SportsMan City Admits Joining Euro Super League “Was A Mistake”

Man City Admits Joining Euro Super League “Was A Mistake”

BEVERLY HILLS, June 03, (THEWILL) – The Chairman of English Premier League (EPL) champions Manchester City has apologised to fans of the club for his role in the now defunct European Super League (ESL) project. Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak did not mince words or attempt any diplomatic sugar-coating but directly said, “It was a mistake.”

As part of the “Big Six” EPL clubs that were founding members of the ESL, they were rightly barraged by fan distaste for the move and were one of those that promptly pulled out.

It is becoming obvious that together with the London-based side Chelsea, the Etihad club rushed into the decision to commit to the Super League, fearing that rivals Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham, who had shown a commitment to join, could leave them behind if they stayed out and that was an outcome they wanted to avoid.

Glo

As it turned out Chelsea and City, latecomers to the ESL, were the first to withdraw commitment to the project immediately the backlash gained global proportions. Now, in his annual interview with CityTV, Al Mubarak frankly admitted that the decision to join the Super League in the first place was an enormous error.

It was on this repentant note that he said; “I want to start with apologising to the fans. I owe it. It was a mistake. I think in hindsight, the decision should have been from the beginning: a decision not to participate in this league.

“I absolutely regret it. The benefit of hindsight is easy right now. I regret it and you can see it: our reluctance. It was very difficult. It was not an easy decision to say ‘yes, no’ and ‘we’re in’ or ‘we’re out.’

“We took a decision, I took a decision on this and I take full responsibility, it was a mistake. It was a decision based on a view, which was a mistaken view, this will improve and strengthen our position as a club. What it missed was an important aspect which is how the fans felt about it.

“We will learn from it, I have no doubt. Our fans appreciate the heart and spirit of everything we do. Our fans, I hope, will understand when we make such a mistake like this our heart was in the right place. Our assessment was wrong.”

The 46-year-old stressed the fact that as a club, the management struggled with the decision to join the ESL, and he insisted that they were uneasy from the start and quickly realised they had made an enormous error, when everything began to spiral out of control in the aftermath of the announcement of the formation of the ESL.

“I think you can see in terms of the timing of when we actually did commit, it tells you a lot in terms of how challenging a decision it was and how much we struggled with that decision. But you can also see that once we recognise there was a mistake, that’s it. We needed to go out immediately.

“I’m not going to sit here and defend the reason why we did it. What I will do is: I will own it. I took a decision ultimately on this and I take full responsibility, and it was a mistake.”

About the Author

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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

Jude Obafemi, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

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