The Six Premier League clubs who agreed to join the proposed European Super League have formally withdrawn participation.
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur have all announced their withdrawal from the competition, just two days after the European Super League plans were revealed to massive backlash.
Manchester City was the first to confirm that they had “formally enacted the procedures to withdraw” from the Super League. Chelsea was next to announce their withdrawal before the other four clubs followed suit.
Arsenal is thus far the only club to have apologised to their fans. They said they had “made a mistake”, adding they were withdrawing after listening to them and the “wider football community”.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy said the club regretted the “anxiety and upset” caused by the proposal.
The ‘big six’ of English football were due to take part in the competition also containing Spain’s Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid and Italy’s AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus. These clubs have not yet announced withdrawal.
James wrote an opinion piece recently on the announcement of the European Super League, you can read this here. Excerpt below.
”So, let’s look at some of the key points from that statement. The power will now lie in the hands of football clubs as opposed to corrupt organisations such as UEFA and FIFA. Why would fans be upset about this?
All the clubs involved wanted to remain in their respective domestic leagues, but it’s looking likely they’ll be evicted from all, and for what? Trying to make money? What’s so wrong with that? Football is a business at the end of the day. It’s not the job of big football clubs to save the pyramid system, that’s on the governing bodies, who have failed at this concept time and time again.
The new Champions League format already highlights that the elite clubs will be automatically entered into the competition, so basically, the only difference between that and the new Super League is the UEFA branding behind it. UEFA are mad because they’re seeing a cash cow drift off without them on board.”