What does Super League mean for Scottish game?
The nauseous reaction from across the European football community to the announcement of a Super League founded by 12 of the richest clubs from England, Spain and Italy will have been shared by many in Scotland.
The protectionism involved in the project, funded by American banking giant JP Morgan, goes against all of the ideals of the world’s greatest sport being operated as a competitive meritocracy.
It remains to be seen whether AC Milan, Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur are simply engaged in a game of brinkmanship with Uefa astheyseekanevenbiggersliceoffootball’s financial pie. But those “Foundingclubs”,astheydescribethemselves, havecertainlysucceededinposingthe mostseriousthreatyettotheauthority ofeuropeanfootball’sgoverningbody.
Uefa had hoped their plans for a reformed Champions League involving 36 teams in the group stage from 2024, which are due to be ratified at their executive committee meeting in Montreux today, would appease the growing clamour from the bigger clubs for more guaranteed places in their elite competition. But Uefa cannot hope to compete with the €3.5 billion each of the "Founding Clubs”, and anotherthreeasyetunidentifiedclubs who will make up the 15 permanent places in the 20-team Super League, will receive simply as an initial payment for joining the new set-up.
Uefa, backed by Fifa, will throw everything they have from a legal point of view to halt the Super League in its tracks. But the clubs involved appear more confident than ever that they are within their rights to establish a competition which would change the face of European football forever.
The potential ramifications for Scottish football are not easy to assess. At the top end of our game, Rangers and Celticwillcertainlybewatchingdevelopments with great interest.
It is unclear so far how the Super League will determine the procedure for the five clubs who will qualify to play in their competition each season. The size, historical status and fanbase of the Old Firm clubs could certainly be viewed as attractive from the Super League’s perspective.
The competition would also offer a financial lure which Glasgow’s giants, irrespective of any misgivings their supporters may share with those of other clubs about the morality of the Super League, would find difficult, if not impossible, to resist.
If the Super League does go ahead, then the stature of the Champions League will clearly be diminished. There will also be a knock-on effect for the Europa League and the new thirdtier Uefa Conference League which will start next season. But those tournaments will remain important for thevastmajorityofeuropeanclubsleft on the outside looking in by the Super League behemoths.
While the financial rewards will not remotelycomparetothevastsumsthe Super League appear to have negotiated, they will remain significant for clubs in countries of Scotland’s size.
The path to the group stage of the Champions League for teams such as Steven Gerrard’s [pictured] Scottish Champions might actually become a less arduous one to negotiate on a consistentbasisifthetournamenthastobe reconfigured as a consequence of the departure of the Super League clubs.
The same theory could apply for other clubs with European aspirations such as Aberdeen, Hibs and Hearts in the seasons to come. Group stage football, whether in the Europa League or Conference League, could become a moreregularoccurrencewhichwould enhance their balance sheets and also be welcomed by their fans.
Domestically, the biggest potential impact upon Scottish football would beintheeventthateitherorbothofthe Oldfirmclubsdecidetogetinvolvedin trying to qualify for the Super League.
That would leave the Scottish FA and Scottish Professional Football League withamajorheadache.ifuefacanback up their threat to ban Super League clubsfromplayinginanyotherdomestic or European competitions under theirauspices,thenthesfawouldhave no option but to issue expulsions.
In that hypothetical scenario, how would the Scottish Premiership be regarded without one or both of its biggest clubs? It is a debate we are not unfamiliar with, the issue having been raised many times in the past when different incarnations of a so-called Atlantic League were proposed and which attracted the interest of Celtic and Rangers.
Many feel the top flight could survive andeventhrivewithoutthem,becoming a more widely competitive league and offering multiple clubs the opportunity to become Scottish champions. Scottishfootballsupporters,whoregularlydeliverthehighestaverageattend
ancespercapitaofanycountryineurope, are fiercely loyal to their clubs regardless of the wider environment they operate within. That is unlikely to change, irrespective of the formation of a European Superleagueorwhethertheoldfirmare tempted away to pastures new.
As well as the potential for the Atlantic League to rear its head again, perhaps as part of the qualification process to the Super League for teams from countries such as Belgium, Netherlands and Scotland, the English Premier League may also have to restructure.
Could that mean the longmooted involvement of Rangers and Celtic in England’s top flight may come to pass? The only certainty right now is that the European Super League clubs have drawn unprecedented battle lines in the war for the game’s future and soul.