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BE CLOSE BE CLOSE BE CLOSE BE CLOSE TO THE PASSION TO THE PASSION TO THE PASSION TO THE PASSION Read this action-packed paper every week Read this action-packed paper every week Read this action-packed paper every week Read this action-packed paper every week £1.50 FOOTBALL The Paper LEAGUE THE ONLY PAPER FOR THE REAL FOOTBALL FAN Sunday, May 2, 2021, Issue No: 477 INSIDE: CANARIES ROMP TO THE TITLE AND LETHAL JONSON LIFTS UP POSH PETERBOROUGH hot-shot Jonson Clarke-Harris celebrates his last-gasp spot-kick that earned a dramatic 3-3 draw against Lincoln – and promotion to the Championship PICTURE: Alamy ONLY £1.50 EVERY SUNDAY IN RETAILERS CONNOLLY: TONEY IS MY CHAMP KING PLUS CHELTENHAM DANCE INTO LEAGUE ONE WOULD ROO By John Lyons BELIEVE IT? Championship relegation battle goes right to the wire MAGENNIS: WE KNEW WE HAD TO ACHIEVE PROMOTION DETERMINED Wayne Rooney has urged his Derby County players to stand up and be counted as they prepare to fi ght for their Championship lives with Rotherham and Sheffi eld Wednesday next Saturday. The Rams would have put themselves on the brink of safety if they’d beaten Swan- sea yesterday, but they let slip a 1-0 lead to crash to their sixth defeat on the spin. Rotherham and Sheffield Wednesday both edged a point closer to the Rams after draws, against Blackburn and Nottingham Forest respectively. Rotherham are three points behind fourth-bottom Derby, but have a game in hand, while Wednesday will need to beat the Rams in a blockbuster clash to give themselves a chance of staying up. Derby boss Rooney said: “We’ll certain- ly see who the men are and which players can stand up and be counted for the game. The players will be ready – it’s a shoot-out between the three of us.” ●FULL STORY – Page 13 BUY FROM YOUR LOCAL NEWSAGENT OR SUPERMARKET OR SUBSCRIBE ONLINE AT: WWW.THELEAGUEPAPER.COM POSTAL SUBSCRIPTION Fill out the form and send your cheque for either £20, £40 or £80 made out to The Football Paper Ltd to: Subscriptions, The Football League Paper, Tuition House, St George’s Rd, Wimbledon, SW19 4EU ■ 10 issues for £20 ■ 20 issues for £40 ■ 40 issues for £80 (Please tick) Name: Address: Telephone No: Email: Postcode: (including 1st class P&P) Please note rates are for UK subscriptions only – other country rates on application. DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION UK rates £1.49 1 edition, £15.99 13 editions, £29.99 26 editions. Subscribe on our website www.theleaguepaper.com

