away, and guarantee income - and they must have gamed the possibility of domestic leagues expelling them
Just don't know if it will succeed. Will Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool really quit English football with all its great history?
3.5bn guaranteed, 10bn been said to be the likely income....per club...that's a huge carrot.
That's not per season though, that's for 10 seasons split 15 ways. The numbers don't work at all.
"In addition, the competition will be built on a sustainable financial foundation with all Founding Clubs signing up to a spending framework. In exchange for their commitment, Founding Clubs will receive an amount of €3.5 billion solely to support their infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of the COVID pandemic."
That makes it sound like they are getting it upfront.
Split 15 ways and mortgaged against future TV rights earnings. It's a joke.
"Super League organisers say each club participating in the competition will receive a payment of €3.5bn"
I think this was inevitable the moment the premiership came into being and many of the reactions we are currently seeing we saw when the premiership first came into being. I’m not overly passionate about football. I’m don’t get many of the objections that seem to be based on an emotional and a rose tinted view of football based on the game it used to be. I’d be grateful if someone could say what is so wrong with this.
The formation of the PL didn’t stop Leicester City from becoming champions of England.
That Agnelli wanker actually despises Leicester. In fact, one could make a case for Leicester’s win being a key part of all this. Can’t have clubs like that devaluing the investments made by those Americans.
Errrrrm .... Leicester's rise was based on a MASSIVE investment from KingPower in SE Asia!
So? As much as I dislike Chelsea and their fans, Roman’s Rubles made the league more competitive. Same with Man City. Germany could do with some of that.
But Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal et al don’t like that.
I think this was inevitable the moment the premiership came into being and many of the reactions we are currently seeing we saw when the premiership first came into being. I’m not overly passionate about football. I’m don’t get many of the objections that seem to be based on an emotional and a rose tinted view of football based on the game it used to be. I’d be grateful if someone could say what is so wrong with this.
I certainly fail to see why it is a matter for Government. Surely football clubs are independent organisations able to associate with others as they think fit. Not something Government should have an opinion on.
The mostly closed shop nature of the proposal is the problem. It essentially represents a cartel creating monopoly power to squeeze the life out of the several hundred teams across Europe who are not invited. From the government’s perspective, it is very much their business as it will cause a great many clubs to go bust, with not just an economic impact but a a social impact difficult to comprehend if you’ve not seen the role football plays in a lot of communities.
I think this was inevitable the moment the premiership came into being and many of the reactions we are currently seeing we saw when the premiership first came into being. I’m not overly passionate about football. I’m don’t get many of the objections that seem to be based on an emotional and a rose tinted view of football based on the game it used to be. I’d be grateful if someone could say what is so wrong with this.
I certainly fail to see why it is a matter for Government. Surely football clubs are independent organisations able to associate with others as they think fit. Not something Government should have an opinion on.
Indeed. Some national teams have been banned from competition due to govt interference. I dare say the football authorities won’t mind govt interference if it is in their favour.
Their starter for 10 should be to drop all references to the "working class".
Healey argues for a focus on what he calls the “real middle” – people who earn around the median British wage of just under £25,000 – saying these should be Labour’s “core constituency”.
The "real middle" do not consider themselves to be the working class...
What an extraordinary report !!
"Healey pointed to the fact that Labour lost 87 seats to the Conservatives in the 2010 election, and eight more in 2015. Of these, 83 areas went on to support Brexit in the 2016 referendum. Brexit was, he said, “both an effect of this dislocation and a cause of further disillusion”.
Healey seems to have ignored something very important that happened in GE 2015 (at least according to the Guardian write-up).
He seems to have missed out the place where enormous swings of up to 30 per cent were recorded against Labour -- and that this has completely changed the electoral arithmetic.
Boris very lucky general, gets to say British football for British people, up the werkers....rather than all the lobbying stuff dominating 100hrs of coverage.
The tories sleaze problem hasn’t gone away, though.
Predictably disgusting proposal, and what a surprise that the greedy six are involved.
Regardless of anything else it completely devalues the EPL even if it went ahead on the terms in which it is being laid out. If the 'founding fathers' qualify automatically, they no longer have to worry about EPL performance. And of course the money they take down from this would render the EPL even more uncompetitive as their B teams would be so far ahead of everyone else.
It will happen, and I think the EPL and UEFA are powerless to stop it. So let them go and perform in their global freak show for the Asian and US audience and kick them out of domestic football.
At home, the football bubble will burst but we will hopefully reset the domestic competition, impose some level playing field rules and we will have a competition that is fun and competitive and less worried about chasing shirt sales in Asia.
Sad day but it's been coming.
I am very opposed to this having been a Man Utd supporter since 1955 and a season ticket holder until recently.
My main concern is no matter the threats from UEFA and FIFA of banning Super League players from their competitions I am not at all certain how it would stand up in law on restriction of trade
My hope is that common sense will prevail and the Super League is a tool for getting concessions out of UEFA
On that last point, I think they’ve gone past that. Even if they back down I won’t be going to Arsenal again.
It does leave a nasty taste but I cannot give up a lifetime of support but I will not pay a penny more to watch the Super League on tv
Mind you I would not be surprised for someone like Amazon to screen the matches free
And I expect BT sports are in crisis as they televise European matches at present
Yes - Amazon will include the Super League with Prime. THIS is the real threat - not so much 12 clubs lining up for the firing squad, but someone coming along to torpedo the TV rights.
A new TV rights player is going to be a huge problem for Sky and BT.
Amazon and Disney could both front the sort of money we're talking about on a long term deal. The other alternative is that they roll their own online subscription or PPV model, hence the JPM backing to underwrite future subscriptions.
I have no problem at all with this causing huge problems for Sky and BT. Money has ruined football, even more so now that you have multiple high cost subscription platforms all offering bits of the league. Even when the clubs have their own TV channel they do not have the rights to show their own games.
As with the topic of my other posts this morning, once something becomes untenable, solutions that look rather extreme end up being proposed as alternatives. They aren't remotely sane from a starting position, but once in the thick of it are only one more push from the madness we're already in.
Not really a football fan but this may be aimed at the Far East market - Asian & Chinese audiences/fan bases are enormous - you'll end up with a lot of midday fixtures.....
You'd think The Super League is the sort of pivot-to-Asia, Global Britain bollocks that tories would pretend to like.
I am broadly in favour as long of neither of my teams (Leeds or OM) are involved.
I think this was inevitable the moment the premiership came into being and many of the reactions we are currently seeing we saw when the premiership first came into being. I’m not overly passionate about football. I’m don’t get many of the objections that seem to be based on an emotional and a rose tinted view of football based on the game it used to be. I’d be grateful if someone could say what is so wrong with this.
I certainly fail to see why it is a matter for Government. Surely football clubs are independent organisations able to associate with others as they think fit. Not something Government should have an opinion on.
The politicians are all falling into line with negative comments, given the reaction from fans. It's difficult to see what governments could or would actually do about it in practice.
There will certainly be a pile of civil court cases if it goes ahead though, Sky will sue the arse off the Premier League if they expel six clubs, and devalue the product for which the broadcaster has paid billions.
So it seems after 90 years of family ties to the Arsenal, I’m in the market for a new club. Any recco’s?
Start supporting Liverpool FC.
You won’t regret it.
A real people’s club, led by the most charismatic manager in the world, once we have a fit squad we play the best football ever.
Plus the atmosphere at Anfield is regarded as the best in the world.
My step grandad was a scouse and lifelong liverpool fan. They’d be as good a shout as any had they retained a moral compass and stayed away from the Great Sellout.
I think this was inevitable the moment the premiership came into being and many of the reactions we are currently seeing we saw when the premiership first came into being. I’m not overly passionate about football. I’m don’t get many of the objections that seem to be based on an emotional and a rose tinted view of football based on the game it used to be. I’d be grateful if someone could say what is so wrong with this.
