The Daily Bee (April 20th, 2021): The Football World Continues to Implode

Morning folks,

As I’m sure you’re all well aware, there is basically no football news that is not Super League news, and really I don’t care about anything else at the moment either, so I’ve not even bothered searching. Rumors linking our players to other clubs? I don’t care, the sport is in the process of being destroyed. Anyway, the good news is that the club has publicly stated that they will not be joining the Super League.

I didn’t think the rejection was all that resounding, but it is a start. Some of BVB’s players have been a little firmer in their position, however, with both Bellingham and Moukoko expressing their displeasure.

BVB Back in the Champions League?

One of the weirder developments in all of this is what to do with this season’s Champions League. It seems increasingly likely that Manchester City, Real Madrid, and Chelsea will be disqualified from this year’s tournament as a response to their defections, but what to do with the tournament after that is much less clear. If those three teams are ousted, that leaves Paris Saint Germain as the last team standing in the Champions League semi finals.

It is unlikely that PSG will be crowned as the champions, since that feels like a bit of a hollow victory for PSG, and UEFA and all the broadcasters won’t want to give up on the revenues generated by the semi finals and the final.

Various solutions have been proposed, though it is unclear if anything qualifies as more than just Internet chatter, but one of the more prominent rumors circulating on social media is the idea that teams will be brought back in to fill the spaces left by the disqualified teams. There has been talk that Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, and Porto will go into a fresh draw, with PSG, for the Champions League semi finals. Personally, I’m not a big fan of bringing Bayern Munich back into the mix, given that they were knocked out by the only team left standing in the competition. It seems like an injustice if PSG knock Bayern out, only to see them progress anyway. The best solution, as far as I can see, is having Porto and BVB play for a spot in the final against PSG. That puts PSG in the best position, as they should be, and brings two teams back that were knocked out by disqualified teams. By all means, I’m not a massive fan of this either, but I think we’re choosing between the best of bad options.

We really have no idea where any of this is going, but I guess we just have to wait and see. There’s a lot of mess that needs cleaning up.

Leeds Send a Message

Teams and players from all over Europe have already come out against this horrible plan by the greedy scumbags running the rich elite. Last night was the first Premier League game involving one of these gross teams, with Liverpool facing Leeds United. There were protests outside the stadium, Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville spent an hour criticizing the clubs on the broadcast before the game, and the Leeds players made their feelings clear in the warm up, wearing t-shirts with the Champions League logo and “EARN IT” on the front.

Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

In addition to this very clear statement, players and managers were pretty resounding in their criticism in pre- and post-match interviews. Klopp was critical of the Liverpool owners for this decision, and clearly distanced himself from it all, James Milner tweeted an obvious jab at the proposal, and Patrick Bamford made his feelings known after the match.

... And Now For Something Completely Different

Look, everything in football is terrible at the moment, and we really don’t know what is going to happen. It’s upsetting to watch this happen to a sport you care about, and for me this is watching a sport I’ve played and followed since a very young age fundamentally change in a way that may lead me to walk away.

So with all that in mind, I think it’s fair to say we all need a pick-me-up. Here’s Duncan Ferguson doing Big Dunc things:

This is incredibly wholesome and yet terrifying in equal measure. Which is Big Dunc’s entire brand.

The Daily Buzz

What do you think UEFA should do with this season’s Champions League? What would be the “fairest” solution?