Actually, things like this have happened here many times. Remember that Sir Keir Stammer is the leader of the opposition, not the prime minister. Things like this have happened to Nigerian leaders many times, so of course it has happened to leaders of opposition in Nigeria.
Remember when President Obasanjo had to be whisked away from a venue in Kano because the people of Kano were angry that Mohammed Abacha was in prison?
Remember when Kayode Opeifa was harassed out of the venue of a symposium (while he was Lagos State commissioner for Transport)?
The owner of a British public house, Rod Humphris, has ordered the leader of the British Labour Party, Sir Keir Stammer, to leave his pub because the politician supported the Covid-19 lockdown. Many restaurants, bars and pubs in the UK have lost a lot of money due to the lockdown and the angry owner blamed politicians, including Sir Keir, for the financial crisis that their owners have faced.
The video begins with Sir Keir's bodyguard trying to restrain the owner while he shouted, "That man is not allowed in my pub!" Mr Humphris also accused the bodyguard of assaulting him. He shouted that Sir Stammer should, "Get out of my pub".
The Labour leader was on a campaign walkabout in the area when the incident happened.
RED-FACED Sir Keir Starmer was today booted out of a Bath pub by its furious landlord.
The Labour leader was turfed out of The Raven after trying to enter during a campaigning walkabout in the city centre.
Landlord Rod Humphris appeared to be held back by bodyguards during the incident as he yelled: "That man is not allowed in my pub."
Sir Keir, wearing a black face mask, rushed out of the door a few seconds later and scarpered off down the street.
The incident was caught on camera by reporters following the Labour leader.
During a street confrontation Mr Humphris, who says he has been "a Labour voter my entire life", can be heard saying he's "incandescent" with Sir Keir's performance.
He tells him: "You have failed this country, you have seriously failed."
In video of the incident the pub landlord hands Sir Keir with a graph which he says shows that "the last time we had this much death was 2008".
He tells the Labour leader: "Do you understand we have f***** our economy because old people are dying?
"You have failed to be the opposition, you have failed to ask whether lockdown was functioning.
"Thousands of people have died because you have failed to do your job and ask the real questions.
"You have allowed our children to wear masks in schools when there's never been any evidence for it."
This idea is not new. It initially surfaced in the 1990s. The big clubs did not like playing against small clubs and they wanted more money and guaranteed incomes. At that time clubs like Steaua Bucharest and Red Star Belgrade could win the Champions Cup. It was in order to placate these big clubs and leagues that UEFA allowed more clubs from these countries to play in the Champions League. Previously only league winners played in the Champions League.
The idea died down and resurfaced in the early 2000s, then in the late 2000s. Every time UEFA placated the clubs with more money and more spaces in the Champions League. FIFA also started paying the big European clubs compensation for releasing their players to play in the World Cup, African Nations Cup, etc. and for each time that their players got injured during these competitions.
COVID 19 has meant that even the big clubs are suffering (look at what's happening to Barcelona) and so they believe this is the best opportunity to finally implement the Super League.
This is the second major challenge to FIFA's welfare policy (although the big clubs have promised to continue supporting the policy). When FIFA and the clubs mention a "pyramid", they are basically referring to FIFA's welfare policy. FIFA believes that players are usually developed by small clubs and some players come from developing nations. They believe that these small clubs and developing nations must also get a share of the revenue that football earns and that it shouldn't all go to the big clubs and rich nations.
Jean-Marc Bosman
The first major challenge was the Bosman ruling in 1995.
Previously it was an established rule that the club that developed a player could determine which clubs the player moved to in subsequent years and that these small clubs would also get a share of the transfer fees. For example, Bosman joined Standard Liege in 1983 and then moved to RFC Liege in 1988. He wanted to move to a French club in 1992, but his first club (Standard Liege) blocked the move. Bosman then sued the 2 clubs, UEFA and FIFA and the European Court of Justice ruled that a feeder team could not block a player from moving from one club to the other.
This ruling also made it illegal to limit the movement of European players within the European Union. Previously most leagues had limits on the number of foreign players that could play in a match or be signed by a team. For example, Serie A teams could only sign 3 non-Italians. The ruling abolished such limits.
The interesting thing will be to see how they ensure that clubs that are not in this Super League will still receive enough funds to survive and how this new league will affect competitions like the African Cup of Nations.
It will also be interesting to see how this affects fans. It'll mean that fans will have to be travelling farther every week and that they might have to buy tickets to more competitions (that's one of the reasons that some of the fans are complaining).
OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: LEADING EUROPEAN FOOTBALL CLUBS UNVEIL NEW SUPER LEAGUE
19/04/2021
Twelve of Europe's top football clubs have today announced that they have agreed to form a new competition, the Super League, governed by their Founding Clubs.