The formation of the PL didn’t stop Leicester City from becoming champions of England.
That Agnelli wanker actually despises Leicester. In fact, one could make a case for Leicester’s win being a key part of all this. Can’t have clubs like that devaluing the investments made by those Americans.
Errrrrm .... Leicester's rise was based on a MASSIVE investment from KingPower in SE Asia!
Leicester's net spend was between West Ham and Fulham 2014-19
I think this was inevitable the moment the premiership came into being and many of the reactions we are currently seeing we saw when the premiership first came into being. I’m not overly passionate about football. I’m don’t get many of the objections that seem to be based on an emotional and a rose tinted view of football based on the game it used to be. I’d be grateful if someone could say what is so wrong with this.
I certainly fail to see why it is a matter for Government. Surely football clubs are independent organisations able to associate with others as they think fit. Not something Government should have an opinion on.
The mostly closed shop nature of the proposal is the problem. It essentially represents a cartel creating monopoly power to squeeze the life out of the several hundred teams across Europe who are not invited. From the government’s perspective, it is very much their business as it will cause a great many clubs to go bust, with not just an economic impact but a a social impact difficult to comprehend if you’ve not seen the role football plays in a lot of communities.
The current arrangement is pretty much a closed shop in effect. The business cycle states that uneconomic businesses go bust. I understand the sentimental attachment to local football clubs, but I think this is where Government should decline to intervene.
I think this was inevitable the moment the premiership came into being and many of the reactions we are currently seeing we saw when the premiership first came into being. I’m not overly passionate about football. I’m don’t get many of the objections that seem to be based on an emotional and a rose tinted view of football based on the game it used to be. I’d be grateful if someone could say what is so wrong with this.
The formation of the PL didn’t stop Leicester City from becoming champions of England.
That Agnelli wanker actually despises Leicester. In fact, one could make a case for Leicester’s win being a key part of all this. Can’t have clubs like that devaluing the investments made by those Americans.
Errrrrm .... Leicester's rise was based on a MASSIVE investment from KingPower in SE Asia!
Leicester's net spend was between West Ham and Fulham 2014-19
And who cares anyway? Jack Walker bankrolled Blackburn.
There’s is absolutely no chance of the super league being anything like the NFL. Barca and Real will make sure of that.
I think this was inevitable the moment the premiership came into being and many of the reactions we are currently seeing we saw when the premiership first came into being. I’m not overly passionate about football. I’m don’t get many of the objections that seem to be based on an emotional and a rose tinted view of football based on the game it used to be. I’d be grateful if someone could say what is so wrong with this.
I certainly fail to see why it is a matter for Government. Surely football clubs are independent organisations able to associate with others as they think fit. Not something Government should have an opinion on.
The politicians are all falling into line with negative comments, given the reaction from fans. It's difficult to see what governments could or would actually do about it in practice.
There will certainly be a pile of civil court cases if it goes ahead though, Sky will sue the arse off the Premier League if they expel six clubs, and devalue the product for which the broadcaster has paid billions.
Governments with 80 seat majorities and with both opposition parties behind them can do whatever they want. They could for example ban professional sports conducted outside the purview of an organisation that does not have the Ministry of Fun as a golden shareholder.
So it seems after 90 years of family ties to the Arsenal, I’m in the market for a new club. Any recco’s?
Start supporting Liverpool FC.
You won’t regret it.
A real people’s club, led by the most charismatic manager in the world, once we have a fit squad we play the best football ever.
Plus the atmosphere at Anfield is regarded as the best in the world.
Anfield on a European night is up there with Lewis Hamilton winning the British Grand Prix, for the best event crowd I've been in. Electric atmosphere.
I think this was inevitable the moment the premiership came into being and many of the reactions we are currently seeing we saw when the premiership first came into being. I’m not overly passionate about football. I’m don’t get many of the objections that seem to be based on an emotional and a rose tinted view of football based on the game it used to be. I’d be grateful if someone could say what is so wrong with this.
I certainly fail to see why it is a matter for Government. Surely football clubs are independent organisations able to associate with others as they think fit. Not something Government should have an opinion on.
The politicians are all falling into line with negative comments, given the reaction from fans. It's difficult to see what governments could or would actually do about it in practice.
There will certainly be a pile of civil court cases if it goes ahead though, Sky will sue the arse off the Premier League if they expel six clubs, and devalue the product for which the broadcaster has paid billions.
Governments with 80 seat majorities and with both opposition parties behind them can do whatever they want. They could for example ban professional sports conducted outside the purview of an organisation that does not have the Ministry of Fun as a golden shareholder.
But that's about as likely to happen as aliens being among us.
Their starter for 10 should be to drop all references to the "working class".
Healey argues for a focus on what he calls the “real middle” – people who earn around the median British wage of just under £25,000 – saying these should be Labour’s “core constituency”.
The "real middle" do not consider themselves to be the working class...
What an extraordinary report !!
"Healey pointed to the fact that Labour lost 87 seats to the Conservatives in the 2010 election, and eight more in 2015. Of these, 83 areas went on to support Brexit in the 2016 referendum. Brexit was, he said, “both an effect of this dislocation and a cause of further disillusion”.
Healey seems to have ignored something very important that happened in GE 2015 (at least according to the Guardian write-up).
He seems to have missed out the place where enormous swings of up to 30 per cent were recorded against Labour -- and that this has completely changed the electoral arithmetic.
Ed Milliband correctly identified the problem - Labour had become a protest group combining together various single issue policies. He tried to combat this and refloat the party back to being encompassing - remember "One Nation Labour"? The problem was that it was a shell - we found on the 2015 campaign trail that there was very little that could be said to 80% of voters in the middle as the policies created didn't address them.
So the collapse started under Ed and accelerated rapidly under Corbyn. Whatever Starmer tries to do now, there are too many members and activists still stuck in the imperial phase where Labour are immaculate and the Last Bastion of justice, and too many on the other side who sit in pubs plotting the downfall of capitalism.
As with the Tories at the end of the 18 years where people actively voted to remove them from office, the same is now true with Labour. The difference is that the Tory collapse was rapid and massive. Labour have had 11 years of collapse and are still collapsing.
Boris very lucky general, gets to say British football for British people, up the werkers....rather than all the lobbying stuff dominating 100hrs of coverage.
The tories sleaze problem hasn’t gone away, though.
I think this was inevitable the moment the premiership came into being and many of the reactions we are currently seeing we saw when the premiership first came into being. I’m not overly passionate about football. I’m don’t get many of the objections that seem to be based on an emotional and a rose tinted view of football based on the game it used to be. I’d be grateful if someone could say what is so wrong with this.
I certainly fail to see why it is a matter for Government. Surely football clubs are independent organisations able to associate with others as they think fit. Not something Government should have an opinion on.
The politicians are all falling into line with negative comments, given the reaction from fans. It's difficult to see what governments could or would actually do about it in practice.
There will certainly be a pile of civil court cases if it goes ahead though, Sky will sue the arse off the Premier League if they expel six clubs, and devalue the product for which the broadcaster has paid billions.
Governments with 80 seat majorities and with both opposition parties behind them can do whatever they want. They could for example ban professional sports conducted outside the purview of an organisation that does not have the Ministry of Fun as a golden shareholder.
But that's about as likely to happen as aliens being among us.
Quite likely then.
Neither PB or Twitter should be seen as representative of course. But there’s votes in it. A lot.
Perosnaly I have got bored of the Champions League over the years - loved it 20-30 years ago , but with unecessary mini leagues at the wrong time in the competition ,many matchs are meaningless . Whether this is the right model - who knows? But the Champions League is tired and also can hardly complain of commercialism in the other model proposed.
