Let’s not try and paint Jurgen Klopp as the hero we all need…

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Sorry we couldn’t fit all of your millions of mails in today. Keep them coming to theeditor@football365.com…

 

Let’s not try and paint Klopp as the hero we need
I read the responses to my mail yesterday, Klopp’s subsequent comments pre and post the Leeds game (didn’t watch the game itself, of course), and the reaction to Klopp’s comments with a lot of interest.

1. Will Ford’s piece “Klopp forgoes chance to be Churchill in war on ESL” is strange in that it demands Klopp to be completely opposite of what Will says he is: loved by many, disliked by some, respected by all, an icon.

Let’s face it, and there are no two ways about it: Klopp’s remarks pre and post the Leeds game were absolutely what they should have been. No one could realistically expect him to come down hard on the owners without really speaking to them. FSG, until now and except for a few ‘missteps’, have largely been good owners who have backed Liverpool managers with their money, improved the stadium, and delivered on their promise of winning trophies. The least Klopp can do is have a proper conversation with John Henry, Tom Werner, and Mike Gordon before handing in his papers or unloading on them with a few choice words.

Klopp, from all I have seen so far, is a decent man. Petty on the touchline and prickly towards pundits, but a decent man nonetheless. Expecting him to hit out at his employers without even speaking to them would just be wrong. I wouldn’t do it against my boss without speaking to them, and I am not half the man Klopp is.

Will goes on to ask in his piece what does Klopp have to lose? His job? Et cetera et cetera. Yes, the fans would love him even more for hurling abuses at FSG. But what would that achieve?

If you go through Klopp’s comments, he is still hoping the Dirty Dozen will back down: “I feel responsible for the team, I feel responsible for the club and the relationship we have with our fans. It is a very tough time but I will try to help to sort it somehow.”

This is a man who wants to make a proper difference, not someone who is there for three years looking for personal glory, after which he will be off to the next high paying job. So I expect Klopp to speak to the owners in the coming weeks, perhaps in the summer, and should things remain the way they are, I would be surprised if he does not resign. If  he does not resign, I will take back all the praise I have showered upon him.

One final point about Will’s piece: let’s not try and paint Klopp as the hero we need, some sort of footballing Batman (which I think is a better analogy than the whole war/Churchill thing. Because Churchill was a right ****. Analogies usually don’t stand up to scrutiny, and a Churchill analogy is usually never good).

2. I was pretty surprised by Milner’s more outspoken reaction. But that’s a player at the end of his career, who knows he doesn’t have to worry about fighting for another contract from Liverpool. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Milner had been made some sort of a players’ representative. I would guess that’s the majority view among the players. Not all of them, but a good number.
Sid

 

The ESL, while “grotesque”, does not mirror the American pro sports model….
It’s lazy to suggest the ESL mirrors the American pro sports franchise system for one simple fact…NFL, NBA and NHL teams operate under the constraints of a salary cap where the best run organizations win and not the richest (see the 6 time champion Patriots while the top valued Dallas Cowboys and Washington Football team can’t get out of their own way). Even prior to the ESL it’s simply been the richest teams who win year in and year out in global football and not the best managed (Leicester City aside). MLB is an exception where the Yankees and Dodgers spend like Man City in attempt to buy happiness every year but baseball is becoming increasingly irrelevant in the American sports landscape. Further, the threat of relegation doesn’t exist because there aren’t enough professional teams or facilities to make up 2nd and 3rd tier leagues.

And finally, Boston Red Sox fans don’t like Liverpool’s John Henry either…he bought the local newspaper to control media coverage of the team, traded away a top 5 player in Mookie Betts to avoid paying a “luxury tax” that he could easily afford and brings Celtics killer and Boston’s least favorite NBA player LeBron James into the FSG ownership group. Safe to say he’s as tone deaf as they come.

Just because the ESL is a horrible, greedy and unforgivable idea does not mean it’s the American way!!
Mark, AVFC Fan, Annapolis, Maryland USA

 

Patrick Bamford interview
Maybe because he was playing for the team that isn’t planning to run off into the sunset with bags embroidered with dollar signs. Or maybe because he isn’t the most exuberant of characters.But, the not overly reported on interview with Patrick Bamford really cemented to me why the whole thing stinks; both the news and the reaction to the news.

