Bank admits to £3bn own goal
INVESTMENT bank JP Morgan has admitted it was a mistake to bankroll the hated European Super League.
The US lending giant, which provided £3billion of funding to the 12 founding football clubs, said it had misjudged the reaction to the proposed division.
The financing package was key to helping Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, the mastermind behind the proposals, win the trust of other major European clubs.
Six English sides: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham signed up to gain permanent membership of the elite breakaway with teams in Italy and Spain.
But there was outrage from fans, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prince William – who is president of the Football Association.
Member clubs faced expulsion from the Champions League and players were threatened with a ban from representing their country. JP Morgan was also targeted as a result of its support.
Standard Ethics, which marks corporations on their sustainability and is modelled on credit-rating agencies, downgraded the bank from “adequate” to “non-compliant”.
Before the plans collapsed under increasing pressure, opponents took to social media to call for a boycott of JP Morgan.
One angry fan wrote on Twitter: “We will avoid any businesses or financial products that JP Morgan have their grubby little paws in.”
A company spokesman said: “We clearly misjudged how this deal would be viewed by the wider football community and how it might impact them in the future,” adding: “We will learn from this.” The reputational damage comes as JP Morgan’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, has repeatedly called for firms to consider the needs of workers, communities and customers as well as shareholders.
In Time magazine last year, he wrote: “Capitalism must be modified to do a better job of creating a healthier society, one that is more inclusive and creates more opportunity for more people.”