It is back to the drawing board for the European Super League breakaway soccer competition. All six English clubs have withdrawn and many news reports in the sporting news say the idea is now dead in the water.
Breakaway super league founder and Juventus chairperson Andrea Agnelli said Wednesday the league can longer go ahead after the six English clubs withdrew. Asked if the project could still happen, Agnelli told Reuters: "To be frank and honest no, evidently that is not the case."
#SuperLeague official statement
"We are reconsidering the appropriate steps, in order to reshape the project".
"We're proposing a new competition, because current one isn't working. English clubs have been forced to leave, due to outside pressure".
It's gonna be suspended. pic.twitter.com/2GWXSVhTr4 — Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 20, 2021
Several managing directors and chief executives of the English clubs have announced they will step down as a result of their support for the ill-fated league. Liverpool's principal owner, John W Henry, apologized to fans, manager Jürgen Klopp and players for "the disruption I caused" by signing up to the proposed breakaway."
USA Today wrote in an editorial published Wednesday Asia time that American owners of European football teams "learned the hard way that just because they play football in England, you can't run a Premier League team as if it was in America. It's one thing to be greedy. It's quite another to be so blatantly obvious about it."
"The owners of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United, respectively, saw their grand plans for a new cash cow blow up in their faces just 48 hours after it was announced. After widespread and unrelenting condemnation from players, fans, sponsors, politicians - even the future king of England - the clubs beat a retreat.
"The super league, as it turns out, is neither super nor is it likely soon to even be a league."
European Football Union, or Uefa, president Aleksander Ceferin welcomed the news that more clubs have withdrawn from the planned breakaway league and appeared to rule out any sanctions. "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."
Nevertheless, the super league announced it will be taking steps to "reshape the project" after the English clubs confirmed they were withdrawing. "Given the current circumstances, we shall reconsider the most appropriate steps to reshape the project," the Super League said in a statement Wednesday, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported.
Despite the mass departure of the English clubs, the Super League remained defiant in its aims to propose a new European competition, saying the "existing system does not work."
"Our proposal is aimed at allowing the sport to evolve while generating resources and stability for the full football pyramid, including helping to overcome the financial difficulties experienced by the entire football community as a result of the pandemic," the statement said.
A total of 12 top European teams from England, Spain and Italy announced Monday that they wanted to found their own league. It was to consist of 20 teams with 15 permanent members.
The announcement sent shockwaves around the world and drew wide-ranging condemnation from politicians, federations and fans. The establishment of the league was in direct competition with the Champions League of Uefa.
Manchester City's withdrawal was followed closely by Liverpool FC, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal FC and Chelsea followed soon after. The sports press is also rife with rumor that Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are preparing to walk away.
Britain's national newspapers reacted to the 'Big Six' clubs' exit: "The People's Game...ESL looks doomed as clubs pull out" is Metro's front-page lead. "Let us all warm to the bonfire of the vanities," Henry Winter said in The Times
John Payne wrote in Metro that "the proposed European Super League fell apart...following 48 hours of almost constant condemnation of the 12 breakaway clubs. With the Premier League's biggest clubs no longer involved in the Super League, there appears to be no future for the short-lived competition - though there could still be more twists and turns with Real Madrid chief Florentino Perez likely to try and cling onto his brainchild."
