If I had a wish, I wish that I were a lad; walking to Molineux holding hands with my Dad. It’s another cold Saturday at twenty to three, but the cold doesn’t matter when it’s my dad with me.
“Pork scratchings; Pound a bag!” booms the butcher.
Dad cranes his neck to listen to the team news over the tannoy, from a vantage point behind the burger van.
‘Number one, Mark Kendall; number two, Gary Bellamy; number three, Andy Thompson; number four, Floyd Streete; number five, Ally Robertson; number six, Phil Robinson; number seven, Nigel Vaughan; number eight, Phil Chard; number nine, Steve Bull; number 10, Andy Mutch; number 11, Robbie Dennison.’
“Strong side that, Benny boy. I fancy us today,” Dad muses, between an extended puff of his Panama cigar.
We shuffle towards the John Ireland Stand entrance at the front of a queue that stretches to the sky. Pipe smoke pervades and the turnstile ticks like a metronome, or was it the hands of time? Dad squeezes through to the other side and I can only see his back through the barrier; the back that bore my weight when he’d carry me along Waterloo Road as a boy.
The turnstiles tick louder until they wake me from my sleep. Tick, tick, tick. The metronomic ticking is too deafening to ignore and at 7am, I realise it’s my bedside alarm and a flashback to 1988 cracks beneath my eyelids.
Time to get up. Time to realise that I can’t go back to the happiest days as a football fan, no matter how hard I wish I could. The world turns faster than Adama Traore these days, no matter how much we wish it could slow to a Dennison saunter.
When details of a Super League were announced on Sunday night, it only confirmed what my alarm clock shouted at me a few hours later. The game has gone. But it had vanished long before six shameless clubs snatched the final remnants away.
Town final, Staw Distribution shadow-stripes and a vice-like grip of dad’s hand – all sponsored by Ruby Red Records – was my idea of heaven. Nightmare on Elm Street? Bully’s Revenge!
No matter how many times I shut my eyes, I can’t get those days back.
The Super League wouldn’t want them anyway. They’re long gone and while they’ll always be priceless to me, they’re not even worth a Goalden Goal ticket to them.
I can still feel the buzz of a last-gasp Paskin winner at home to Plymouth; I can still hear the laughs of the brethren as Dad rips out a fart at the Victoria Ground, Stoke, while shaking off the drops on a concrete wall.
At Vale Park a few miles away, Gary Bellamy nods in the winner and I’m thrown to the front of a delirious away end like a crumpled Balti pie tin. Glorious golden memories swirled in Manders Paint and Ink.
Nowadays, the only screams I hear are from conniving players who’ve been hit with all the force of Nigel Vaughan, never mind Keith Downing. The latter would be outlawed anyway, unable to compete by the letter of the law, which is replayed a thousand times until they find an angle they were craving to begin with.
When goals are disallowed for offside when the ball is passed backwards (Leicester City last season) then you know we’re banned from competing anyway. Mike Dean hammered home the point at Turf Moor when Europe was in our grasp later that season.
VAR has subordinated clubs like ours at the expense of The Cartel ever since they demanded it be introduced in the first place (to stop players like Willy Boly from scoring illegal equalisers with their arms against teams like Manchester City).
The Premier League has always danced to their tune and now they don’t like what they’re hearing, quelle surprise. Let The Cartel get on with it, I say. I hope they drown in their own greed.
I miss Blundell Park way more than I’d miss the Etihad anyway, and I haven’t been able to go there in decades. The Pontoon Stand banged at my eardrums way louder than Old Trafford ever did.
Inject Bovril into my veins, funnel visions of the Two Step Dance Academy through my eyeballs and take me back to the good old days.
They’re not so far away, you know? If these self-serving, soulless bastards take away the very facets of the game I hate the most, then they’re welcome to them. Maybe we can reclaim the best bits, instead? The bits I only dream about.
Keep what you’ve got, by giving it all away.
Reclaim, reset and reintroduce terracing for a start. Clamp down on cheats, fuck VAR off and let’s referee games properly, free from the constraints of Stockley Park.
Let the six go, leave them to it and let us fall back in love with the Beautiful Game like we did when we were kids.
It had nothing to do with that lot anyway.
