Everton issue strong statement in opposition to Super League

Everton’s board of directors have expressed their anger at the proposed European Super League, urging the proposals on the table to withdrawn immediately.

The league, set to start in August, so far has seen 12 clubs across the continent agree to join it, including England’s so-called ‘Big Six’ - both Manchester clubs, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea.

Yet while they want to compete in the Super League and simultaneously continue in their own domestic competitions, it is believed that the Premier League will not allow England’s six involved clubs to do so.

On Tuesday morning, Everton published the following statement on their official website condemning the plans, which first surfaced on Sunday:

“Everton is saddened and disappointed to see proposals of a breakaway league pushed forward by six clubs.

“Six clubs acting entirely in their own interests.

“Six clubs tarnishing the reputation of our league and the game.

“Six clubs choosing to disrespect every other club with whom they sit around the Premier League table.

“Six clubs taking for granted and even betraying the majority of football supporters across our country and beyond.

“At this time of national and international crisis - and a defining period for our game - clubs should be working together collaboratively with the ideals of our game and its supporters uppermost.

“Instead, these clubs have been secretly conspiring to break away from a football pyramid that has served them so well.

“And in that Pyramid Everton salutes EVERY club, be it Leicester City, Accrington Stanley, Gillingham, Lincoln City, Morecambe, Southend United, Notts County and the rest who have, with their very being, enriched the lives of their supporters throughout the game’s history. And vice versa.

“The self-proclaimed Super Six appear intent on disenfranchising supporters across the game - including their own - by putting the very structure that underpins the game we love under threat.

“The backlash is understandable and deserved – and has to be listened to.

“This preposterous arrogance is not wanted anywhere in football outside of the clubs that have drafted this plan.

“On behalf of everyone associated with Everton, we respectfully ask that the proposals are immediately withdrawn and that the private meetings and subversive practises that have brought our beautiful game to possibly its lowest ever position in terms of trust end now.

“Finally we would ask the owners, chairmen, and Board members of the six clubs to remember the privileged position they hold – not only as custodians of their clubs but also custodians of the game. The responsibility they carry should be taken seriously.

“We urge them all to consider what they wish their legacy to be.”

Everton are due to face one of the ‘Big Six’ on Friday, when they travel to Arsenal in the Premier League.

Manager Carlo Ancelotti has already voiced his opposition to the concept of a Super League, telling The Athletic last month: “For me, the Super League cannot happen. We have the Champions League. It’s enough, right? The Champions League pits the best against the best already. But the future of football must value the national competitions more. The schedule is really tough as it is. The players never rest.”