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Following the announcement that 12 clubs were breaking away from European competitions, all hell has broken loose.

It didn’t take long for politicians to get involved, with the likes of Boris Johnson explaining he was going to do everything he could to put a stop to this.

Despite Leicester City currently being in the Premier League top four, the English side haven’t been chosen to partake in this lucrative endeavour, and nor have many other clubs whom some feel deserve to be in the mix.

Among those is Nicola Fratoianni, the National Secretary of Sinistra Italiana, a left-wing political part in Italy, who released a statement following the announcement, condemning the idea, as well as the omission of certain sides.

He said, relayed by Napoli Today: “This story of the Super League is disturbing and is a reflection of the world we live in, and it shows exactly what we mean when we talk about inequality. Companies that (also) deal with football, with their bellies swollen with debts, who in a normal situation would have gone bankrupt, have independently decided to change the rules of the game and destroy the sporting spirit that has fascinated millions of people, just to pursue easy earnings.

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“They don’t accept competition with smaller teams, they don’t tolerate sharing the earnings with the so-called ‘provincial’ sides, but the math is bad. Football, like any other passion, is based on the feelings of those who follow it, and on the willingness to pay to attend an event, at the stadium or on TV. Therefore, it’s not certain that the operation will be successful, not even from the point of view that interests them the most. 

“If you decide that Napoli, Atalanta, Sassuolo or Leicester, for example, cannot participate in the event, it means that you have not understood anything about what has been driving a movement for many years.”

He then concludes that he ‘really hopes this story ends up in the cellar’, meaning it gets dismissed, and emphasises that ‘football must go back to being fans and supporters, not presidents of teams on the brink of bankruptcy’.

As he points out, ‘football is above all a sport, not a market’.

For teams like Leicester City, who, thanks to good management and a bit of money, have managed to break into the so-called top six in England, the whole situation is simply a kick in the teeth.

We’ll have to wait and see what comes of this, but with the Foxes now in the FA Cup final, they have far more important things to focus on, and so do their fans.

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