Watching the shambolic launch of a party to which Newcastle United were not invited, has been hilarious.
The thought of the Premier League’s ‘Super Six’ leaving the top tier actually filled me with joy.
These are six of the clubs I dislike most in the world, so I would have been more than happy for them to vanish into a show pony content fest, where they played with each other in a European Super League behind a paywall for all eternity.
It was obviously the first step towards a global league and designed purely for financial gain. It would have caused immense damage to our game but I was optimistic we would recover and create a new structure for domestic football.
The government would be pressured to impose regulation on the idiot masters at the FA and the Premier League to ensure no additional damage could be done.
We would implement new measures relating to club ownership, financial fair play and the development of local players.
We could create an environment in which all clubs had a more equal chance of creating success.
However, they have caved in.
Woodward has resigned (sadly, not until the end of the year) and we will have to continue to suffer Arsenal and City and the rest bullying us about with their money and arrogance.
My favourite bit of the story was Real Madrid and ESL kingpin Florentino Perez saying the competition was set up “to save football” because young people are “no longer interested” in the game due to “a lot of poor quality games.” How heroic. The idea that Perez and US bankers decided to form the league to rescue football from being dreary is wonderful.
He does have a point though.
A lot of football is boring. Especially without fans in the stands. Producers must often struggle to find three minutes of highlights to put on Match of the Day. Ninety seconds sometimes. When punters are reduced to arguing about VAR rather than describing the amazing skills and dramatic moments of a game, you know something’s wrong.
But that’s down to playing out from the back, possession football, avoiding risks and the obsession with statistics. Fear of failure plays a huge part in deadening creativity in the game.
Football is crying out for managers and coaches with a unique vision who are willing to break out of this rigid system.
But Jabba, the Perez Little League is not the answer.