Every single day for the past week, I have seen on every football website I visit, reports of at least one black player being racially abused online because he has the audacity to play football well/badly for/against XXX FC.
And of course, this isn’t new. Over the past years, reporting has gone up of these incidents happening in plain sight, both on and off the field.
Wrist slapping. Week long social media boycotts. Fines in only the thousands of pounds. Suspensions for players who react (we won’t do anything, but you can’t do anything either). Walk off and get deducted points. Matches played on without the victim.

But touch the money? Government pledge to stop it (government report already said racism didn’t exist so what more can we do there?). Players won’t be allowed play “recognised” football again (but if you’ve called someone a n*****r, you can play after a few games and some ‘respect’ classes). Instant and universal statements of condemnation and vows to act from all governing bodies. Fans walking away and burning effigies (“He’s not that sort of lad. It was just banter!”).

Someone described the situation as Orwellian in this morning’s Mailbox. I think a more apt quote would be “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which…”
Conor, London (Keep your ESL. Don’t keep it. It’s all rotten anyway)

 

 

More Bamford…
I was struck down with horror at a football story for the umpteenth time this week when I saw Matt Stead had Bamford as his best player outside the ‘snaky six’. Bamford isn’t even the best (arguably not even in the top 3) at his own club, let alone the rest of the league!

Most of the Leicester team, Grealish, Bissouma, couple west Ham players, yes – but what about Raul Jimenez (yes injured but amazing prior) or Reuben Neves, Allan Saint-Maximin, who has single handedly saved Newcastle’s bacon this season, Richarlison, Ben Godfrey or any of Everton’s first choice midfield? Danny Ings? Zaha, Eze? Dwight McNeil?

Obviously can only pick 10 but wondering if any other readers agree with me that Bamford gets so massively overrated because of his number of goals rather than watching him miss a lot of chances that are created by his excellent teammates.
James, Sussex. 

 

The fans have been USED to destroy the thing we love
The Super League or The Inevitable League.  It’s been coming for a long time, its something we have all bought (and paid) into and has been inevitable since TV changed the way we watch football.  The “Champions League” took the place of the European Championship, with the goal of the top domestic clubs to win a place in this elite recurring revenue-generating competition.

From a financial standpoint of the wealthiest clubs, the domestic leagues became just qualifying rounds to get to the big money round.  From this revenue has grown companies that far out muscle that of their competing domestic rivals, but the moniker or facade of ‘competition’ was still needed to be upheld.  With no salary caps, the failed FFP, the money spent by the big clubs to earn a seat at the big revenue-generating table needs to be met with (financial) results. These clubs need guaranteed income to be sustainable to their (financial) goals. Qualifying stands in the way. Smaller clubs stand in the way.

Once Qatar 2022 is complete, Paris SG will probably join. The holdouts of Bayern and Dortmund will find it financially non-viable to win the Bundesliga and enter a CL without the big clubs (plus Arsenal and Tottenham). By 2030+, the SL will have grown to accommodate those clubs that will inevitably jump ship for financial reasons, plus some others who are perhaps bought for the Brand club name and history to attract SL acceptance.

Look at the major domestic leagues and you will see there are 3/4/5 cornerstone clubs who dominate domestically since the CL became a financial thing, with some minor aberrations (Leicester, Blackburn, Roma, Valencia and Moncao since Paris became a thing). Those cornerstone clubs that say no right now will eventually realise that their domestic league is not financially big enough for them when the CL loses its financial allure.

The rubbish of this will help football is an insult. It will not, many clubs will not survive unless they become feeder or stepping stone clubs to the SL. TV rights are cornered by these elite clubs in the domestic competition, without them, the other clubs will not generate or share as much revenue despite the promises of ‘hand me down” payments.

TV has driven larger competitions that had rewarded the clubs financially who had a place, which success keeps then growing unaligned to their domestic rivals. This is the evolution of the sport that was started in the early nineties.

