Ronaldo’s Juve are not going to back away from the ESL without a scrap
Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus – the three defiant clubs standing by the proposed European Super League despite the withdrawals of nine other clubs – have come out swinging, with whines about the “intolerable” pressures and “threats” put on them by UEFA to drop the breakaway.
UEFA said the three clubs will face sanctions and they have started disciplinary proceedings against the trio. The Champions League finalists, Man City and Chelsea, were among the six Premier League clubs to pull out (along with Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool and Spurs) and Inter, AC Milan and Atletico Madrid followed suit, with all nine clubs declaring their commitment to UEFA and its competitions.
The three remaining clubs said in a joint statement:
The founding clubs have suffered, and continue to suffer, unacceptable third-party pressures, threats and offences to abandon the project. And therefore desist from their right and duty to provide solutions to the football ecosystem via concrete proposals and constructive dialogue.
This is intolerable under the rule of law and tribunals have already ruled in favour of the Super League proposal, ordering FIFA and UEFA to, either directly or through their affiliated bodies, refrain from taking any action which may hinder this initiative in any way while court proceedings are pending.
We regret to see that our friends and founding partners of the Super League project have now found themselves in such an inconsistent and contradictory position when signing a number of commitments to UEFA.
We reiterate that, to honour our history, to comply with our obligations towards our stakeholders and fans, for the good of football and for the financial sustainability of the sector, we have the duty to act in a responsible manner and persevere in the pursuit of adequate solutions, despite the unacceptable and ongoing pressures and threats received from UEFA.
It’s pretty pathetic, lawyered-up whining from three clubs which arguably stood to gain the most from the ESL (huge status combined with playing in a less-balanced league than England’s top flight has not been a good combination in recent seasons). To hear them talking about “suffering” and “the financial sustainability of the sector” is abject.
I wonder what fans of Real, Barca and Juve think – my sense is that there are a lot who object to the ESL, but I’ve not seen evidence of many protests against it.
