British Expatriate Network

If someone would have asked me a few weeks ago who or what the G14 were I'd have said it was either a new intelligence dept in the MOD or possibly a new hip hop supergroup wink

The G14 are made up of the big football clubs in europe-
Ajax, Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Internazionale, Juventus, Liverpool, Lyon, Manchester Utd, Marseille, Milan, Paris St-Germain, Porto, PSV Eindhoven, Real Madrid and Valencia. There was a story published where it was rumoured that Chelsea was supposed to applied to join G14.

The G14 are fighting UEFA and FIFA on two fronts, firstly sueing FIFA on insurance and compensation for football clubs whose players they release for international duty and get injured, G14 has backed Charleroi's fight for financial help after Abdelmajid Oulmers was sidelined for eight months when hurt playing for Morocco.
Incidentally, FIFA doesnt actually negociate or even acknowledge G14 as a organisation.

The second front is that G14 wants to change the format of The Champion's League, and depending which article you read the one story is that G14 want to add a few matches to the current format of the Champion's League as it is. The more sinister overtones like what is reported in The Guardian Unlimited is that the G14 want to scrap the Champion's League and form their own breakaway 'super league'.

I dont think it's that big of a leap to think that the big clubs in europe may try gunshot diplomacy to get their own way? After all it was done in England and the FA caved in and formed the Premiership. So I personally think that to threaten to break away and form a rival league may be a productive tactic? I was watching the football news on FSC and it was mentioned that FIFA may threaten to expel players from playing in future World Cups for participating in a rival league. Talk about tit-for-tat wink

Is it any suprise to think that all of this may be about money? If there's one thing which both unites and divides football clubs, its money; and the bottom line here is as usual that the big clubs may be after more income. I personally wonder what ever happened to the spirit of competition, because these clubs and many others have sold their souls through greed for money.

As time goes by I get more annoyed by football. I still love the game but the way the game is going it just flustrates me as a fan. (I'm a Palace fan, so I'm used to disappointment wink ) The game is being ruined by players who are diving, or over acting and feigning injury, and it's getting worse. And the game itself is just killing itself with rich clubs who want to be more elite and rich and want to see the poor clubs stay poor and swoop in and extracate what ever talent they can find in the small clubs.

Would you like to see a breakaway elite european league?

The Legal Case- http//news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/4219780.stm
Champion's League (BBC) - http//news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/4822224.stm
The Guardian- http//football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1733706,00.html

As a Liverpool fan, my first thoughts about this were "how are Liverpool one of the top 14 clubs in Europe?" Yeah we won the Champs League last year, but I'm a realistic man.

I'm conflicted really. The idea of an elite breakaway league bothers me in some ways - not least of all the illusions of grandeur of some of the clubs invloved. The idea that Arsenal would be considered for automatic entry when they're 5th in their own league seems weird to me. And what of worthy teams like Anderlecht, Ajax, or other clubs from less glamorous leagues than the main 4?

On the other hand, the Champions League is a farce. Our recent winners - Liverpool and Manure - both won it when they weren't champions. It seems unneccesarily longwinded. Reading what "improvements" the G14 want shows this is intentional - they don't want a cup competition but a league. The longer the league the better the odds for winning thw whole shabang. I can't control my contempt for clubs who bitch when they get beaten, then complain that as an infinitely better team they should automatically go through anyway. Every year Sir Alex complains like a spoilt baby when his team loses 2 games to percieved weaker teams and they go out. Is his complaint that Manure simply weren't good enough? No, it's the worst kind of snobbery - that the littel club from Norway that they lost too aren't "big" enough to be in the last 8.

So at the moment the conflict has me on the negative side. It's a little bit like Celtic and Rangers saying Scotland isn't good enough for them. Why not work on making it better?

Going completely off topic, what the friggin' heck happened last night in the FA Cup? :grin:

Of course its all about money .
There is a lot of it in football just like any other multi million bisiness and the differant fractions who percipate want a larger slice of the pie leaving less of it for the rest , no differnt from baseball or quite recently the fight in the nfl over * shared revenue *

Big clubs throwing their weight around is nothing new.

FIFA and UEFA should call their bluff and not be bullied. Let them go off and form a new league, with their own TV licensing, pay per view and whatever else their hearts desire.

Meanwhile, the rest of the clubs can continue playing under the existing, decent system and who knows - we may see some gems getting picked for their national teams, who otherwise would not have got a look-in.

I looked at the accounts of several of those so-called G14 clubs and although their turnovers are huge, several run at a loss. I think this is completely unacceptable in this day and age and leads to clubs becoming greedy, whilst believing it is their right to compete in the lucrative competitions each year, whether or not they are actually worthy of it.

So with any luck, this breakaway league will form and the G14 clubs can play on Pay Per View to the prawn sandwich/couch potato followers while the real fans watch real teams play.

Hit the nail on the head there Pilgrim. Especially with regards the Spanish and Italian teams. I can't remember how often the Spanish government has given money to Real or Barcelona because they spent too much, but I do remember in the late 90s it would happen alot. In Italy their FA is so dodgy they just change the rules when they do something wrong. Look at when players get found doped up - Edgar Davids to name one - they just change the minimum allowable level to just above what they had in their test!

Not impressed by that.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

In the case of *revinue sharing* thats different. The whole point of the salary cap is parity in competition on the field, and the whole point of revinue sharing is the parity of profits off the field. which incidentally Ralph Wilson of the Bills voted against. I suppose the G14 situation is the equivalent of teams like the Washington Redskins, the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants cutting out teams like the Bills and the Packers and making their own super league. At least there is a luxury tax in baseball where a team like the New York Yankees pay a luxury tax which streams to teams like the Marlins and the Devil Rays.

These G14 clubs dont want any other club to get a piece of their pie (hmm pie :wink: )

You mean they ate ALL the pies...er, pie? Fat bastards.... :shock:

I actually hope the G14 fail in their bid. If you look at their pedigree not all of them are that elite. They got history and a bit of cash which is not the same as being Champions. Chelsea and Rangers aren't in it respective National Champions (I think).

I don't like the general trend in football which is those with the money set the rules. It's all driven to generate cash from 'armchair viewers' via satellite and the real fan, the bloke on the terraces, is deemed to be of no value.

These recent years I've been forking out $20 to go see the odd match in a pub in New York. When I get back to UK I'll start following QPR again as they are across the road. A season for a fan of a middling football club is full of variety - usually lots of dull games with occasional flashes of brillance ( a bit like life really), Always feeling wet and cold and generally questioning why you came in the first place when it was nice and warm at home.

I'm not that interested in the Champions League as my favoured teams (Palace and QPR) don't feature. It's seems like the 'fun stuff' is an inconvenience for the big clubs (FA and League cup, replays, playing small clubs). It's certainly turned me off. It was just better in the old days. It felt more important.

I used to love the Home Nations league - and I think everyone did. Sure England won most of the time but the other countries used to create the odd upset. That went but I miss it. I really think the World Cup is next. Clubs dont want their highly paid stock at risk.

I think US sport is the future a football. I watched a bit of the 'world classic' but felt lonely doing so. You would think a nation v nation tournament in a top US sport would generate some enthusiasm here. People didn't think it was the real thing as they'd been conditioned to watch MLB. Thats what the G14 want for football.