‘Super League will ruin English game’

Bristol Rovers manager Barton joins chorus of fury against European breakaway

JOEY Barton fears plans for a European Super League will “ruin the English pyramid”. Twelve clubs from across the continent, including the Premier League’s so-called ‘Big Six’ – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham – revealed plans on Sunday to break away from European competitions as we know it to form a new league.

The announcement was met with widespread fury and accusations of greed, and Bristol Rovers manager

Barton believes it could cause irreparable damage to the game.

“I just think it’s sad, I think it’s really, really sad,” he said. “But I think it’s just an indictment of where the game’s at the moment. I wrote about this and spoke about this, I reckon, a decade ago.

“I always felt they were going to go for an NFL model, I always felt they were going to try and close the shop, because that was the only way that these multi-billionaire owners could turn these football and community clubs into franchises that generate millions and millions of pounds.

“It will ruin the English pyramid, there’s absolutely no doubt about that. I think the legacy of these six clubs making these decisions will have incredible ramifications across the game in this country and probably the rest of the globe enormously.

“I sit here as a very, very wealthy individual off the back of the Premier League being formed and the money football has been able to generate in recent years.

“The Premier League was a breakaway from the old Football League, but it was endorsed by the Football Association and I think the Premier