‘The world turns faster than Adama Traore these days, no matter how much we wish it could slow to a Dennison saunter’
Just brilliant mate, well done. Really enjoyed this. You’ve given Gary Neville a run for his money!
Oh how I yearn for the days before sky apparently invented football
We must be similar ages Ben – my first match with my Dad was the last day of the 1990-91 season (3-1 vs Portsmouth, no Bully goal sadly though!) and I remember it like it was yesterday. The ground was still a decrepit rusting mess, the air filled with the smell of smoke mixed with pies, and the toilets were shocking. I loved every minute of it.
I love how our team has progressed since those days – I love the ground, I love having players of the calibre of Jiminez, Neves, Moutinho etc in our squad, I love our Adidas kits, I love the fact we played so well in Europe last season, and I love the fact we have fans from all over the world. However, I can’t deny that much of the romance has gone out of the game in recent years. Our owners view the club as a business investment in just the same way as the Glazers with Man United or John Henry with Liverpool – and they would probably be trying to join the super league as well if we’d have been established in the top six. The game isn’t controlled by football people any more, or people with any local loyalties or ties – they have been priced out entirely by the billionaires – and us ordinary ‘legacy fans’ aren’t particularly important when compared to the tens of millions of potential new fans in Asia, Africa etc.
However, at least we know we can still enter the elite of European football based on merit and results on the pitch – we might have to spend heavily to do it, but at least it is possible. If the super league does go ahead, it will be the beginning of the end of the game as we know it. The Premier League must threaten to expel the teams involved, and the government must legislate to ensure a German-style 50+1 voting rule system to ensure that fans have more say (as was in Labour’s last manifesto). If this can’t be nipped in the bud now, the sport we all love will be devalued and ruined forever.
This is pure brilliance and reminds me of those great, wonderful old days when we could actually enjoy a game and VAR hadn’t even been thought up. Keep up the great work mate!
Thanks for the lovely comments Ben, BB, Joe and Tony.
I must add a caveat to the end of this blog:
*With thanks to John Homer, a legendary WBA historian whose poem about his Dad and the Albion I stole and adapted the first two lines of for this blog intro. A great, great man, and his full poem brought me to tears.
Don’t ask how I ended up speaking to him many years ago, but he is another one of the good guys who the cartel could never understand.
Thanks Ben, that’s a brilliant bit of writing. It also took me back (could even feel it) to my first match, which my dad took need to in 1967 – Even more thanks for that
Brilliant Ben brings back many happy memories.
I still remember my first game at the Mol. Taken by an Uncle to watch the second leg of the FA Youth Cup final in 1953. Against Man Utd. We had drawn 4-4 away but lost 1-0at home. Yes I was disappointed and a little upset but I have never forgot how I felt when I walked onto the middle of the South Bank for the first time. I could not believe my 9 year old eyes. That wonderful stretch of green, the roof of the old Molinueux Street stand.
Never wanted to go to any other ground since. Absolute love at first sight.
I just hope these greedy bastards get the treatment they deserve.
I never thought I would agree with Garry Neville, but he is spot on when he says kick them out now, fine them or whatever but just get rid. They are an absolute disgrace to the game.
I just wish that UEFA had the balls to award this seasons champions league to PSG right now.
The FA to award the Cup to Leicester.
Justice swiftly awarded. But it won’t happen will it.
Money will talk in the end and the bastards will probably get away with something, not everything but probably more of the money.
I am certainly a few years older than you but I agree fuck VAR bring back the terraces get rid of the cheats, and please bring in some decent refs. Bring back men like Jack Taylor, no messing not a prima donna (Mike Dean) just go the job done.
Rant over.
COYW
Excellent, Tipters, I too remember the pure extasy of seeing the hallowed turf for the first time, from the top of the South Bank terraces, back in the mists of the mid fifties.
Cannot for the life of me remember anything else about that day, except I was taken by my Uncle Don, a friend of my Mum, who lived up the top end of Wendover Road.
I seemed to have a lot of “uncles” back then.
Funny how they must have been on my Mum’s side of the family, and were never around when my Dad was home.
Anyway, I was, like hundreds of thousands of youngsters, both before and after me, gobsmacked and hooked for life.
Ben, ask your Dad about the half time entertainment one day in the North Bank bogs.
