Irish League hoping to capitalise on fans’ disgust at new Euro contest

Calls have been made for football fans who are turned off by the furore about the planned new European “super league” to look closer to home for their football fix from now on.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

It comes amid a wave of revulsion at proposals for a new kind of mid-week football contest involving teams from England and the continent.

However, the planned “super league” has a number of bizarre quirks; for one, it will be impossible to either qualify for, or be relegated.

Instead the league is basically an invitation-only affair, which would include at least six English teams (Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs, Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal) plus teams from Spain and Italy.

The logos of Northern Ireland's premiership teamsThe logos of Northern Ireland's premiership teams
The logos of Northern Ireland's premiership teams

Left out altogether would be German clubs like Bayern Munich, Dutch clubs like Ajax, and French ones like PSG – as well as Scotland’s top two teams, Rangers and Celtic.

Many fans have remarked that the move is driven by a desire to simply wring more money out of the teams involved, with Gary Lineker saying his reaction was one of “alarm and disgust”.

In the last couple of days the Twitter accounts of Coleraine, Glenavon, Larne, Ballyclare, Loughgall and others have featured calls for fans to switch their attention from England to teams in their own communities.

Typical of them was this tweet from Portadown FC: “We’re not about TV deals or executive boxes – its about passion, belonging & pride in your town & club. Support local.”

A banner at Anfield, home ground of Liverpool, one of the six English clubs involved in the new leagueA banner at Anfield, home ground of Liverpool, one of the six English clubs involved in the new league
A banner at Anfield, home ground of Liverpool, one of the six English clubs involved in the new league

Former FIFA vice-president James Boyce (who also used to be IFA president and Cliftonville chairman) told the News Letter: “I’m absolutely 100% convinced that the supporters of all these major clubs are totally disgusted to see what the clubs are trying to do.

“I hope UEFA and FIFA are very strong in killing this thing before it gets off the ground.

“There’s many people in NI support these major clubs. I honestly believe that should this happen, a lot of them will lose a lot of their allegiance to these clubs, and hopefully will come back to watch Irish League football.

“Money has taken over many of these clubs. Of course, the vast majority of them – if not all of them you’ve mentioned – are owned by billionaires, people not even from England... People who are investing for one reason: money.”

Once spectators are allowed to get to Irish League games again, he said: “I’ve no doubt you’ll see an increase in numbers.”

David Jeffrey, former Linfield manager now in charge of Ballymena, told the News Letter a huge amount of legwork has already been done to increase spectators of Irish League games, so he does not think the current furore will add much to that “strong and vibrant support base”.

But speaking of the new league, he said: “It’s rather a shame when you think of Manchester United and Liverpool in particular – where they came from. It epitomised the whole working class nature of the game.

“That’s been forgotten about. Roy Keane probably got it right a long time ago – he talked about the ‘prawn sandwiches brigade’ [a reference to corporate and VIP spectators].

“I think it’s a very sad day.”

More from this reporter:

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor