Dominoes are falling apart.
Day three, and dominoes are falling apart. Where Perez thought he had predicted all outcomes, every piece is falling apart. Little was the significance of statements release by multiple “smaller” clubs such as Cadiz, Leeds…but it’s different when celebrities start to speak up. Earlier today, Pep Guardiola, Marcelo Bielsa spoke up, just like Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford. It’s not internal pressure that the SL is facing, and it seems as if it’s only a matter of time until the situations gets reversed…
“Sports is not sports when the relation between effort and reward doesn’t exist. It’s not a sport if success is already guaranteed. It’s not a sport if it doesn’t matter if you lose”. — Pep Guardiola
Where celebrities spoke up — which is the likeliest to pressurize the mafia the most — fans are angered. And it does not go without consequences. Where fans started gently — Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool fans were already seen yesterday with banners showing the unhappiness with their club’s inclusion in the ugly Super League. Today, Chelsea fans took it to the roads, protesting in masses against the club’s decision. As of now, recent reports suggest Chelsea could leave the Super League due to ‘confusion’ and ‘misunderstandings’. All of this seems to have escalated very quickly: From social media, to fans with banners, and finally serious protests. Florentino Perez is a businessman, and he might’ve forgotten the power fans hold when it comes to the beautiful game — whatever that means.
While Chelsea fans have taken it to the streets, Barcelona fans have issued a statement. Seguiment FCB, who had already taken action in favor of the motion of ensure against Bartomeu in October, have condemned the club’s decision to join the Super League. Where recent reports suggested that neither of Florentino Perez and Joan Laporta had to go through a vote of the socis, Seguiment FCB refuse to accept the decision. The group also proposes discussion around the subject — discussions that never took place internally with the club’s members — and requesting a vote. If not, Seguiment FCB threatens to veto the decision in any way possible, quoting article 20. 11 that requires approval of the members.
The opposition comes at no surprise. When a club’s values is based around Johan Cruyff — A man of the people, ready to be sanctioned for his pro-Barcelona values, fans naturally do not expect Joan Laporta — who was close to Cruyff — to accept the proposal. Obviously, with the current club situation, it does seem like Cruyffism has been put aside. But fans will never forget this, being forget by the so-called Barcelona DNA, and there’s natural outrage without any surprise.
Besides internal wars between celebrities, fans, owners and clubs, politicians have gotten involved, too. While ‘BoJo’ already tweeted his opposition to the SL yesterday, matters have become much more serious.
More than a simple tweet, Boris Johnson has told the Athletic that he would be prepared to stop the games that were to occur if the Super League would come in action. Where Super League games could take place abroad instead, it does become quite of a problem when politicians get involved in such football projects.
Other than that, Amazon Prime Video has also denied any contact with the Super League concerning broadcasting the League of the Rich. Sponsors are a necessity to win the billions club owners want to gain at the jackpot, but the table would be empty without sponsors. Amazon was rumored to be one of them, and that is now off the table. There’s still Netflix and DisneyTV who haven’t reacted yet. Still, if Mr Johnson continues to oppose the project, broadcaster could be discouraged from getting involved in the Super League project should this mean to oppose governments — which become very serious problems indeed.
Manchester City are also rumored to leave — and the latest is Atlético Madrid. There’s no doubt that the future of the Super League — before its creation — seems very blurry. Only future days will tell what will happen…
