| Despite being forced to shelve their plans for what would have ultimately become a 20-team €uropean $uper £eague by the combined forces of good, old-fashioned English fan fury and the threat of Uefa sanctions two years ago, it turns out A22 Sports Management has been busy in the meantime. Yes, very, very busy indeed. A company that, according to its own website, “was formed to sponsor and assist in the creation of the €uropean $uper £eague”, A22 has released a 10-point plan for what it would have us believe is a new-look, more inclusive, continent-wide, merit-based competition that on the face of it might seem slightly less of a closed shop than their previous wheeze, but still walks like a €uropean $uper £eague, looks like a €uropean $uper £eague and quacks like a €uropean $uper £eague. Unlike the previous incarnation that was so unceremoniously torpedoed, A22 says the latest ESL would be split into divisions, comprised of up to 80 teams and based solely on sporting performance, apparently oblivious to the fact that such a tiered system already exists in Europe in the form of Big Cup, Big Vase and Tin Pot, three competitions they are hoping to abolish. “The foundations of European football are in danger of collapsing,” said A22 suit Bernd Reichart in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt. “It’s time for a change. It is the clubs that bear the entrepreneurial risk in football. But when important decisions are at stake, they are too often forced to sit idly by on the sidelines as the sporting and financial foundations crumble around them.” In an interview liberally sprinkled with self-serving nonsense, this craven plea on behalf of major European powerhouses who have not been forced, but have instead chosen to gallop towards the financial brink was arguably the most amusing. While A22 has declined to reveal what clubs have backed their plan, it has not gone unnoticed that Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus are still pushing for an €$£, while nobody in their right minds should trust the club hierarchies at the Premier League’s traditional “big six” any further than they can throw them. A long-time critic of the ESL, La Liga president Javier Tebas was predictably quick out of the blocks to rubbish the latest proposal. “The Super League is the wolf, who today disguises himself as a granny to try to fool European football,” he wrote. “But his nose and his teeth are very big. Four divisions in Europe? Of course the first for them, as in the 2019 reform. Governed by the clubs? Of course, only the big ones.” Closer to home, the response of the Football Supporters’ Association was similarly withering. “The walking corpse that is the European Super League twitches again with all the self-awareness one associates with a zombie,” said their head honcho, Kevin Miles. “They say ‘dialogue with fans and independent fan groups is essential’, yet the European Zombie League marches on, wilfully ignorant to the contempt supporters across the continent have for it.” While your horror-loving Football Daily takes grave exception to Miles’ suggestion that zombies are coordinated enough to bust any moves more regimented than a shuffle, we wholeheartedly agree with his broader sentiment. €$£ 2.0 might be a slightly different circus, but it’s still being promoted by the same old clowns. | 