Why the European Superleague is closer than ever following this week's Champions League thrillers

By Michael Calvin

Published 23:03 03/04/10

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It’s the lie that refuses to die, an illicit affair awaiting consummation.

A European League has never seemed so wrong, yet felt so right.

Depending on your point of view, it is either a vision of surgically enhanced ­perfection, or a high -definition nightmare.

It will happen, eventually. It’s logical, inviting, a ­product of its time.

There will be casualties.

A competition based on projected income, ­investment and influence might choose to exclude ­Liverpool, include Glasgow giants Celtic instead of neighbours Rangers.

It would reflect Russian and Arab wealth, ­underwriting the rise of clubs like CSKA Moscow and ­Manchester City. For the record, before my firewall comes under siege, I am not a malicious Manc, a closet ­Papist or an apologist for ­financial incontinence.

I am merely a realist.

The Champions League has been around for 18 years, and is sowing the seeds of its ­destruction.

The passion plays which made this season’s quarter-finals compelling viewing did the plotters’ job for them.

The Premier League and La Liga has never produced such a combination of human drama, athletic and artistic expression as that ­mesmerising match between Arsenal and Barcelona.

Old Trafford will have a ­special sense of expectancy on Wednesday when Bayern Munich defend a slim lead.

For all the intensity of ­yesterday’s collision with Chelsea, a new rivalry with Germany’s FC Hollywood will endure.

Serie A is sterile. The ­Bundesliga, like the six-team shoot out at the top of Ligue 1 in France, is a success story that leaves little impression.

The Euromillions League will emerge from a perfect storm of greed, globalisation and opportunism.

Don’t believe the beancounters and boardroom ­politicians, who insist they are happy with Michel Platini’s empire builders at UEFA.

Dear old Sepp Blatter, ­sounding increasingly like an eccentric uncle closeted in a care home, admits FIFA are powerless to prevent clubs doing as they please.

Change will be driven by technology, the convergence of television and internet.

A new showcase for the world’s most popular sport will be the perfect package for an age in which TVs, smart phones and games consoles will talk to each other. For a few pounds more, ­punters will be able to watch what they want when they want.

The timing of the midweek epics, in the wake of Ofcom’s decision to order Sky to lower its prices for sports coverage, could not have been better.

No wonder Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore was in Napoleonic mood. The fear, driving his ­attempt to lead other sports into the courts in defence of the status quo, is obvious.

Less money from Sky, in the long run, would encourage English clubs to abandon the concept of collective ­bargaining.

If the Big Five followed those in Italy and Spain, and sold their TV rights on an individual basis, or in a new bundle, the Premier League would wither.

It would continue as a ­secondary competition, a side issue to a 30-game ­Euro­pean League season incorporating a winter break.

Arsene Wenger’s ­timeframe, that it will be launched by the end of this decade, seems about right.

What about us, the fans, I hear you cry. Shamefully, you don’t matter.

Promises of Government support are just a ­pre-election gimmick.

You’ll get what you’re given.

The European League based on income, influence and investment:
Manchester United
Arsenal
Chelsea
Manchester City
Barcelona
Real Madrid
Inter Milan
AC Milan
Juventus
Bayern Munich
Schalke 04
Lyon
Marseille
CSKA Moscow
Ajax
Celtic

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