"Games will be played mid-week, and all clubs will remain in their domestic leagues."
My sense is that the threat of being expelled from the EPL will make English clubs back down, they are not as financially desperate as the Spaniards
But who knows. Popcorn!
The only bluffs that are worthy of the name are detailed and coordinated.
Anything else is just going on tilt.
You're wrong, I believe. This is not a bluff. This is a very definite attempt to break away, and guarantee income - and they must have gamed the possibility of domestic leagues expelling them
Just don't know if it will succeed. Will Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool really quit English football with all its great history?
3.5bn guaranteed, 10bn been said to be the likely income....per club...that's a huge carrot.
That's not per season though, that's for 10 seasons split 15 ways. The numbers don't work at all.
"In addition, the competition will be built on a sustainable financial foundation with all Founding Clubs signing up to a spending framework. In exchange for their commitment, Founding Clubs will receive an amount of €3.5 billion solely to support their infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of the COVID pandemic."
That makes it sound like they are getting it upfront.
I think you've misread that. It doesn't say Founding Clubs will received €3.5bn each does it?
€3.5bn split between the clubs, €10bn between the clubs over the period covered, seems far more plausible.
Sky sports....
"Super League organisers say each club participating in the competition will receive a payment of €3.5bn - that works out at just over £3bn."
I think they've misread it too surely.
€3.5bn between the 12 clubs would be still an incredible amount of money but plausible. €3.5bn each simply isn't happening.
ManCity (as an example) has current revenues of about £300m. They aren’t taking the risk to just replace that.
What they will be doing is ensuring the media rights are committed to as small group of clubs rather than a vague organisation and securitising them.
To borrow £3bn would probably cost about £225-250m in interest so is plausible
Plus the atmosphere at Anfield is regarded as the best in the world.
Anfield on a mid week European night fixture is very special. Although the Stadio Olimpico for the Derby della Capiltala is like the seventh circle of hell in intensity with flares, more or less continuous hand to hand combat and burning scooters being chucked off the upper level.
I think this was inevitable the moment the premiership came into being and many of the reactions we are currently seeing we saw when the premiership first came into being. I’m not overly passionate about football. I’m don’t get many of the objections that seem to be based on an emotional and a rose tinted view of football based on the game it used to be. I’d be grateful if someone could say what is so wrong with this.
I certainly fail to see why it is a matter for Government. Surely football clubs are independent organisations able to associate with others as they think fit. Not something Government should have an opinion on.
The mostly closed shop nature of the proposal is the problem. It essentially represents a cartel creating monopoly power to squeeze the life out of the several hundred teams across Europe who are not invited. From the government’s perspective, it is very much their business as it will cause a great many clubs to go bust, with not just an economic impact but a a social impact difficult to comprehend if you’ve not seen the role football plays in a lot of communities.
were this being done 20 years ago would Manchester City and Chelsea be chosen teams? Some how I doubt it which is why it makes zero sense (except for the clubs invited to be part of it).
Their starter for 10 should be to drop all references to the "working class".
Healey argues for a focus on what he calls the “real middle” – people who earn around the median British wage of just under £25,000 – saying these should be Labour’s “core constituency”.
The "real middle" do not consider themselves to be the working class...
What an extraordinary report !!
"Healey pointed to the fact that Labour lost 87 seats to the Conservatives in the 2010 election, and eight more in 2015. Of these, 83 areas went on to support Brexit in the 2016 referendum. Brexit was, he said, “both an effect of this dislocation and a cause of further disillusion”.
Healey seems to have ignored something very important that happened in GE 2015 (at least according to the Guardian write-up).
He seems to have missed out the place where enormous swings of up to 30 per cent were recorded against Labour -- and that this has completely changed the electoral arithmetic.
Ed Milliband correctly identified the problem - Labour had become a protest group combining together various single issue policies. He tried to combat this and refloat the party back to being encompassing - remember "One Nation Labour"? The problem was that it was a shell - we found on the 2015 campaign trail that there was very little that could be said to 80% of voters in the middle as the policies created didn't address them.
So the collapse started under Ed and accelerated rapidly under Corbyn. Whatever Starmer tries to do now, there are too many members and activists still stuck in the imperial phase where Labour are immaculate and the Last Bastion of justice, and too many on the other side who sit in pubs plotting the downfall of capitalism.
As with the Tories at the end of the 18 years where people actively voted to remove them from office, the same is now true with Labour. The difference is that the Tory collapse was rapid and massive. Labour have had 11 years of collapse and are still collapsing.
Boris very lucky general, gets to say British football for British people, up the werkers....rather than all the lobbying stuff dominating 100hrs of coverage.
The tories sleaze problem hasn’t gone away, though.
What Arsene says is true. It's obvious but bears repeating: this is about both business and football.
We can take this further by pointing out that those two are not easy allies. They haven't been for a long time but this brings it to the fore.
Those who want football to remain a grassroots part of social fabric will hate this. Those who believe in market forces probably shouldn't be quite so ready to beat a Corbynite drum. It's how the free market works.
It's just that when the free market clashes with something you hold dear to your heart, maybe going back decades as per some of the earlier posts, then it clashes and hurts.
Tell you a secret. I gave up my season ticket a few years ago when I saw how my club was heading. It had gone so commercial that even though it brought 'success' it wasn't for me anymore. But I do accept this is how the free market operates. Football isn't just a game. In much of the PL it hasn't been a game for a long time. It's a business.
So it seems after 90 years of family ties to the Arsenal, I’m in the market for a new club. Any recco’s?
Start supporting Liverpool FC.
You won’t regret it.
A real people’s club, led by the most charismatic manager in the world, once we have a fit squad we play the best football ever.
Plus the atmosphere at Anfield is regarded as the best in the world.
Anfield on a European night is up there with Lewis Hamilton winning the British Grand Prix, for the best event crowd I've been in. Electric atmosphere.
It is a special event no doubt. I would add the roar of a well backed horse in close contention going to the finish at Cheltenham
Predictably disgusting proposal, and what a surprise that the greedy six are involved.
Regardless of anything else it completely devalues the EPL even if it went ahead on the terms in which it is being laid out. If the 'founding fathers' qualify automatically, they no longer have to worry about EPL performance. And of course the money they take down from this would render the EPL even more uncompetitive as their B teams would be so far ahead of everyone else.
It will happen, and I think the EPL and UEFA are powerless to stop it. So let them go and perform in their global freak show for the Asian and US audience and kick them out of domestic football.
At home, the football bubble will burst but we will hopefully reset the domestic competition, impose some level playing field rules and we will have a competition that is fun and competitive and less worried about chasing shirt sales in Asia.
Sad day but it's been coming.
I am very opposed to this having been a Man Utd supporter since 1955 and a season ticket holder until recently.
My main concern is no matter the threats from UEFA and FIFA of banning Super League players from their competitions I am not at all certain how it would stand up in law on restriction of trade
My hope is that common sense will prevail and the Super League is a tool for getting concessions out of UEFA
On that last point, I think they’ve gone past that. Even if they back down I won’t be going to Arsenal again.
It does leave a nasty taste but I cannot give up a lifetime of support but I will not pay a penny more to watch the Super League on tv
Mind you I would not be surprised for someone like Amazon to screen the matches free
And I expect BT sports are in crisis as they televise European matches at present
Having picked up on your earlier assertion that the Cameron sleaze story has engulfed Labour ( there is currently no evidence that turns this from from the Tory sleaze scandal to the Carwyn Jones sleaze scandal-although, what do I know, that may come to pass). So far, this angle seems to be your own personal crusade.
I am intrigued however, as to how you pin the European Super League episode on someone from Welsh Labour. Leave Jane Hutt out of it!
Boris very lucky general, gets to say British football for British people, up the werkers....rather than all the lobbying stuff dominating 100hrs of coverage.
