Everton
have strongly condemned the six Premier League clubs who have agreed to join
the new European Super League.
Everton say the clubs - Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City,
Manchester United and Tottenham - are behaving with "preposterous
arrogance", are "tarnishing the reputation of our league and the game" and
have called for the plans to be withdrawn.
The world of football has been shaken by the proposal, which would see the
six Premier League sides join three from Spain and three from Italy to form
a breakaway European Super League, with the games to be played in midweek.
The Real Madrid and Super League president Florentino Perez says the plans
will 'save football', but they have been universally condemned throughout
the game. The 14 Premier League clubs who are not included are meeting on
Tuesday to discuss how to proceed.
Everton statement: 'Six clubs
disrespecting every other'
"Everton is saddened and disappointed to see proposals of a breakaway league
pushed forward by six clubs," read a statement from Everton's board of
directors released on Tuesday morning.
"Six clubs acting entirely in their own interests.
"Six clubs tarnishing the reputation of our league and the game.
"Six clubs choosing to disrespect every other club with whom they sit around
the Premier League table.
"Six clubs taking for granted and even betraying the majority of football
supporters across our country and beyond.
"At this time of national and international crisis - and a defining period
for our game - clubs should be working together collaboratively with the
ideals of our game and its supporters uppermost.
"Instead, these clubs have been secretly conspiring to break away from a
football pyramid that has served them so well.
"And in that Pyramid Everton salutes EVERY club, be it Leicester City,
Accrington Stanley, Gillingham, Lincoln City, Morecambe, Southend United,
Notts County and the rest who have, with their very being, enriched the
lives of their supporters throughout the game's history. And vice versa.
"The self-proclaimed Super Six appear intent on disenfranchising supporters
across the game - including their own - by putting the very structure that
underpins the game we love under threat.
"The backlash is understandable and deserved - and has to be listened to.
"This preposterous arrogance is not wanted anywhere in football outside of
the clubs that have drafted this plan.
"On behalf of everyone associated with Everton, we respectfully ask that the
proposals are immediately withdrawn and that the private meetings and
subversive practises that have brought our beautiful game to possibly its
lowest ever position in terms of trust end now.
"Finally we would ask the owners, chairmen, and Board members of the six
clubs to remember the privileged position they hold - not only as custodians
of their clubs but also custodians of the game. The responsibility they
carry should be taken seriously.
"We urge them all to consider what they wish their legacy to be."
What have the other Premier League clubs
said so far?
Aston Villa - Chief Executive Christian Purslow told the
BBC: "Right now in the Premier League, Leicester and West Ham are in third
and fourth place in the table and under any normal arrangements they would
have access to the Champions League. Under this new proposal they would be
leap-frogged by teams below them in the League.
"Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest have won the European Cup three times -
Spurs and Arsenal and Manchester City have not won it at all. These
proposals do away with sporting merit. It would enable a small number of
clubs to be in this competition come what may, and for millions of people in
football that goes against everything that the sport stands for.
"The idea is that the uncertainty that comes with sport that makes it so
compelling and makes it the sport that we love is actually damaging to the
business models of these huge clubs. And so this format is designed to take
away that uncertainty, to give predictability to their businesses so that if
they have a poor year, if they're badly managed, they're still in the
Premier tournament. Does that sound like sport or football to you? It sounds
to me like a grotesque concept.
"There is a pyramid, it's based on merit. And the pinnacle of that pyramid
is the elite European competition. Most importantly, the fans view that
competition with great prestige, as the elite, a competition with history.
Do you think the fans of those clubs would want to win a made up new
tournament that has no legacy? I don't for one minute think the fans of
Liverpool and Manchester United would."
Brighton - Statement released on Tuesday: "It has been
hugely encouraging to see universal opposition and widespread condemnation
from across the game from various football authorities, fans, players,
commentators, pundits and media, and all-party opposition in government.
"Ultimately, we are committed to a thriving domestic league and pyramid with
the ultimate reward of European competition for achievements and success on
the field.
"We remain open to a transparent, calm and rational dialogue with all clubs
to achieve this."
Burnley - Owner Alan Pace statement: "A breakaway Super
League should never have happened, but this is about much more than club
self-interest and is an example of how the governance of football in this
country and throughout Europe needs to be reformed.
"The six Premier League clubs taking this step have turned their back on our
moral duty as custodians of the game to protect English football and, the
spirit of the sport, at all costs. Weak governance has led us to this point.
Therefore, today I am calling on Boris Johnson and Oliver Dowden to follow
their welcome intervention and now appoint an independent regulator to
protect English football with legislation.
"As a former financier, I understand the commercial considerations for these
clubs and can appreciate their frustration at being the largest revenue
drivers for the UEFA Champions League, without receiving the same levels of
influence and reward. However, this is a move which does not treat fans or
the game's history with the respect it deserves and is not the solution. We
need to ensure that football is protected. The game is bigger than all of
us, and its future cannot be compromised by self-interest. The contempt the
proposals have received was inevitable.
"It is truly a shame that it has come to this. We are the greatest league in
the world and we can do more to bring people together and set the path
forward for all and not just the few. While we too at Burnley have ambitious
plans to grow the club's revenues, those plans have always been on the back
of performance, both on and off the pitch, and not artificial protectionism.
"As my business partners and I have now been working and living in Burnley
for several months and are in the process of moving permanently to the area,
I would greatly encourage my fellow chairmen to walk the streets around
their local communities and get to know them personally, rather than
creating more distance between themselves and fans.
"This is also why I invite No10, the Government and the Department for
Digital, Culture, Media & Sport to now legislate. Over the coming days, I
will be working hard alongside my fellow club owners and governing bodies to
fight these proposals and find a solution to improved football governance in
this country."
Crystal Palace - Chairman Steve Parish told Monday Night
Football - "This is beyond the pale; this is incredible what's going on. For
these clubs to want to invent a tournament, based on an arbitrary period of
history, to leapfrog clubs in Europe that have a much stronger history over
a longer period of time, and just say 'we're the gilded elite and it will
never change' is abhorrent to every single football fan in this country and
every single football fan around Europe…
"In the end, if they've got the authority to run off and start their own
league and can cancel the agreement they've got with us then I'm sure the
rest of us have got the authority to start our own one as well. But none of
us want that. We've got to get round the table and we've got to try and find
solutions.
"Firstly, UEFA have got to find a solution, because in the end, right now,
it's not our league they're walking away from. They don't actually want to
walk away from our league, they want to walk away from the Champions League.
There's a lot of things that can happen before we get to a point where we
have to take those kind of sanctions."
Fulham - Owner Shahid Khan statement: "I join with the
entirety of Fulham Football Club, and 13 fellow Premier League clubs, in
denouncing the proposed European Super League.
"The concept will not serve the game or our most important stakeholders -
the generations of football fans here in England and throughout Europe who
have been as loyal to their domestic leagues, and the opportunities they
offer, as they are to their favourite teams."
Leeds - Owner Andrea Radrizzani on Twitter - "Absolutely
against the sporting spirit, the dream of millions of fans to conquer the
championships on the field, with planning, vision, work. Kill dreams of club
players and fans. The teams are fans and WE are the keepers of the club."
Leicester - Leicester have so far declined to comment.
Newcastle - Sky Sports News understands Newcastle United as
a club strongly oppose the proposals of the big six as they meet the other
13 clubs today.
Sheffield United - Sheffield United have so far declined to
comment.
Southampton - Southampton have so far declined to comment.
West Brom - West Brom have so far declined to comment.
West Ham - West Ham have so far declined to comment.
Wolves - Wolves have so far declined to comment.
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