A good day to bury bad Mous – the European Super League saga

By Tim Le Couilliard

It is a sad day for football, and no, I am not referring to the sacking of Jose Mourinho from my beloved Spurs. The European Super League has dominated media and politics today and will continue to do so until the inevitable climb down. My money is on the proposals to be dead by the end of the week. But then again, my money doesn’t nearly go as far as the £3.5bn (minimum) on offer to the participating clubs…

The founding members of this new competition, including Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham (and yes, as a Spurs fan of 24 years, this shocked me as much as you), would join a midweek league with European footballing superpowers from Italy and Spain, in a multi-billion-pound deal financed by American bank JP Morgan.

Politicians rarely dabble in football and often score costly own goals when they do. Think David Cameron, unsure which team he supports (was it Aston United or West Villa?), or Boris Johnson rugby tackling an opponent during a charity football game. It rarely ends well for the politician involved.

This all changed today, however, following the announcement of the new European Super League; a closed-door competition, with a guaranteed entry for 15 of the continent’s ‘elite’ teams - a proposal completely at odds with the current footballing structure.

Quite the announcement, and one that has received a comparable backlash. Many politicians, sporting greats, fans and players have condemned the proposals – and will fight them. Beyond the expected parties (the likes of UEFA, FIFA and the FA, which have the most to lose from the proposals) the government has also waded in. They have criticized the plans as being “by the elite, and for the elite”, with the Prime Minister vowing to do “everything we can do to make sure the league doesn’t go ahead”. Oliver Dowden, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary is set to deliver a statement later this afternoon.  

As soon as the proposals were announced, the government promptly briefed the media that “all options are on the table” to block the plans. Some initial measures suggested include the threat to take away police and traffic management support from the teams who join the ESL. Legally, the government may pursue the league under competition law, and even more drastically, the government may consider introducing the so-called “German model” where clubs have a 50%+1 fan ownership rule requiring supporters to have majority voting rights at each club. The government is also likely to examine the visa arrangements clubs currently enjoy and could consider a windfall tax on offending parties. They will be quick to draw up the plans for enforced consequences for those breakaway clubs, to contain the situation before it gains more traction.

It is hard to imagine such measures would take place in any other sector other than football or sport – such is the emotion at stake. The Prime Minister has said that football teams are more than just “great global brands” and that clubs “have originated historically from their towns, from their cities… they should have a link with those fans”. A wise caller on Talk Radio earlier described the situation as “owning a football club should be like owning a listed home – it shouldn’t mean you can just do anything with it”. This is a view shared by many.

The government are firmly of the view that the proposed league must not go ahead – likely because of the repercussions it will have at other levels of the game. Such is the feeling against the proposals, one government official is reported as describing themselves as “the Roy Keane of Whitehall” - vowing to kill the ESL proposal. Sir Keir Starmer, too, has criticised the plans, with Labour reminding the government of their 2019 manifesto commitment to review football governance structures – something that has not yet come to fruition. The DCMS Committee has said its MPs will discuss the matter when they meet on Tuesday, with its Chair, Julian Knight, stating that he felt it was a “dark day for football” with a deal “done behind closed doors”. On the continent, the EU too has condemned the planned ESL.

From a communications perspective, it may be so that clubs have made a decision which would be less keenly made in “normal times”. With fans unable to attend games, and thus unable to have as great a media impact or exposure, there is less of an immediate backlash on teams than there perhaps could have been. The protests of the past, such as fans withholding tickets, or loud protestations at stadiums, are impossible. That isn’t to say that fans are not upset by the proposals – they overwhelmingly are and Twitter and radio call-ins are awash with disgruntled fans. Not only that, but the cynics will question why a decision of this size is being announced at 11 PM on a Sunday evening – one would wonder whether something went wrong, or that is (more likely) an attempt at hiding. The decision to support the ESL is a calculated comms decision, and ultimately owners have taken the risk – and with the promise of in excess of £3.5bn a year just by involvement, and up to £10bn depending on success, the reward could be obscene.

This is quite clearly a provocative move by some of the biggest clubs in Europe. Some see this as little more than an attempt to reform the Champions League (considered by some to have too many teams, and too many games, within the competition, with many clubs included with limited chance of succeeding – and that was before the recent proposals to expand further). It is true that few actually expect the ESL to be introduced, at least not given the reaction last night, but it has certainly raised the debate surrounding the future of European football – albeit FIFA and UEFA control all the cards (as seen in the threat to remove international football from participating payers). That said, it is not just an empty threat, with Manchester United, Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan already having stood down from the European Club Association this morning, and United’s Vice-Chairman Ed Woodward, and Juventus’ Andrea Agnelli also stepping down from their UEFA roles.

Today has been a day dominated by football, and the sacking of Jose Mourinho is but a blip for most sports pages. What usually would be a major talking point has been reduced to the lesser pages, with the proposed European Super League the villain of the day.