[mancunian_mike]

Brian fans don’t expect any of what you are suggesting (a say in transfers, etc) but they do want a say in how the game is structured and run, and how football clubs, which are not shops but the heart of many communities, are safeguarded. If you see yourself as a customer of a business then fine, presumably when it all goes wrong you can shop elsewhere. That isn’t the way I see myself and I would doubt that is how most other football supporters see themselves.

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[mancunian_mike]

Good to know Nike, best of luck to SOS on there discussions. I listened to a podcast last week with the head of the FSA and he was saying that there are plans proceeding for lots more cooperation between supporters groups across the UK and Europe. This pressure needs to keep up while we have a window of opportunity. Club ownership rules which allow debt to be piled onto a club taking money out of a community, the re-structure of competitions, stupid rule interpretations, even VAR (which needs stripping out of the game completely) the fans are not involved in any of these decisions…why? Sorry Brian but we’ve tried the polite approach my entire life and it’s gotten us nowhere. If we don’t see change then I am all for peaceful direct action and a show of fan power. I did like your advert rant though, you sound like me 🤣

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[mancunian_mike]

Great stuff 😉

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[mancunian_mike]

I agree with you nine that this is more about ownership, and I agree with you Ed that it’s frustrating. However it’s also a great reminder to owners and governing bodies to listen to match-going fans; it’s a wake up call to fans to realise how much power we have when we are organised and active; and it’s a realisation to TV companies that you can’t market a game for a worldwide TV audience if local fans don’t allow the game to take place – this was probably the best game for this to happen and will hit all concerned in the pocket. This was a shot across the bow.

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[mancunian_mike]

All good things come to those who wait Nike 😉

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[mancunian_mike]

Hey Nine, you are right that these protests run deeper than the ESL but that is clearly the trigger for all of the recent protests at Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea. For clarity I’m not condoning throwing bottles (or anything else) by a few idiots out of the thousands that were present. This is why I’m no longer too worried about an ESL, this is what I expect will happen before numerous games if those proposals are ever enacted, fans simply will not allow such a competition to take place.

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[mancunian_mike]

I disagree with those of you thinking this won’t make difference. This has been local match-going fans who have completely disrupted a match between two of the organisers of the European Super League and the Big 6 project; what today has proved is that even small numbers of supporters can completely disrupt football if they organise themselves, and club owners and UEFA need to stop ignoring season ticket holders and match-going fans in favour of TV audiences abroad. Well done those fans today.

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[mancunian_mike]

Forgot to say that both the Roma and Utd penalties were absolute rubbish, neither of them was a penalty. Is VAR not being used in Europa League?

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[mancunian_mike]

Hey Nike, hey Sean, I wouldn’t bank on City beating Palace, I’ve got my fingers crossed Pep rests the entire starting eleven for the PSG game. Glad to see fans back though, sadly both City’s final 2 games are away which is Sod’s law in a title winning season (touch wood). However hopefully we’ll be able to celebrate at the start of next season; it’s certainly not as bad as you have had it (scousers I mean), you’ve not been able to see you team at all as champions so full sympathy to you there boys.

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[mancunian_mike]

Excellent result by Utd last night, Roma must hate going to Old Trafford 😂🤣😂. I remember watching the 7-1 when Alan Smith was a world beater (emphasis on the ‘beater’) 😂. Bad start for Arsenal but glad you managed an away goal, gives you a decent chance in the return. Here’s hoping for 4 English clubs in the finals.

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[mancunian_mike]

Hey BB, I wouldn’t worry about the Palace game. I’ll be a bit annoyed if I see even one of the starting line up for PSG on Tuesday on the pitch; I want to see a complete fresh starting eleven, even the keeper, don’t care if we lose 5-0, we can afford to rest players for the vital 2nd leg against PSG and we should. We need 1 win and 2 draws maximum from our last 5 Premier League games, Pep shouldn’t risk a single player he intends to start on Tuesday night.

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[mancunian_mike]

I wouldn’t fret about the ESL too much now, what became apparent last week was that any ESL proposal will effect the Premier League quality (as greedy 6 teams save stronger line-ups foe ESL games) and this in turn will effect TV revenue. So any financial gain via ESL TV rights will result in losses from the EPL TV rights for everyone; and considering all 92 English clubs are paid from the EPL TV deal you won’t find many of them to support the ESL proposal. Basically any English team wanting to play in an ESL tournament will have to choose ESL or English football, they won’t be allowed to play in both. That kills it for me. The important issue now is to pressure UEFA to remove ‘historic coefficient’ qualification from any new format of the CL or European competition.

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[mancunian_mike]

Great win for City last night, slightly fortunate goals but our 2nd half play deserved it, kept PSG chasing the ball for 45 minutes. Hope we can do it for another 90+. As little as he had the ball Mbappe did look class when he got it.
Also well played Chelsea the previous night, they looked so much better than Real. If Chelsea had a better final ball you’d have cut Real to pieces, you got into the right positions so much more than Real and caused them loads of problems. Good luck for the 2nd leg.

