Man City FFP: Could City push for European Super League revival in wake of ’10-year UEFA ban’?
Could Manchester City revive European Super League (ESL) talks in the wake of reports of a ‘7 to 10 year’ ban from all European competition?
City joined Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arenal and Tottenham in a group of 12 European giants who signed up for a breakaway Super League in the spring of 2021.
Huge backlash from supporters led the clubs to back out one by one and the proposals were ripped up, though it’s been suggested that Real Madrid and Juventus remain hopeful of reviving the plans.
News of City being found guilty of 114 breaches of Premier League rules will have been music to the ears of the Super League supporters as they face not only relegation from the English top flight but also – as reported by Colombian broadcaster and commentator Cesar Augusto Londoño – a long ban from UEFA competitions.
He posted on October 15: ‘UEFA is reportedly close to announcing that, if Manchester City is found guilty following its appeal, it will be expelled from all European competitions for a period of 7 to 10 years.
‘Under that measure, it would be unable to participate in the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League. The club was found guilty of 115 financial violations in the first instance.’
The European Super League would grant City the freedom to spend as they please with FFP and PSR regulations removed, but as explained by former City player Danny Mills, the risk of players not being able to compete in international competitions could be a significant barrier.
Mills told GOAL: “It’s very, very difficult.
“I’ve had this discussion many, many times. To play international football, FIFA have to ratify your competition. So if FIFA don’t ratify your Super League, none of those players can play in international competition.
“Now, as much as we think players favour club over country, when it comes to World Cups, European Championships, you win the Premier League, you win the Champions League, you’re a legend at your football club, a legend in your city. You win the World Cup, you win the Euros, you’re a legend of your country, you get knighthoods, it’s there forever.
“If I said to you now, who won the Champions League in 2017? You probably don’t know without looking it up. There’s a limit to the impact that has. But if I said name all those countries who won the World Cups, you can pretty much list them. You know who they are.
“So I don’t think the Super League will ever have legs in that way. Saudi have kind of tried it, it hasn’t really worked. China tried it before, that didn’t really work. You’re always going to need competition. And the best players will still always want to play international football.”
The lack of jeopardy
LIV Golf, a similar breakaway competition to the proposed ESL, negotiated a workaround which allowed their players to compete in the four majors and the Ryder Cup.
But Mills doubts LIV Golf is an example to follow given they’ve now filed for bankruptcy, insisting that the lack of “jeopardy” is a problem the ESL would also face.
Mills added: “How’s that gone? It hasn’t gone brilliantly.
“They found a very short-term workaround that then went ‘pop’. Because it’s not watchable. Sport is all about jeopardy. Sport is all about winning and losing. And people want fair competition.
“That’s why our pyramid is so successful, because you have relegation and promotion. There’s hope, there’s devastation when you get relegated. If it becomes very, very bland and you cannot get relegated, you get to the stage where, halfway through the season, you don’t need to bother anymore.
“How competitive are the games? Is it worth watching? No. This is why the EFL have changed it in the Championship to eight teams in the play-offs. To make it even more competitive.
“Look at teams now, you know seventh, eighth place might get you into Europe. It extends the season. It used to be a case, when you get to March, ‘yeah, we’re alright now, doesn’t really make much difference, we ain’t getting relegated, we ain’t making Europe’. You take your foot off the gas by 10, 15 per cent and some of the games become a bit of a nonsense.
“If you have a Super League, if you’re not in the top four with 10, 15 games to go, you go ‘don’t need to bother now’ and the standard falls. People don’t want to watch it because there’s no jeopardy.
“We all watch sport because of jeopardy, one way or the other. We all love a penalty shootout because, ultimately, we want to see someone miss. Sport is cruel in that way. If you take that away, it becomes unwatchable, in my opinion.”
