A NUMBER of angry clubs reportedly want the six European Super League breakaway sides to be KICKED OUT of the Premier League immediately.
The football world was rocked when Manchester United and City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham pressed ahead with the £4.6BILLION breakaway plan, which was confirmed last night.
Premier League chiefs are furious – and several of the other 14 teams in the top-flight are allegedly wanting them to take action instantly.
That is according to Sky Sports News reporter Kaveh Solhekol, who says an unnamed board member of a Prem club told him: “This is not civil war – it’s nuclear war.”
He continued: “Some of the other 14 Premier League clubs who are not involved in this breakaway want the six breakaway clubs to be sanctioned immediately.
“They believe the sanctions should include suspension from the current Premier League season.
“So some of these other 14 clubs are so unhappy at what is happening that they want these six clubs to be kicked out of the Premier League immediately.
“One club owner has said privately that he would be prepared to leave the Premier League if they had to.
“So he is saying: ‘Look, the riches on offer are so great, this is the future. Even if we were to be kicked out of the Premier League we would still just focus on joining this new Super League.’”
Premier League sides Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Man United and Tottenham will be joined by AC Milan, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus and Real Madrid.
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And three more clubs could also sign up for the inaugural season, which will commence ‘as soon as practicable’.
Manchester United’s American owners the Glazers are at the forefront of the breakaway plans.
And Solhekol added: “The owners of the clubs involved are totally committed, the breakaway is being driven by the Glazers, Ed Woodward and JP Morgan.
“Several of these American owners, we are being told, still cannot understand why we have relegation in English football.
“The quote that is being used is: ‘They just can’t get their heads around the concept.’”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson slammed the move, which plunged football into the biggest crisis it has faced this century outside of the Covid-19 pandemic — with the FA and Uefa threatening legal action.
Johnson claimed he would ensure the new league does NOT go ahead as the front pages in Europe’s biggest papers hit out at the plans.
The Real Madrid-led, 12-club rebels broke cover on the eve of Uefa’s planned confirmation of its own plans for a revamp of the Champions League today.
Spanish giants Real, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid — plus Italian trio Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan — make up the group.
They make up 12 of what will be 15 founding clubs, who cannot be relegated from the closed-shop elite – with Borussia Dortmund REJECTING the opportunity to join.
Five clubs will be entitled to qualify every year, with the season running from August to May.
All matches will be played in midweek slots, with the clubs insistent they will be able to continue to play in their domestic leagues and “preserve the traditional domestic match calendar which remains at the heart of the club game”.
But a damning statement from the Premier League, LaLiga and Serie A claimed any club taking part would be ‘banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level.’
The 20 clubs will be split into two groups of 10, playing 18 games – nine home and nine away – with the top three in each group qualifying automatically for the last eight knock-out stage.
Teams finishing fourth and fifth in each group will then play off to fill the final two knock-out slots, with the ties played over two legs apart from a one-off final ‘which will be staged as a single fixture at a neutral venue’.
Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham resigned from the European Club Association following the revelation of a Super League proposal, joining AC Milan and Inter Milan in doing so.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson led the opposition, saying: “Plans for a European Super League would be very damaging for football and we support football authorities in taking action.
“They would strike at the heart of the domestic game, and will concern fans across the country.
“The clubs involved must answer to their fans and the wider footballing community before taking any further steps.”
A fuming Gary Neville slammed the ‘criminal’ behaviour of clubs involved saying he was ‘disgusted’ and calling for them to be RELEGATED, stripped of their titles and incur massive fines.
Neville blasted the owners of the Big Six, labelling them ‘imposters’ and ‘bottle merchants’ and said fans need to be protected from the greedy power grab.
While ex-United star Rio Ferdinand raged: “This is a war on football — a disgrace.
“It’s a closed shop for bigwigs, The rich getting richer and the rest not even being considered.”
Jamie Carragher took aim at former club Liverpool saying he was ‘sickened’, calling the Reds an ’embarrassment’.
He was joined by Liverpool fans who hung banners around Anfield in protest, one of which read ‘Shame On You’.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