The tories sleaze problem hasn’t gone away, though.
Indeed, Labour have now been drawn into it
They will never rival the Tories for sleaze
Liverpool: "Hold my pint...."
Joe Anderson and his son's dodgy flyover removal firm are small fry compared to some of the dirty millions swilling around the NHS trough
Some fans seem to expect football to be more democratic than politics.
Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.
Many people seem to be assuming the Premier League will expel the 6 (who have said they intend to continue playing in the Premier League). I don't see how that's viable at all. The Premier League without the Big 6 is essentially the hilariously-named "Championship" and would lose the overwhelming majority of its funding.
While UEFA would be dead set against this since it undercuts their prime product, the Champions League, I think the Big 6 have the Premier League by their short and curlies and I don't see how they get expelled from that.
What Arsene says is true. It's obvious but bears repeating: this is about both business and football.
We can take this further by pointing out that those two are not easy allies. They haven't been for a long time but this brings it to the fore.
Those who want football to remain a grassroots part of social fabric will hate this. Those who believe in market forces probably shouldn't be quite so ready to beat a Corbynite drum. It's how the free market works.
It's just that when the free market clashes with something you hold dear to your heart, maybe going back decades as per some of the earlier posts, then it clashes and hurts.
Tell you a secret. I gave up my season ticket a few years ago when I saw how my club was heading. It had gone so commercial that even though it brought 'success' it wasn't for me anymore. But I do accept this is how the free market operates. Football isn't just a game. In much of the PL it hasn't been a game for a long time. It's a business.
Good post.
And apart from the odd Leicester-type situation who thinks there is genuine competition in the PL. Liverpool aren't about to be relegated any time soon so play the bottom clubs for the overwhelmingly probable three points only.
And who also doesn't feel a frisson of excitement at getting midweek clashes of those clubs? The CL goes on for almost a year and the early rounds are mind-numbing for most people.
A commentator famously said (was it Des Lynam?) maybe 20 years ago " they will be dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions this evening " after TNS (welsh league) won a game . i think he meant that a team that is essentially a company cannot possibly have a soul. Roll forward 20 years and most of the premier league are essentially part of bigger global companies. If a local grown talent makes a premier league side these days it is as rare as Halleys Comet and even the managers come from all over the world . I fail to see how anyone can have a local affinity to a premier league club these days as essentially you are suppoting a franchise of a (probably) dodgy global company/Big Cheese
I was there at Edgbaston with my son on the famous Ashes day in 2005. That's probably the most memorable sporting moment of my life and I've seen a few: GP's, FA Cup finals etc. but that day in Birmingham was something else.
Predictably disgusting proposal, and what a surprise that the greedy six are involved.
Regardless of anything else it completely devalues the EPL even if it went ahead on the terms in which it is being laid out. If the 'founding fathers' qualify automatically, they no longer have to worry about EPL performance. And of course the money they take down from this would render the EPL even more uncompetitive as their B teams would be so far ahead of everyone else.
It will happen, and I think the EPL and UEFA are powerless to stop it. So let them go and perform in their global freak show for the Asian and US audience and kick them out of domestic football.
At home, the football bubble will burst but we will hopefully reset the domestic competition, impose some level playing field rules and we will have a competition that is fun and competitive and less worried about chasing shirt sales in Asia.
Sad day but it's been coming.
I am very opposed to this having been a Man Utd supporter since 1955 and a season ticket holder until recently.
My main concern is no matter the threats from UEFA and FIFA of banning Super League players from their competitions I am not at all certain how it would stand up in law on restriction of trade
My hope is that common sense will prevail and the Super League is a tool for getting concessions out of UEFA
On that last point, I think they’ve gone past that. Even if they back down I won’t be going to Arsenal again.
It does leave a nasty taste but I cannot give up a lifetime of support but I will not pay a penny more to watch the Super League on tv
Mind you I would not be surprised for someone like Amazon to screen the matches free
And I expect BT sports are in crisis as they televise European matches at present
Yes - Amazon will include the Super League with Prime. THIS is the real threat - not so much 12 clubs lining up for the firing squad, but someone coming along to torpedo the TV rights.
A new TV rights player is going to be a huge problem for Sky and BT.
Amazon and Disney could both front the sort of money we're talking about on a long term deal. The other alternative is that they roll their own online subscription or PPV model, hence the JPM backing to underwrite future subscriptions.
I have no problem at all with this causing huge problems for Sky and BT. Money has ruined football, even more so now that you have multiple high cost subscription platforms all offering bits of the league. Even when the clubs have their own TV channel they do not have the rights to show their own games.
As with the topic of my other posts this morning, once something becomes untenable, solutions that look rather extreme end up being proposed as alternatives. They aren't remotely sane from a starting position, but once in the thick of it are only one more push from the madness we're already in.
It was only supposed to be an activity to use up the spent energy of the young mostly male population, and someone seems to have succeeded in making a business out of it?
A commentator famously said (was it Des Lynam?) maybe 20 years ago " they will be dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions this evening " after TNS (welsh league) won a game . i think he meant that a team that is essentially a company cannot possibly have a soul. Roll forward 20 years and most of the premier league are essentially part of bigger global companies. If a local grown talent makes a premier league side these days it is as rare as Halleys Comet and even the managers come from all over the world . I fail to see how anyone can have a local affinity to a premier league club these days as essentially you are suppoting a franchise of a (probably) dodgy global company/Big Cheese
You're exaggerating there.
Liverpool and Manchester United have permanently had locally grown talent in their first team - not as much as it used to be, but not as rare as Halley's Comet.
A commentator famously said (was it Des Lynam?) maybe 20 years ago " they will be dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions this evening " after TNS (welsh league) won a game . i think he meant that a team that is essentially a company cannot possibly have a soul. Roll forward 20 years and most of the premier league are essentially part of bigger global companies. If a local grown talent makes a premier league side these days it is as rare as Halleys Comet and even the managers come from all over the world . I fail to see how anyone can have a local affinity to a premier league club these days as essentially you are suppoting a franchise of a (probably) dodgy global company/Big Cheese
Yep. That nails it.
I've a friend who's a Man City fan and he and I had a fairly robust convo about his club. I won't post on here what I said about the money behind City in recent years but let's just say that I didn't think it's altogether 'wholesome'.
A commentator famously said (was it Des Lynam?) maybe 20 years ago " they will be dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions this evening " after TNS (welsh league) won a game . i think he meant that a team that is essentially a company cannot possibly have a soul. Roll forward 20 years and most of the premier league are essentially part of bigger global companies. If a local grown talent makes a premier league side these days it is as rare as Halleys Comet and even the managers come from all over the world . I fail to see how anyone can have a local affinity to a premier league club these days as essentially you are suppoting a franchise of a (probably) dodgy global company/Big Cheese
Unless you support Newcastle in which case the potential Big Cheese is so dodgy even the other firms don't want to be associated with him.
Their starter for 10 should be to drop all references to the "working class".
Healey argues for a focus on what he calls the “real middle” – people who earn around the median British wage of just under £25,000 – saying these should be Labour’s “core constituency”.
The "real middle" do not consider themselves to be the working class...
What an extraordinary report !!
"Healey pointed to the fact that Labour lost 87 seats to the Conservatives in the 2010 election, and eight more in 2015. Of these, 83 areas went on to support Brexit in the 2016 referendum. Brexit was, he said, “both an effect of this dislocation and a cause of further disillusion”.
Healey seems to have ignored something very important that happened in GE 2015 (at least according to the Guardian write-up).
He seems to have missed out the place where enormous swings of up to 30 per cent were recorded against Labour -- and that this has completely changed the electoral arithmetic.