EDITORIAL Kicker conspiracy Arrogant owners have proved that power does not equal competence – now is the time for fans to demand change We’d been hearing that a European Super League (ESL) was imminent for the past three decades. No one foresaw that it would only last for two days. After such a calamitous development, it was vital that football should not try to carry on as though nothing had happened. In that respect, the fan protests at Old Trafford that caused the postponement of the Manchester United v Liverpool match on May were significant. It was fortunate that the key plotters of the Super League proved to be so incapable. There was no sponsor or broadcaster in place when it was announced on Sunday April and seemingly no PR plan beyond having Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez appear on Spanish television to say the first thing that came into his head. Had it succeeded, the venture would have laid waste to international club football in Europe and to at least three of the major domestic competitions. There were to be permanent members of the ESL – announced from the outset with the other three not identified before the plan imploded – all signed up to -year contracts. The conspirators intended to run second-string teams in their own leagues; the tournament guaranteed an annual income of around £ million with a broadcasting contract on top of that. The remaining clubs might have talked defiantly of not allowing this to happen but it’s likely that they would have caved in. Future commercial deals – the Premier League’s next TV contract is due to start in – would have been worth a fraction of their current price without the ESL clubs. Having been treated with contempt by the new cartel, the rest of football must now strike back. Small steps have been taken, with executives from the errant clubs required to step down from Premier League committees (“We simply can’t deal with these people again,” an unnamed official from another club told Sky Sports). But tougher measures are needed. I M A G E S G E T T Y Manchester United fans express their displeasure before the postponed fixture against Liverpool Punitive fines won’t inconvenience billionaire owners, though they should be imposed as a matter of principle. More importantly, points should be deducted either from this season or next, enough to prevent European qualification for most of the six, or they should be banned from taking part in UEFA competitions for at least one year. Some media commentators suggest that any ban would be unfair because it would “punish the fans”, many of whom had already demonstrated against their own clubs’ involvement in the ESL. But there were no such considerations given to followers of Leeds, Portsmouth, Wigan Had it succeeded, the venture would have laid waste to international club football in Europe and to at least three of the major domestic competitions or the many other clubs who had points deducted for off-field mismanagement. If fans object to sporting punishments, they should exert more pressure on those owners to stop the activities that would incur such action. And we have now seen that supporters of the wealthiest teams do in fact have more power than they may have realised, their club officials having been thoroughly unprepared for the extent of the opposition to the ESL launch. That no German teams were involved in the new league was principally due to the “ + ” clause ensuring that a club’s members, not their investors, hold a majority of the voting rights. A similar rule applied here would prevent future breakaways, though it’s not yet clear if the political will exists to push through the necessary legislation. The Premier League and UEFA did at least offer firm opposition to the ESL plans, which clearly contributed to the latter’s swift collapse. Nonetheless, both institutions, driven to act out of self-preservation rather than any newly acquired principles, are in need of a fundamental overhaul. The Premier League waved through takeovers by some of the people who have now tried to destroy it and still, scandalously, resist attempts to distribute a greater proportion of its vast income through the lower leagues. UEFA, meanwhile, intend to press on with an ill-conceived reform of the Champions League set to begin in , involving teams each playing ten first-stage games before the end of the year. With two places given to clubs with the highest coefficients who had not qualified, this was designed to be a sop to the big names. It didn’t work and must be scrapped. If one good thing has come out of the ESL shambles, it is the realisation that when fans come together with a common goal they can still influence the direction of the game. The next challenge is building on this victory. WSC 5

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FOOTBALL The Paper LEAGUE

THE ONLY PAPER FOR THE REAL FOOTBALL FAN

Sunday, May 2, 2021, Issue No: 477

INSIDE:

CANARIES ROMP TO THE TITLE

AND

LETHAL JONSON LIFTS UP POSH

PETERBOROUGH hot-shot Jonson Clarke-Harris celebrates his last-gasp spot-kick that earned a dramatic 3-3 draw against Lincoln – and promotion to the Championship

PICTURE: Alamy

ONLY £1.50 EVERY SUNDAY IN RETAILERS

CONNOLLY: TONEY IS MY CHAMP KING

PLUS

CHELTENHAM DANCE INTO LEAGUE ONE

WOULD ROO

By John Lyons

BELIEVE IT? Championship relegation battle goes right to the wire MAGENNIS: WE KNEW WE HAD TO ACHIEVE PROMOTION

DETERMINED Wayne Rooney has urged his Derby County players to stand up and be counted as they prepare to fi ght for their Championship lives with Rotherham and Sheffi eld Wednesday next Saturday. The Rams would have put themselves on the brink of safety if they’d beaten Swan- sea yesterday, but they let slip a 1-0 lead to crash to their sixth defeat on the spin. Rotherham and Sheffield Wednesday both edged a point closer to the Rams after draws, against Blackburn and Nottingham Forest respectively.

Rotherham are three points behind fourth-bottom Derby, but have a game in hand, while Wednesday will need to beat the Rams in a blockbuster clash to give themselves a chance of staying up. Derby boss Rooney said: “We’ll certain- ly see who the men are and which players can stand up and be counted for the game. The players will be ready – it’s a shoot-out between the three of us.”

●FULL STORY – Page 13

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WWW.THELEAGUEPAPER.COM

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