With European Super League owners moving to force through change, Josh Sexton writes that now is the time for ‘legacy fans’ to do the same.
WHEN something bad happens I always try to be introspective first and foremost.
What could I have done differently? Why did I react the way I did? What can I do to make sure this doesn’t happen again, or that I at least react better next time?
So here’s my early confession: I said I didn’t care. I wrote a piece about FSG the other week and said that, as they’d done some bad and some good as Liverpool owners, I didn’t really care for arguing about whether they are good or bad.
It didn’t come from a bad place, I’m somebody who’d rather focus on supporting the team for the most part and that was what I was trying to reflect, because supporting these lads has been a blast up until recently.
Now that the shit has truly hit the fan, that sentiment has caused me to reflect. Because of course I care. Maybe I’m complicit for saying that I didn’t. Maybe if my attitude was reflected by others that is the very reason this has been allowed to happen.
That kind of introspection is important to me. I hope that adopting that attitude will make me become a better human being.
SHAME ON YOU FSG pic.twitter.com/O7CFY2BrPF
— Spion Kop 1906 (@SpionKop1906) April 19, 2021
Introspection is something that has been severely lacking across all corners of the footballing world over the past 24 hours, or even longer depending on where you choose to start this particular thread – and make no mistake it could go as far back as 1992.
When I first saw the news reported yesterday that the European Super League was very much on the cards, the first people I saw react were fans. A mixture of anger and disappointment, at least within my echo chamber of Liverpool support.
So let’s start with us. I’ve already acknowledged how my actions may have contributed to this, but have we done enough as a whole to stop this kind of thing happening? I’d love to say yes, and I acknowledge that this isn’t easy when you’re talking about literally millions if not billions of people, but Neil Atkinson said it best in his newsletter today.
Because we’ve eaten all of this up, haven’t we? Transfers, deadline days, top four battles. In a way they’re all contributing factors to the monster that this sport has become. It’s all about the money and, to a degree, we’ve always wanted Liverpool to be in a position to make the most money, sign the best players and win the most trophies.
Of course there is a flip side to that, we’d all like the club to do right by its community, to do right by us as supporters, and so on and so forth. But if we allow the smooth and only really kick up a fuss at the rough, are we too complicit? It’s worth thinking about.
Next on the list of entities to react as the news broke were the broadcasters and their employees – namely Sky and Gary Neville.
😡 | “I’m a #MUFC fan and I’m absolutely disgusted.”
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 18, 2021
💥 | “They are an absolute joke.”@GNev2 gives a brutally honest reaction to reports that England’s biggest clubs are expected to be part of plans for a breakaway European Super League. pic.twitter.com/VfJccHgybc
Sky and their employees would go on to suggest that this was all bad for football and that once again fans had been let down. That ‘once again’ there is crucial. Because fans have been let down for years and it’s not just by the owners of our clubs.
Think of the daft kick-off times in the furthest reaches of this country, the constant last-minute rescheduling of games to suit anybody but the thousands who have to make plans around work and travel to create the colour that is used to market these matches.
Think of the very inception of the Premier League, a breakaway from the old divisions and an establishment of an elite at the very top of the English game, and the role Sky played in that. They could not be more complicit and their search for moral high ground is sickening.
That of course trickles down to their employees, no less Gary Neville. What about his interest in this? He’s part owner of a Salford City side who have all but financially doped their way up the English football leagues. He’ll be hoping they reach the Premier League one day and thus this affects him directly in that sense too.
Next on the timeline came the reactions of FIFA, UEFA and the Premier League. Honestly, where do you even start? The Champions League, which was another breakaway from the old European Cup. The Premier League, which we’ve already established all but did the very same thing. Shite when the shoe is on the other foot and you stand to lose out, isn’t it?
Since then I’ve seen players, managers and many more who work directly in the game react with the same disdain, using the lack of consultation as fans as their crutch. These are the same managers and players, plus their agents, who have also played their part in tarnishing this game for their benefit, or have at the very least stood idly by as it has happened.
— Ander Herrera (@AnderHerrera) April 19, 2021
The next people I hope we hear from are those greedy pricks who are now the straw that broke the camel’s back. After the year us supporters have had, not being able to watch our teams and having the very product we’ve invested our lives into made into some mundane science before our very eyes, they go and serve us up with this.
Make no mistake, it is an absolute disgrace.
But now is not the time to get tribal about it because we could be here all day without directing our anger in a way that forces change. Let’s instead make now the time for a positive change for us. After all, that’s what these greedy pricks wanted for themselves.
Whenever I’ve discussed FSG I’ve always thought ‘be careful what you wish for’. Because, as the last 24 hours have shown, so many other owners are capable of this and worse – and all under the names of our clubs.
But now can be the time where we make it unequivocally clear who this sport and our clubs belong to.
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Well written Josh! Fallen, the shroud of the Dark Side has…
I’m a Chelsea fan of many decades (mostly when we were shite) and I’m utterly disgusted with the SL proposal. I think fan power is essential here, we’ve already seen what Liverpool fans can do regarding inflated prices at Anfield (prices subsequently not increased at the time) and this is way more serious.
Liverpool fans have generally held the moral high ground and that results in direct action. I just hope fans of the other ‘big 6 (yuk) act decisively to render the whole proposal to the junk heap.
Fans have never mattered to clubs as much as they’d like to think, no’s the time to let them know about that.
When dealing with crime you ask the question “who benefits” but in this instance the key question appears to be “who loses”. It might be too soon to make definitive statements about something on which we’ve very little detail but my first impression is that the real losers will be the real fans of the six clubs involved. All those fans who live and breathe their club as part of their daily existence. Fans who consider the winning of their league to be the pinnacle and anything else “a good day out in Europe”. We’re the big losers here and the only way we gain anything from this is if we are successful in rescuing our clubs and setting down a marker. Make no mistake, there is no high ground for other clubs, their owners would do the same thing given the opportunity. This was a boil that was always going to have to be lanced and if we’re successful then we’ll have won a fight on behalf of all fans. We’ll have possibly changed the direction of football for the better and discouraged those who would do it harm.
First off, I’m not one bit interested in how this European Super league is structured…It is a monumental insult to the supporters of ALL the majestic clubs involved.
A particular grubby aspect which leaves a bad taste is in how this travisty was concieved and agreed upon. A clandestine series of backroom zoom meetings, star chambers with mobster like owners front and centre.
You can see the scene: like the heads of the five families in the Godfather, now with a sinister don Henry and his consigliere squeezing the very lifeblood from Our fantastic football club, which for so long has been a beacon of equality and justice.
If there’s any comfort to be had (and there isn’t) maybe it’s that the great Bill Shankley isn’t here to witness the depths the custodians of our club will sink to.
Mr Henry you are a disgrace for dragging the great name of our club into a swamp of greedy rotten pigs…shame on you.
Not sure how the new Champions League is much different
Seems to me European football is broken – very very broken
Its far too easy for the big clubs to stay big and for no one else to get a chance to join the party
There needs to be a better way to distribute the income
Perhaps there is no prize money – after all – isnt sport about winning – not money
Perhaps all the income should be distributed equally between all the participants
In all the leagues and the euro comps
Its bad enough the Chelsea and City have managed to buy their success – but their success allows them to keep funding more success
What chance do Everton, West Ham, Leeds, Newcastle have with the current model