Bill

Debts ( last listed) Inter €630 m Juve € 901 m Barca € 1 billion Real € 901 m Man Utd £474 m Atletico € 999 m Spurs £1.77 billion Arsenal £200m

Now don’t go all audit accountant on me ?.

I think Craig that it's fair to say this is an American proposal. It's backed by American funds and emulates a very American model of commercial sports business. It's a clash of business and sporting cultures as much as anything else. It's also probably entirely necessary if you're carrying the debt levels of some of these clubs. Without improved earnings, it's difficult to see a sustainable future for the likes of Real Madrid .... and you can hardly expect such elite and important clubs to cut their cloth like mere mortals.

I think you'll find moral outrage being replaced by financial reality in the very near future. It's inconceivable the Super League hasn't factored in how to bring the large broadcasters and sponsors on board.

I'm not saying we didn't need to sell shares, we certainly do, only that we didn't need to sell to Halstead specifically.

To be brutally honest, the only thing that interests me about this Super League proposal is the effect it has on Rangers and at the moment we're so dependent on UEFA money that the consequences of severely devalued UEFA competitions could significantly constrain our development. But it wouldn't kill us off.

Not forgetting that many second level EPL clubs are significantly indebted and would struggle in the event money stops being filtered down in current volumes. Which is what will happen if this Super Leagues goes ahead.

Since the club had discretion whether or not to sell the shares to this fellow, I assume he must bring something other than a large bag off tenners.

I think "tiered" is the wrong word. Think of it like 1st, 2nd and 3rd class rail travel - everyone is on the same journey but all enjoying a very different experience and there are no upgrades.

The current proposal is a direct challenge to UEFA's ability to control the game in Europe. It wouldn't surprise me if the next challenge is to the domestic FA's and the creation of a tiered system of European leagues, ending the entire concept of national football leagues at the top level. You have to ask yourself - if this is what they're talking about in public, what is being discussed in private.

Surely they would have been obligated to announce it if they had been, so doesn't seem likely.

Which emphasises the jeopardy and lack of control in this strategy. An investment of £430,000 that should have increased the C1872 shareholding from 4.71% or 370,441,872 shares to 5.26% or372,591,872 shares is immediately reduced to 5.02% of 390,441,872 shares by an allotment to another shareholder.

Out of interest, do you know if the 20,000,000 share purchase was a new allotment by the club or a purchase of existing shares from a current shareholder?

I think that's a pretty brave assumption - that people in general watch what they choose. I believe they watch what they're told is the best product and which will reflect well on them if they participate. It's why $578bn was spent on advertising (social conditioning) in 2020. The vast majority of people think what they think, and like what they like, purely because they're told to. We hate to believe that but the evidence is fairly clear. Audiences will go to the Super League because of how it will be sold, packaged, distributed.

I'm delighted the money has gone to the club. The rest is utter windbaggery.

I can't see it. It's the same clubs who compete for the same trophies every year. I've already stopped watching the CL or having any interest in who's winning or losing. You might even say it's only the rare spectacle of a "lesser" club making unexpected progress that lends any interest at all. They're not changing the product, merely their share of it and removing any risk of not being at the top table forever.

I think the Super League is a far better business model for its member clubs. For the rest it probably condemns them to second and third tier football in perpetuity. In the Far East, people wear Man Utd or Barcelona shirts because they believe their local teams are worthless. It seems to me inevitable that that's where we're heading now. Give it 20 years and the unchallengeable power of these to clubs will suck the life out of not only the European arena but will probably go on to shape the structure of the game across the world.

I don't hold out much hope for being able to apply meaningful sanctions. When you see the financial strength behind the Super League, you know that teams of the best lawyers have been gaming this situation for many months and will bury the FA or UEFA in court for as long as it takes to see their proposal fulfilled. We'll see, it will certainly be more entertaining than watching the Champions League.

Yes, but only if they leave the European arena altogether and feed off another market. If the Super League goes ahead it will be the next step in progressively bleeding dry the rest of the game in Europe, just like the Champions League has done by allowing 5 countries to dominate access to it and its financial proceeds. Clubs like Rangers only survive at the current level because we are able to dip our toes into the perimeter of the UEFA money pot. Once that goes....... It's no good saying we'll be left with a more competitive and financially attractive situation when they form a Super League ... if they take all the money with them. What will happen is that the rest will compete for a share of a much smaller pot.

St Johnstone 1 - 3 Rangers FGS Morelos

The Liverpool owners who willingly go against the wishes of their manager and supporters won't hesitate to bypass Gerrard and appoint one of the established elite managers who routinely move from club to club like a pass-the-parcel game. He's a lucky man to be at Ibrox and he's smart enough to realise it.

This seems to have nothing at all to do with football or any notion of sporting competition ... and everything to do with a business model based on monopoly and assured income. How you regard it depends on which of those two issues is most important to you. In both sporting and business terms it appears to be a natural evolution of a process that's been operating in football for the last 20 years, since the Premier League and Sky Sports first showed what could be done to bring money and fans into the game, and UEFA allowed the "elite" clubs to dominate the Champions League. Initially, I didn't think this would work but having thought about it for a day I'm inclined to think it probably can't be stopped. Once the TV companies and main sponsors decide to move their interest to the Super League (and they will), the game will be up for UEFA, which will be forced to seek survival in an agreement with the Super League. This is what you get when you sell your clubs to American owners. You could be forgiven for thinking this plan has been quietly cooking for several years. If this monster takes root it will squeeze the life out of those clubs who have mortgaged their souls to feed at the big boys' trough. Personally, I wish these Super League clubs would just move to become actual US franchises - if they did it might improve the European game immeasurably.

How many of the founding Super League clubs have won the CL? Arsenal? Spurs? Man City? Ath Madrid?

I can’t see this happening. UEFA and the domestic FAs will strip their titles before conceding power to the big clubs.

The regularity with which we now swat them aside is healing a lot of hurt. The memory of them toying with our Championship teams is at last being put in its proper context. We’re no longer a club that’s arrived after a long and difficult journey - we’re a club preparing for dominance. Stephen Gerrard and his entire staff and players deserve more than they know.