AC Milan, Arsenal FC, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea FC, FC Barcelona, FC Internazionale Milano, Juventus FC, Liverpool FC, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid CF and Tottenham Hotspur have joined as Founding Clubs. Three more clubs will be invited to join before the opening season starts as soon as possible.
The Founding Clubs look forward to future discussions with UEFA and FIFA in order to identify the best solutions for the Super League and for world football as a whole.
The formation of the new league comes at a time when the global pandemic has accelerated the instability of the current economic model of European football. The Founding Clubs have for years aimed to improve the quality and strength of existing European competitions and, in particular, to create a tournament in which the best clubs and players can compete against each other on a more frequent basis.
The pandemic has shown that a strategic vision and commercial approach is needed to increase value and support for the benefit of the football pyramid as a whole. Over the past months, there has been an intensive consultation with the governing bodies on the future format of European competitions. The Founding Clubs believe that the solutions proposed by the regulators do not resolve the fundamental issues, which are both the need to offer higher quality matches and to obtain additional financial resources for the whole world of football.
Format of the competition
-20 clubs will participate, the 15 Founder Clubs and five additional teams will qualify annually on the basis of the previous season's performance;
-All matches will be played midweek, all clubs will continue to compete in their respective domestic leagues, preserving the traditional fixtures that are at the heart of club life;
-The season will start in August with clubs participating in two groups of ten, playing home and away matches; the top three in each group will automatically qualify for the quarter-finals. The teams finishing fourth and fifth will play an additional two-legged playoff. Following this, two-legged playoffs will take place from the quarter-finals onwards, leading to the final, which will be played as a single match at the end of May at a neutral venue.
As soon as possible following the launch of the men’s competition, a women’s league will be rolled out, which will contribute to the progress and development of the ladies’ game.
This new annual tournament will allow for significantly improved financial growth, which will enable the clubs to support the European game through a long-term commitment and will see the solidarity contributions increase in line with the revenues generated by the new European league. The solidarity payments will be greater than those currently generated by the European club competition system and it is expected that they will exceed €10,000 million during the period that the clubs have committed to. Meanwhile, the new competition will be built on the basis of sustainable financial criteria, with all of the founding members having committed to a spending framework. In exchange for that commitment, the clubs will receive a total one-off payment of €3.5 billion which is for the sole purpose of investing in infrastructure and offsetting the impact of the COVID pandemic.
Real Madrid president and president of the Super League, Florentino Pérez, stated that:
“We’re going to help football at all levels and position it in its rightful place in the world. Football is the only global sport in the world with over 4 billion followers and, as big clubs, our duty is to satisfy the fans’ demands”.
In comments in support of the new European league, Andrea Agnelli, Juventus president and vice-president of the Super League noted that:
“Our 12 founder members represent thousands of million of fans across the world. We’ve come together at this critical time to bring about a transformation in the European game to give the sport that we love the foundations to make it sustainable in the future by considerably increasing the solidarity payments and giving fans and amateur players a dream and offering games of the highest quality that will feed their passion for football”.
Joel Glazer, Manchester United co-owner and Super League vice-president, declared that:
“By bringing together the best clubs and players from across the world to play against each other for a whole season, the Super League will represent a new chapter for European football, whilst ensuring a competition and facilities of the highest quality and greater financial support across the football pyramid in general”.
This is not the first time that this idea is being proposed. There was a similar idea in the 1990s and it forced UEFA to expand the Champions League in order to placate the clubs.
European Super League plans set to be announced - six English teams involved, Sky News understands
Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, and two other Premier League sides are understood to be involved in plans for a European Super League; Premier League and UEFA robustly condemn the proposals; a number of top Italian and Spanish clubs are believed to also be involved in the plans
By Sky News
Sunday 18 April 2021 17:39, UK
Six English teams are expected to be part of plans for a breakaway European Super League, with an announcement due on Sunday night, Sky News understands.
Among the English clubs involved are Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.
The project has been launched to rival UEFA's Champions League format which currently dominates European football.
Sky News' City editor Mark Kleinman said: "My understanding is that 12 clubs from across Europe including the six biggest English clubs have now signed up to this new format. The others include Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid."
Kleinman added: "The new league includes staggering sums of money that will be handed to the participating clubs. About $5billion has been committed to this new project by the American bank JP Morgan.
"And this will come after European clubs' finances have been hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic which is one of the reasons why so many of Europe's biggest clubs have decided that now is the right time to form a European Super League after years of on/off discussions about such a project."
Masters: Premier League cannot support Super League concept The Premier League's chief executive Richard Masters has written to all 20 of the league's clubs in England to state its opposition to the new project.
