Punishments for the Super League scandal have finally been dished out but are they enough?
It seems like just yesterday club football as we knew it was about to be ruined forever for the sake of a few clubs and their greedy owners. The Super League felt like a nightmare, no matter how short-lived it may have been.
People debated what would be done to penalising them for their betrayal or if it was even worth punishing them at all. However, as reported by the Times, it is now believed that the so-called ‘Big Six’ are set to split a £20 million fine issued by the Premier League between them, working out at just over £3.3 million per club. Laughable.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CP5rCurom8F/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
In addition to the fine, there is an added caveat of a 30-point deduction should these clubs (or any for that matter) attempt to start a breakaway league again, as the likes of Florentino Perez and Andrea Agnelli insist the concept is not dead.
Unsurprisingly, people are stunned by what it is – relative to each club’s wealth – an absolutely pitiful amount, with Gary Neville labelling these cowardly consequences as an “absolute embarrassment”.
An absolute embarrassment! https://t.co/Q0IXJe8LVq
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) June 9, 2021
The £20m is set to go to good causes — namely grassroots football and community schemes — as opposed to being distributed among the other 14 top-flight clubs as is the case with solidarity payments.
A number of those 14 wanted points deductions to be imposed now and understandably so, however, they ultimately accepted the Premier League’s actions aim to be punitive enough without causing a more damaging split.
The six clubs involved in proposals to form a European Super League have today acknowledged once again that their actions were a mistake, and have reconfirmed their commitment to the Premier League and the future of the English game#PL and @FA statement: https://t.co/8b8ZdFIy49 pic.twitter.com/lLqbu6qHT1
— Premier League Communications (@PLComms) June 9, 2021
For context, £3.3 million is about as much as Liverpool defender Nat Phillips makes in a year. These aren’t sanctions or comeuppance of any kind, they’re an absolute joke dressed as PR and posturing from the Prem. This is chump change to these clubs and, frankly, it’s cowardly from those who supposedly condemned this attack on the beautiful game.
Seems like keeping the big boys happy is more important than preserving the sanctity of the game. Money talks and all that.