I know, coz I was there!
I was talking with my customer this morning and what you said, Ben is almost exactly what I was saying.
What is being a fan ?
Most people would say its about being really successful….the ‘premier six ‘ are supposedly Successful…. apart from Liverpool, the rest have a match atmosphere akin to an old man’s pub on a Monday night.
Or is it everything that you eluded to Ben?
I’d have to agree with you. Memories of being a kid are all the better when its spit and sawdust…the smells, sounds and noise all created by the old terraces..take me back there…………….
Pure brilliance. Made me pause and ponder the potential dawn of a ‘new normal’. Thank you.
Kon’nichiwa T?ky? ?kami. Nihon wa d?desu ka?
Great to hear from you Tokyo. Where are you in that big old city? Before covid I was in Japan ??5 or 6 times a year, Shinagawa, Ginza or Shinjuku mainly.
Maybe meet for a beer once we are travelling again?
From what I saw when watching a YouTube video, there is apparently so much money to be gotten from this new league that some teams might actually field weakened teams for the Premier League matches and that they would be well ahead financially even if they were kicked out of the Premier League.
I think we all have to look back at the big teams that are no longer considered big and the teams that are now considered big that weren’t many years ago.
If these teams leave the Premier League, new teams will naturally come up to take their place and them playing in some league where they don’t play many games against teams based in Britain may call their status into question.
How do you know how good they are if they don’t play against PSG or Bayern Munich or Leicester or West Ham? How will we really know they are still super?
Another thing is that I heard that DAZN has made a commitment to this league. They are the streaming service that I have been using and they currently show the Premier League, Championship, Serie A, and at least some rounds of the Europa League and Champions League here in Canada.
It will be interesting to see if their co-operation with this new league will cause them to lose some of these other contracts and if they will relinquish all of them for the one super league.
(Note: Unfortunately, I have no inside information on this)
A lovely evocation of those Olden Golden Days Ben.
I can almost smell the ‘Ready rubbed’ (or was it Old Shag?) as the smoke drifts up from the massed pipes on the terraces.
Old Pathe News reports of Wolves’ latest European exploits flickering away at the local flea pit.
All now just distant memories.
I think we are all agreed that football as we knew it has long gone.
I can sometimes almost conjure it back when sat in the Steve Bull on a chill afternoon listening to the roar of The South Bank, or supping a pint of Banks around a pub table on a Winter’s night after a famous victory.
But from here on, it’s downhill until the poor, poverty stricken, European Super League isn’t financially strong enough to pay the minimum £5 million pounds per week that players will demand, and metamorphosises into The World Super League. Which will be played in China, or North Korea, depending on who holds the purse strings, or runs the Global TV stations, at the time.
And the lower English Divisions, with their famous old clubs will be consigned to merely a footnote in the history of football.
I’ve said most of what I feel about the greed shown by the clubs in question on the previous blog, so I’m not going to repeat it here.
Suffice to say that I fervently hope that I’m not around to see it.
Rushing to get back onto the train in time to hear the results on somebody’s radio, every one shushing so those who wanted, could work out the latest positions in the league ( where they would remain until 5 o clock next Saturday)
Memories,,,,, like the corners of my mind.
Great stuff Ben, yam yam blogs latest is well worth a read too although a bit more” time to rip shit up “
Utw
Let them go if they want to……but make it clear they won’t be allowed back in.
As I’ve already blogged their fans don’t want it the whole of the rest of football doesn’t want it and I suspect neither to the players or managers of the greedy six.
It wouldn’t last anyway it might get decent viewing figures at first but gradually they will dwindle the sponsors will pull out I for one won’t watch it and I think that will go for a lot of fans espeacilly those fans not of the sickening six.
Juventus on average get under 20,000 a game unless it’s against a top team or European game they all come out the woodwork if they get to a final imagine Juventus v Spurs who would pay good money to watch these pair….I know I wouldn’t in there Micky Mouse league in a quarter full stadium with rows and rows of empty seats.
Interesting.
I find myself agreeing more and more with you, Paul.
Must see a doctor!!
Clive……I hope it’s not turmoil……
I mean terminal……predicted text is up the spout..!
Read Liverpool’s statement on why it matters to have a European Super League and to them it’s all about making money to enable the club to keep winning, in order to add more silverware to the cabinet. It’s all about watching the greatest players, play the biggest teams, week in, week out.
And that’s why the owners of the breakaway six just don’t get it. Because football isn’t just about winning – if it was we’d all be supporting Barcelona or Man City. Football is a passion that starts when you’re taken to your first game. It’s about the crushing disappointments, the incredible highs and players who may not be international class but give everything to the shirt. It’s about community and belonging, and the fact that when I see someone in the street wearing a Wolves shirt or badge I always say hello. I’ve watched Wolves play some terrible football against some terrible teams, but what keeps you going is that you always think that with some experienced pros, a few good kids and a manager who knows what he’s doing we could actually do something this season.
The last few seasons have been fantastic, watching our club play some of the best football I’ve ever seen. We were once on the verge of going out of existence. Wolves fans passed around collection buckets and the team practised in the carpark. Now look where we are. If you take away the hope and the dreams, then, I’m afraid, football is finished.
The Real Madrid president has said they are doing it ‘cos they’re ruined, there’s no money in football and they need the new league to ‘save football’…
If transfer fees were not so inflated and footballers were not paid such stupid money, maybe there would be more money for the impoverished Real Madrids of this world? And why are transfers fees so high and footballers paid so much? Because clubs like RM try to buy success at any cost. Super league or no super league, they will keep doing it. Then one day, twenty years down the line, some joker will be secretly plotting a super-duper league, ‘cos they’re ruined and there’s no money in football…
The Real Madrid president also wanted to move away from ‘Legacy Supporters’ (e.g. I will always support Wolves) and try to attract a younger more guillible supporter (e.g. I watch these matches because they are the best and most expensive).
I guess this makes everyone on this blog a ‘Legacy Supporter’!!
The reality is that Wolves yearly revenue is around 200 million Euros. The “Big Six” have yearly revenues of from around 400 million Euros to as high as 750 million Euros.
It’s not really a level playing field as it is but let’s say that the organizations that set the FFP rules say that these teams cannot use the revenue from the super league in their ffp calculations.
What that would mean is that the owners of those teams have to remove that money from the teams as profit each and every year.
What that would also mean is that the competitive balance remains the same and their ffp revenue would actually go down if they don’t compete in the Champions League or Europa League.
Should it matter to me if some teams would rather play in some lucrative friendlies rather than the Champions League if it does not affect the competitive balance of the Premier League?
Ben, absolutely brilliant. Evokes many memories. Remember walking down the old Molineux alley towards the South Bank turnstiles about half way up, with Mum, Dad & sister. Standing on a upturned Banks beer crate in the lower half of the South Bank, near the enclosure. Looking at the back of the programme for the corrosponding alphabet letters, as the old boy put the half time scores up. Buying my season ticket for the new stand, when the ticket office was underneath, looking at a ‘map of the seating, with Rob B and saying to the ticket chap,’ where can we sit? ‘ and him saying’ anywhere you like lad, we haven’t sold any seats yet’
Home and way meeting up with Matt B (LWL)
Though the football was sometimes dire, sometimes the away grounds had a very dodgy edge, we met up in the old Chelsea Cafe in the Mander Centre and off we went. We could always sit or stand together, no worries about getting in… waiting for Star Soccer on a Sunday afternoon to relive the odd game we were on with Hugh John’s commentating. Lol, sound like the bloke on the Fast show now, jumpers for goal posts, isn’t it!
Then came Sky, all seater stadia, tickets, being banned from away grounds…. the writing for our game and meet up with my mates was written on the wall from then on then. Slowly but surely greed, TV overseas markets became the norm. Out of the 10 of us that met in the cafe each week, just me still going…. Plus my Mum, Dad and sister row U 187/188/189/190 the new stand. My parents, now in their 80’s have said they won’t renew their season tickets, so end of an era as they have been going since the 50’s.
But, for how much longer.
The drive up and back from Dorset, where I reside now, seemed longer and more tedious as the fun disappeared from the game.
Halycon days, rose coloured spectacles, mythical magic recalled??
You betcha and I would love to turn the clock back.
You know you are getting old when you do the old joke “Who has the biggest hands in football? You then have to explain who Huge Honds is!
