Source: FOOTYMAD
The Atlantic League - not waving but drowning?
I see Ian Bell was resurrecting this idea in the Sunday Herald as a means of getting more money into the Scottish game. He argues:- "There are numerous big European clubs stuck in small, cash-starved leagues, from the Netherlands to Portugal. The Europa nonsense doesn't come close to meeting their needs. They have clear economic interests in common. Why not - it might even by a movie title - a league of their own?" The Europa League was designed, I have always suspected, to provide a sop to those middle-ranking clubs who might one day form such an Atlantic League. It provides decent money and is now in a format which fans used to the Champions League can recognise. The gulf in class and money between the Europa and Champions League is big - but could a group of clubs by themselves - in the foreseeable economic future - put together a sustainable package in face of UEFA's legal and financial clout? UEFA likes control and I predict that in the coming years as they move to enforce their Financial Fairness rules they will buy off potential internal opposition from smaller clubs by subsidising their minor competitions very heavily and by putting in place rules that favour precisely those "large clubs in small countries."