Mr Masters told the 20 that "this venture cannot be launched without English clubs and we call upon any club contemplating associating themselves or joining this venture to walk away immediately before irreparable damage is done".
"We do not and cannot support such a concept," Masters' memo read.
"Premier League rules contain a commitment amongst clubs to remain within the football pyramid and forbid any clubs from entering competitions beyond those listed in Rule L9, without Premier League board permission.
"I cannot envisage any scenario where such permission would be granted."
The move to create a rival league is being seen by some in football as a surprise after the European Club Association (ECA), which represents 246 of the continent's leading clubs, gave their backing to UEFA's reforms.
UEFA has proposed an increase to 36 from 32 teams in the Champions League, and an overhaul of the group stage into a single table rather than the current groups of four clubs.
Teams would play 10 matches each in the group stage rather than the six they currently play and a playoff round would also be introduced before the last 16.
There have been reports of a plan for a breakaway league for a number of years and the speculation returned in January with several media reports that a document had been produced outlining the plans for a 20-team league.
Those reports led FIFA and UEFA to warn they would ban any players involved in a breakaway from playing in the World Cup or European Championship.
Premier League appeal 'undermined' by European Super League The Premier League has hit out at the plans for a breakaway European league, releasing the following statement: "The Premier League condemns any proposal that attacks the principles of open competition and sporting merit which are at the heart of the domestic and European football pyramid.
"Fans of any club in England and across Europe can currently dream that their team may climb to the top and play against the best. We believe that the concept of a European Super League would destroy this dream.
"The Premier League is proud to run a competitive and compelling football competition that has made it the most widely watched league in the world. Our success has enabled us to make an unrivalled financial contribution to the domestic football pyramid.
"A European Super League will undermine the appeal of the whole game, and have a deeply damaging impact on the immediate and future prospects of the Premier League and its member clubs, and all those in football who rely on our funding and solidarity to prosper.
"We will work with fans, The FA, EFL, PFA and LMA, as well as other stakeholders, at home and abroad, to defend the integrity and future prospects of English football in the best interests of the game."
UEFA vows to prevent European Super League from happening
In a joint statement with national governing bodies and top-flight leagues in England, Italy and Spain - UEFA has robustly condemned the plans being discussed by some of the continent's elite clubs, stressing that the organisations will remain united in opposing the "cynical" initiative, and will use all methods available to them, including legal action, to prevent the scheme from being put into practice.
European football's governing body also stipulates that teams involved in such a league would not be allowed to participate in other "domestic, European or world level" competitions and that players may be stopped from representing their countries.
UEFA has also praised clubs in France and Germany who, according to the governing body, have refused to take part in discussions over a European Super League concept.
A full statement read: "UEFA, the English Football Association and the Premier League, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and LaLiga, and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Lega Serie A have learned that a few English, Spanish and Italian clubs may be planning to announce their creation of a closed, so-called Super League.
"If this were to happen, we wish to reiterate that we - UEFA, the English FA, RFEF, FIGC, the Premier League, LaLiga, Lega Serie A, but also FIFA and all our member associations - will remain united in our efforts to stop this cynical project, a project that is founded on the self-interest of a few clubs at a time when society needs solidarity more than ever.
"We will consider all measures available to us, at all levels, both judicial and sporting in order to prevent this happening. Football is based on open competitions and sporting merit; it cannot be any other way.
"As previously announced by FIFA and the six Federations, the clubs concerned will be banned from playing in and other competition at domestic, European or world level, and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams.
"We thank those clubs in other countries, especially the French and German clubs, who have refused to sign up to this. We call on all lovers of football, supporters and politicians, to join us in fighting against such a project if it were to be announced. This persistent self-interest of a few has been going on for too long. Enough is enough."
In January, FIFA had said that a breakaway league would not be recognised and that "any club or player involved in such a competition would as a consequence not be allowed to participate in any competition organised by FIFA or their respective confederation" - meaning players would be banned from the World Cup.
FA: European Super League idea is damaging
The Football Association has indicated it will not grant any approval for any team to join such a league and says it will work with FIFA and the aforementioned bodies to ensure the "integrity" and "future" of the game is preserved.
A statement read: "The FA has been made aware of certain English clubs planning to form a closed European Super League with other European clubs. It is clear that this would be damaging to English and European football at all levels and will attack the principles of open competition and sporting merit which are fundamental to competitive sport.
"For new competitions to be formed involving clubs from different associations, approval would be required from the relevant National Associations, confederation and/or FIFA. We would not provide permission to any competition that would be damaging to English football, and will take any legal and/or regulatory action necessary to protect the broader interests of the game.
"We note FIFA confirmed earlier this year that they and the six confederations would not recognise any such competition and, as such, any player or club involved may not be permitted to participate in any official competition which falls within the auspices of FIFA or their respective confederation.
