02 Jan 2018 03:52:37
What do the Everton fans on this website think about the "top" cubs forming a European League - especially if it means clubs leaving their domestic leagues?
Would you change your opinion if Everton were one of the "top" clubs (be honest) ?
What do the Eds believe are the pros and cons of a European League for football as a whole - and, as has been mooted, are the "top" clubs pretty much set on this course no matter what FIFA, UEFA, national associations, or whoever might do?

{Ed025's Note - i think it will happen but not in the near future bobby, it will decimate english football and seeing as we have no chance of being involved i hope it falls flat on its face mate..

1.) 02 Jan 2018
02 Jan 2018 08:58:18
I'm with ED25 the club's will be Chelsea Utd City Liverpool spurs and Arsenal with only 4 making the cut when it happens every other league will go the same way as the Scottish premiership.

2.) 02 Jan 2018
02 Jan 2018 09:13:19
I hope it doesn't happen either, it will be a disaster for Everton and any club left behind in there domestic leagues, I really hope this won't happen Ed002 gave a good insight into what's going on at the minute and to be honest I am very worried about it.

{Ed002's Note - It has been on the cards for a number of years Stef and is the natural next big step.}

3.) 02 Jan 2018
02 Jan 2018 13:29:41
someone still has to finish bottom of a super league, what will their gates be like then?

{Ed002's Note - I am not sure you grasp what s proposed.}

4.) 02 Jan 2018
02 Jan 2018 14:15:47
Call me a traditionalist but I like the current format, imagine the derby's we'd miss out on. Even though we lose pretty much every year I'm still buzzing every day derby day comes around. Also lose a few London derbys too, not sure if it would also mean the wouldn't be part of the FA cup, I love it when a non league team gets drawn against the big teams. We'd lose that too.

5.) 02 Jan 2018
02 Jan 2018 15:37:04
I personally Bobby would not buy into it. Watching CL is different cause it’s a goal anyone can achieve. A league on its own without my team or the goal of reaching it would have zero appeal to me. Sure it will sell to all these country’s that have no decent football, these supporters don’t really understand or look at it with the same passion we do for our club and league fixtures. They just see who is winning at the time and support them.

6.) 02 Jan 2018
02 Jan 2018 15:45:54
just go back to the Liverpool Senior cup as in the early late 50s/ early 60s second teams playing qualifiers Tranmere and all local teams involved in early rounds always ended up Everton v Liverpool in final good fun.

7.) 02 Jan 2018
02 Jan 2018 15:56:30
I would be interested to know if the PL would want to try hamper the formation of a European league as it may impact on the revenue streams going to the PL. A question for Ed002 as you think this is a likely thing to happen what do you think the format of the league would be and who is likely to run it?

{Ed002's Note - The Premier League has no way of hamering it at all. UEFA and FIFA are looking for other solutions. It remains the greatest fear of UEFA and all major national authorities that one day this will happen – which has resulted in a counter-proposal being drafted by UEFA. There are actually two counter-proposals to the pan-European breakaway that have partially been backed by UEFA to try and save their own skin. The first proposal is to rename and change the format of the UEFA Champions League to make it an elite closed-shop pan-European league with a fixed number of teams – and these would be the same teams every year and be based on past winners of the Champions League and European Cup and a few (not specified) more. It would then require the restructuring of the Europa League and the possible introduction of a lower-tier European competition again. Although they have yet to flesh out the detail and there is now a major concern that the impetus for this is not coming from Europe, although one major Football Association has given their support and discussions have also been held with some of the the leading clubs from England. The American backer, Stephen Ross of the Miami Dolphins, has on several occasions requested a meeting with an extant group of "elite" sides considering the pan-European breakaway to discuss his proposals. They have yet to respond but having identified the source of much of the funding (and that raising a concern) will wish to discuss it between themselves first. This has dragged on for a year and nothing has happened. However, UEFA are now considering yet another proposal that would see some places in the CL fixed (probably to previous winners) and then see it supplemented by Champions and second place sides each season. This complicates matters again as it means the re-introduction of a third competition or the significant restructuring of the EL. The plan being put to clubs is a summer/preseason tournament that will evolve in to a parallel league, and of course eventually in to a complete breakaway for these clubs. As a first step to all of this, UEFA have negotiated minor changes that will see the four entrants from England, Germany, Spain and Italy enter the existing Champions League group stages without any qualification beyond their National League position (so no entry to qualifying rounds). This has been agreed by the European Club Association but UEFA did not want to discuss it with the separate group of “elite” sides discussing the Pan European League (and that “elite” group includes three English sides) as they are aware they will get no more than a shrug and no long-term support. The second major counter proposal is a Chinese proposal from the Dalian Wanda Group proposes to open up the lucrative Chinese and Far Eastern media markets by extending the league to include Chinese and South American clubs. This has yet to be discussed by the "elite" sides as a group although the proposals have been presented to a number of them already on an individual basis. The proposals are very broad-based and lack detail - their selling point is significant additional income for the "elite", but not for any one else.

