BORIS Johnson has said he will work with the football authorities to block plans for a controversial breakaway European Super League involving some of England’s biggest football teams.
The Prime Minister said he will work with the game’s administrators “to make sure that this doesn’t go ahead in the way that it’s currently being proposed”.
Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City have announced they have signed up to the plan, joining teams from Italy and Spain.
Downing Street said a “range of options” were being considered in response, with a German-style system of fan ownership of clubs and clawing back coronavirus support loans included as possibilities.
Mr Johnson said the breakaway plans were not “good news for fans” or for UK football.
“I don’t like the look of these proposals,” he told reporters on a campaign visit to Gloucestershire.
“We are going to look at everything that we can do with the football authorities to make sure that this doesn’t go ahead in the way that it’s currently being proposed.”
He said the teams are more than just “great global brands”, adding: “They’re also clubs that have originated historically from their towns, from their cities, from their local communities.
“They should have a link with those fans, and with the fan base in their community.
“So it is very, very important that that continues to be the case.”
On another campaign visit, in Wednesbury, Mr Johnson said the breakaway league could “take a lot of the cash away from clubs that really need it”.
He said: “I think it’s wrong, I think it’s something that’s going in the wrong direction for football – for great English and British clubs – and it’s going in the wrong direction for fans.
“I can’t think that it’s the right way forward.”
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We’re considering a range of options and the Prime Minister wants to look at everything we can do here to make sure these proposals don’t go ahead as proposed.”
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