We the fans of ALL clubs have been used to destroy the thing we loved. We can be angry and rightfully so, but not shocked as we should have seen this coming.
Michael, Dublin (Arsenal and proper pissed off)

 

The New ESL ‘Big Six’
Hi mailbox,

Plenty of coverage on the ESL, but even if it does go ahead, I find it interesting that the clubs (by this, I mean owners) are cherry-picking the elements of the closed US-style leagues that they covet (guaranteed revenue, no promotion and relegation), but have little interest in the elements that keep US sport (NFL and NBA, as case studies) somewhat competitive and compelling (the draft system, salary caps etc).

Given that a draft system could not be implemented within European football, if we used transfer spend as the primary method of clubs improving their playing squad, and therefore fortunes, wouldn’t it make for a much more competitive ESL if revenues were heavily skewed towards the team finishing bottom? I’ve just used the core 12 teams for sums, but a £240m transfer ‘war chest’) for the bottom team, down to £20m for the inaugural league winner. Can’t see Perez fancying that too much…

If things stayed as they are, would the prospect of being perennially around the bottom grate on the players/fans of Arsenal, Spurs, AC Milan, without a system in place to mitigate this? Would this lead to potential ‘buyer’s remorse’ and lead to them looking to leave? Knowing what we know of Kroenke and Levy, probably not, but hopefully you get my point.

I’m no fan of the ESL idea and can’t help but feel that even this supposedly elite competition will end up with its very own “big six” and selection of also-rans. Real, Barca, Juve, Liverpool, United, City? Almost all ‘old money’ barring City.

Would be interested to hear thoughts on any of the above and any new perspectives once the ‘moral outrage’ dust has settled.
Rick

 

Supa Dupa Euro League
So I basically think a lot of the outrage right now from fans, media and pundits is posturing and herd mentality.  People are being indignant and horrified because they think that’s what they should do.

I firmly believe that at least 85% of these club’s fanbase will still be there if and when the new ESL becomes a thing.  People are generally weak and lazy and easily influenced.  Ffs we actually believed the PL was greatest, bestest, shiny league enjoyed by billions throughout the galaxy while in reality the games are generally watch by a few million at most and are generally just background noise in empty bars globally.

Sure they’ll lose a few fans along the way but ultimately if the ESL is a thing, people will watch.  And eventually that will attract new younger fans who don’t know any different.  It will survive.

And it’s all well and good saying that we can stop this.  The fans will come together and march and chant and save the day.  BS.  In the UK alone, ye can’t agree on issues like Brexit, NI, the royals, the environment, how to pronounce certain words.  Do you honestly think that groups of people, who less than 20 years ago would happily murder each other before a game, are going to unify for a length of time.  Are they, bollox.

The only hope is the founding clubs mess it up somehow, probably a fight amongst themselves over the money.  But I’m genuinely worried.  This is going to happen.

Poop.
Al, (it’s easier for me cause Arsenal are a little pants) Dublin

 

A kernel of an idea popped into my head yesterday, but I’m lacking the technical knowledge of contracts and legal whatsits to know whether it’s a go-er, so hopefully somebody more informed out there in Mailbox-land can shed some further light for me.

The 12 ESL clubs clearly don’t give a tinker’s cuss for their fans. The timing of the announcement, designed to pip UEFA’s Champions League reform to the post and leverage their own interests, is entirely unsurprising, but the impacts of the pandemic have clearly escalated things to a point where the guarantee of tons of filthy lucre for signing up is hugely attractive in offsetting the revenue holes caused by a lack of fans and reduced TV money. I’m sure that had this announcement been made in non-Covid times we’d have the same rumours and posturing before UEFA further skew the Champions League in favour of the big clubs. However, the pandemic has shown clubs that a full stadium isn’t all that important to income when there are global TV audiences waiting to consume their product,

But here’s the thing. Fans don’t make the product – players do. And that’s where I foresee the battles in this particular war being waged. UEFA and FIFA have already politicised the players by threatening to ban them from international competitions despite it being nothing to do with them, whilst Egypt’s announcement of Mo Salah as their new national team captain yesterday can’t be a coincidence. They’re effectively inviting him to stand up to Liverpool to protect his international career. Without players there is nothing for these clubs to sell.

