So Ed’s dreams of a new league are over for the time being. Only a few days before the collapse of the €uropean $uper £eague Ed had, apparently, been discussing the benefits to be reaped from the changes being made to the Champion’s League which will take effect in 2024.
This is the only part of the whole clustermess of which we here at WSA are unsure. If Ed really was discussing the Champion’s League he may well have been oblivious to his club’s owner’s plans to form their own. Yet this would be even more remarkable given that the Glazers always appear to have Ed do their dirty work so the chances of him being unaware of their dastardly plan would be lower than a snake’s belly!
So was Ed preparing his alibi? Is he really that cunning whereby he deliberately talks up the Champion’s League reforms just to hide his true intentions? Then, of course, if the masterplan all goes pear-shaped, as ill-thought-out masterplans generally do, he can claim ignorance, resign and blame it all on those nasty Americans for plotting behind his back.
Nah, we can’t credit a banker from Chelmsford who used to work for JP Morgan, (surprise, surprise the same outfit bankrolling the new €$£), with that much cunning. Snake yes, fox no.
Anyway, the whole sorry mess has resulted in Joel Glazer telling his assistant to tell their secretary to tell their head of PR to tell their secretary to draft a letter of apology to Manchester United supporters whereby, reading BETWEEN the lines, he is very sorry that he couldn’t present the €$£ as a fait accompli but, somehow, the news got out and spoiled his plan.
This is the first communication between a Glazer and Manchester United supporters since 2005 when the new owners were busily extolling the virtues of ongoing communication and promising that it would be a prominent feature of their ownership, (along with taking out massive dividends and mortgages against the club). Of the three, only communication seems to have been omitted over the last 16 years!
So now the Premier League and/or UEFA have to come up with a way of punishing the six errant clubs in a way that is not totally unfair on the players, managers and fans who had nothing to do with this fiasco and, in fact, were instrumental in putting a remarkably swift end to it.
Up to now relegation from the Premier League has been suggested. How does that NOT punish players, managers and fans? So, in the unlikely event that common sense prevails, that won’t happen. Also mooted has been expulsion from the European competitions. This is an even more stupid suggestion not only for the previously mentioned reasons but also because Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool have already managed to get themselves expelled without any assistance from UEFA.
In truth it is difficult to come up with a punishment in this case. Looking at the whole picture, other than morally, what has actually been done that is wrong? Yes, the owners of 12 clubs have decided to break away and form a new league. Where’s the crime there? Yes, they have acted despicably but not criminally despite Gary Neville’s comments to the contrary. So are they to be punished for trying to line their already very deep pockets with even more money?
The other problem, as earlier posed, is how to punish the owners without punishing anybody else at the clubs. Fines would be laughed at, sackings are virtually impossible as there aren’t really any grounds to sack anyone and, if you’re the owner, why would you sack yourself? If the CEOs were sacked imagine the ‘unfair dismissal’ claims based on the fact they were only following orders! Quite a quandary for the powers-that-be!
So, for the time being, the six English clubs will just sit on the naughty step and await their fate.
It promises to be a very interesting end to the season in many more ways than one!
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 