Immediately ban the big six from the premier league at a very minimum! Not sure if it will be legal to ban players from internationals, but give it a try, and that super league will collapse shortly thereafter!
Read a tongue in cheek suggestion that the results from the big six over the last two years were nullified, Wolves are PL champions for 2019 as we came 7th! And Liverpool’s win last season would also be nullified! Ha Ha!
And more realistically, ban the big six from next seasons PL, and Wolves will be in the Europa league next season!
Either the Super league will happen and football as we know it will be over, or they reverse decisions and we step away from the brink. Governments must get involved to stop this foolishness.
Football is a business and if COVID has caused revenue to fall, deal with it like everyone else in the world, not destroy football as we know it so they can make up for lost revenue. It would probably be good if one of the chosen teams went bust so others would be more careful with their debt in the future.
And not to mention the “entitlement” of attending every year with no penalty if your fail. No meritocracy is the disaster in football, and in life! This move smacks heavily of it being led by the USA owners, so their sports investment can be made “safe” just like America. Tell all of them to p**s off!
Much tho’ I love Ben’s piece above, these people don’t give a damn about the average supporter. They are interested in TV money and selling club-related paraphernalia (sp?).
To be honest this has been coming for a long time. From the formation of the PL up until the more recent ‘Project Big Picture’ it has been evident that the self-appointed ‘Big 6’ want more and more of the spoils. (This applies equally to the non-English teams).
But there is a certain irony here. These are the clubs which claim to be the driving force behind the CL and their domestic leagues. As such they have more ‘supporters’ and bigger markets for e.g. their replica shirts. They get more domestic TV money from being broadcast more often, they get much more CL money as they can pretty much guarantee to be in it year in, year out (except Spurs, of course !) and they get even more TV money from the CL. Yet these clubs are mostly in debt by the millions.
So, in chasing success their management have driven these clubs to the wall. Their solution ? Not to scale back their spending, not to cut their cloth accordingly, but to create a (closed) platform which will give them a significant short -term cash input (which will be eaten up in a few years) but will alienate them from the sport they claim to be ‘protecting’.
We now have this small number of clubs with huge debts trying to over-ride the administrators, guardians even, of the sport. This truly is the tail wagging the dog.
Its time for UEFA to grow some balls. Declare the Super League a non-starter, with appropriate penalties for any who defy that instruction. The National Leagues to do likewise.
And what of the players?
Are they contractually bound to play in whatever game their masters tell them, or can they opt out?
Do they have a voice in all this?
Are they intelligent enough to see the big, long term picture, where money will dry up, or are they myopic and cannot see past the next paycheck?
Surely not all of them are stupid?
Any of them who come out and support this possibly criminal project need to banned from the game, for life, or longer.
If you haven’t already read this, as a Wolves supporter, you must.
Made me come over all misty eyed.
Well said Wolves!
https://www.wolves.co.uk/news/club/20210420-wolves-condemn-proposed-breakaway-super-league/
It’s interesting when you think about it that the English fans weren’t upset that their top-flight teams were getting more money than Italian teams and Portuguese teams and, presumably Spanish, etc. teams were from television contracts and therefore, able to buy the best players away from them.
Now that it might happen to some of them, suddenly it is wrong.
(Can Italian teams work their way up to the Premier League?)
The teams that were doing most of the buying up of Europe’s BEST players are the very teams that stand to gain from the Super League.
And their fans do not want it to happen, so I think you’re wrong there Tim.
And in answer to your question – Yes.
Wolves were buying some too and everyone was proud of that. Cutrone was bought for more than the Italian clubs could afford to pay. All of our team that we bought after promotion were bought because of the television contract for the Premier League.
Why do you think players want to go to the Premier League? The weather?
I DID put the word BEST in capital letters.
Cutrone BEST?
This bit I like the best DOOG from the article.
‘That commitment stands just as strong now, in 2021, as it did five years ago. Fosun remain completely devoted to Wolves and harbour the same sizeable ambitions, which they hope to achieve through a meticulous, long-term plan.’
Let’s hope the summer sees Fosun live up these fine words.
I’ll drink to that mate.
In fact, I am drinking to it as I type this.
Multi tasking. Not bad for a chap Eh?
Chelsea preparing to withdraw from Super League.
