Tottenham have officially began the procedures to withdraw from the European Super League plans, following heavy criticism from players, managers, pundits and fans.
Our fans were destroyed by the news, and many threatened to support other teams amid plans of protests ahead of tonights game against Southampton, which Ryan Mason will take charge of as interim manager after Jose Mourinho was sacked.
Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy is "shaken" by the European Super league backlash and has conceded he may have misjudged the mood of the fans. [The Sun] #THFC pic.twitter.com/OSbw3xn0UL
— Talking THFC (@TalkingTHFC) April 20, 2021
The club released an official statement last night, in which Daniel Levy said,” “We regret the anxiety and upset caused by the ESL proposal.
“We felt it was important that our club participated in the development of a possible new structure that sought to better ensure financial fair play and financial sustainability whilst delivering significantly increased support for the wider football pyramid.
https://twitter.com/thfcJak/status/1384634580775448579?s=20
“We believe that we should never stand still and that the sport should constantly review competitions and governance to ensure the game we all love continues to evolve and excite fans around the world.
“We should like to thank all those supporters who presented their considered opinions.”
It’s a relief that not just Spurs have left the Super League, but all of the other English clubs who were invited have also left too as football is for the fans and it feels like we have all been used and betrayed.
While the statement and move to leave does undo some damage, the lack of apology is highly upsetting too, and it seems as if Levy has the least supporters he has ever had during his tenure as Spurs chairman.
The drama has also reportedly encouraged him to hire a sporting director, which could be a fantastic thing for the club but at the moment no candidates as of yet have been named.
Meanwhile, the European Super League are now looking at alternative ways to run the competition, which only Barcelona and Real Madrid remain committed to competing in, however after the backlash over the last week, it is unlikely that we will ever see the competition come to fruition.
Only two clubs have yet to pull out of the European Super League or accept that it won’t happen:
Real Madrid
Barcelona pic.twitter.com/Vf6AQQfaeH— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) April 21, 2021
Barca and Real Madrid at Super League HQ pic.twitter.com/DFPGXudAEA
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) April 21, 2021
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has been made to look a complete fool too, as he previously had stated that no club would be able to leave after signing their contracts, but it now appears that he was completely wrong as AC Milan, Atletico Madrid, Juventus and Inter Milan have all followed the English clubs in leaving the competition.
This counts as one of the great stumbles/blunders in football history. Perhaps it will go down as the greatest, but perhaps it all will be forgotten except as a semi-interesting story to be pulled out in occasional pub banter. Not matter how quickly forgotten or how deeply remembered, at least in the short term it’s a terrible blunder. I suspect it gave DL a bit of cover for the canning of Mourinho, so therein we find the silver lining.