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[mancunian_mike]

Agree Brian, great performance that deserved a goal or two more. Still very happy with the 1-0 win though. Spurs just didn’t get going and I don’t know if that is down to our play or their play, probably a combination of both. Mahrez was really good, I think its been his best season with us. Foden looked class again and a great shift put in by Dino in midfield. Another trophy and no complaints from me, on to PSG, C’mon City.

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[mancunian_mike]

Welcome notnice.
Agree with the Wilson handball points, they need to scrap that rule. Whatever happened to using the simple word ‘deliberate’.

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[mancunian_mike]

I agree with you Pagan, UEFA are not concerned with fans, they’re concerned with money. However they’ve all been forced to appeal to fans this week and claim that clubs should listen to us; because of that there is an opportunity to put pressure on UEFA to back that claim up with action that benefits the fans of all clubs and not just the greedy few, by altering the ridiculous new CL format. I’m just saying this opportunity won’t be there for long so fans should try and make their voices heard while we can.

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[mancunian_mike]

Me and Mr Whippy on the same page 😉

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[mancunian_mike]

Pagan, leave the biscuits out of this, biscuits are always fun 😉
I do agree with you on the saturation point and UEFA’s new proposals for the Champions League is only going to make it worse (although club owners won’t care about that). However, I do think there is an opportunity for football supporters to push for more reform at the minute – The reputations of so many of the big clubs tarnished, several high ranking club officials have resigned from their UEFA and ECA positions to take up failed ESL posts, and many at UEFA, National Government level and in the media, are publicly saying how important the fans viewpoint is and that we are the most important part of the sport – fans should keep messaging UEFA, using twitter and facebook, and remain vocal about topics such as the Champions League restructure and how it needs altering to remove protectionism. Who knows maybe now someone may listen? UEFA would look pretty ridiculous if they refused to listen to fans views after what they’ve said this week.

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[mancunian_mike]

Nine, if you take a look at UEFA’s proposals for the revamped Champions League it pretty much is the ESL, all the big clubs protected, seeded, qualification for ‘historic performance’ and virtually no chance of finishing in the lower half of a single league of 36 teams where you play 10 games against the unseeded ones; how many dead rubber games in that? Absolutely awful proposals from UEFA. If you think the CL is bad now just wait.

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[mancunian_mike]

Here’s a thought: What if you styled it like the FA Cup, the greatest and fairest football competition in the world. How would that work I here you ask…well…here goes…Currently 32 teams enter the CL, and 40 teams enter the Europa League (that’s 72 total). UEFA are planning to expand this to roughly 80 total in 2024. UEFA throw £1.7 billion in prize money at the 32 in the CL, and £0.4 billion at the Europa League currently. Winners of the CL can earn about £90M in a season. Maximum amount of games to win the CL is 13 and it’s the same for the Europa League – you currently play more if you have to play qualifiers in the summer, but nobody watches them and nobody wants them. Both current tournaments have ‘dead rubber games’ at the end of the group stages where teams who have already qualified field weakened sides against teams who still need points (creating issues of sporting integrity); both tournaments have unexciting groups due to keeping same country teams and seeded teams apart, resulting in very predictable knock-out stage games (replace Chelsea with Barca, or City with Bayern and it’s the same 6 or 7 teams at the end this year as every other year) and all it does is make the rich teams richer because they are guaranteed lots of games and income (sound familiar – ESL anyone) – what if we put all teams into 1 single European Cup – it could be expanded to 128 teams (here me out), meaning (and this may come as a shock) all 55 UEFA countries get 1 spot for their Champions (that’s 55), the 5 highest leagues on the UEFA coefficients then get 5 more places (that’s 80), the next 5 leagues get 4 more places (that’s 100), then next 5 leagues get 4 places, and so on. All games played over 2 legs (to appease the big clubs). With 128 teams it would take 13 games to win it (6 rounds of 2 leg ties plus a final). Prize money would be a combined £2.1 billion, not a single dead rubber game, massively improved distribution of cash to more teams rather than it all going to ‘the dirty dozen’. All teams are thrown into a hat, no seeding, no separation of countries; if Barca get Real Madrid in round one, tough, one of you is going out, but it’d be a hell of 1st round draw and I would watch it. There would obviously be mauling’s in round one and possibly round 2 but far more clubs across Europe would have a chance to play the best teams – yes you may get FC Midtylland v Bayern in round one, but you’d also have a far better chance of Wolves v Barca or Hibernian v PSG which would be a dream for fans of Wolves and Hibs (no offence meant Wolves or Hibs fans) who may never get to play these teams in the current ‘closed-shop’ set-up. There would also be a far better chance of the luck of the draw getting rid of the ‘same old teams’ year in year out at least giving us a chance of a cup upset…any takers?

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