The Super League fell apart on Tuesday night as Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool withdrew while there was a resignation at United and players started to speak out, including Hector Bellerin.
Latest updates below as news breaks…
Less than 48 hours after it was announced, the Super League changed to a straight knock-out competition as teams started to realise the error of their ways
Chelsea and Manchester City were the reported to be the first to decide they weren’t going to bother because everybody on the planet, except the 12 owners, all hate the idea but it was Manchester City then Arsenal who issued official statements first. Liverpool were the third to follow.
Arsenal’s came after more concrete sources had started tweeting about it and around an hour-and-a-half after City’s.
Arsenal also issued a grovelling open letter to fans.
As a result of listening to you and the wider football community over recent days we are withdrawing from the proposed Super League.
We made a mistake, and we apologise for it.
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 20, 2021
https://twitter.com/David_Ornstein/status/1384625490137436161
We got our first official club statement at 9.23pm from Manchester City that said, “Manchester City Football Club can confirm that it has formally enacted the procedures to withdraw from the group developing plans for a European Super League.”
Liverpool released their statement at the same time as Arsenal:
Liverpool Football Club can confirm that our involvement in proposed plans to form a European Super League has been discontinued.
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 20, 2021
Spurs also released their statement and Arsenal were the only side to say ‘sorry’:
Levy’s statement says it all. At least arsenal had the bollocks to say sorry. We don’t stop until Levy is out
— Billie (@Billie_T) April 20, 2021
The move to breakaway and form a new Super League was met with universal condemnation with even governments getting involved, although quite how many of their suggestions would have held up in court we will never know. principles of sporting merit.
Arsene Wenger has said he knew the Super League would fail because they ignored the ‘basic principles of sporting merit’.
“I’m not surprised it didn’t last long,” Arsene Wenger told beIN as news continued to break that the Super League was collapsing, forcing resignations at the offending clubs.
“I never believed from the start it would happen. It ignored the basic principles of sporting merit. If you ignore that you kill the domestic leagues, so fans would never accept that. Rightly so.”
Amazon confirmed that they had not been involved in any talks:
Amazon Prime Video statement on the proposed Super League: pic.twitter.com/FCHc94yDns
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) April 20, 2021
And one of Liverpool’s partner’s got in on the act:
TRIBUS Super League Statement pic.twitter.com/zwaWDyBDMD
— TRIBUS (@TribusWatches) April 20, 2021
Then players started to speak:
— Jordan Henderson (@JHenderson) April 20, 2021
— Héctor Bellerín (@HectorBellerin) April 20, 2021
https://twitter.com/arsenaloFka/status/1384612799129825290
That was quick lol
— Aymeric Laporte (@Laporte) April 20, 2021
The Spanish report also says Chelsea have not confirmed their withdrawal but have expressed serious doubts about the project.
— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) April 20, 2021
https://twitter.com/MattWestern_/status/1384612189328199682
Other Super League updates and funniest tweets:
Chelsea withdrawing from Super League because of overwhelming negative global reaction. They only decided to join at last minute. Not one of the ringleaders. English clubs who wanted it most – Man United, Liverpool & Arsenal. Two other clubs holding internal talks about quitting
— Kaveh Solhekol (@SkyKaveh) April 20, 2021
Manchester United were the reportedly the third English side to withdraw although they have not confirmed at the time of writing:
#mufc will be withdrawing from the European Super League. Official confirmation expected before Friday #mulive [@LeahSmith_, @StrettyNews]
— utdreport (@utdreport) April 20, 2021
Ed Woodward also resigned
https://twitter.com/talkSPORT/status/1384580215016460288
Make it 6. Arsenal OUT. #SuperLeague
— Adriano Del Monte (@adriandelmonte) April 20, 2021
With Man Utd and Arsenal also reluctantly heading for the ESL door, the future is becoming clearer.
Real Madrid will play Real Madrid B, or maybe a broke Serie A team, home and away 10 times each season. The top 2 will progress to the final. In Saudi Arabia.
— Nick Harris (@sportingintel) April 20, 2021
Arsene Wenger on the Super League collapse: “I’m not surprised it didn’t last long. I never believed from the start it would happen. It ignored the basic
the boat was stuck in the Suez Canal longer than the Super League lasted
— Becca Wright (@_beccawright) April 20, 2021
https://twitter.com/LondonsRedFb/status/1384577298687537152
— Stan Cross (@tristandross) April 20, 2021
Imagine if the world turned that energy into stopping racism etc instead of stopping money being taken from rich people to go to even richer ones.
— Daily Cannon (@DailyCannon) April 20, 2021
https://twitter.com/honigstein/status/1384584371815030792
Meanwhile, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang returned to Twitter, probably before his meds wore off:
He has since deleted his entire Twitter account.