If all this vote thing goes through could be a possibility but should we? Wouldn't mind and away trip to the nou camp especially the way were playing away from home.

Yer, let's make a real mockery of it and have Celtic and Rangers in it as well.

Why not simply a european elite league?

They'd have to negotiate the non league first! A cold wet night on a bobbly pitch in Alfreton may make Messi re-evaluate his life.

and Shamrock Rovers,

Saxoman wrote:Why not simply a european elite league?

Why not a Catalan league where Barcelona is?

Saxoman wrote:Why not simply a european elite league?

Because we wont be in europe shortly.

Bin Ont Turf wrote:Why not a Catalan league where Barcelona is?

That's ridiculous. That's like saying Rovers in League 1......Oh Wait!

Does this win the most pointless thread of the day award?

box_of_frogs wrote:Does this win the most pointless thread of the day award?

Like the thread on Brighton...talking of playing Real Madrid when they got promoted.they were ridiculed on here..dare to dream.

box_of_frogs wrote:Does this win the most pointless thread of the day award?

Yes.

One of the lads mentioned the chance of this in the pub yesterday - I thought he'd just had a couple too many.

The sad thing is that with the money it would bring - it'd probably end up getting accepted.

If they do want to play in the English League (which I dont think they should) then they would have to do it the same way that FC United and Wimbledon did it.

bfccrazy wrote:One of the lads mentioned the chance of this in the pub yesterday - I thought he'd just had a couple too many.

The sad thing is that with the money it would bring - it'd probably end up getting accepted.

If they do want to play in the English League (which I dont think they should) then they would have to do it the same way that FC United and Wimbledon did it.

Wouldn't happen, as Rangers or Celtic wouldn't. There isn't a way around it. They'd have to start at the bottom.

bfccrazy wrote:One of the lads mentioned the chance of this in the pub yesterday - I thought he'd just had a couple too many.

The sad thing is that with the money it would bring - it'd probably end up getting accepted.

If they do want to play in the English League (which I dont think they should) then they would have to do it the same way that FC United and Wimbledon did it.

Can't see barca playing in the premiership tbh.

If there was a chance the Premier league would snap their hands off. Imagine the foreign TV rights would double with Barca in.

They would just add them to the league (21 teams) and have an extra relegation spot the year after in every league.

Quickenthetempo wrote:If there was a chance the Premier league would snap their hands off. Imagine the foreign TV rights would double with Barca in.

They would just add them to the league (21 teams) and have an extra relegation spot the year after in every league.

I still maintain it couldn't happen. The legal writs would be enough to tie the Premier League in litigation for years!

ExistentialWanderer wrote:I still maintain it couldn't happen. The legal writs would be enough to tie the Premier League in litigation for years!

If the "top 6" clubs want more money - now Barca want out......

Could we be lining up for a European Super League.

Would that make us Champions of England at the current rate?

bfccrazy wrote:If the "top 6" clubs want more money - now Barca want out......

Could we be lining up for a European Super League.

Would that make up Champions of England at the current rate?

Ahh that's an entirely different entity. They couldn't waltz straight into the Premier League. That said. If you take the top two or four out of the top leagues. Would anyone, outside the obvious fan base actually watch?
I wouldn't. I don't know. Just seems a risk.

bfccrazy wrote:If the "top 6" clubs want more money - now Barca want out......

Could we be lining up for a European Super League.

Would that make us Champions of England at the current rate?

No it wouldn't. As we are currently 6th we'd be in a European Super League with Real Madrid, barca, juve, psg, etc

If Sky wish it, book your flights.

Vanarama League if they're lucky.... Give them what they deserve, a league in their tin pot country.

The most interesting part would be Uefa trying to justify giving the Catalan league a guaranteed CL spot that wouldn't involve qualifiers.

ExistentialWanderer wrote:Ahh that's an entirely different entity. They couldn't waltz straight into the Premier League. That said. If you take the top two or four out of the top leagues. Would anyone, outside the obvious fan base actually watch?
I wouldn't. I don't know. Just seems a risk.

We probably wouldnt as we are football fans and have an actual attachment to the team we follow. I'd expect that isnt the market that the "big clubs" go for though so they'd probably earn even more from doing it.

On the plus side it'd leave all the other teams to actually battle out in a truly competitive league and it wouldnt be long til a few of the big teams off to a super league would come crawling back.

bfccrazy wrote:We probably wouldnt as we are football fans and have an actual attachment to the team we follow. I'd expect that isnt the market that the "big clubs" go for though so they'd probably earn even more from doing it.

On the plus side it'd leave all the other teams to actually battle out in a truly competitive league and it wouldnt be long til a few of the big teams off to a super league would come crawling back.

You've pretty much nailed it with your closer! Liverpool came beyond perilously close to going out of business overnight in 2010. It really was an eleventh hour intervention. These clubs. Well you'd think they'd learn.

Sidney1st wrote:The most interesting part would be Uefa trying to justify giving the Catalan league a guaranteed CL spot that wouldn't involve qualifiers.

I don't get this obession with Catalonia. It has no relevance whatsoever to football. I reiterate, Monaco, Swansea, Cardiff!!!!!!! Clubs play in other countries.

ExistentialWanderer wrote:

That's because you're only thinking about Barcelona, yet there are a good number of teams that would also be affected by Catalonian independence.
They'd have enough teams to form a league of their own, so whilst everyone is banging on about Barca none of you have considered the others.

As for the teams you've tried to use to make your point, Monaco only has room for one team, the welsh leagues hadn't been formed properly had they when we took in Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham?

