Andros Townsend has claimed Premier League players knew the European Super League would ‘never happen’ and thanked fans for helping to shut it down.
The Crystal Palace star says NO PLAYERS, whether they were included in the competition or not, were briefed before the weekend’s shock news and revealed the very moment they knew the breakaway plans were ‘DOOMED’.
News that the English top flight’s so-called ‘big six’ had agreed to become founding members of a new elite Super League sent shockwaves through the sport on Sunday night.
In a statement, it was claimed the ESL’s inaugural season was ‘intended to commence as soon as practicable’.
But the European Super League is now over before it had a chance to begin, with the breakaway disbanded just two days later on Tuesday after the majority of the 12 founding members, including all six English clubs, pulled out following a dramatic backlash from all levels of football.
Fans and pundits had their say on the ‘betrayal’ of top sides, and players even got together on social media to announce their opposition.
And it appears the reaction from players was very much the same as the supporters, whose protests made the backpages across Europe and prompted the U-turn.
Townsend joined the talkSPORT Breakfast on Wednesday morning to reveal a player’s perspective on the last two days.
He revealed they had no knowledge of the breakaway plans, and said the plans were ‘doomed’ the moment FIFA and UEFA threatened to ban stars from the World Cup and Euros.
“There has been a lot of chatter in the dressing room,” said the Palace winger.
“Ultimately we saw why everyone loves football, we saw the power of the fans, the power of the players, the power of journalism, pundits, and collectively we’ve come together to make sure this ill-advised competition didn’t see the light of day.”
How did he find out?
“On Twitter,” the Eagles ace revealed.
“It’s funny, people think we have this inside information and we know things and get things early, but no, we find out the same as everyone else, just on Twitter.
“We didn’t get talked through it all by the club or anything, it didn’t even get to that stage because anyone I spoke to, we were adamant this competition would never see the light of day.
“There was no way it could work, so there was no need for an official meeting or anything like that, we knew in a couple of days this thing would blow over and it would be gone, and that turned out to be the case.
“I couldn’t see how a format like this could ever see the light of day, so the right thing was done eventually.
“Once UEFA and FIFA came out and said they were going to start banning players from internationals and you wouldn’t be able to play in World Cups and Euros – there was no way past it. That is the pinnacle of any player’s career, so once that happened we knew it was doomed.”
Crystal Palace owner Steve Parish earned praise on Monday night as he joined Sky Sports to offer his verdict on the plans, bringing a calm to the circus of breaking news.
On Monday Night Football, the Eagles chief said Premier League clubs don’t want the ‘big six’ to leave and said he wanted to ‘sit down and sort it out like gentlemen’.
“The thing about Steve is he’s a fan as well, so he can see things from both sides, whereas a lot of these other owners are businessmen,” Townsend added.
“They got to the top of their field by being ruthless, by only thinking about doing the best for their business. So yes, these owners have had a lot of credit, but ultimately they’re only doing their job to get the most money for their business, and unfortunately on this occasion they were probably a bit ill advised.
“Thankfully everybody came together to make sure this competition wouldn’t see the light of day.”
Heads have already began to roll in the aftermath of the attempted coup, with Ed Woodward announcing his departure as Manchester United’s executive vice-chairman.
There are rumours the owner of one of the English clubs involved are now willing to sell up following the Super League failure, and Townsend wouldn’t be surprised.
“I think for some of them too much damage has been done,” said the talkSPORT pundit.
“They are not football fans, they are not thinking, ‘we have to do this for the sake of football’, they are obviously only thinking about the money and getting the most money for their own clubs.
“Yes, people can say it’s greedy, but these guys didn’t become millionaires and billionaires by being understanding, they’re obviously ruthless in their field.
“So I can understand why they’ve done it, but it was obviously the wrong decision and the right decision has come out on top.
“We haven’t had the fans in stadiums for well over a year now, but over the last 48 hours we’ve seen the power of the fans and it was great to see them back.
“The fans still have a huge part to play in football and they definitely played their part in numbers over the last couple of days.”