The plans put forward by Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham have been hit by widespread condemnation by the UK government, governing bodies, fans and former players.
However, English football may now be left to count the cost of the end game from decades of embracing foreign investment. A pot of 3.5 billion euros , backed by US investment bank JPMorgan, has been put forward solely to support infrastructure investment of the founding members to offset the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.After an 18-game regular season, the top teams from each group would progress to the quarter-finals for a conclusion to the competition which mirrors the current format of the Champions League.
United have finished outside the top four in four of the last seven seasons. Arsenal, who sit ninth in the Premier League, have not qualified for the Champions League since 2016 and Liverpool face a battle to do so this season. Even Chelsea, thanks to the wealth of Russian oligarch owner Roman Abramovich, have left some of their competitors trailing in the arms race for talent in the transfer market."I think there are two things in play here: one is greed and the other is desperation," said former Football Association and Manchester City chairman David Bernstein."One of the things they haven't done during the pandemic is to impose some sort of wages control.
Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)