European Super League crumble: What comes next?

Almost as soon as it was announced the proposed Super League began to collapse, hitting breaking point late last night as all six Premier League clubs announced their withdrawals.

It concluded a whirlwind 48 hours that at one stage provided a serious threat to football in its current guise – although by early evening on Tuesday, it appeared that those plans were destined to fail.

After the English clubs withdrew, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid elected to leave the Super League.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin released a statement welcoming the withdrawal of clubs.

It read: “I said yesterday that it is admirable to admit a mistake and these clubs made a big mistake.

“But they are back in the fold now and I know they have a lot to offer not just to our competitions but to the whole of the European game.

“The important thing now is that we move on, rebuild the unity that the game enjoyed before this and move forward together.”

The key question is – what exactly happens next?

Ownership questions

Glazers Super League
Image Credit: Getty

The owners/executives of the six Premier League clubs involved in joining the Super League have received heavy criticism.

The other bombshell news last night was that Ed Woodward was to resign as executive vice-chairman of Manchester United.

It is a role he has held since 2012, under the ownership of the Glazer family.

United legend Gary Neville said last night that the Glazers no longer had a place in Manchester.

He told Sky Sports: “Ed Woodward is the trunk of the tree, we now need to go for the roots.

“I said last night I felt complicit, they’ve declared their hand.

“While they [Glazers] were sat at the club never making a statement, never showing their hand, yes they were taking money out of the club, there’s nothing we can do about that once the club became a PLC.

“I said last night they attacked every single football fan in this country with what they did.

“Jamie [Carragher]’s just talked about FSG having no place at Liverpool, the Glazers have no place in Manchester anymore.”

As Neville alluded to, Carragher voiced his dismay at Liverpool’s American owners.

Fenway Sports Group have owned the Reds since 2011.

Carragher had said: “I actually think the situation with Liverpool’s owners is that I don’t see how they can continue.

“They can’t just leave the club, obviously, the business is worth a lot of money.

“But I don’t see a future for the ownership of FSG at Liverpool on the back of this.”

Arsenal’s owners Kroenke Entertainment Group are also under the spotlight.

The hashtags #KroenkeOut and #KSEOut were both trending on Twitter at various points this morning.

Gunners fans are planning a protest against the ownership before their game against Everton on Friday.

Sanctions against clubs

One of the key points for debate now is whether the six English clubs have broken any Premier League rules.

Premier League Rule L.9 states that “except with the prior written approval of the Board, during the Season a club shall not enter or play its senior men’s first team in any other competition” except the four domestic competitions, Champions League, Europa League and competitions sanctioned by a County Association.

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It will also be interesting to see how other Premier League clubs react to the withdrawal decisions made by the six Premier League clubs involved in the Super League.

Sky Sports reported this morning that the 14 other clubs are “divided” on whether the clubs involved should be punished, and to what extent.

Changes to the system?

Could England follow the German ownership model and implement the ’50+1′ rule?

The rule states that teams must have a controlling stake owned by its fans.

The fans must own 50% of the club’s shares, and an additional share, meaning they have the casting vote on any decisions made.

The Football Supporters’ Association are pushing for changes to be made.

They released a statement saying that a “return to status quo is unacceptable” after the government announced a fan-led review of football.

The FSA said: “We will work with all parties when it comes to securing the future of football and the fan-led review must adopt measures which stop this situation ever developing again.

“Additionally it should consider a whole host of options such as removing barriers to partial or full supporter ownership, automatic supporter positions on boards, and implementation of something akin to Germany’s 50+1 rule which gives fans an enormous voice in that country.”

Featured Image Credit: Getty