First of the rats leaving the sinking ship?
Brilliant bit of writing Ben. This is what these rich owners will never understand! Its remembering your 1st match, the excitement, the thrill, then falling in love with the game.
I can still remember struggling to climb the steps in the newly opened John Ireland Stand as they were too big for my little legs, seeing the pitch for the first time, watching in awe when the players came out. We then beat Arsenal and from that moment on I was hooked. Gold & Black forever more.
All clubs are struggling and these 6 owners do not have the right to take our game, our history and our passion away from us for their own gain. I say us as I include all fans from the so called big 6, they don’t want it any more than we do.
The Wolves statement warmed my heart, it made it clear they don’t want this, they blame the owners not the players or managers plus they reiterated their commitment to Wolves.
To beat this we all need to stand against it, fans, players, managers, associations – everyone!!
Greed is not welcome in our game. If these owners don’t see it and won’t change their minds then get out totally and shut the door in your way out!
Benny Boy… you got me into big trouble at the time and now you’ve stoked those memories again….
The very mention of … The Two Step Dance Academy has triggered those nudges in the ribs off you when those high kicking, thong clad dancers graced the hallowed turf…. oh how Lady Twix had the hump at the very thought of where my eyes were gazing during those mesmerising pre match routines….
Yes Benny boy … thanks for the reminder….
Chelsea may be withdrawing from the super league.
Abromovich isn’t in it to make money. Nor is Sheik Little Dick. The others might be.
Hey, what if they invite Wolves now that those two teams are withdrawing?
Answer is still no. You watch the investors get cold feet.
A few withdrawals from Jp Morgan and it’s all over.
Ben’s blog and the club statement – two great pieces of writing that highlight the two most important aspects of this game. Emotional attachment and success deserved through sporting merit.
These owners just don’t get the point. The bad times are just as important as the good. The disappointments as the celebrations. They are what shape the history of the clubs and the shared experiences of the supporters.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Wolves ay we!
Looks like Chelsea and Man City are pulling out. The ESL is doomed. Some good footage of Chelsea fans demonstrating outside Stsmford Bridge this afternoon. I was particularly amused by a placard held up by one fan “WE WANT OUR COLD NIGHTS OUT IN STOKE”. Now. That really is what football is all about! The Big Time Charlie’s from West London getting a bloody nose on a wet Tuesday night in November. Good stuff from Ben in his write up. I had some of the best times ever as a Wolves fan as we emerged from the darkness back in the late 80’s. I remember those away days in Scarborough, Colchester, Aldershot, Newport, Exeter, Torquay, Grimsby, Peterborough…….. And nice to see some reassurance from Jeff tonight in the official statement.
Be interesting to see the welcome” the scheming six” recieve next season.
Pure poison hopefully.
We need to remember it’s the owners we’re upset with. Not the teams or the fans. We’re all mostly on the same side.
Yeah , you’re right prawnster .
Fans together.
Great work
The trouble with nostalgia is it’s not what it used to be.
As a little bloke and even smaller boy I for one am grate€ful for all seater stadiums. Being able to view the whole pitch is much better than only seeing about a quarter most of the time.
But I too remember climbing the steps upto the South Bank for the first time and discovering football was played in colour and not the black and white of television screens.
As a it seems the ESL breakaway is collapsing there is an upside to the nasty money grab: next time the “richer” clubs try blackmail UEFA to awarding them more of the spoils they can be told “go on then good luck with that”!
My early memories are of the mid 70s – Dougan et al.
I remember every time I walked into the South Bank and saw the pitch, I was bowled over by how green it was. That has stuck with me for all these years.
It looks like this madcap idea is already unraveling.It won’t be long till JP Morgan cut and run.
Big respect to Pep Guardiola!
A man of principle, and not afraid to show it.
And good riddance to Ed Woodward.
The less said about him the better.
Brilliant trip down memory lane Benny. My nipper was the same age as you were in your beautiful nostalgic piece and the memories came flooding back of the two of us stood behind Mark Kendall’s goal on the South Bank.
Stop press – 3 of the greedy sods are already having second thoughts as I type this at 11pm.
As the old chant goes – the Wanderers will never die!
Make that six!
