Players, fans acclaim ‘beautiful day for football’
FOOTBALL
LONDON: Players, pundits and fans cheered a ‘‘beautiful day for football’’ after the breakaway European Super League unravelled with the withdrawal of the six English clubs who had signed up to the controversial competition.
Following a storm of protests and threats of sanctions from the game’s European and world governing bodies, the Super League said it would ‘‘reconsider’’ its next steps after it was yesterday reduced to three teams each from Spain and Italy.
Amid reports Italian sides Inter Milan and AC Milan had also withdrawn, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher declared the competition dead in the water.
‘‘Super
League is finished! Well done to all fans up & down the country!’’ he said on social media.
Manchester City was the first to back out of the venture, before Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea announced they were following suit.
‘‘What a beautiful day for football. Let’s keep playing, let’s keep fighting, let’s keep dreaming,’’ Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy said.
Manchester United executive vicechairman Ed Woodward became the first casualty of the backlash, announcing his resignation shortly before his club gave up on a project he had been influential in bringing about.
Former Manchester United captain Rio Ferdinand, a fierce critic of the breakaway competition, said the teams were coming to their senses.
‘‘Teams finally seeing sense and pulling out of the #SuperLeague . . . Football is and ALWAYS will be about the fans,’’ he said on social media.
‘‘The fans have obviously not been a consideration at all . . . disgrace.’’
Fans gathered in large numbers outside Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium before their side’s English Premier League match against Brighton and Hove Albion to protest the breakaway league.
They ended up chanting, ‘‘We saved football!’’ after reports filtered through Chelsea was abandoning the project.
The Football Association welcomed the withdrawals of the six English clubs, saying the Super League had ‘‘threatened the whole pyramid’’.
‘‘English football has a proud history of opportunity for all clubs and the game has been unanimous in its disapproval of a closed league,’’ the FA said.
‘‘It was a position that, by design, could have divided our game, but instead, it has unified us all.’’
The split in the game threatened by the Super League, and the strength of feeling it generated, led political leaders across Europe to speak out, and, in some cases, threaten intervention.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his Government would consider passing legislation to stop the breakaway, likening the plans to creating a cartel.
There is lingering anger towards the owners of the six English clubs, some pundits suggesting their stewardship was no longer tenable.
Liverpool great Graeme Souness said supporters would not be able to forgive them despite the Uturns.
‘‘They have been shown to sell their soul, basically,’’ the Sky Sports pundit said.
‘‘They were going to sell the souls of our major institutions. They were selling their souls for quick money. Our supporters will not forgive them. We are not America.’’ — Reuters
LONDON: Chelsea’s ownership climbed down from plans to join a breakaway Super League as the team climbed into the top four of the English Premier League with a far from impressive goalless draw against Brighton and Hove Albion yesterday.
The Blues were stifled inside Stamford Bridge, barely creating a clearcut chance against the relegationthreatened visiting side which nearly snatched victory in the final 15 minutes when Danny Welbeck struck the post.
Defender Ben White was sent off in stoppage time for Brighton after collecting a second yellow card.
The point moved Chelsea above West Ham United, which it plays this weekend, on goal difference and into fourth place, the final
Champions League qualification position.
There was more to celebrate outside the stadium for Chelsea’s fans who had gathered before the match to protest the club’s decision, first announced on Monday, to be involved in a controversial closedoff European league for elite clubs.
Kick off was delayed by 15 minutes after Chelsea’s team bus was slowed getting into Stamford Bridge because of the protests.
Petr Cech, Chelsea’s technical director, got off the bus to talk to the angry supporters, who could be heard calling him a ‘‘traitor’’ in video footage on social media.
About the same time, fans were seen jumping up and down in celebration as reports filtered through that the club was withdrawing from the Super League.
‘‘It was nice to see the supporters out there. It was nice to see that feeling, that emotion, and everyone’s response today,’’ Brighton manager Graham Potter said.
‘‘It was universal in how everyone got behind the issue.’’
Tuchel said he and his players had been affected by all the talk about the Super League.
‘‘We talk of nothing else but Super League before the match,’’ he said.
‘‘Nobody asked about the match.’’
Brighton is seven points clear of the relegation zone and has a game in hand over thirdfromlast Fulham. — AP