Fan power rules again.

 Fan power rules again.

So the voices of dissent have been heard again. They've been threatening to exercise their vocal chords for some time now and on a spring afternoon in deepest Manchester they were at it again. Up until now they were the excluded, disenfranchised ones, the silent majority ready to storm the barricades in a passionate uprising, ready and waiting to break through doors, gates and football turnstiles. It all seemed so outrageously unfair and how much longer were they expected to just take it on the chin and bite their tongue. 

After several weeks of threats, furious arguments, vehement opposition and soaring blood pressures, football listened to its supporters and wondered whether anybody would take heed of what they were actually trying to say. There was red blooded acrimony, a sense of grievous injustice and a palpable air of disgust in the air. Somebody had gone over the heads of those football fans who had been completely overlooked and marginalised. There had been no consultation with the fans and maybe UEFA  were hoping for some tacit agreement. But nobody was doing anything at all and this was a plainly unforgivable proposal.

On Sunday afternoon matters came to a head when thousands of Manchester United, irate at the greed and selfishness of the owners who had plunged them into such debt, revolted on the Old Trafford pitch. UEFA had decided to complicate the issue with their single minded insistence that United should join the financial gravy train that would constitute a potential European Super League. Word on the grapevine was the Glazer family, an American family of super billionaires, saw the lucrative potential of a breakaway clique of wealthy and famous European clubs and if you didn't like it then you'd have to live with it. But this was the worst kind of suggestion. 

So here was the plan. Why don't the prosperous elite of clubs in the top six of the Premier League, household names in England, simply cut themselves off from the rest of the Premier League and be part of  some barmy vanity project which not only antagonised the supporters but also upset both managers and players alike. Here was the ultimate competition that would not only capture everybody's imagination but would be box office gold, compulsive viewing for football fans scattered around Europe and who could possibly resist this very tempting, mouth watering concept?

But almost immediately the esteemed likes of Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United, Spurs, Chelsea and, quite possibly, Leicester City were pencilled into some hair brained, crackpot tournament where the best of England would take on the rest of Europe in some fantasy European Super League round robin group of matches with little meaning or prestige. The only long term benefits it would give to the game would be a huge boost to substantial bank balance sheets of those already mentioned.

By the end of the weekend all we were left with were those typical scenes of footballing tribalism where things don't go quite as well as football fans would like them to. Hundreds of incensed Manchester United fans stampeded onto their hallowed Old Trafford pitch in the hope of persuading those in the hierarchy at Manchester United that the Glazer family should go immediately and pronto before they create havoc with their militant stance. Green and black flares sent plumes of smoke into the air, a severe warning to those in power that they're not going to stand for this terribly disagreeable state of affairs. 

And now the dust seems to be settling on this act of complete madness, a rush of blood to the head. The European Super League has now been dumped into the nearest available dustbin at least for the time being. The traditionalists who hold onto all the game's most precious values have now been thankfully pacified. Football is often prone to these Eureka moments when a light bulb goes off in some visionary's head and before you know it everybody thinks the game has lost possession of its senses.

We are now into the final month of the season and Manchester City will inevitably re-claim the Premier League title while Leicester City may well win their first ever FA Cup if only because they've lost all the other Finals at Wembley Stadium. But then football was never really about the law of averages and Chelsea may have too much streetwise savvy, winning the FA Cup once again. 

Realistically though, football will have to come to terms with the Arab sheiks and obscenely wealthy American baseball loving owners who profess to have their club's interests at heart. But football may well have to be resigned to to its long term fate, one where the millions and billions that seem to be surging through football's bloodstream are very much the status quo. 

Thankfully though the European Super League will be abandoned permanently and never disturb any earnest discussion about the game's future. Surely the movers and shakers who now dominate FA's headquarters must have something much more original up their sleeve. Maybe they should concentrate their attentions on something far more constructive to keep their minds busy. Some of us still fondly remember the Home Internationals at the end of a season where the English, Scots, Irish and Welsh play Musical Chairs and football tries to re-discover its sense of humour. We could do with a laugh. Farewell European Super League. You're surplus to requirements and don't darken our corridors again. Please.