"The FA will continue to work with UEFA, FIFA and the Premier League to seek to ensure that nothing is approved that he has the potential to damage English football. We will work with fans, The Premier League, EFL, PFA and LMA, as well as other stakeholders, at home and abroad, to defend the integrity and future prospects of English football in the best interests of the game."
Neville: Deduct points off the six Premier League clubs Sky Sports' Gary Neville:
"I'm not against the modernisation of football competitions, with have the Premier League, we have the Champions League. But to bring forward proposals in the midst of COVID, in the midst of the economic crisis that exists for all clubs is an absolute scandal.
"United and the rest of the big six clubs that have signed up to it against the rest of the Premier League should be ashamed of themselves.
"European Super League? Are Arsenal in that? They have just drawn with Fulham, Manchester United are drawing with Burnley. I cannot concentrate on the game. To sign up to the Super League during a season is a joke, they should deduct points off all six of them."
Sky Sports' Roy Keane:
"It comes down to money, greed, it doesn't sound good. Let's hope it's stopped in its tracks because it's pure greed. We talk about the big clubs, Bayern Munich are one of the biggest in the world, at least they have made a stand, which is a start."
Sky Sports' Micah Richards:
"The Premier League has been run amazingly, and clubs are businesses and investments. But what happens to the fans, the memories of what the fans have had over the years?
"Are they to be forgotten about for the sake of money? That's what football has become now, it's an absolute disgrace."
New Champions League format decision due on Monday
A new 36-team Champions League format from 2024 is set for final approval by UEFA's executive committee on Monday.
A decision had initially been expected on March 31 but was delayed due to some clubs within the European Club Association seeking a greater say on commercial matters for the new competition.
However, meetings of the ECA board and of UEFA's club competitions committee on Friday have cleared the way for the new format to be rubber-stamped. It is understood the differences which led to the first delay have been set aside rather than resolved.
The expanded format is a cause of concern for the Premier League and many other European domestic competitions, while fans' groups wrote an open letter to ECA chairman Andrea Agnelli criticising it on Friday morning.
European football's governing body will also make a final decision on host venues for Euro 2020, with Bilbao, Dublin and Munich the three yet to be confirmed of the original 12.
The Champions League executive committee will vote on whether to do away with the current group system - where 32 teams are split into eight pools of four - and replace it with one 36-team league.
Each team plays 10 matches on a seeded basis - four more than in the current group phase - in a so-called 'Swiss model', previously described as "ideal" by Agnelli in part because it allows the flexibility to add even more matches in the future.
The new format takes the Champions League from 125 to 225 matches, which would create a huge headache for domestic schedulers. EFL chairman Rick Parry says it would be a "major threat" to the Carabao Cup and the Football Association also wrote to UEFA to express its concerns.
The encroachment of the competition into January - usually kept free for domestic club football - is understood to be another concern for the Premier League.
The league's top eight would qualify automatically for the last-16 knockout stage, with the teams finishing ninth and 24th playing off for the remaining eight places.
The allocation of two of the extra four places to sides based on previous European performance has also proved controversial.
There have been rumours that major football teams in England, Spain and Italy, including Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool plan to breakaway and form a European Super League. It was reported that PSG were invited to join the new league but they refused. An announcement is expected from the breakaway clubs tonight.
It is expected that FIFA, UEFA and the various national associations will ban any player or club that participates in the new league.
UEFA has now released a statement about the issue.
[size]Statement by UEFA, the English Football Association, the Premier League, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), LaLiga, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Lega Serie A[/size]
Sunday 18 April 2021
UEFA, the English Football Association and the Premier League, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and LaLiga, and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Lega Serie A have learned that a few English, Spanish and Italian clubs may be planning to announce their creation of a closed, so-called Super League.
If this were to happen, we wish to reiterate that we – UEFA, the English FA, RFEF, FIGC, the Premier League, LaLiga, Lega Serie A, but also FIFA and all our member associations – will remain united in our efforts to stop this cynical project, a project that is founded on the self-interest of a few clubs at a time when society needs solidarity more than ever.
We will consider all measures available to us, at all levels, both judicial and sporting in order to prevent this happening. Football is based on open competitions and sporting merit; it cannot be any other way.
As previously announced by FIFA and the six Federations, the clubs concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level, and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams.
We thank those clubs in other countries, especially the French and German clubs, who have refused to sign up to this. We call on all lovers of football, supporters and politicians, to join us in fighting against such a project if it were to be announced. This persistent self-interest of a few has been going on for too long. Enough is enough.
Foreign Affairs › Re: Keir Stammer Kicked Out Of Pub For Supporting COVID-19 Lockdown by naptu2(op): 4:16pm On Apr 19, 2021
