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Chelsea killing Super League only looks better in hindsight

By Travis Tyler

TOPSHOT - (COMBO) This combination of file pictures made on April 19, 2021, shows the logos of the following European football clubs: (top, L-R) Liverpool on May 30, 2019 in Madrid; Manchester United on July 5, 2013 in Manchester; Arsenal on March 2, 2019 in London; Chelsea on March 13, 2020 in London; (middle, L-R) Manchester City on April 10, 2021 in Manchester; Tottenham Hotspur on March 2, 2019 in London; Real Madrid on May 20, 2014 in Lisbon; Barcelona on September 28, 2016 in Moenchengladbach; (bottom, L-R) Atletico Madrid on May 20, 2014 in Lisbon; Juventus on May 26, 2019 in Genoa; Inter Milan on April 7, 2021 in Milan; and AC Milan on September 10, 2006 in Milan. - Plans for a breakaway Super League announced by twelve of European football's most powerful clubs plunged European football into an unprecedented crisis on April 19, 2021, with threats of legal action and possible bans for players, as the UEFA president called it a "spit in the face" for supporters. Six Premier League teams -- Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur -- joined forces with Spanish giants Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid and Italian trio Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan to launch the planned competition. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU,PAUL ELLIS,DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS,ISABEL INFANTES,TIM KEETON,JOSE MANUEL RIBEIRO,ODD ANDERSEN,MARCO BERTORELLO,ISABELLA BONOTTO,PACO SERINELLI/AFP via Getty Images)
TOPSHOT - (COMBO) This combination of file pictures made on April 19, 2021, shows the logos of the following European football clubs: (top, L-R) Liverpool on May 30, 2019 in Madrid; Manchester United on July 5, 2013 in Manchester; Arsenal on March 2, 2019 in London; Chelsea on March 13, 2020 in London; (middle, L-R) Manchester City on April 10, 2021 in Manchester; Tottenham Hotspur on March 2, 2019 in London; Real Madrid on May 20, 2014 in Lisbon; Barcelona on September 28, 2016 in Moenchengladbach; (bottom, L-R) Atletico Madrid on May 20, 2014 in Lisbon; Juventus on May 26, 2019 in Genoa; Inter Milan on April 7, 2021 in Milan; and AC Milan on September 10, 2006 in Milan. - Plans for a breakaway Super League announced by twelve of European football's most powerful clubs plunged European football into an unprecedented crisis on April 19, 2021, with threats of legal action and possible bans for players, as the UEFA president called it a "spit in the face" for supporters. Six Premier League teams -- Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur -- joined forces with Spanish giants Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid and Italian trio Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan to launch the planned competition. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU,PAUL ELLIS,DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS,ISABEL INFANTES,TIM KEETON,JOSE MANUEL RIBEIRO,ODD ANDERSEN,MARCO BERTORELLO,ISABELLA BONOTTO,PACO SERINELLI/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Never let the world forget that it was Chelsea and its fans that killed the Super League. Also, as an aside, don’t forget that the club had still agreed to the deal and that’s not something that should be waved away with a big money signing. At the end of the day, however, Chelsea did make the right call and that’s probably more important than having made the bad call in the first place.

Super League isn’t technically dead though. Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Juventus are all clinging on to the sinking ship hoping that the ocean recedes before they go underwater. It makes sense why at least two of these clubs wanted to form the Super League. They wanted the rest of the world to pay their debts and keep them afloat as the pinnacles of football.

Barcelona should be saying to themselves “well well the consequences of my actions”. Lionel Messi is leaving Barcelona, probably for real this time. That makes Chelsea’s killing of the Super League look even better in hindsight.

Football these days is ultimately a game between haves and have nots and short term gains at the expense of long term stability. Sure, there is the occasional Leicester City to tip the apple cart but it is mostly hard to see a plucky underdog overcome Manchester City spending 100 million on Jack Grealish.

The recent La Liga investment deal is an example of the short term gains versus long term stability part of the game. If Barcelona and others agree to the deal, they get a cash injection now. They’ll also be out more money in the long run. It’s a trade off a club like Barcelona shouldn’t have to make, and yet years of financial mistakes have led them to a choice: lose Messi or sign the deal. There was also a heavy indication that La Liga would do Barcelona favors (as in, change the rules to accommodate them) if they pulled out of the Super League.

They chose to lose Messi. Barcelona is so deep into the Super League forcing others to save them from their own financial stupidity that they are losing their greatest ever player. Arguably the world’s greatest ever player. And it’s understandable why they would have rejected the La Liga deal on principle, but they are now a club that can’t really make those types of decisions. If you’re in massive debt, you can’t really get away with not paying that debt off right away because you’ll make more later. That’s the type of decision a well run club gets to make, not a poorly run one.

Which brings us back to Chelsea. Imagine if the Blues had kept this albatross of the Super League around their neck. There were threats about being kicked out of the leagues and that’s important, but more important is that the Blues (and every other club that dropped out of Super League) are far more stable now than they were a year ago. The nine that left the Super League are all able to spend on their squads and they don’t have to worry about losing their best players over an investment deal.

Related Story. Lionel Messi to Chelsea is unrealistic pipe dream amidst Barcelona exit. light

And this isn’t to say Barcelona is where they are because they remain in the Super League, it is simply to say Super League was never about “fixing the sport”. It was about Barcelona and Real Madrid looping others in to maintain the status quo. That status quo, of course, being Barcelona and Real Madrid on top looking down at all the clubs that paid their debt off for them.

Barcelona could take years to recover from this. Between rejecting the Super League and fighting this new investment deal, they have lost their best ever player and are still clinging to the hope that others will solve their problems for them.

Chelsea is on the verge of something special, in part because they made the right decision months ago to throw Barcelona off of them. Chelsea didn’t need to be dragged into Barcelona’s current drama and by killing the Super League the club has done more to ensure its own future than anything.

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Now, the icing on the cake would be signing Messi but Paris Saint-Germain stayed out of the Super League business altogether and are set up to snag the world’s best player of the last two decades. Either way, Chelsea is in a much stronger place at this moment because they killed the Super League. Barcelona, and likely soon to be Real Madrid and Juventus if they aren’t careful, are staying on this sinking ship even if it means they lose that which is most dear.

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