So, given that the decisions of these 12 clubs is effectively harming players’ careers (and make no mistake, most of these players will be internationals – imagine a World Cup without players from the 12 clubs named) my questions to the Mailbox is this – are there grounds within their contracts that players can claim breach of contract or something similar against their clubs? Because that would appear to me to be the easiest and most effective way of cutting this particular project off right now.

Of course players themselves would then have to make the decision as to whether they wanted to front up to that fight – the lure of yet more money may be more important to some, but give that the crème de la crème are already on life-changing sums anyway, you’d like to think that silly money and an international career (which also brings appearance, goal and sponsorship fees) would trump silly money plus more money.
Jonny Dance

 

Richarlison, Neymar, Firmino vs Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Romario
Bergkamp vs de Bruyne
Henry vs Sterling

There are many reasons why football is shit these days, these are mostly due to clubs like Real Madrid and Barca hoovering up all the “talent”. Yet when that approach fails and they end up billions in debt, the rest of football must pay?

Perhaps if they stopped spaffing so much on average players and their agents fees, their model would be much more sustainable.

There quite simply is not the talent available anymore because it’s all been coached out of them. Therefore people like Barca spend over £100 million on coutinho, then another load on dembele, or how about Griezmann? Surely that’s just ridiculously incompetent management that they should pay for?

Ah well. Lets keep kidding ourselves that Messi and C Ronaldo can go on forever because these 2 are the last of the breed. Genuine flair and attacking talent is all but gone in this corporatized avaricious circle jerk.

The chickens are just coming home to roost and they just can’t accept that their model for running a football club is seriously flawed. Spanish presidents are voted in by the amount of silly money they will pay for the next average superstar. If that’s not flawed then you need to take a long hard look at yourself. Of course that won’t happen but we must force it to happen.

Give the clubs back to the fans. Oh that’s right you can’t, you priced them all out to eradicate the racism and hooliganism. How did that go?

Basically you can’t moralise on any side, everyone’s fingers are burned, every news outlet complicit and every fan wants the big name signing. It’s all horseshit by marketing and PR companies yet you all lap it up

You reap what you sow and this is the end game of that sea of excrement you call football journalism
Fat Man (actually cancelled sky last week before this all came out)

 

Manchester United European Super League

 

I have just sent the following email (composed with a lump in my throat) to Arsenal today as I have cancelled my membership as my stance against the ESL:

I want to ensure that my Membership will not be renewed as I no longer wish to associate myself with Arsenal Football Club.

I have been a proud and loyal ‘legacy’ fan for nearly 35 years, from Junior Gunner to Season Ticket holder, and witnessed many highs and lows in that time, but I have never been embarrassed to be associated with the club as I am now. The contempt and disregard shown to loyal fans by joining the European Super League is a nail in a coffin that I never wished to enter.

I have instructed my bank to cancel the direct debit. I want to make sure that the membership is cancelled your end as I do not trust Mr Kroenke not to find a way to use my bank details to withdraw money from my account.

It is with an incredibly heavy heart that I say goodbye forever to Arsenal Football Club.
John Porter

 

To the first few contributors to this morning’s mailbox, excepting Andrew (excellent mail that one): Give your head a wobble! No-one wants to hear about the strange sense of satisfaction you get from twisting your genitals in a pair of pliers, or the delicious irony of the powerless being overrun by the powerful.
The announcement of the ESL has unilaterally united football fans, pundits and politicians in opposition to owners. Why choose now to smarmily point out the hypocrisies? Why choose now to question UEFA? Why choose now to create divisions in what could be one of the biggest shows of unity football has ever witnessed?

If feeding your own sense of superioriority transcends your love of game then that’s your burden to bear, but, as my grandfather used to say: “it’s better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you’re stupid, than open it and remove all doubt.”

UEFA, for all their deficiencies, has always preserved the fundamental competitive nature of sport. The ESL seeks to remove that competition. To create an entity where the performance of the marketing team is more important than the performance of players on the pitch. As fans of football, the sport, this is revolting.

