Boris Johnson 'threat' to Liverpool and rivals over Super League to be backed up

The Prime Minister had vowed to use legislation to kill off the European Super League plot


UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's threat to use a 'legislative bomb' to kill off any attempts from English sides to try and take part in another European Super League plot in the future has been backed up through 'intensified efforts' from the UK Government.

Back in April, Liverpool, along with Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, were part of 12 'founding clubs' that sought to join Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus to launch a European Super League.

The dozen clubs expressed their desire to create the new competition through a co-ordinated release on social media just 24 hours before UEFA were to vote through reforms to the Champions League that, while more beneficial to the biggest clubs, didn't give them the share of the pie that they wanted and believed they should be entitled to.

The project crashed and burned within 48 hour though, and all but Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus, who remain espoused to the idea, had renounced the competition and returned to the bosom of UEFA and the European Clubs Association within two days, accepting financial punishment in a bid to show contrition for their part in the project.

Liverpool's principal owner John W. Henry filmed a video apology in the bowels of Fenway Park Stadium, the home of his Boston Red Sox baseball team, and the Reds and the rest of those who renounced the idea have attempted to move forward since having witnessed just how toxic their idea was among fans and the football community.

As part of their goodwill settlement with the Premier League, each club will pay a fine of around £3.6m, with the proceeds going towards funding grassroots football and community projects across England. Stricter punishments, including a Premier League points deduction of 30 points and an additional financial penalty of £25m, would be handed down should any of the six attempt such a manoeuvre again.

The clubs will also face UEFA sanctions should they attempt another move and will lose five per cent of revenues gained from UEFA competition for this coming season.

It was an idea that prompted the UK government to step in, with PM Johnson stating that he would use legislation in order to try and block any future attempts from English sides to take part in another such plot.

The government has already altered work permit regulations to effectively stop foreign players from joining any English clubs that agree to compete in a future super league and, according to a report in The Telegraph, Ministers are pressing on with plans for legal reform which alter competition law and allow the Football Association and Premier League to take punitive action against English that attempted to join a breakaway competition in the future.

Ministers are seeking to introduce legal safeguards that would prevent the sanctions over future involvement being overturned in court, with the legal war that is currently being waged between the dissident trio of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus and UEFA rumbling on.

Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus have stuck to their guns over the ESL and have been involved in a bitter row with UEFA that has seen numerous legal challenges placed with a Madrid court, including trying to get the punishments handed down to the nine clubs that ended up going cold on the Super League plot overturned.

They had success in blocking UEFA from barring them from the Champions League this coming season after a Swiss court backed the Madrid ruling, meaning that no such action can be taken against the three clubs until such time there is a final decision from the European Court of Justice, something that is a long way off.

The latest twist in the tale arrived last week when the court in Madrid ruled that UEFA's punishments of the nine clubs shouldn't be enforced, a decision that UEFA have stated they will not recognise.

Daniel Geey, a renowned sports lawyer and author of the book 'Done Deal', told the ECHO: "The mutual agreement that the nine clubs made with UEFA was a voluntary one and I don't see them going back on that despite this court ruling. It was a case of them saying 'we're sorry' and the penalties that were put in place were agreed to and I don't see that changing.

"For Barcelona, Real and Juventus, the plan is both short and long term. In the short term the three clubs are doing what they can to avoid being disciplined by UEFA for their behaviour. The latest ruling by the Madrid court, according to the statement by Juventus, has terminated the disciplinary case but I'm not sure if UEFA were present at the hearing to make their case. It would be interesting to see the judgement and to see if it was just a suspended decision.

"The three clubs needed to re-balance the leverage that they previously had over UEFA.

"If there is some kind of declaration from the European Court of Justice that says that the stance taken by UEFA is contrary to EU law and that they can't discipline the three clubs then that does re-balance that leverage.


"What it does is allow the project to be revisited at a later date. The three clubs can say 'look, we got things wrong but if we can do this and this then the project can work'. It is very much about what happens further on down the line.

"There is no Super League with three teams, I think that is pretty obvious. But perhaps the next time the project comes up they make efforts to include more domestic leagues and do some things differently then maybe UEFA will have to handle things very differently.

"These plans tend to emerge every broadcast cycle. And while UEFA appear to be in a strong position at the moment and have had the buy-in of nine of the founding 12 clubs, the three clubs will be looking to get some legal security behind a future bid to get it off the ground and to show that they can set up a rival."
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