Ed Milliband correctly identified the problem - Labour had become a protest group combining together various single issue policies. He tried to combat this and refloat the party back to being encompassing - remember "One Nation Labour"? The problem was that it was a shell - we found on the 2015 campaign trail that there was very little that could be said to 80% of voters in the middle as the policies created didn't address them.
So the collapse started under Ed and accelerated rapidly under Corbyn. Whatever Starmer tries to do now, there are too many members and activists still stuck in the imperial phase where Labour are immaculate and the Last Bastion of justice, and too many on the other side who sit in pubs plotting the downfall of capitalism.
As with the Tories at the end of the 18 years where people actively voted to remove them from office, the same is now true with Labour. The difference is that the Tory collapse was rapid and massive. Labour have had 11 years of collapse and are still collapsing.
Taken for granted for decades, the voters have opened the oven door on Labour's souffle.
A commentator famously said (was it Des Lynam?) maybe 20 years ago " they will be dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions this evening " after TNS (welsh league) won a game . i think he meant that a team that is essentially a company cannot possibly have a soul. Roll forward 20 years and most of the premier league are essentially part of bigger global companies. If a local grown talent makes a premier league side these days it is as rare as Halleys Comet and even the managers come from all over the world . I fail to see how anyone can have a local affinity to a premier league club these days as essentially you are suppoting a franchise of a (probably) dodgy global company/Big Cheese
Unless you support Newcastle in which case the potential Big Cheese is so dodgy even the other firms don't want to be associated with him.
Which could also be said of Man City and Chelsea frankly. And I don't think the other big clubs are squeaky clean.
This has been fermenting for a lot longer than the micro brewery in the new Spurs stadium.
A commentator famously said (was it Des Lynam?) maybe 20 years ago " they will be dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions this evening " after TNS (welsh league) won a game . i think he meant that a team that is essentially a company cannot possibly have a soul. Roll forward 20 years and most of the premier league are essentially part of bigger global companies. If a local grown talent makes a premier league side these days it is as rare as Halleys Comet and even the managers come from all over the world . I fail to see how anyone can have a local affinity to a premier league club these days as essentially you are suppoting a franchise of a (probably) dodgy global company/Big Cheese
Locals still support their local team. It's not their fault that they are marketing arms of large corporations or States, or playthings of billionaires.
But footie has, perhaps sadly, come to transcend the local fans.
A commentator famously said (was it Des Lynam?) maybe 20 years ago " they will be dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions this evening " after TNS (welsh league) won a game . i think he meant that a team that is essentially a company cannot possibly have a soul. Roll forward 20 years and most of the premier league are essentially part of bigger global companies. If a local grown talent makes a premier league side these days it is as rare as Halleys Comet and even the managers come from all over the world . I fail to see how anyone can have a local affinity to a premier league club these days as essentially you are suppoting a franchise of a (probably) dodgy global company/Big Cheese
Unless you support Newcastle in which case the potential Big Cheese is so dodgy even the other firms don't want to be associated with him.
Which could also be said of Man City and Chelsea frankly. And I don't think the other big clubs are squeaky clean.
This has been fermenting for a lot longer than the micro brewery in the new Spurs stadium.
Oh I commented on them earlier - were this to be being introduced when it was previously hinted at 20 years ago neither Man City or Chelsea would be founding members.
Also off-topic, but Johnson refusing to put India in the red zone cos he's trying to do a visit and persuade them a trade deal without migration is in India's interests seems like a Bad Thing. We know the threat from new variants to our vaccination programme. Unlocking and allowing people to gather and praise Him is more important than anything, yet he is ignoring the blindingly obvious again.
Do you know for a fact that Johnson has overruled the advice of the experts that make a recommendation to the relevant committee?
I’m very surprised that hasn’t leaking more widely. It would be dynamite! You must be really well connected. Wow!
A commentator famously said (was it Des Lynam?) maybe 20 years ago " they will be dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions this evening " after TNS (welsh league) won a game . i think he meant that a team that is essentially a company cannot possibly have a soul. Roll forward 20 years and most of the premier league are essentially part of bigger global companies. If a local grown talent makes a premier league side these days it is as rare as Halleys Comet and even the managers come from all over the world . I fail to see how anyone can have a local affinity to a premier league club these days as essentially you are suppoting a franchise of a (probably) dodgy global company/Big Cheese
Unless you support Newcastle in which case the potential Big Cheese is so dodgy even the other firms don't want to be associated with him.
Which could also be said of Man City and Chelsea frankly. And I don't think the other big clubs are squeaky clean.
This has been fermenting for a lot longer than the micro brewery in the new Spurs stadium.
Oh I commented on them earlier - were this to be being introduced when it was previously hinted at 20 years ago neither Man City or Chelsea would be founding members.
Should Arsenal today?
As it stands Arsenal are ninth in the Premier League. Qualification from on the field results this season would justify Everton, Leicester and West Ham more than the Gunners this season.
As a Liverpool fan I have been disappointed in the seasons where we failed to qualify for the Champions League, but that made it all the more special when we won qualification back. If qualification isn't earnt it becomes meaningless.
Some fans seem to expect football to be more democratic than politics.
Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.
Many people seem to be assuming the Premier League will expel the 6 (who have said they intend to continue playing in the Premier League). I don't see how that's viable at all. The Premier League without the Big 6 is essentially the hilariously-named "Championship" and would lose the overwhelming majority of its funding.
While UEFA would be dead set against this since it undercuts their prime product, the Champions League, I think the Big 6 have the Premier League by their short and curlies and I don't see how they get expelled from that.
Inter and Milan last won their domestic leagues 10 and 11 years ago. Athletico 7 years ago. Arsenal 17 years, Spurs 50!
In a few years Arsenal would not warrant a phone call for this project. Spurs are already only there to make to the numbers because the French and Germans said no.
What this project exposes is that the business model of football became too bloated a long time ago, all those players refusing to accept wage cuts while most of the country was feeling the pain during the pandemic.
It will be most interesting to see what Mr Messi has to say. One tweet from him can kill it.
Good morning, everybody. A wonderful topic of consuming interest for most of you. Never before have I skimmed through 4 vanilla pages so quickly.
I'm so happy for you all. I'm busy elsewhere for most of the day. Have fun!
Yep, I'm with you on that as somebody who doesn't give a monkey's where a bunch of unemployables kick a ball around and am baffled that otherwise intelligent people do.
Boris very lucky general, gets to say British football for British people, up the werkers....rather than all the lobbying stuff dominating 100hrs of coverage.
The tories sleaze problem hasn’t gone away, though.
Indeed, Labour have now been drawn into it
They will never rival the Tories for sleaze
Liverpool: "Hold my pint...."
The Joe Ashton allegations are typical of Labour brown envelope scandals down the years. They bring the party into disrepute.
I am not sure how pointing out that Labour politicians in Liverpool allegedly trousered public funds in an old- fashioned Northern Labour council scam, absolves the Conservatives of any guilt over lobbying for a bailout for Greensill, and NHS procurement contract questions.
I was there at Edgbaston with my son on the famous Ashes day in 2005. That's probably the most memorable sporting moment of my life and I've seen a few: GP's, FA Cup finals etc. but that day in Birmingham was something else.
Being at the Oval when we won back the Ashes in 1953 was quite special. As is, in Rugby Union, Wales vs England, especially when Wales are winning.
Also off-topic, but Johnson refusing to put India in the red zone cos he's trying to do a visit and persuade them a trade deal without migration is in India's interests seems like a Bad Thing. We know the threat from new variants to our vaccination programme. Unlocking and allowing people to gather and praise Him is more important than anything, yet he is ignoring the blindingly obvious again.
Do you know for a fact that Johnson has overruled the advice of the experts that make a recommendation to the relevant committee?
I’m very surprised that hasn’t leaking more widely. It would be dynamite! You must be really well connected. Wow!