And let’s not do a disservice to global fanbases, either. It is not proven that they are going to lap this up. So far, only North American fans have embraced entertainment over sport. It’s time to unilaterally oppose the ESL. Government needs to bring in 50 +1 shareholding to European football as a whole. And to do that, everyone needs to come together, as fans of football over fans of clubs.
Liam Gabriel Hoskins (football fan)

 

I think many of us, supporters of the ‘big 6’ need to admit we are not angry at the greed of the ESL, we want our clubs to have more money, so long as we see investment in our teams.

We are angry at closed competition.

If the owners of these clubs think we are angry about the money, they won’t give a t**s.

If they are aware that fans believe you do indeed have to ‘earn it’ (participation) there may be a glimmer of hope we can stop this.

Ian Watsons piece was pretty spot on, except for one huge glaring error….

It’s not ‘the clubs’ that don’t care, it’s the owners, FSG, The Galazers etc.

Football clubs are more than who owns them.

As for the individual clubs.

Who really blames Levy? Really? An over achieving club who haven’t won the league since 1961, get invited to the ‘top table’, of course he would accept. Spurs fans could almost be forgiven for having an open mind to this.

Man City and to a lesser, but no less important extent, Chelsea fans, I’m really sorry to say this, in a time when fans should be sticking together, but you can cry all you want, you are part of the problem.

You cheered for Aguero and Robben, you mocked and derided fans of other clubs because your club had the fortune to ‘win the lottery’ and go on to sweep up trophies.

Those clubs have two distinct history’s, pre Russian Oligarchs/Saudi Oil billionaires and post. Your tradition and history died when your numbers came in.

You helped facilitate this.

As for the other three, clubs built on Busby, Shankly, Mee, Charlton, Dalglish, Jennings of George Best’s 1968 European Cup Final goal, Grobbelaars wobbly legs, Solskjaers last minute winners and Istanbul miracles ‘this hurts more’.

Supporters of these clubs were always proud we ‘earned it’, we took the frameworks of the competition we were in, and were successful.

These clubs created legacies, tradition and history, based on competition, on being the best.

We don’t want to be ‘at the top table’ if we haven’t ‘earned it’.

The way in which this was all announced gives me hope, only 12 of 15 ‘founder clubs’ are in, the other big guns have told then to do one.

This is a wake up call.

Change must happen. The German clubs are not in this because of the 50+1 rule (its not through some kind of protest or altruism) maybe that’s the way forward?
Graham 

 

The ESL is going to be really boring in a couple of years. If the respective country FAs hold the line and refuse to allow the clubs in the ESL to play in their respective leagues (let’s be honest, it’s pointless for them to be in them anyway) then the only way the ESL clubs are going to play enough games to justify the supposed revenue targets is to play each other 6 times a year. After a few years of that, who is going to get excited for the 6th time Spurs play Inter in a year, the 18th time in 3 years? What’s the incentive for Arsenal, say, to look to improve? They’re locked in for ever with guaranteed revenues and no requirement to spend money. You’d end up with 4 clubs who can win it and a bunch of clubs essentially doing a Newcastle. At least Newcastle might get relegated so need to make sure they don’t slide too far

On the legal side, as I understand it the clubs don’t own the players, they own the players’ FIFA registrations. If the clubs are no longer FIFA affiliated as part of the UEFA/FIFA response, would stopping the players from playing in FIFA competitions technically be restriction of trade, meaning that the players could leave their contracts if they wanted to?

Adonis, I’m not part of FIFA or UEFA, nor the Government, the FA or Premier League, so I don’t see how this can be considered my fault. If the game’s governors have allowed people like this to take the clubs over, that’s their fault, not the fans who want to watch their clubs.

