MP hits back as cracks appear in super league plan
BIG CLUBS NOW HAVING SECOND THOUGHTS
GATESHEAD MP Ian Mearns is leading opposition from backbench MPs to plans from six “elite clubs” to create a European Super League – as cracks started to appear in the controversial proposals last night.
Chelsea were last night preparing to withdraw from the Super League, with Manchester City likely to follow.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is understood to have driven the decision, having listened to fan protests and opted to pull out of the new European league plans.
Chelsea are the first of England’s ‘Big Six’ clubs to choose to quit the competition, which was only announced on Sunday night.
Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona have reportedly also withdrawn, but it is understood Manchester United and Liverpool have not changed their position.
Earlier Mr Mearns had voiced fury at the Super League plan.
He said: “Billionaire club owners are attempting to rip apart the fabric of our national sport to further their own interests.”
Mr Mearns has sponsored a House of Commons motion, signed so far by 24 MPs from across the country.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that “nothing is off the table” as the Government attempts to block the plans – including potential laws to prevent the Super League. This could involve giving fans a legal right to have a say in how clubs are run.
Labour leader Keir Starmer, and leaders of other parties such as the Liberal Democrats, have also condemned the proposals.
The Commons motion drawn up by Mr Mearns is a way that backbench
MPs can also make their voices heard. It reads: “This House condemns the proposals to create a breakaway European Super League which is based on cynical greed rather than sporting integrity and merit.”
The motion says: “Opposition to those plans goes beyond Premier League fans and extends to fan groups in the women’s game, the English Football League, non-league and grassroots football.”
It highlights “the potential massive financial impact of that proposal on grassroots solidarity payments in the event that elite clubs are so allowed to hoard even more wealth.”
MPs signing the motion include Jarrow MP Kate Osborne, Easington MP Grahame Morris, Wansbeck MP Ian Lavery and City of Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy.
MPs from across the country have signed it and other MPs are likely to sign it over the next few days.
Six Premier League clubs – Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City – had signed up to a new European
Super League. The breakaway tournament would see the establishment of a ‘closed league,’ without the threat of relegation for the 12 founding members.
The dozen teams – which also include Spanish sides Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, as well as Inter Milan, Juventus and AC Milan from Italy – have come in for scathing criticism across world football.
However, the planned league looked in big trouble last night even as opponents drew up their plans to fight it.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden met representatives from the Football Association, the Premier League and football fan groups yesterday to discuss action against the proposed league.
Former sports minister Tracey Crouch has been appointed to lead a review of football governance. She said: “Both the Prime Minister and the Culture Secretary have set out very robust views on this.
“They have made it very clear that they will do all they can to stop this from going ahead.”