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Gillingham chairman Paul Scally has spoken of his disgust at those clubs signing up to a European Super League.
English football’s ‘big six’ have agreed to join a new midweek competition alongside teams from Spain and Italy, which Mr Scally believes is nothing more than a “money-grab”.
While the Gills and many other lower league clubs have struggled to keep afloat this season, the teams at the top of the pyramid are keen to have an even greater share of the game’s wealth, with the top teams expected to net €350m if the ESL gets off the ground.
The news of a European Super League, financed by US financial giant JP Morgan, comes at the same time that UEFA are to announce plans to reform the Champions League.
Mr Scally believes the ESL plans may just be a way of getting a better deal.
He said: “It is a money grab, a straight money grab, it is disgusting and it has been timed to be announced when UEFA are to announce the restructure of the Champions League, so I suspect the conversations that they have been having before now to have a bigger slice of the cake have not gone well and this is their attempt to force their hand."
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham have all signed up to the ESL.
Italian clubs AC Milian, Inter Milan and Juventus have been joined by Spanish sides Athletico Madrid, Barcelona and Read Madrid. There’s room for a handful more to join the ‘Founding Clubs’ in what could be a 20-team format. Those teams all hope to be able to remain competing in their own domestic leagues.
It has drawn fierce backlash, however, with football’s governing bodies FIFA and UEFA, the Premier League, supporter groups and heads of state all condemning the move.
“I think it is very dangerous for football,” said Mr Scally, one of the longest serving chairman in the game. “I think that the backlash from around the world has been significant, particularly in Europe and the UK. I think this is a bold move to get the deal they want from UEFA in respect of the Champions League.
“I am wondering if they have had enough of what they perceive to be their slice of the cake and I am wondering if this is actually a very blatant bluff. I am not suggesting that they are not going to do it, but those in the top six know the ramifications of what they are doing and I don’t think for one minute they think they will get away with it.
“I wonder if it is a hard-nosed attempt to bring UEFA and FIFA to the table, if it is actually an attempt to get a far better deal from UEFA going forward.
“It has been planned and it just shows the sheer arrogance of the top six, the comments I have seen that it is in the interests of English and European football fans is sickening, it is disgraceful. If anything, it is the opposite.
“They talk about solidarity but in the Football League, Leagues 1 and 2, they had to beg to get £30m out of the entire Premier League and that was only given to us because they didn’t have to pay a team’s parachute payment.
“We (in the Football League) have only been given £30m and a £20m loan and we have been able to participate in the loan scheme but we have to pay it back. This idea that it is somehow good for the pyramid of football and shows solidarity with the rest of English clubs is farcical because in actual fact the opposite has occurred at a time of our (biggest) crisis, this last 12 months.
“It is all about money, that really sums up the problem with football at the moment, maybe this is a time that everything has to change, including the structure of the English Football League.”
