PM plans legislation to block super league

BORIS JOHNSON has told England’s football authorities that he is prepared to introduce new legislation to prevent the formation of a European Super League.

At a meeting with the Football Association and the Premier League, the Prime Minister voiced his “unwavering support” for their efforts to block the ‘Big Six’ clubs of the English game going ahead with the new breakaway competition.

Mr Johnson told the virtual meeting the Government should “drop a legislative bomb” to prevent the proposal going ahead as planned, sources said. “No action is off the table and we are exploring every possibility to ensure these proposals are stopped,” the Prime Minister said after the meeting.

Downing Street said he expressed “solidarity” with the fans’ groups, who were also represented at the meeting, saying they should be at the heart of any decisions about the future of the national game.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the party would back any legislation the Government brought forward to prevent the Super League going ahead. “This is about willpower now. If the Government is determined to do something about it, we will back them. There is no block in Parliament to action, if action is needed,” he said.

Chief executive of the Football Supporters’ Association, Kevin Miles, said Mr Johnson made clear at the meeting he would be prepared to use legislation to protect the authorities from legal action if they moved against the breakaway six. Mr Miles said that the rule books of the FA and Premier League, which were represented by chief executives Mark Bullingham and Richard Masters, give them the power to exclude clubs from their competitions, but they may then face legal challenges under competitions law.

“The mood music from the Government was they would do what was required to make sure that the measures to exclude those clubs from competitions would not fall foul of competition law, and that they would amend the law if necessary,” he said.

The meeting came as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it would be “carefully considering” the proposals which have caused outrage throughout the sport. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman later told reporters that among the measures under consideration was preventing ESL players getting work visas and withdrawal of police funding for match days.

The Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee will hold a session on the proposals.

There were protests outside grounds around the country on Monday at the scheme put forward by Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham, together with six leading Spanish and Italian clubs.

The plan has been condemned by both the FA and the Premier League, while UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has warned players who take part could be banned from representing their countries in the World Cup and the European Championship, but Super League chairman Florentino Perez – also president of Real Madrid – insisted the proposals were necessary to enable the sport to “evolve” in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.