Enjoyed your article Ben and agree with most of the comments. I well remember supporting the team in uncomfortable times, as a fourth division team regarded as a famous “big ” club losing games to the likes of Torquay, Aldershot and Chorley.
The joy of those teams’ supporters was clear, they had taken a scalp and years later when the FA Cup threw Chorley back in our faces, we had to suffer it again.
My joy over the Nuno era is knowing that we have a team who have taken all the scalps of the so called big six and I won’t hesitate to mention that to any supporter of those teams forever more.
As I type this out, more teams are making noises about reconsidering their position, bit late for that chaps, beating the c**p out of you will be even sweeter.
Thank you Fosun for your statement of intent today, we the supporters are grateful and look forward to the realisation of your ambitions for our club.
Looks like the unraveling is complete.
Looks like the unraveling is complete.
It’s over.
The Spanish and Italian teams are hugely in debt and the pandemic has crippled them. Receiving a “Welcome Wedge” from the ESL bankers was a key motivation plus luring the English clubs weakens the Premier League. English clubs they might be but the foreign owners have clearly got more money than sense.
Actually they’ve got so much money already why do they need the ESL at all?
Anyway, it looks dead in the water as I write.
Ben, great to have you back. I relate to that, a lot.
As welcome as the collapse of the ESL is this is far from over. In the midst of all of this, the extension of the CL format to 36 teams and the inclusion of a coefficient principle to enable bigger clubs to qualify even if failing to do so through competition has been agreed. What sanctions now for the Judas six from the PL? I suspect a fine that is comfortably affordable and/or a points deduction just enough to enable Man City to still win the league and keep those in the running for Europe within spitting distance either this season or when next season starts. And remember the perpetrators- the owners are all still in situ. The initial battle may have been won but the war is only just beginning in reality
Good Point SCW.
The timing is significant, do you think the ESL announcement was a cynical ploy to detract from the revamped CL format which benefits these teams anyway?
Interesting that the latest news is that despite withdrawals , the ESL is not going away and is insisting that it has legitimacy and that European competition needs to be revamped. This is not over at all
The principle of a club being able to be outside the leagues get promoted via promotions to the
Premier and then win the champions league is in the DNA and potential of our football.
These imposters with American and Arab connections who represent the big 6 are taking on an institution.
Exclusivity is not an option and never has been.
Man Utd and liverpool are the worst cases IMO with a quite extraordinary fingers up to the fans and Britain.
Repercussions warranted..
Fair play to Chelsea fans who started the fight back.
I be just heard as I write this it worked ..power indeed.
All six should be deducted 10 points next season.
But the FA are spineless so we know they won’t.
Agree 100% shready. They should but won’t. Everyone is hailing it a victory, hollow one as underneath the radar UEFA have managed to sneak in the new CL. The top 5 parasites will get a back hander to make sure they stay in the revised CL too I would think.
Anybody watch John Barnes on BBC breakfast this morning?
Don’t usually agree with Mr Barnes, but what he said about football greed started in 1992 when the top teams broke away from the football league. Watch it in catch up, well worth a listen. IMO.
I scrolled down to make the very same point Marnhull. Well put mate.
In the face of the super league being yet another hurdle to our, and other clubs ambitions, it is pleasing to see that fosun have used a statement on the subject to reaffirm their commitment. Of course they still have to back it up, goes without saying.
Real Madrid are an example of a club that have forgotten the ambition to achieve on merit, replacing fans with consumers and finding any way possible to clear their incredible debts. All 12 club owners should be deemed desperate and should hang their heads in shame for the damage they have done.
I know it’s a business at the end of the day, but if our football club is going to be run by an investment group, there is a massive difference between a timely statement and a grovelling apology. I’m glad and proud I support a “lesser” club today. Those elite, amazing, great, big clubs can just sod off. UTW
Haven’t been on this site for a few years.
It really looks like a conspiracy. While the proposed six team breakaway has reached its inevitable conclusion very few have noticed or mentioned UEFA’s announcement on Monday to expand the Champions League with additional teams and extra games from 2024. At what cost? Do they scrap the League Cup and/or the F A Cup to accommodate this? and let’s not forget the disruption to the 2022/23 season to accommodate a World Cup played in the desert in the middle of our winter. Yesterday’s announcement wasn’t a victory against the greedy money men it’s just a continuation via another route.
