Kieran Maguire

Fri 20 January 2023 12:26, UK

The Super League’s insistence that more matches between elite teams like Liverpool will equal more money shows a “complete lack of understanding” about what bedrock supporters want.

That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the attempts to relaunch the breakaway competition once championed by the Merseysiders.

Football Insider attended a summit held by A22 Sports Management, the company tasked with resurrecting the Super League, in Brussels last Friday (13 January).

There, A22 representative Antón Garcia used broadcast figures to illustrate why the Super League believe there is “no such thing as too much football” between Europe’s biggest sides.

The logic was on-brand for the Super League and came just a few months after Real Madrid president Florentino Perez used the fact that his side has played Liverpool just nine times in history as justification for the competition.

Critics, however, claim that this reasoning fails to take into account the value of scarcity, with the one-off nature of clashes between European heavyweights the reason they generate such big viewing figures.

Maguire echoed this viewpoint and insists that football should not be dedicated by international fanbases in any case.

“He would say that,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.

“These are the type of comments you expect to hear from people who want to justify the competition.

“Also, it doesn’t take into account the wishes of the fans. Having a Super League which reduces the importance of domestic competitions will turn fans off.

“Liverpool fans get as much pleasure from beating Man United or winning the Premier League as they do when they make progress in Europe.

“I think it is naive. There is no doubt that Liverpool against Real Madrid will generate more viewing figures than Liverpool against Crystal Palace, but why should domestic European football be driven by international fanbases?

“The whole point of a football club is that it is a representation of an individual town or city.

“If we go down the Super League route, it shows a complete lack of understanding of what Liverpool FC means to the people of Liverpool.

In other news, pundit tips Liverpool to submit “£60m” Caicedo bid after Sky update.