We know they have interfered at various points. Hiding behind the science when it suits them. Being clear at press conferences that they listen to the science but get to make the decisions when it suits them. So stop being naive with the suggestion that He can't possibly have any influence.
Pox is currently tearing India asunder and we have a few isolated cases of their variant here already. India is an obvious country to go on the red list to anyone with a brain. It is hardly a great leap to connect its exclusion with the forthcoming trade delegation.
After all, we cannot upset the troops. Covid comes to an end on 21st June. It is an ever fixed mark.
I suppose it may come out that one of his ministers was directly involved in the 'Super League' discussions and civil servants were working for Man United at same time as the Home Office or some such. Otherwise we will not hear much about CameronGate for a week now.
Boris very lucky general, gets to say British football for British people, up the werkers....rather than all the lobbying stuff dominating 100hrs of coverage.
The tories sleaze problem hasn’t gone away, though.
Indeed, Labour have now been drawn into it
They will never rival the Tories for sleaze
Liverpool: "Hold my pint...."
The Joe Ashton allegations are typical of Labour brown envelope scandals down the years. They bring the party into disrepute.
I am not sure how pointing out that Labour politicians in Liverpool allegedly trousered public funds in an old- fashioned Northern Labour council scam, absolves the Conservatives of any guilt over lobbying for a bailout for Greensill, and NHS procurement contract questions.
Telling lobbyists "no, we won't give your project any money" is now worse than endemic corruption in public works is it? No wonder Labour is losing the voters.....
((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 6m Liverpool FC: "We are committed to working with all stakeholders, particularly supporters, as plans for the competition develop". No you're not. You don't give a toss. So stop pretending.
A commentator famously said (was it Des Lynam?) maybe 20 years ago " they will be dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions this evening " after TNS (welsh league) won a game . i think he meant that a team that is essentially a company cannot possibly have a soul. Roll forward 20 years and most of the premier league are essentially part of bigger global companies. If a local grown talent makes a premier league side these days it is as rare as Halleys Comet and even the managers come from all over the world . I fail to see how anyone can have a local affinity to a premier league club these days as essentially you are suppoting a franchise of a (probably) dodgy global company/Big Cheese
Unless you support Newcastle in which case the potential Big Cheese is so dodgy even the other firms don't want to be associated with him.
Which could also be said of Man City and Chelsea frankly. And I don't think the other big clubs are squeaky clean.
This has been fermenting for a lot longer than the micro brewery in the new Spurs stadium.
Oh I commented on them earlier - were this to be being introduced when it was previously hinted at 20 years ago neither Man City or Chelsea would be founding members.
Should Arsenal today?
As it stands Arsenal are ninth in the Premier League. Qualification from on the field results this season would justify Everton, Leicester and West Ham more than the Gunners this season.
As a Liverpool fan I have been disappointed in the seasons where we failed to qualify for the Champions League, but that made it all the more special when we won qualification back. If qualification isn't earnt it becomes meaningless.
PL table starting the season Leicester won the league. The Big 6 are still the top 6 despite real progress from Leicester and the gap to mid table teams decreasing generally.
MC 497 Liv 459 MU 414 Spu 413 Che 405 Arse 381 Lei 342 Eve 309 WH 295 Soton 272
((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 6m Liverpool FC: "We are committed to working with all stakeholders, particularly supporters, as plans for the competition develop". No you're not. You don't give a toss. So stop pretending.
The club without its supporters isn't worth much, this is only worth doing if they can keep supporters on board.
Although nowadays in global football supporters may not mean local supporters.
((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 6m Liverpool FC: "We are committed to working with all stakeholders, particularly supporters, as plans for the competition develop". No you're not. You don't give a toss. So stop pretending.
The club without its supporters isn't worth much, this is only worth doing if they can keep supporters on board.
Although nowadays in global football supporters may not mean local supporters.
Always worth checking exactly what they mean by every word in the sentence.
The 80,000 in Anfield are easily overwhelmed by Asian supports who may see the team play a friendly once every 5 years.
Predictably disgusting proposal, and what a surprise that the greedy six are involved.
Regardless of anything else it completely devalues the EPL even if it went ahead on the terms in which it is being laid out. If the 'founding fathers' qualify automatically, they no longer have to worry about EPL performance. And of course the money they take down from this would render the EPL even more uncompetitive as their B teams would be so far ahead of everyone else.
It will happen, and I think the EPL and UEFA are powerless to stop it. So let them go and perform in their global freak show for the Asian and US audience and kick them out of domestic football.
At home, the football bubble will burst but we will hopefully reset the domestic competition, impose some level playing field rules and we will have a competition that is fun and competitive and less worried about chasing shirt sales in Asia.
Sad day but it's been coming.
I am very opposed to this having been a Man Utd supporter since 1955 and a season ticket holder until recently.
My main concern is no matter the threats from UEFA and FIFA of banning Super League players from their competitions I am not at all certain how it would stand up in law on restriction of trade
My hope is that common sense will prevail and the Super League is a tool for getting concessions out of UEFA
On that last point, I think they’ve gone past that. Even if they back down I won’t be going to Arsenal again.
It does leave a nasty taste but I cannot give up a lifetime of support but I will not pay a penny more to watch the Super League on tv
Mind you I would not be surprised for someone like Amazon to screen the matches free
And I expect BT sports are in crisis as they televise European matches at present
Having picked up on your earlier assertion that the Cameron sleaze story has engulfed Labour ( there is currently no evidence that turns this from from the Tory sleaze scandal to the Carwyn Jones sleaze scandal-although, what do I know, that may come to pass). So far, this angle seems to be your own personal crusade.
I am intrigued however, as to how you pin the European Super League episode on someone from Welsh Labour. Leave Jane Hutt out of it!
Marr and Sophy Ridge say hello
And for once, this has nothing to do with Drakeford
Six opposition parties in the Commons are urging the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, to allow a vote on an inquiry into Boris Johnson’s “consistent failure to be honest” in statements to MPs.
They want Hoyle to let them table a motion saying that Johnson’s conduct should be referred to the committee of privileges, on the grounds that making a deliberately misleading statement to MPs amounts to a contempt of parliament under the Commons rulebook, Erskine May.
((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 6m Liverpool FC: "We are committed to working with all stakeholders, particularly supporters, as plans for the competition develop". No you're not. You don't give a toss. So stop pretending.
The club without its supporters isn't worth much, this is only worth doing if they can keep supporters on board.
Although nowadays in global football supporters may not mean local supporters.
Always worth checking exactly what they mean by every word in the sentence.
The 80,000 in Anfield are easily overwhelmed by Asian supports who may see the team play a friendly once every 5 years.
And this is the key metric. The big clubs are now global clubs. The joke about ManU used to be that our fans were all from dahn sarf - now its just as likely to be from Asia. That is where the money is, not in discounting match tickets to locals.
Off-topic, but have woken up with an answer to the referendum / constitution question. Johnson should hold the referendum in England. Why should the English - who are Britain when you think about it - have no parliament of their own, have to put up with endless complaints from provincial loons who take English money and whine, and have the Brexit prize threatened by stupid complaints about borders down the Irish Sea.
So - a referendum on English supremacy. England uber alles. Should the UK be redefined as England, letting the Scotch and the Irish and the Welsh do whatever it is they're complaining about? England keeps their money, go and sod off. Problem solved, and the Tories complete their evolution away from a pretence of being unionist to being English populists.
Go back to sleep....
Oh I know its daft at first glance. But I think it would be popular in England. Spell out to people how much of THEIR MONEY is gifted to the Scots who then complain despite free university and prescriptions. How much of a threat the Irish are to Brexit. The cash flow into Wales. They all have a parliament, England doesn't. Time to Take Back Control of our money and our Brexit and tell the whiners where to get off.
