City quickly realised they were not doing the right thing
SUPER LEAGUE MOVE NEVER FELT RIGHT FOR THE BLUES
IT may have been a few days late, but City did the right thing by performing a complete U-turn and turning their back on the abomination that is the European Super League.
City fans always thought this set of owners were different. They came to Manchester, invested heavily in the club and the community, and even contributed to a sixth form college which bears the name of Anna Connell, who helped to give birth to the Blues, 127 years ago.
They were not like the Yanks over at United, who were clearly out to make a fast buck from day one. And they were not like the other Yanks, down the road at Liverpool, who were also in it for the same motive, but hid their true intentions behind meaningless mottos and disguised themselves in the cloak of the club’s – and the city’s – great history.
No. City’s owners did not want a penny from the club. They wanted a Premier League club in their portfolio because it gave a focus to their attempts to make Abu Dhabi a travel destination and business hub.
And to do that, they would invest, and try to do the right thing, while respecting the history of the club and its community.
That has worked – the profile of Etihad Airways and Abu Dhabi has risen in the UK and beyond as a result of their 2008 take-over of the Blues. And, while the new regime at City have not always got it right in terms of respecting the history, and the feelings, of their fans, they have always tried.
There have always been voices within the club who know the support base, who know the city, and their voices have always been listened to, if not always heeded – but they originally got this decision horribly, shockingly, disgracefully wrong.
The fact City seem to have been the last of the Greedy Six to sign up to the idea speaks of a club which was not 100 per cent sold on an invention which was clearly cooked up by an unholy alliance of American owners with American capitalist ideas, and Spanish club owners whose financial mismanagement has been brutally exposed by the Covid pandemic.
City, and possibly Chelsea, have the look of clubs who were stampeded into signing up, panicked by the thought of not being the focal point of world football, as the big guns of European football pounded each other on a fortnightly basis. But City, of all clubs, should have known better.
Just 22 years ago, they were standing on the brink of oblivion, fighting to make the Division Two play-offs, with their loyal fans standing shoulder to shoulder. Paul Dickov’s goal in that Wembley final, and the agonising ecstasy of the penalty shoot-out that followed is still celebrated by Blues fans – it was a beautiful moment that means every bit as much to fans of that generation as any number of title wins or Champions League attempts.
City fans understand the joy and sorrow of English football better than anyone, because they have been to both extremes.
Every little club vying for a place in the Premier League, every Leicester and West Ham defying the odds to grab a Champions League place, every Fulham, scrapping for their lives, has the empathy of real City fans.
The Premier League itself was a shameless money grab – not surprisingly, United and Liverpool were also prime players in that shabby episode in 1992.
But at least it retained the principle of promotion and relegation, so Bradford, Swindon, Bournemouth and Barnsley could all have a taste, if they were good enough on and off the field.
The ESL would not be an entirely closed shop, but the very idea that 15 clubs would have a God-given right to be in it, regardless of their performance, goes against everything that football should be based on.
But it would also kill the Premier League as a competition, with the six ESL clubs earning far, far more than the rest, buying up the best players and ensuring that the other 14 simply make up the numbers, cannon fodder as they battle for the title.
Of course, that has already
happened, but City and Chelsea have shown that finding a backer, and matching new financial strength with football and commercial expertise, takes you to the top table.
City were not part of that initial Premier League money and power grab, and the outrage aimed at them and Chelsea for playing, and winning, by rules that were imposed on them, was preposterous.
Those two clubs served notice to the rest – Newcastle, Everton, West Ham, whoever – that if they managed to land a big deal or prosper in some other way off the field, they could challenge the established elite.
It was not exactly sporting socialism, where everyone gets fair treatment, but it was a case of making the most of capitalist greed, and the rules it spawned.
This was different.
The dismissal of the central importance of earning your place, earning your promotion, and deserving your relegation, was a step too far.
The outcry from everyone – EVERYONE – who cares about English football, told the owners who have made this crass decision all they need to know.
If they did not heed it, the fans, the players, the managers, the sponsors, the politicians and anyone else with a vested interest, were going to fight this with everything they have.
Any sponsor who attached their name to the ESL would have been met with boycotts and bad publicity.
Any broadcaster who started to cosy up to the greedsters would have been met with subscription cancellations.
And any players who signed new contracts at the guilty clubs could well have been banned from international football.
There should be great sympathy for the players, and the managers, who were being put in front of TV cameras asked to answer for owners and club executives, cowering behind their desks.
It is not their fault, and as James Milner, Kevin de Bruyne, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp made plain, the groundswell of opinion among players seemed to be the same as it is among fans.
Why wouldn’t it be? They come from the same roots, from communities who cherish the values of football which have been hanging by a thread since 1992, a thread that is about to meet a large pair of scissors.
City were not thumbing their nose at Uefa and financial fair play by getting into bed with this shabby lot they would have become what they despise - a club which is interested only in money and power.
They would have had a huge fight on their hands to restore the faith and trust of their supporters.
Thankfully, they turned their backs on the shameless splitters.