"THEY DON'T RESPECT THE PLAYERS, SO WHY WOULD THEY RESPECT US FANS": CO-FOUNDER ON SUPER LEAGUE

Featured Image Credit: The Guardian

Football.

A sport that inspires people, divides people but in the end unites people.

Seen now in our mass rejection of a league that threatens the very nature of OUR beloved beautiful game and seen 106 years ago when football inspired British and German soldiers to pause a war.

Now look at how we have fallen. From World War one to modern day. From stopping murder to murdering our game.

These owners on the hunt for their next pay day are the epitome of enemy troops behind allied lines.

They don’t even hide their greed, their selfishness or their disrespect for the fans that line their pockets.

With one board member of a ‘big 6’ club reportedly saying: “Our job is to maximise our revenues. The wider good of the game is a secondary concern.”

A secondary concern. SECONDARY CONCERN.

AKA money over fans.

But take money away from the game and you still have football. Take fans away and leave money and you have nothing.

The people behind this new so called Super League are out of touch with the sport. Out of touch with the fans. And out of touch with the people they employ.

I can’t speak for the managers and players involved in these teams, but I can imagine how some, if not all, of them feel.

Ignored. Not forgotten, ignored. These owners didn’t forget to consider the managers and players opinions. They just didn’t respect them enough to ask them.

So ask yourself, if they don’t respect the people they pay millions each year, why would they respect us fans?

We are hurting. But so are the members of these teams.

Players that dreamed of winning the Champions League, Premier League and World Cup. And let’s not forget the teams from Serie A and La Liga as well.

These players could be banned from these tournaments due to the neglect of those that have a duty to look after them.

They joined these teams to win these trophies not to be removed entirely from them.

But that said, I do agree with FIFA’s hard stance on banning players from these competitions. For these money hungry owners will listen to nothing but the green paper they crave.

And so as one domino in the shape of big-name players rejecting these teams in order to represent their countries falls, so does the next one and the next in a ripple effect that should see the money these owners care so dearly about diminish.

These bans are tough. Yes. But needed.

However this could all be avoided.

Owners, this next message is for you.

Look up. Stop counting the numbers and smelling the cash. Take a look at social media or even on the doorstep of your multi-million-pound stadiums.

These are the people that fund your private planes. Your expensive cars and whatever else you indulge yourself in.

Now look inside these stadiums.

They may be empty now due to Covid, but you won’t be able to use that excuse next season on opening night of the (not-so) Super League.

Thanks,

Oliver Barefoot

Co-founder of One2Football and a football fan begging for this nightmare to end.