Chelsea: The European Super League is not football’s biggest threat

The European Super League, of which Chelsea is a founding member, has sent shockwaves around the world of football and it’s embarrassing. However, it isn’t the ESL that’s embarrassing, it’s the reaction that’s an embarrassment to the game. This proposed competition has been met with outrage while racism, targeted social media abuse, sexism and so much more are still alive and well in our game yet the outrage pales in comparison. What does the ESL have that those don’t? Money, and that’s what scares the football federations the most.

Chelsea will go down in history as one of a handful of clubs that revolted against the “free competition” of football. A combination of Spanish, Italian and English clubs, the ESL is for all intents and purposes turning football into an event rather than a match. The idea seems to be, make every match a contest of stars facing off every night – there’s something uniquely North American about the whole scene, which no doubt irks Brits and Europeans just as much.

The Founding Members will never face relegation with spots open every year for other clubs that qualify.

Fans want to watch the best play the best, and for all the charms of seeing a global giant like Real Madrid travel to some far-flung corner of Europe to play in a stadium the size of ones those Galacticos haven’t played in since they were boys, it’s rarely an entertaining match. What has attracted most of the scorn is the fixed attendees part. On that note, the outraged have a point.

Of the 12 clubs who are ‘Founding Members’, Chelsea, Liverpool and Juventus might not make the Champions League next season while Tottenham and Arsenal probably won’t feature in any European football next year. There is irony in there and it’s not too hard to find.

However, if you want to argue this is the ‘ESL 12’ just raking in the money completely discounting fans, don’t ignore the fact that football stopped being about the fans when teams including ones outside of the 12 could spend way beyond their profits and face no repercussion. When season ticket prices at clubs outside of the ‘Big 6’ also priced out the majority of fans; the glint of the shiny £10 note you would need to part ways with to get a pie and hope you had change to get a tea as well.

Let’s also not pretend that UEFA and the federations don’t have a vested interest. Cash is king. The ESL is a problem created entirely by a still corrupt FIFA and UEFA with their limp Financial Fair Play regulations. It’s been a long time coming.

Even so, there was nothing “free” about the competition before the ESL. The skyrocketing price of transfers, unchecked by federations, meant only a small handful could afford to buy elite talent with every other club priced out of the market.

Yet this is what caused the outrage, not the fact that players like Chelsea’s own Tammy Abraham, Marcus Rashford, Son Heung-min, Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara, then AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng, Istanbul Basaksehir assistant coach Pierre Webo and so many more have been racially abused by fans in the stadium and online, players on the pitch and even UEFA officials. This is not a new issue, ask Ian Wright or John Barnes and countless others. These instances have been met with pathetic responses from these federations and that is what should be causing outrage.

As is so often the case these incidents quickly went away with UEFA, the FA and others determined not to let them stain football’s reputation by sweeping them under the rug. A few matches ban here, a fine of a few thousand there – it’s all meaningless pocket change for clubs even half the size of the ‘ESL 12’.

Last week there was an article on the BBC Sport page that said that football clubs in England were looking at technology that would make online abuse disappear. Deny the problem oxygen in the hopes that snuffs it out, a reasonable step but will it make much of a difference at the source? Unlikely. Premier League clubs are planning a social media blackout from May 1-3 and the UK government threatens large fines for any social media company if they fail to tackle abuse on their platform. Sounds like a lot more of the same – a response which doesn’t target the source.

This is not to say that social media platforms aren’t partially responsible, they’re the vehicle that allows people to attack others behind the anonymity of a screen. Wouldn’t those large fines be put to better use by attempting to educate people at the root of the problem, or funds for organizations like Kick It Out, No Room for Racism to continue their work?

The Premier League is the richest league in the world, with the most attention, the greatest number of world class players, the best competition, cameras and attention everywhere and yet in some, albeit isolated incidents, players cannot even take a knee without being booed.

What about when Marseille refused to take a knee during their Champions League match against Man City. Some Man City players like Raheem Sterling have been racially abused for years, and while the racial harassment is less likely towards Ferran Torres, the Spaniard still took a knee to show solidarity with his teammate and the overall fight against racism. Marseille’s club spokesman explained the clubs refusal to knee as “the gesture is an American one and the current situation in France is really different than in the UK”, I think I mentioned irony somewhere above.

Outrage, come on. Yes the ESL is just another way for the rich to get richer only this time is more brazen than the last but UEFA only care because they aren’t getting a slice of the pie.

These federations claim to stand up for players, look after fans and protect the game, but when racism, sexism and abuse rears its ugly head the problems are hardly dealt with. The federations save their outrage for things that really matter to them, getting cut out of a competition sure to generate billions. The self-righteousness is astounding. Yes, there are big issues with the arrogance and thought behind the European Super League, are bigger threats to our game than the ESL.