Theprof I think you and others are wildly underestimating the power these clubs currently have, and also what the players and fans will actually do, if it were to go ahead as suggested (I don't think it will to be honest).
We all like to posture about the tradition and the moral correctness of it all, but in the end if the big players are in this league, then the fans will want to see it. Yes older fans will talk with their feet and their wallets but in the end it's the younger fans who drive the interest, the corporate "fans" who drive the money, and they won't be swayed by the same factors. They just want to see the big players make the big plays.
And if there is bigger money in this league, then the players will play in it, no doubt about that. Gary Neville can talk all he wants but I guarantee you the 20 year old Neville wouldn't have left Man United in protest had this happened in his time. And look how quiet the players are at these actual clubs. If it goes ahead, a place in one of these squads will be the golden ticket.
If domestic leagues are operating without these clubs, and without these players, then they will have a fight on their hands to keep the interest, regardless of how many old men protest and wave banners.
FIFA knows all this, UEFA knows all this. I think for them to go through with a ban rather than heading for a negotiating table would be a riskier move than the move these clubs have made.
The only historical sporting situation I can recall like this where the governing bodies were not forced to drastically change in some way and bend to the agitators was the Rebels tour in rugby, and the big difference there was it was an argument along racial and political lines, a whole different kettle of fish. When it's 100% about money, the entities who get the eyeballs and therefore the money, will mostly get their way (rightly or wrongly).
This is a war. And I think we are underestimating the power on the clubs' side of the table by several orders of magnitude.
We all like to posture about the tradition and the moral correctness of it all, but in the end if the big players are in this league, then the fans will want to see it. Yes older fans will talk with their feet and their wallets but in the end it's the younger fans who drive the interest, the corporate "fans" who drive the money, and they won't be swayed by the same factors. They just want to see the big players make the big plays.
And if there is bigger money in this league, then the players will play in it, no doubt about that. Gary Neville can talk all he wants but I guarantee you the 20 year old Neville wouldn't have left Man United in protest had this happened in his time. And look how quiet the players are at these actual clubs. If it goes ahead, a place in one of these squads will be the golden ticket.
If domestic leagues are operating without these clubs, and without these players, then they will have a fight on their hands to keep the interest, regardless of how many old men protest and wave banners.
FIFA knows all this, UEFA knows all this. I think for them to go through with a ban rather than heading for a negotiating table would be a riskier move than the move these clubs have made.
The only historical sporting situation I can recall like this where the governing bodies were not forced to drastically change in some way and bend to the agitators was the Rebels tour in rugby, and the big difference there was it was an argument along racial and political lines, a whole different kettle of fish. When it's 100% about money, the entities who get the eyeballs and therefore the money, will mostly get their way (rightly or wrongly).
This is a war. And I think we are underestimating the power on the clubs' side of the table by several orders of magnitude.