Ash, Barcelona didn’t need to pay Messi 1m a week, they chose to. Even then, they didn’t need to spend more than 100m each on Coutinho, Dembele and Griezmann, all of whom have essentially failed at the club. Clubs that have been run badly can try and use UEFA as an excuse, but they’ve just been run badly.
Tom, Andover

 

The view from a Chelsea (maybe legacy) fan
Interesting (if slightly over-emotional) article from Ian Watson on the legacy fan dilemma. I will give a personal perspective as a Chelsea fan of now 25 years. I’m also what would generally be described as a casual fan – I’ve only been to see a match live 3-4 times (I don’t quite remember), I now live in Singapore and football isn’t worth getting up at 3/4am for so I rarely watch matches except those at noon, the highlights shows here are diabolical. So my football fan existence operates mostly through reading football news. My attachment to my club has never had broader political or community aspects to me – Chelsea is not “mes que un club”, it does not “mean more”. Other clubs clearly have more of this, and good for them. And the idea that the club doesn’t care about its supporters is neither news nor shocking to me.

Now, my personal reaction is:

– Most likely, this won’t happen. And then I will just carry on, but will feel a sense of shame at my club – accusations thrown our way will be fair. But I’d rather live with a bit of shame than go through the hassle of switching clubs (I’d already accepted a lot of other stuff from Chelsea)

– There’s a chance that it does happen in a vastly changed version as really a new version of the Champions League that everyone kind of accepts. At which point see above

– Then there’s a chance that this is set up as a completely new competition, with Chelsea and other teams kicked out of their domestic leagues (but with no impact on international football). At which point I think I’ll probably just switch off football completely – there are other things to keep me amused in life. And I’ll wait until either this is established as comprehensive new world order or completely implodes before re-engaging

– And of course there’s a tiny chance that after FIFA and UEFA ban all players who play for these clubs from international football that there’s a huge shake-up – that will either lead to completely new football administration that replaces FIFA and UEFA and creates new domestic and international competitions (and there’s a wide range of outcomes), or to the total bankruptcy and collapse of all these clubs. At which point I’ll probably also just choose other hobbies, or wait for my club to re-emerge in a new shape

– And I suppose there’s a vanishingly small chance (I give this <0.1% chance) that the new ESL establishes itself into a viable global sporting competition (which would mean becoming much grander and multi-layered and replacing all the existing football governance) that involves Chelsea occasionally playing Barcelona in Singapore in a genuinely competitive match that has broader meaning. At which point, I think I’d cheer them on as brave innovators and book tickets at vast prices to see them play

Oh…
Tim Colyer, Chelsea fan, Singapore

 

An unlikely but possible future?
The Super League exists. UEFA and FIFA stand firm and all the participating clubs kicked out of their respective leagues. As such, the “super” clubs miss out on domestic and Champions League revenue. While still Scrooge rich, super clubs are now merely on par with the default “top” clubs left in the leagues. The league authorities of England, Italy and Spain pump all that extra money into lower league football in a bid to save the football pyramid. New powers rise. West Ham become titans, as do Everton Leeds and flipping Newcastle! The Premier League teaches others how to market themselves better.
We now have a boxing type scenario with various governing bodies and soon someone hits upon the idea of a crossover competition. The best of the super league vs the best of normal leagues. A sort of, European cup…?

Of course this is all contingent on broadcasters not abandoning domestic leagues to show Super League games. Most likely domestic footballs dies a slow, painful death, internationals become irrelevant and all romance vanishes from the game. But at least the likes of poor old Liverpool and Real Madrid somehow managed to stay in business.
Alan, Córdoba

 

Fans support players and not teams nowadays…
I don’t know where is the wrong doing in the Super League. 90 percent of fans would rather see their teams play against Barcelona and Juventus rather than Mr.Kebab’s Newcastle or Wormy Burnley. Fans who think that the Super League shuts out other clubs must realise there are more teams out of the top tier than in it. They don’t say a word when Derby or Sheffield (MC – It’s Sheffield United) get relegated, don’t they? If football is to be open and inclusive, then why don’t we invite every damm team in a large cluttered league? Agnelli is right anyways, these days fans support players and not teams. I’m pretty sure that those 12 teams along with PSG, Bayern and Celtic don’t have any following of sorts outside their nation. And its not like the Super league isn’t allowing the clubs to play in their domestic leagues, rather than play in Astana or Baku, they’ll be playing in Milan or Old Trafford. Give it a chance for god’s sake, because change is the only constant in life.
Unbaised MUFC fan for life, (Go woodward)

 

ESL isn’t going far enough….
If the ESL is going to actually happen I hope they push everything to the nth degree. Let’s get rid of drug testing and see what the human body can do, let’s introduce the crunch zone (no rules or fouls possible in the centre circle) and let’s say all extra time is played in multi ball mode to avoid any sort of dull, unprofitable draws. What else would we want to see from this 80’s movie dystopian future sport?