Perhaps the regions/nations of the UK with the highest GDP should break away to form a super Union...
Latest: The Super League has warned UEFA & FIFA it has already filed motions in several courts as pre-emptive strikes against possible bans. Also says has secured 4billion Euros funding: https://t.co/hertf5EDBh
Not really a football fan but this may be aimed at the Far East market - Asian & Chinese audiences/fan bases are enormous - you'll end up with a lot of midday fixtures.....
Yes. If this does get up and running then I'd expect one of the franchises involved to end up being moved to Shanghai after a couple of years. Maybe more.
That their proposed format is not a single league, but a conference system is suggestive of an eventual plan to have large physical distances between the conferences.
And they're not calling it the European Super League - it's just the Super League. Maybe there will end up being an American conference, European and Asian. They have to hijack existing clubs before relocating in order to take the best players and the credibility for broadcast deals.
Their starter for 10 should be to drop all references to the "working class".
Healey argues for a focus on what he calls the “real middle” – people who earn around the median British wage of just under £25,000 – saying these should be Labour’s “core constituency”.
The "real middle" do not consider themselves to be the working class...
What an extraordinary report !!
"Healey pointed to the fact that Labour lost 87 seats to the Conservatives in the 2010 election, and eight more in 2015. Of these, 83 areas went on to support Brexit in the 2016 referendum. Brexit was, he said, “both an effect of this dislocation and a cause of further disillusion”.
Healey seems to have ignored something very important that happened in GE 2015 (at least according to the Guardian write-up).
He seems to have missed out the place where enormous swings of up to 30 per cent were recorded against Labour -- and that this has completely changed the electoral arithmetic.
Ed Milliband correctly identified the problem - Labour had become a protest group combining together various single issue policies. He tried to combat this and refloat the party back to being encompassing - remember "One Nation Labour"? The problem was that it was a shell - we found on the 2015 campaign trail that there was very little that could be said to 80% of voters in the middle as the policies created didn't address them.
So the collapse started under Ed and accelerated rapidly under Corbyn. Whatever Starmer tries to do now, there are too many members and activists still stuck in the imperial phase where Labour are immaculate and the Last Bastion of justice, and too many on the other side who sit in pubs plotting the downfall of capitalism.
As with the Tories at the end of the 18 years where people actively voted to remove them from office, the same is now true with Labour. The difference is that the Tory collapse was rapid and massive. Labour have had 11 years of collapse and are still collapsing.
Taken for granted for decades, the voters have opened the oven door on Labour's souffle.
As the Economist article that Philip Thompson linked to the other day noted, the surprising thing is that it took them this long. Certainly, elements of the middle classes have been much quicker to desert the Conseratives when they do something they don't like, e.g. over Brexit.
((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 6m Liverpool FC: "We are committed to working with all stakeholders, particularly supporters, as plans for the competition develop". No you're not. You don't give a toss. So stop pretending.
The club without its supporters isn't worth much, this is only worth doing if they can keep supporters on board.
Although nowadays in global football supporters may not mean local supporters.
Always worth checking exactly what they mean by every word in the sentence.
The 80,000 in Anfield are easily overwhelmed by Asian supports who may see the team play a friendly once every 5 years.
And this is the key metric. The big clubs are now global clubs. The joke about ManU used to be that our fans were all from dahn sarf - now its just as likely to be from Asia. That is where the money is, not in discounting match tickets to locals.
There's a lot left unsaid in the proposals. The location of the matches being one. No doubt there are plans to have mini rounds of matches in different countries around the world, before eventually matches in the "home" stadium are the oddity rather than the norm.
Not really a football fan but this may be aimed at the Far East market - Asian & Chinese audiences/fan bases are enormous - you'll end up with a lot of midday fixtures.....
Yes. If this does get up and running then I'd expect one of the franchises involved to end up being moved to Shanghai after a couple of years. Maybe more.
That their proposed format is not a single league, but a conference system is suggestive of an eventual plan to have large physical distances between the conferences.
And they're not calling it the European Super League - it's just the Super League. Maybe there will end up being an American conference, European and Asian. They have to hijack existing clubs before relocating in order to take the best players and the credibility for broadcast deals.
Yes you're right. I was thinking far too small. This is clearly what they're planning.
Latest: The Super League has warned UEFA & FIFA it has already filed motions in several courts as pre-emptive strikes against possible bans. Also says has secured 4billion Euros funding: https://t.co/hertf5EDBh
Those creating the new Super League have billions behind them and will not have launched this without investing in expert legal advice and must be confident that this is going to come to pass
It is extraordinary that this is happening now with Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs, struggling to qualify for the Champions League this year and they represent half of the English clubs involved.
And they're not calling it the European Super League - it's just the Super League. Maybe there will end up being an American conference, European and Asian. They have to hijack existing clubs before relocating in order to take the best players and the credibility for broadcast deals.
A Super League with Boca Juniors, River Plate, Palmeiras, etc. would be mint.
Their starter for 10 should be to drop all references to the "working class".
Healey argues for a focus on what he calls the “real middle” – people who earn around the median British wage of just under £25,000 – saying these should be Labour’s “core constituency”.
The "real middle" do not consider themselves to be the working class...
Bloody hell! Hurrah!
Some in the party are actually waking up.
As I've said here more than once, don't obsess about the top 10% and bottom 10%, appeal to the 80% in the middle. People who aren't fussed about the bedroom tax. Or use food banks. Or what term might replace BAMER. Or Palestine. But they want a good school for their kids, a quality NHS they can rely on in times of need, feel safe in their own homes and communities and be confident that if they play by the rules the system will treat them fairly.
Six opposition parties in the Commons are urging the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, to allow a vote on an inquiry into Boris Johnson’s “consistent failure to be honest” in statements to MPs.
They want Hoyle to let them table a motion saying that Johnson’s conduct should be referred to the committee of privileges, on the grounds that making a deliberately misleading statement to MPs amounts to a contempt of parliament under the Commons rulebook, Erskine May.
Anyone would think there were elections coming up.....
Comments
Nearly three months later, with plenty of vaccine supply on hand and eligibility open to all residents 16 and older, officials struggled to fill appointments, said Kristy Fryman, the emergency response coordinator and public information officer for the Mercer County Health District. About 264 people received their first dose at the district's clinic earlier this month -- roughly half the number of people who were signing up at the start of the rollout.
"It's very concerning," she said. The rural county is home to roughly 41,000 people and earlier in the pandemic had the highest Covid-19 case rate in the state, Fryman said. "We don't want to go backwards," she added.
Demand has dropped off so much, the health district decided to end mass vaccination clinics for first doses and instead, transition to smaller clinics that require fewer resources and volunteers. But it's not just that hub that's seen a slowing demand: other vaccine providers in the area are reporting the same pattern, Fryman said. Roughly 27% of the county's residents have started their vaccinations, according to Ohio's Covid-19 vaccine dashboard.
That Agnelli wanker actually despises Leicester. In fact, one could make a case for Leicester’s win being a key part of all this. Can’t have clubs like that devaluing the investments made by those Americans.
New players, new managers, new playing styles, new kits, new stadiums even. But the continuity of tradition is what allows you to feel that you’re supporting the “same” team as you did as a small boy in the stands with your grandad.
The Super League tramples on this continuity of tradition so severely I suspect it will break the illusion for a great many.
Now financially the gamble is that it doesn’t matter, the overseas markets have still watched matches on TV even in completely empty stadia. But it’s quite a gamble to take in my opinion. If you’re double or bust maybe you’d roll the dice on this. But that’s not the case for most of the Premier League teams. Perplexing.
Amazon and Disney could both front the sort of money we're talking about on a long term deal. The other alternative is that they roll their own online subscription or PPV model, hence the JPM backing to underwrite future subscriptions.
