The European Super League, People power, and social media

The biggest story at the moment is the European Super League. You would have  to be living under a rock to not know about it, Last Sunday I was watching Manchester United playing Burnley on Sky Sports when the story broke. At that point not much was known about it and slowly over the rest of Sunday more and more came out.

After the match was over, Ole Gunnar Solskajer was asked in his post match interview about it. He replied the first he heard of it was when we all did. One of the commentators of the match was Gary Neville a Manchester United legend who was not liked by Liverpool fans when he was a Manchester United player. After the match was over Gary said what we were all thinking, and his rant which you can see below went viral.

Gary managed to unite fans from different clubs into a global force and people power at its best was emerging. Seeing Leeds fans, Liverpool fans and Manchester United fans come together is something I thought I would never see. The blue and red halves of Liverpool and Manchester came together and decades old rivalry was forgotten. In London it was the same story with Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur fans coming together. Later that night it was formally announced around midnight and the full basic premise was unveiled.

Three days later the European Super League was dead as more and more was being revealed but before we get to that, how did all these fans of different clubs galvanise so quickly? Social media was used to great effect and helped Gary Nevilles rant go viral as people power took centre stage. It also helped fans contact their clubs social media accounts and openly state their opposition. Gary Neville was back on Sky Sports on Monday night with Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher and again it was must watch tv and compulsive viewing. Jamie agreed with what Gary said and added more as you can see below.

Gary went viral again with Jamie this time by his side. Social media was coming into its own, showing why there is a place for it in society. By now other famous ex footballers were chiming in on social media and this story showed no sign of stopping. Social media was also being used by fans to arrange picketing outside their clubs.

So, what else was being revealed? Well it turned out the players and managers and the majority of the staff of the six English clubs knew nothing about the European Super League. It also turned out that in one of the six clubs a high up director had no idea about the European Super League. This director kept calling the clubs owner to find out more but his calls were not being answered. We also saw Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola opebly come out and condem it.

If this had happened pre social media, the outcry would not have being noticed so quickly and if the European Super League was cancelled it would have taken longer to do this. Thankfully it ended like a failed coup in an African or South American and was over in three days.

Social media has had its bad and dark days but what has happened since last Sunday has helped to rehabilitate it. Showing the good that social media can do helping people power beat a proposed American style franchise system. Social media may have further bad and days again but it will also have it’s good days. This week has shown how social media has helped people power. It has also shown why there is an internet shutdown in Myanmar, as the military junta has helped censor people power and the opinions that goes with it.

I will leave the last word with Ian Dury and the Blockheads who describe how all football fans are feeling now.