If you’re going to start over at least make it worth while….
Lee (9 teams to be promoted this summer?) Bristol, AFC.

 

The devil’s in the detail?
Christ, I have never seen such universal condemnation of something relating to the administration of football. I mean, literally everyone is lining up to tell us how awful the idea for the ESL is and how morally bankrupt the people behind it are. They’re just greedy, apparently.

I don’t know about you, but I think the best people to gauge the greed of others are those who have become multi-millionaires for kicking a bag of wind around a field, many of whom now suckle at the teat of Murdoch (do I need to qualify that further?) and still get paid ridiculous amounts of money to be professional pub bores. I imagine we’ll have to be subjected to the moral outrage of Michael Owen soon.

It’s not that I am a fan of the ESL proposals, you understand, and I know that removing so much of the element of competition is against the spirit of competitive sports, but I am struggling with the whole this-is-bad-because-they-are-greedy rhetoric being spewed by anyone with a mouth. UEFA and FIFA have been syphoning money away from the game for decades. Sepp Blatter has a personal fortune of €13m. Gianni Infantino is being paid $3.2m per year. We are all acutely aware that backhanders and an entire hidden, black economy is behind the reason for having the next World Cup in Qatar. Shall we mention the 6500 people are reported to have died making stadia there or not?

Most of the teams who have signed up – especially those in England – are run with foreign money (often this money has a dubious provenance) and barely have any English players in them. The fans keep the loyalty going, but it is empty and forced.

My point – should it need explaining – is that the game sold its soul decades ago, and the ESL proposals are just the latest chapter. Saying enough is enough is completely arbitrary.

I have seen reports that the ESL will kick back three times the money to lower echelons of football than the Champion’s League is. Is this correct? Will this happen? I don’t know, but perhaps a part of the reason for this breakaway is that the biggest clubs in the World have had enough of being run by clearly corrupt organisations who filter countless millions out of the game and into the pockets of fuck knows who.

We haven’t seen the big picture here, and the media is trying to obscure us from it. That doesn’t mean that I think that the bigger picture will be any prettier than what we have now, but how about people take a deep breath and try and get a better idea of what is going on here, rather than be guided by the propaganda of a soulless behemoth like Sky?

Yes, the ESL reeks of greed and a power grab. Heaven forfend that someone should try and do this to FIFA and UEFA.

The game is gone? It went decades ago.

The thing is though…are we not entertained?
Mat (not a fan of the ESL but I hate FIFA and UEFA more)

 

Spurs…
Jw,

I am a Spurs sason ticket holder of 26 years, who grew up on a diet of watching the likes of Ramon Vega, Andy Booth et al in the late 90’s and early 00’s. I wholeheartedly disagree with your mail, you do not speak on my behalf, thank you.

I prefer to measure the wealth of a football club on the glory it delivers on the pitch, and the net positive impact it has on football culture/broader society off the pitch.

I don’t see Mr Levy as being in credit on either measure currently. What he has been very succesful at, is growing ENIC’s initial investment from tens of millions, to a billion quid or so, whilst not putting up a penny of their own cash in the meantime. Always finding an excuse not to back a manger fully when we’re on the cusp of achieving something tangible. Redknapp got Nelson and Saha as January re-inforcements the year we went from challengers to not making the CL. Pochettino got fired after his first bad run of results in over 5 years, despite working miracles in the “Wembley years” with no new signings, dragging us to a CL final somehow. Lets not talk about how he handled moving Martin Jol on…

So I would quite like it if Joe Lewis, and his world class attack dog Levy f****d off now.

