More than 24 hours after plans for a new ‘European Super League’ first leaked there appears to be no sign of the public anger abating. Boris Johnson, Keir Starmer and virtually every other member of the political establishment have now denounced the proposal which would not allow promotion or relegation to the new division, effectively ensuring a continental closed shop.
There are already reports about a Whitehall probe into whether the scheme breaches competition law while the European body UEFA has suggested players in the teams involved ‘could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams’ – denying England some of its best players.
Who are the geniuses managing this PR disaster? Step forward InHouse Communications, which proudly boasts a quote by, errr, Boris Johnson on its website calling them ‘The Fortnum and Mason of communication. They deliver and they deliver quality.’ InHouse is chaired by Theresa May’s former Downing Street director of communications Katie Perrior, who appears to have lost the knack of knowing when to get out just in time.
A former Conservative councillor, Perrior served just ten months in No. 10 – which saw controversies such as the infamous ‘trousergate’ row – before resigning suddenly in April 2017 after May called a snap election. Having criticised May’s chief of staff Nick Timothy for his ‘rude, abusive, childish behaviour’ after she resigned, it was no surprise to see Timothy, an Aston Villa superfan, pouring scorn on plans for an ESL this morning, declaring it was: ‘a big fuck off to football clubs reducing their own supporters to “stakeholders”.’
Perrior is widely liked in Westminster but Mr S fears she has scored an own goal by taking this one on. With banking behemoth JP Morgan and now the ‘Fortnum and Mason of communications’ behind it, the new ESL doesn’t exactly appear to be doing much for the people’s game now does it?
Comments