Let’s revisit the European Super League idea

Remember about three years ago, when several (or more) of the top clubs in Europe thought that they should leave their respective leagues and just play against each other instead?

That idea included six clubs from England, whose bosses thought that they were too big for the puny challenges of the domestic arena, and clearly needed something bigger and better.

And more lucrative.

But the project fell apart pretty quickly amid acrimony, recriminations and legal action. The six EPL clubs involved apologised, got a baby slap on the wrist, absolutely no-one got banned from the Champions League as threatened by UEFA, there were no points deductions as threatened by the FA, and we went on with life as usual.

As soon as I heard about it, I was immediately against the idea of the ESL. It was clearly formulated by the boards of the teams involved with no thought for the grassroots support of the clubs, and the traditional values and history of football. And while there’s still some rumbling behind the scenes, and the idea does seem to have gone away for the moment, I’m still against it.

But also, I’m actually not.

That idea that the ESL would ruin the tradition and values of football, and that the project was only about making money for “the suits upstairs” rings a bit hollow when you look at where we are now, three years on, because actually it’s happened anyway, just in the domestic league setting instead of a continental one.

The “Super League” ethos and its money already clearly exists within the Premier League.

Liverpool’s three goals last night (the first one gifted by our useless keeper, the second an absolute thunderbeagle after a very helpful clearance, and the third one just showing how squad strength in depth (via – *gasp* – money) is such a huge thing), came at a cost of £190,000,000.

That’s far more than our entire club is worth.
Not just the players on the pitch last night.
Not just the squad.
The entire business – the ground, the staff, the infrastructure, the training academy, the women’s teams, the name, the history, those solar garden gnomes in the gift shop: everything. All of it.
Versus three players.

Erik Ten Haag took charge of Manchester United less than 2 years ago. He’s spent almost twice as much on players in that time than we have in our entire 135 year history.

Arsenal shelled out just under a quarter of a billion pounds on three players this season.

Chelsea: it’s just billions. Billions and billions. A never ending pot of cash that is carefully spent over almost complete decades to avoid breaking the rules… maybe.

“It’s not sport if you can’t lose”, said Pep Guardiola, in his criticism of the ESL idea back in 2021.

That comment was about the limited relegation possibilities for ESL teams, but it’s steeped in irony now, given that his club are facing 115 charges for breaking financial fair play regulations. Charges which they will likely never actually face given that they have more money than the Premier League, can afford some ridiculously expensive legal teams and are already adopting a Stalingrad defence*.

And even if they ever do get punished, it won’t be in any meaningful form, thanks to new regulations conveniently just announced by the EPL.

How can we, or anyone else without money (or ok, yes, any sort of regard for the financial fair play regulations), ever hope to compete?

We can’t. And that’s why the Premier League is broken.

And before anyone points out plucky “little” Aston villa and their amazing league position, well yes, it is great, but even they’ve spent almost half a billion quid over the last 4 years.

The Premier League is clearly hugely divided. There’s absolutely no chance of relegation for the “Big Six”, they buy all the best players, they win all the trophies, and they have pots and pots of money. For them, most games are pretty much a foregone conclusion. The only interesting matches are when they play each other.

And that’s exactly what the ESL was going to give us.

But with added Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.

So actually, why not go and do that and make domestic football better again?

Why are we allowing our domestic game to be ruined by letting these clubs to do exactly what they were trying to do anyway by inventing their runaway league? If that’s the way it’s going to be, let them go.
It’s broken and it’s not going to get any better while they’re still here.

Sadly, of course, that will never happen.
Because of – you guessed it – money.

[sighs deeply – gets on with his day]

Bit unlucky?

A narrow defeat to the best team in the world. But still a defeat.

Ok. I thought we rode our luck a bit in the first half, and then everyone knows how the story ends when Citeh score after an hour.

Didn’t happen.

And then to get a goal, and then when they scored again, to almost get another one – I actually thought that we were a bit unlucky.

Still a defeat, but who expects anything else when they’re playing a billion pound team.

We keep fighting.

Draft Night

One of the best footy nights of the year, when we put our football nerdiness to the test and choose our fantasy football teams for the upcoming season. Ten players this time around, but the ever-sapping effect of emigration means that only six of us were in Cape Town last night, with the other four being spread across the rest of the world in four different countries, on three different continents, and in several different hemispheres. That meant that there were 19 hours between the first and last time zones: one living miles into the future, the other still almost in the 20th century.

I got drawn tenth in the draft, which meant that I got the last pick of the first round and the first pick of the next. Was this a disadvantage? No, obviously not: the draft system is ALWAYS FAIR AND EQUAL.
(Yes, I would have liked to have been in the top 3.)