Cheers.
Flynn (not that bothered about going to WHL anymore), Greenwich

 

Kelechi Iheanacho
Dear Ed,

I get all the outrage, debate and what have you about the ESL but I don’t think has anyone mentioned how incredible Kelechi has been this season, recall when he was always given the stick for his lack of goals by y’all (media/fans/pundits etc.) when obviously he was always introduced some five or ten minutes or seconds to the end of the game by Rodgers, played mostly in the cups and scores in almost every game he starts, check his goal per game ratio, do that I’m waiting.

He’s has obviously been in superb form and I’m yet to see any article dedicated to him or talk surrounding his good form, how many times has he bailed leicester out this season, on Sunday he scored the only goal of the game to take them to their first ever fa cup final and it doesn’t get talked about at all, oh because he ain’t english right, IMO if it was let’s say maddison or barnes, it would have been a different story, take a look at wilfred Ndidi, can’t remember the last time he had a bad game but the media seem to be blindsided when it comes to this players, this was kind of the same thing Johnny nic mentioned in his Samuel Eto’o article, you all tend to underappreciate african players, I just don’t get it. Vardy hasn’t scored since God knows when and no one is mentioning it because, I don’t know… now I’m a huge fan of Jamie but let’s call a spade, a spade, why doesn’t he get the same criticism Werner and the rest are getting? kelechi is currently the highest goal scorer for leicester this season with 15 goals and it doesn’t get talked about enough.

I’m just saying use the same energy y’all used in criticising him when he wasn’t scoring enough to praise and laud when he’s firing. He deserves all the plaudits.

In other news, I see Chelsea v Brighton boycotted, this I have seen.
Alaribe G. Festac, Nigeria

 

Manchester United and the 00′ FA Cup
Dear Editor,

I know this is going against the norm of outraged mails about the ESL but after a few mentions of this in the mailbox, I feel the truth must have its day.

Manchester United did not prefer to play in the 00’ edition of the World Club Championship over the FA Cup – They were asked to do so by the FA. Seemingly with one eye on England’s (failed) 2006 World Cup bid and the hope of currying favour with FIFA, the FA actually encouraged the club to go, even if that meant other concessions being made. United felt that participating in the FA Cup would be too much to handle, which led the FA to propose dropping out of the cup. The decision was made on 29 June 1999 and United chairman Martin Edwards said there was ‘no alternative’ and that it was in the ‘national interest’.

The FA wanted Man Utd to go, asked them to go and when Man Utd said they could not field competitive teams in both the FA Cup and the World Club Championships, the FA told them to drop the domestic cup. The fact that Man Utd did not want to play a reserve side in the premier cup competition showed more respect at the time than most teams do today.

This decision was not the ruination of the cup or a loss of prestige – The dearth of free to air games, the decision to have semi-finals at Wembley and the removal of replays past the Fourth round have damaged the competition far more (and they are probably gone for good now with the no replay decision this year for dubious reasons).

Regards,
David Conlon, Dublin

 

It’s not coming home
Love the Euro preview from Shehzad Ghias in this mornings mailbox. Banning ESL players from international competition would be great for the Dutch. We have been a bit sh*t since Koeman left for Barça, but bringing the rest of the international competition down to our level would be great for our cup chances this summer. The Netherlands ‘only’ loose Van Dijk, Wijnaldum (Liverpool) and Frenkie de Jong and De Ligt (Barça). Let’s be frank, not having Bergwijn (Tottenham), Van de Beek (ManU) and Aké (City) really isn’t a loss at all.

Our 11 would be:

GK: Cillissen or Stekelenburg
Def: Tete/Veltman/Blind/Dumfries
Mid: De Roon/Gravenberch/Klaassen
Att: Berghuis/Depay/Promes

With a lot of (young) talent behind that with: Kluivert, Stengs, Boadu, Wijndal, Koopmeijners, Brobbey, Malen, De Jong, Weghorst, Van Aanholt, Ihatarren, Timber, Rensch, St Juste, Krul, Veltman, Botman, Dilrosun.

Oh man, especially that young attacking talent is making me excited about the Euros. That cup is going to be orange. Thank you ESL!
AJ, AFCA

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