If the proposal for a breakaway goes ahead, there is every likelihood that the big money from television, sponsorship etc. would go with a breakaway league. It would completely rupture the operations of UEFA and I would expect it would require national associations like the FA to restructure their leagues. So the PL would then disappear and something new would arrive.

A new body would run the league with a likely board made up from the initial member sides (which looks likely to be 16) and some independent non-exec directors. Nothing has been decided but the subject is regularly discussed.

As for my opiion, I hold a reasonably strong view in terms of the need to restructure football in Europe in any case. For me an eventual a breakaway pan-European league would force the restructuring of many of the national leagues, possibly resulting in a British league with perhaps only a couple of professional tiers and then regionalised amateur leagues below that. Financially I do not see that so many pro sides can be sustained within the sport which, like it or not, will see more and more money going in to the highest levels of the game. Timing wise 2025-2028 might be realistic, but some are pushing for earlier.}

8.) 02 Jan 2018
02 Jan 2018 16:46:39
Why would any prem team want to leave the biggest brand in football, the reason other European countries want this is because there leagues are on the decline in terms of money and commercial revenue, there is a reason why sky let the champions league go to bt as no one wants to watch to the later rounds, the premier league is watched because of the excitement that our league has, different styles week in week out.

{Ed002's Note - The three Premier League clubs involved see it as a natural progression football wise.}

9.) 02 Jan 2018
02 Jan 2018 18:01:46
Natural progression has nothing to do with it. It’s all about money. Always will be. Clubs don’t give a toss about who they play it’s how much they can get. I am sure if they thought they could get in the Chinese superleague then they would.
Greedy players, greedy agents and greedy clubs.

10.) 02 Jan 2018
02 Jan 2018 19:30:35
Woburnlue: fans are greedy too - would anyone really decline the opportunity to compete in a “super league” because of an altruistic belief in the “good of football” rather than desperately wanting their own club to be winners?

11.) 03 Jan 2018
03 Jan 2018 09:58:07
Thanks for the comprehensive reply ed002. If this does come to fruition then I can see the progression over time from regional based teams within countries to more of a national base. Which then just becomes more of a rich man's world cup, unless the funding of the less wealthier regional teams is really taken into consideration at the outset.

{Ed002's Note - Financially I do not see that so many pro sides can be sustained within the sport which, like it or not, will see more and more money going in to the highest levels of the game. Governments will ensure that grassroots sport get funding but everything in the middle (Southern, Northern, Conference, Division 2, Scottish Divisions 1-3, League of Wales will not get the funding needed to continue on any sort of professional basis. For me, clubs should already recognise this and put their efforts in to getting there finances in order to see if they can make it to a British professional league that will need to flourish without perhaps six sides that have gone down the pan-European route - and have gone for good. Clubs like Accrington Stanley will need to carry on as amateurs or face extinction (yet again).}