Providing they can still play in their respective national leagues there's nothing much wrong with it. It's greedy but as you rightly point out, so was the Premier League.
But Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal et al don’t like that.
You won’t regret it.
A real people’s club, led by the most charismatic manager in the world, once we have a fit squad we play the best football ever.
Plus the atmosphere at Anfield is regarded as the best in the world.
"Healey pointed to the fact that Labour lost 87 seats to the Conservatives in the 2010 election, and eight more in 2015. Of these, 83 areas went on to support Brexit in the 2016 referendum. Brexit was, he said, “both an effect of this dislocation and a cause of further disillusion”.
Healey seems to have ignored something very important that happened in GE 2015 (at least according to the Guardian write-up).
He seems to have missed out the place where enormous swings of up to 30 per cent were recorded against Labour -- and that this has completely changed the electoral arithmetic.
As with the topic of my other posts this morning, once something becomes untenable, solutions that look rather extreme end up being proposed as alternatives. They aren't remotely sane from a starting position, but once in the thick of it are only one more push from the madness we're already in.
I am broadly in favour as long of neither of my teams (Leeds or OM) are involved.
There will certainly be a pile of civil court cases if it goes ahead though, Sky will sue the arse off the Premier League if they expel six clubs, and devalue the product for which the broadcaster has paid billions.
There’s is absolutely no chance of the super league being anything like the NFL. Barca and Real will make sure of that.
So the collapse started under Ed and accelerated rapidly under Corbyn. Whatever Starmer tries to do now, there are too many members and activists still stuck in the imperial phase where Labour are immaculate and the Last Bastion of justice, and too many on the other side who sit in pubs plotting the downfall of capitalism.
As with the Tories at the end of the 18 years where people actively voted to remove them from office, the same is now true with Labour. The difference is that the Tory collapse was rapid and massive. Labour have had 11 years of collapse and are still collapsing.
Neither PB or Twitter should be seen as representative of course. But there’s votes in it. A lot.
What they will be doing is ensuring the media rights are committed to as small group of clubs rather than a vague organisation and securitising them.
To borrow £3bn would probably cost about £225-250m in interest so is plausible
We can take this further by pointing out that those two are not easy allies. They haven't been for a long time but this brings it to the fore.
Those who want football to remain a grassroots part of social fabric will hate this. Those who believe in market forces probably shouldn't be quite so ready to beat a Corbynite drum. It's how the free market works.
It's just that when the free market clashes with something you hold dear to your heart, maybe going back decades as per some of the earlier posts, then it clashes and hurts.
Tell you a secret. I gave up my season ticket a few years ago when I saw how my club was heading. It had gone so commercial that even though it brought 'success' it wasn't for me anymore. But I do accept this is how the free market operates. Football isn't just a game. In much of the PL it hasn't been a game for a long time. It's a business.
I am intrigued however, as to how you pin the European Super League episode on someone from Welsh Labour. Leave Jane Hutt out of it!
Many people seem to be assuming the Premier League will expel the 6 (who have said they intend to continue playing in the Premier League). I don't see how that's viable at all. The Premier League without the Big 6 is essentially the hilariously-named "Championship" and would lose the overwhelming majority of its funding.
While UEFA would be dead set against this since it undercuts their prime product, the Champions League, I think the Big 6 have the Premier League by their short and curlies and I don't see how they get expelled from that.
And apart from the odd Leicester-type situation who thinks there is genuine competition in the PL. Liverpool aren't about to be relegated any time soon so play the bottom clubs for the overwhelmingly probable three points only.
And who also doesn't feel a frisson of excitement at getting midweek clashes of those clubs? The CL goes on for almost a year and the early rounds are mind-numbing for most people.
I'm so happy for you all. I'm busy elsewhere for most of the day. Have fun!
Liverpool and Manchester United have permanently had locally grown talent in their first team - not as much as it used to be, but not as rare as Halley's Comet.
I've a friend who's a Man City fan and he and I had a fairly robust convo about his club. I won't post on here what I said about the money behind City in recent years but let's just say that I didn't think it's altogether 'wholesome'.
This has been fermenting for a lot longer than the micro brewery in the new Spurs stadium.
But footie has, perhaps sadly, come to transcend the local fans.
Many other instances of such changes.
I’m very surprised that hasn’t leaking more widely. It would be dynamite! You must be really well connected. Wow!
As it stands Arsenal are ninth in the Premier League. Qualification from on the field results this season would justify Everton, Leicester and West Ham more than the Gunners this season.
As a Liverpool fan I have been disappointed in the seasons where we failed to qualify for the Champions League, but that made it all the more special when we won qualification back. If qualification isn't earnt it becomes meaningless.
In a few years Arsenal would not warrant a phone call for this project. Spurs are already only there to make to the numbers because the French and Germans said no.
What this project exposes is that the business model of football became too bloated a long time ago, all those players refusing to accept wage cuts while most of the country was feeling the pain during the pandemic.
It will be most interesting to see what Mr Messi has to say. One tweet from him can kill it.
If they join now there's a risk that Qatar loses the 2022 coupe du monde de football.
6/1 The clubs intend to breakaway
I am not sure how pointing out that Labour politicians in Liverpool allegedly trousered public funds in an old- fashioned Northern Labour council scam, absolves the Conservatives of any guilt over lobbying for a bailout for Greensill, and NHS procurement contract questions.
Pox is currently tearing India asunder and we have a few isolated cases of their variant here already. India is an obvious country to go on the red list to anyone with a brain. It is hardly a great leap to connect its exclusion with the forthcoming trade delegation.
After all, we cannot upset the troops. Covid comes to an end on 21st June. It is an ever fixed mark.
I suppose it may come out that one of his ministers was directly involved in the 'Super League' discussions and civil servants were working for Man United at same time as the Home Office or some such. Otherwise we will not hear much about CameronGate for a week now.
@DPJHodges
·
6m
Liverpool FC: "We are committed to working with all stakeholders, particularly supporters, as plans for the competition develop". No you're not. You don't give a toss. So stop pretending.
MC 497
Liv 459
MU 414
Spu 413
Che 405
Arse 381
Lei 342
Eve 309
WH 295
Soton 272
Although nowadays in global football supporters may not mean local supporters.
The 80,000 in Anfield are easily overwhelmed by Asian supports who may see the team play a friendly once every 5 years.
And for once, this has nothing to do with Drakeford
They want Hoyle to let them table a motion saying that Johnson’s conduct should be referred to the committee of privileges, on the grounds that making a deliberately misleading statement to MPs amounts to a contempt of parliament under the Commons rulebook, Erskine May.
rottenborough said:
Anyone know what this is?
https://twitter.com/UKcitizen2021
@RichardBurgon: This European Super League agreement is a disgrace and needs to be stopped.
Is there anything that big business and its ruthless drive for profit can’t ruin?
That their proposed format is not a single league, but a conference system is suggestive of an eventual plan to have large physical distances between the conferences.
And they're not calling it the European Super League - it's just the Super League. Maybe there will end up being an American conference, European and Asian. They have to hijack existing clubs before relocating in order to take the best players and the credibility for broadcast deals.
Those creating the new Super League have billions behind them and will not have launched this without investing in expert legal advice and must be confident that this is going to come to pass
It is extraordinary that this is happening now with Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs, struggling to qualify for the Champions League this year and they represent half of the English clubs involved.
Some in the party are actually waking up.
As I've said here more than once, don't obsess about the top 10% and bottom 10%, appeal to the 80% in the middle. People who aren't fussed about the bedroom tax. Or use food banks. Or what term might replace BAMER. Or Palestine. But they want a good school for their kids, a quality NHS they can rely on in times of need, feel safe in their own homes and communities and be confident that if they play by the rules the system will treat them fairly.
https://www.justice.gov/nsd-fara