BEAUTIFUL GAME HAS TURNED INTO SOMETHING REALLY UGLY
IS the European Super League going to be death of football? I don’t think it is. And that’s not me supporting it, it’s just that after a couple of days of seeing the reaction to the proposal, I can’t see it happening.
The new league, which already has 12 clubs signed up - although last night it was being reported that Manchester City have withdrawn and Chelsea are also preparing to do so - hasn’t been met with the odd bit of opposition... it’s been met with widescale condemnation.
No-one is in favour of it, apart from the sides involved, so I can’t see it getting off the ground.
But why has it taken so long for people to kick up a stink about changes to the game?
I’ve seen lots of alterations over the years. I was on the groundstaff at Celtic when they won the European Cup in the 1960s... that was a competition for the champions of countries.
It was a competition as it should be - the winners of their respective leagues and no-one else.
Over the years we’ve seen changes to the FA Cup, referees behind a goal and the introduction of VAR - don’t get me started again - and we’ve hardly heard a murmur of opposition to any of those changes.
Why have people not been screaming from the rooftops before about these type of proposals?
The people who introduced VAR want to see their names in lights as having revolutionised football. They’ve haven’t. They’ve ruined it.
Priorities have changed. As a player I was fortunate enough to go to Wembley five or six times and that was the greatest occasion a player could experience.
There were plenty of top players who never had the chance to play at the famous venue. Nowadays it’s all about money for players and owners.
It shouldn’t have taken the announcement of a new European Super League to have people kicking and screaming about what is happening to our game. The make up of the 12 clubs is also a touch odd.
There’s only three countries represented and England had half of the dozen in Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea,
Arsenal and Tottenham.
And who decided that Spurs are one of the ‘Big Six’? I’ve got absolutely nothing against Tottenham, in fact it was my favourite places to play during my career. But recent results don’t suggest that they are one of the top half-dozen clubs in this country.
To me, that decision has been made by someone who doesn’t know a lot about football. But we have to concede that our football is not all it’s cracked up to be these days.
At Celtic I played with one foreign player, two at United, but now the game is awash with players coming from overseas.
Football should be looking after one another as one big family, but as ever money talks.
When Bury went to the wall a few years ago, did anyone in the
outside world care? Not at all. Their fans were devastated and I’m sure that calls were made to authorities to help them, but did anyone do anything meaningful? No.
Our game should be about preserving the tradition and history of clubs like Bury, not chasing money in a new European Super League. They are the type of club who would nurture players and then sell them for £500,000 to help the player[s career and boost the club’s finances.
But when have decisions been made to help out lower league clubs?
We’ve seen FA Cup replays scrapped, and that was idiotic.
A cup run could be a lifeline for a lower league club. Draw a big club at home, hold them and then go for a replay at an Old Trafford or Anfield.
The gate receipts keep you going for
years afterwards. And the changes in our game have done nothing for the fans.
Years ago, fans coming through the gate paid your wages. Nowadays the wages are that astronomical a supporter paying their money at the turnstile doesn’t begin to cover the pay packet.
We need to get our game back in order. Back to how it used to be.
There have been too many changes which haven’t benefited the game.
And the European Super League idea is just the latest one.
And please don’’t think there will be sanctions against the six English clubs. There won’t be. People are just getting caught up in the idea that they will be punished.
But you have to say, football is giving people genuine reason to be annoyed at the state of the sport.