mollyfamwat
As a kid I watched Liverpool win the league and the European Cup and I dreamed of doing the same.
When I became a Liverpool player I wanted to win, which these teams did, to show I was as good as them.
That history, that tradition – everything that has grown since Liverpool Football Club was founded in 1892 – will disappear when they join this supposedly breakaway Super League and are relegated from the Premier League.
Everything that makes Liverpool the institution it is will be lost. If they pull out of the domestic league, what happens to the eternal rivalry with Manchester United over who has won the most titles?
Was what was important when I wore the red shirt suddenly not important anymore? Where are they going?
Dion Dublin and Danny Murphy discuss the plans for the European Super League.
From a player’s point of view, I don’t see the point..
I’m retired now, but so are the current Liverpool players and all those who work for other English clubs – United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham.
They dreamed of winning titles and trophies they grew up with and fight for today because they mean so much to them.
They won’t wake up tomorrow and they won’t think The good thing is I just want to win a stagnant European Super League.
The plans, which were officially announced Sunday night, are soulless.
In fact, it’s incredible that they think they can put this idea forward and think it would go off without a hitch and everyone would accept it.
It’s just a complete misunderstanding of our game, our traditions, what we love about football and what’s in our hearts when we watch the game and play it.
The leagues and associations involved, as well as the fans, have already expressed strong opposition. Then I think we will see a backlash from the managers and players.
Looking at the proposals and the implications of having a player, I don’t see the point.
Part of the fun of playing is the rewards you get for your successes on the field – you deserve them, individually and collectively. That way, you won’t get one. You’d just have a closed shop playing the same clubs every season.
It sounds sterile and boring. The players don’t want that, they want to be controlled. If there is no incentive, there will be no intensity. Why do you want to play?
You will also be told that you can no longer play for your country if you are part of it. Again, this is something you dream about as a kid, so I don’t see many players agreeing with this, which gives me hope that this whole idea will quickly fall apart.
European Super League: The future of football?
The more I think about it, the more useless it becomes.
When news of the withdrawal plans broke on Sunday, my reaction was what I would expect from most people who love football: disappointment and disgust at the greed behind the idea.
The intent here has nothing to do with the love of football or promoting the game, it’s about money.
If you give in, you change everything. If the big six follow the Premier League’s lead and pull out, it will break the whole pyramid that makes English football brilliant and has been the foundation of our game for generations.
That’s what shocked me. Not the idea itself, because that has been talked about for years, but the fact that there are people in the hierarchy of the big clubs who are not smart enough to understand how damaging it can be.
I’m open-minded enough to look at all ideas about the future of football and weigh the pros and cons of each change, but I don’t see a single positive here.
The clubs involved should not only have guaranteed participation each season, but should also remember that they can sell the broadcasting rights to these big games and get more money than they currently get in the Champions League and domestic leagues.
But I think they’re naive, because I don’t think people want to watch the same games every season, regardless of the players.
Some of the participating clubs with American owners might appreciate this model, which works in the sport there. But that doesn’t matter, because that doesn’t work in English football.
The fans don’t want to see that, they want excitement. They want to see their team respond to disappointment and fight their way to the next level and the rewards that follow that success.
Making it a closed shop, with no entrances or exits, unless the participating clubs decide to do so, goes against the nature of football. It is neither profitable nor sustainable.
If implemented, these plans will have a huge impact on football in this country and beyond, but I hope they are implemented properly and collectively, by all those who truly have football’s best interests at heart.
I just hope it doesn’t have to escalate, because the more I think about it, the more useless it becomes.
Danny Murphy had a sports chat with Chris Bevan.
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