The pressure of choosing each player within 60 seconds doesn’t sound too bad, but when the guy in front of you takes the striker you wanted right before your go, you have to start thinking fast. And then if you are at the end of the draft order (I was) you have to choose another one immediately afterwards.

Those are some of my excuses, anyway.

So, here’s who I ended up with:

Aaron Ramsdale – Arsenal

Wesley Fofana – Leicester City (but on his way to Chelsea, allegedly)
Tariq Lamptey – Brighton & Hove Albion
Virgil van Dijk – Liverpool
Ben White – Arsenal
William Saliba – Arsenal

Bruno Guimarães – Newcastle United
Morgan Gibbs-White – Wolverhampton Wanderers
Thiago – Liverpool
Joelinton – Newcastle United
Neeskens Kebano – Fulham
Yves Bissouma – Tottenham Hotspur

Luis Diaz – Liverpool
Luis Sinisterra – Leeds United
Raheem Sterling – Chelsea
Che Adams – Southampton

Some established names, some new names, a couple of leftfield choices that might have great seasons or might disappear from the team roster very quickly. We’ll see. In fact, looking again this morning and given some of the names that surprisingly didn’t get picked up last night, I’ve already booked in a few changes which should go through before the season starts.

As a side, I think that it looks OK. The only thing between me and inevitable fantasy football glory in May next year is the other 9 teams which looks equally good or better.
Well, apart from one of them – you know who you are.

I’ll keep you all updated. Assuming things go well, that is. Otherwise, you’ll hear nothing.

Draft night

Being a football manager is easy money, right?

Pick your best 11 players each week, spout a cliché to the cameras in the tunnel after the match, carefully grumble about the standard of refereeing in the press conference, and then head home to your massive mansion and relax on a pile of large denomination banknotes.

I’m about to prove this theory by managing my fantasy football team – the Regal Beagles – to glory in our (now) regular draft league, starting tonight.

At least, we get to pick the players this evening. It’s a social event, with participants amassing at a secret Sea Point venue and others dialling in from the USA and Indonesia. There will be beer and pizza (in Sea Point, at least).

The actual league only begins on Friday, and I think I have a pretty formidable first XI (+ five subs) lined up. Sadly, there are 13 other players in the league, and I’m guessing that they will be after some (or more) of my team.

The way to sort this out amicably is the draft system, whereby everyone takes turns to choose a player. The draft system works by randomly assigning a draft number to each participant and then running through 1-14, and then 14-1. And repeat.
So essentially, manager 1 (who happens to be The Mexican) gets to choose the best player, but then only gets to choose the 28th best player as well. Manager 14 (The Ginger Ninja), might only get the 14th best player on offer, but then he also gets to choose the 15th best as well.

Last year, I got the first draft pick and I chose brilliantly: Mo Salah, no less. Sadly, by the time the 28th and 29th picks came around, the bottom of the fantasy barrel was already clearly on show and things went badly from there on in. I thought I was terrible at being a football manager, but some of the stats nerds on the team actually did some calculations and worked out that I was just very, very unlucky.

And lightning surely can’t strike twice, right?

This year, I got pick number 7, and I think I’ve already worked out who will be choosing whom in front of me. Obviously, I can’t reveal just who my first choices will be, for reasons of tactical security. But I think we can probably say that Mo Salah will be plying his trade somewhere away from Los Beaglez this year.

Of course, it’s not serious (but it is); it’s just for fun (but it matters); it’s all about the banter (and the points… always the points).

More news on the state of play once the teams have been picked and once the season has started.

The best weekend

Football is back!

I’ve missed football. Hell, I miss it when there’s a week off for an international break, so the last few months have been tough. And after United’s amazing exploits last time around, the close season has been a bit of an anti-climax. I simply can’t get into these televised friendly “Sponsor Cup” tournaments – they clearly mean very little to the clubs involved, given that you find wholly different teams fielded for each half, never mind each game.

Sadly, that’s left me a little behind as we head into the Fantasy League season which goes hand in hand with the EPL. I have no idea who’s playing for whom, how well he is playing and if he’s likely to feature each week. These are important things to consider, as the leagues I’m part of take fantasy football very seriously. Draft night is coming up for the Togga league on Tuesday and while testing the system, I chose Goran Ivansevic and Mitt Romney as my central defensive pairing.

I’m feeling a bit out of it.

This may be the best weekend, but it’s also going to be packed full of me studying football websites. Or maybe I need to crowdsource: who would be your top 3 player picks from the EPL?
(Or top 5, or even top 11 if you’re feeling wild.)