Khan: Super to see fan fury over new League
THE London mayor, Sadiq Khan, who is seeking a second term, said he felt angry and betrayed by the owners of the Premier League clubs who tried to force through plans for a European Super League.
Khan is a Liverpool fan and the capital is home to three Premier League clubs – Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. He said the unity shown by fans and authorites to bring down the Super League last week was uplifting but he believed football was in urgent need of regulation.
“I don’t think we should forget how we all felt in real time. I felt let down. I felt angry, I felt betrayed. That’s the relationship we have with our club, it goes deep,” Khan said.
“It was just lovely to see. People say we are a country where people are apathetic or cynical. Not true. People do care, and what we need to do is inspire people the way these club’s histories have inspired fans over the last seven days,” Khan told the Guardian.
He said he was in favour of a regulator with “real teeth” or legislation allowing fans to part-own their club.
“This isn’t going to go away. It’s going to come back... because there’s a disconnect between owners and supporters over what football is about.
“There’s a reason why no German clubs took part in the Super League, and that’s because of how the clubs are owned and regulated there.”
“Whether it’s the competition law authorities, whether it’s working with UEFA to take punitive action. There’s nothing stopping parliament bringing about a regulator with real teeth or putting in place legislation to allow fans to part-own the club.
Khan also spoke about the online racist abuse aimed at footballers in recent times. “It’s been going since I was a boy, so this is not new. Social media has exposed everyone to ... what [John] Barnesy went through, what Raheem Sterling experiences now on social media. It vexes me that people like Thierry Henry are coming off social media because of the racist crap that these footballers get. The social media companies have algorithms that can take out that stuff, they can employ staff. I have been imploring them to do so.
“Racism is one of those things where the ripples of hatred are felt even by those who it’s not directed at. So you may not be the person on the receiving end of racism, but when you see it as a person of colour, you feel it. I don’t want to denigrate the progress made. I can go to watch a match in the Premier League and have a good experience. You go to a game in Italy or Spain and if you’re my colour, it isn’t the same,” he said.
Also, in another of his “big picture” idea, he wants to bring an Indian Premier League team to London – be it for an exhibition or part of The Hundred. Khan said he has been in talks with Surrey and the England cricket board about his plans, and how to use “megastars” to help spread the appeal of the game.