The plan was for the league cup to be scrapped- but watch this space….
For clarification, maybe not totally scrapped but either an under 23 competition or maybe lower leagues.
Either way there won’t be a route into Europe any longer.
Think biggest danger after the failure of Plan B they revert to Plan A which was Project Big Picture when announced last October. With the greater demands from added Champions League fixtures they get their way and cut Premier To 18 sides and then perhaps lower and even try to abolish promotion/relegation. Their move to hijack Premier failed last October but almost certain they will try again with a revised plan.
On the subject of grovelling apologies… I was meant to begin with a thank you to Ben for his opening piece that started it all. Great writing. Sorry Ben, Florentino Perez brings the worst out in me.
Rule L9 of the Premier League says this:
Except with the prior written approval of the Board, during the Season a Club shall not enter or play its senior men’s first team in any competition other than:
L.9.1 the UEFA Champions League
L.9.2 the UEFA Europa League
L.9.3. the FA Cup
L.9.4 the FA Community Shield
L.9.5. the Football League Cup
L.9.6 competitions sanctioned by the County Association of which it is a member.
The spoilt super six did not have prior written approval nor would they ever have got it. It beggars belief that a multi-billion pound and multi-year deal was put in place legally without the most glaringly obvious due diligence done at the most basic level.
Did they play any games?
And yet the 12 are convinced that they would have had no legal problem setting up the ESL; that they had consulted their lawyers who had assured them they could go ahead.
“Despite the announced departure of the English clubs … we are convinced our proposal is fully aligned with European law and regulations,” an ESL statement read. “Given the current circumstances, we shall reconsider the most appropriate steps to reshape the project…”
Watch this space…
Yes wolfman..this isn’t going away anytime soon.
It will be remodelled time and again until they finally get their way.
The whole thing stinks.
It would be a more honourable thing to just improve the leagues in Britain
ensuring the survival of some of the lower league clubs
Another thought from the golden shed..
Where does football…and more to the point..where does European football go from here?
Is this you in the Daily Mail?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9499467/Garden-shed-walks-residential-street-two-pairs-legs-sticking-bottom.html
Nice one Ben enjoyed that! What terrible sad times we’re living in. I feel so disconnected from football right now. The good old days seem so long ago and it’s hard to imagine that things will ever be the same again
Wouldn’t it be great if 14 premier league owners had a secret meeting with the the owners of the championship and the football league to form a new English pyramid.
Utw
What would a SuperLeague actually do to these so called Big X of their country (being six, three or whatever)??
Well let’s talk about the Big 6 in England. Do they realise that they are called the Big 6 because they are compared to the other 14 teams in the league (who are supposedly not so big). So when (or if ever) the SuperLeague happens, who will be the big 6 in that league ?? And what would happen to the other 14 teams (who are now not considered Big in this league)?
Might all end up in a couple of years with Barcelona playing Man C, week in, week out – because the Big 2 will want to form their own league. Wouldn’t THAT be exciting !!
Nice article Ben, brought a remembrance tear to my eyes.
A group of us young teenagers would go to the Wolves and would sneak into the ground when Wolves opened up the South Bank gates with 20 minutes to play.
F**k the Super League and the ‘big six’ there is only one team I will ever support.
Oh and FOWB as our Texas friend would say.
The six clubs may have capitulated but they cannot undo what they’ve done and can still be punished. Rule L9 of the Premier League was clearly broken when they signed up to the Super League. The trouble is, any punishment appropriate to the severity of the crime might leave the PL weakened and broadcasting rights devalued. The six knew this and gambled.
Illuminating that it is called the Super League , without European in the name! This suggests that Super League clubs could have been playing matches worldwide. American sport owners have a history of ripping teams away from their founding cities. Legacy fans count for very little in the bigger picture of Super Leagues.
The Super League people will regroup and try again in a few years.
Meanwhile a splendid evening over in Leicester. Now then. May the 3rd. Could yet be interesting.
Nuno is going to leave.
Usual newspaper speculation. They all leave eventually, it’s only the fans who remain. Enjoy the ride while we can.
Normally I do not read article on blogs, however I would like to say that this write-up very forced me to try and do so! Your writing style has been amazed me. Thanks, quite great post.