Liverpool, April 20: Everton described the move by six Premier League clubs to join a breakaway Super League as “preposterous arrogance” on Tuesday and urged them to reconsider their decision for the good of the game.
It is not among the current “Big Six” in England — Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham — who have become founding members of the proposed Super League.
In a strong statement from the club’s board of directors, Everton said it is “saddened and disappointed” to see the six clubs act in their own interests during a pandemic and tarnish the reputation of the Premier League.
“At this time of national and international crisis — and a defining period for our game — clubs should be working together collaboratively with the ideals of our game and its supporters uppermost,” the statement read. “Instead, these clubs have been secretly conspiring to break away from a football pyramid that has served them so well.”
Everton said the six clubs “appear intent on disenfranchising supporters across the game — including their own” by their actions and reminded their owners of the positions they hold as custodians of the English and wider game.
“This preposterous arrogance is not wanted anywhere in football outside of the clubs that have drafted this plan.”
Everton’s majority owner, British-Iranian businessman Farhad Moshiri, has spent heavily in recent years in an effort to push the team to the group stage of the Champions League for the first time.
Everton’s reaction comes on the day the Premier League holds a meeting of the 14 clubs not involved in the proposed Super League to discuss how to respond to the breakaway league. (AP)
