A RED CARD FROM WILLS
PRINCE BACKS FANS’ OPPOSITION TO NEW SUPER LEAGUE
PRINCE WILLIAM has joined the battle to block England’s Big Six football clubs joining a £3.5billion breakaway European Super League they fear could kill the game.
After Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Arsenal signed up, the Aston Villa supporter tweeted: ‘I share the concerns of fans about the proposed Super League and the damage it risks causing to the game we love.’
He said: ‘Now, more than ever, we must protect the entire football community – from the top level to the grassroots – and the values of competition and fairness at its core.’ The Duke of Cambridge’s plea came after Boris Johnson also gave the plan a red card. The prime minister said: ‘I think it’s wrong’, and vowed to ‘make sure this doesn’t go ahead in the way it’s currently being proposed’.
European football bosses at Uefa threatened to expel rebel clubs from its own Champions League – with their stars facing international football bans.
That could see players Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling miss the World Cup next year if England qualify. Last night, the government
promised a ‘fan-led review’ chaired by ex-sports minister Tracey Crouch to investigate reforms, possibly including German-style fan ownership of clubs.
The PM, visiting Gloucestershire, said: ‘I don’t like the look of these proposals.’
He said they could ‘take a lot of the cash away from clubs that really need it’, adding: ‘I think it’s going in the wrong direction for football – for great English and British clubs – and it’s going in the wrong way for fans. I can’t think that it’s the right way forward.
‘We are going to look at everything we can do with the football authorities to make sure this doesn’t go ahead in the way it’s currently being proposed.’
The English clubs confirmed late on Sunday they were joining the league – with Italy’s AC Milan, Inter and Juventus and Spanish giants Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
It would rival Uefa’s Champions League and, as founding members, they would never be relegated while sharing £3.5billion proceeds. Leagues and football associations in England, Spain and Italy all condemned the plan.
But markets seemed to approve. Shares in Manchester United rose ten per cent as trading began on the New York stock exchange yesterday.
Last night, hundreds of fans shouted abuse at ‘rebel’ Liverpool as they arrived at Leeds United, whose players warmed up in T-shirts saying ‘football is for the fans’. Culture secretary Oliver Dowden told MPs earlier: ‘We’ll do whatever it takes to protect our national game. It was a tone-deaf proposal but owners of those clubs won’t have been able to ignore the near-universal roar of outrage from the football community over the past 24 hours.’ Ex-Lib Dem leader Tim Farron called for laws to make breakaway clubs ballot fans, adding: ‘English football must be saved and parliament has the power to do it.’
MANCHESTER City and Chelsea appear set to be sensationally kicked out of this season’s Champions League semi-finals after they signed up to the breakaway European Super League.
Their decision to join a competition which has sent shockwaves through football looks likely to see them denied a chance to lift the European Cup, with another founding ESL member Real Madrid also facing expulsion.
Six Premier League sides – City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham – are part of an initial group of 12 clubs seeking to establish a new 20-team continental tournament ‘as soon as practicable’.
If the plans succeed, it would devastate the Champions League. A statement from Uefa and the English, Italian and Spanish leagues on Sunday said it would consider ‘all measures, both judicial and sporting’ to stop it.
On their involvement in the last four of the Champions League, Uefa executive committee member and head of the Danish Football Association Jesper Moller said: ‘The clubs must go and I expect that to happen on Friday.
‘Then we have to find out how to finish (this season’s) Champions League.’
Moller’s comments came after Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said he wanted bans on the rebel clubs to be imposed. ‘We’re still assessing with our legal team but we will take all the sanctions we can and we will inform you as soon we can,’ he said. ‘ My opinion is that as soon as possible they have to be banned from all our competitions and the players from all our competitions.’
Real are due to face Chelsea in the Champions League semi-finals next week and Manchester City are drawn against Paris Saint-Germain, who have not signed up to the Super League.
And players at the breakaway clubs also face being banned from international competitions such as the World Cup and Euros.
Ceferin said: ‘ The players will be banned from playing the World Cup, and so they will not be able to represent the national teams at any matches.
‘This idea is a spit in the face of all football lovers and our society as well.’
United midfielder Bruno Fernandes appeared to criticise the idea. He wrote, ‘Dreams can’t be bought’ in response to a post by Wolves’ Daniel Podence, who said the competition could not replace the Champions League’s history.
Former Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil tweeted: ‘ Kids grow up dreaming to win the World Cup and the Champions League – not any Super League.’
Ex-United star Ander Herrera, now of PSG, wrote: ‘I believe in an improved Champions League but not in the rich stealing what the people created, which is nothing other than the most beautiful sport on the planet.’