So you're wrong, Catalonia does have relevance to this chat, you just hadn't put much thought into it.

boatshed bill wrote:and Shamrock Rovers,

Booooooooooooooooooooooooo

Sidney1st wrote:That's because you're only thinking about Barcelona, yet there are a good number of teams that would also be affected by Catalonian independence.
They'd have enough teams to form a league of their own, so whilst everyone is banging on about Barca none of you have considered the others.

As for the teams you've tried to use to make your point, Monaco only has room for one team, the welsh leagues hadn't been formed properly had they when we took in Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham?

So you're wrong, Catalonia does have relevance to this chat, you just hadn't put much thought into it.

Eh really? I couldn't care less about the club. You're suggesting I haven't put thought into it? Are you really basing Monaco's allowance into French football on the size of their principality?
I suggest you think before posting. I will reiterate and hopefully it will register.
Barcelona WILL have to start at pyramid level as would ANY club. It's not open to any debate whatsoever. Look at the f*cking title of the thread! It's about Barca in the PL. What point of that don't you get?!

FC Barcelona are a very Catalan club. In contrast, Espanyol (based just outside the city of Barcelona) are quite the opposite. I tend to see more Spanish flags there than I do Catalan. I doubt they'd want to leave the Spanish league. The only other Catalonian club in La Liga are newcomers Girona. I think they're in between FC Barcelona and Espanyol in terms of where they stand.

Personally, I don't think Catalonia is going to get its independence anytime soon. It may claim it in the next day or two but Spain will invoke article 155 and basically take control of the region. That won't sit well here and I can see the peacefulness of many protesters seen during voting on Sunday turning into something more dangerous. Whatever happens, things are going to be messy for everyone, football clubs included!

ExistentialWanderer wrote:Eh really? I couldn't care less about the club. You're suggesting I haven't put thought into it? Are you really basing Monaco's allowance into French football on the size of their principality?
I suggest you think before posting. I will reiterate and hopefully it will register.
Barcelona WILL have to start at pyramid level as would ANY club. It's not open to any debate whatsoever. Look at the f*cking title of the thread! It's about Barca in the PL. What point of that don't you get?!

I understand it perfectly, but it wont happen for a number of reasons, political and footballing.
They'd have to resign from the Catalan Football Federation for starters.
For a club so strongly tied to its roots it simply won't happen.
It isn't open to debate because you aren't interested about the other issues..

As for Monaco, they were invited to join the French leagues as a pro club in the 1930's...

The English and Catalan League. Money and greed will destroy the league as we know it. Grass roots football gets more appealing by the day.

I read somewhere that there are 20 Catalan teams so well enough to form their own league (Gibraltar only has 8 teams in their top division and they have their own league and 2 qualification spots) and enough for UEFA to give them a qualification spot or two. Might be in the first qualification round but Barca would waltz through that.

bfcmatt wrote:Because we wont be in europe shortly.

I wasn't aware we were moving our little island which is quite an undertaking, where are we off do you know? my vote would be for just off the Canary Islands.

They want independence then they can form their own league.

don't want them in the ENGLISH Premier League

Bin Ont Turf wrote:Why not a Catalan league where Barcelona is?

Only if you want Barca to walk it every year.

houseboy wrote:Only if you want Barca to walk it every year.

Works for Celtic.
In all fairness its usually only one of 3 teams at most who will La Liga.

Well this is all very pointless. I did consider the other day what would happen with Barcelona if all this did go ahead on account of it would all be very acrimonious and they may well be not allowed to play in Spain, but as for the very idea of them playing here we might as well discuss the possibility of life on the moon. Who actually believes that that would happen? In the unlikely event of it happening it would be great to see the faces of Barca fans faced with travelling over thousand miles to every away game. Ha ha!!

The usual suspects arguing the toss on a purely hypothetical situation I see

Not yet you aren't, first comment you've made isn't it?

houseboy wrote:Only if you want Barca to walk it every year.

Catalan league with 20 teams. Shared television rights money. Espanyol and Girona would certainly benefit immediately, with the others catching up slowly. Barca will probably still walk it most years but it would even up with time (in theory).

Sidney1st wrote:Works for Celtic.
In all fairness its usually only one of 3 teams at most who will La Liga.

That's my point really - look at Scotland. Just about the only major league that is less competitive is Uruguay where apart from the very odd glitch it's been Penarol or Nacional pretty much all the way. When you look at the Catalan clubs who could form a league Barcelona would be even more dominant than Celtic have been since Rangers demise. You could see them winning every game and walking it, which in turn could cause problems with boredom among their supporters and serious loss of income. Would 80k people turn up every week to see a walkover, I think not. It is certainly food for thought in general but the PL? Never going to happen this side of doomsday.

Falcon wrote:Catalan league with 20 teams. Shared television rights money. Espanyol and Girona would certainly benefit immediately, with the others catching up slowly. Barca will probably still walk it most years but it would even up with time (in theory).

I could be wrong here but I think I read some years ago that Espanyol are a kind of feeder club for Barca, effectively being like Barca reserves. As I say I could be wrong but I can't be bothered just now to research it. If that is the case they are NEVER going to overcome any Barca dominance.

houseboy wrote:I could be wrong here but I think I read some years ago that Espanyol are a kind of feeder club for Barca, effectively being like Barca reserves. As I say I could be wrong but I can't be bothered just now to research it. If that is the case they are NEVER going to overcome any Barca dominance.

They are fierce rivals in an admittedly unbalanced derby.

houseboy wrote:I could be wrong here but I think I read some years ago that Espanyol are a kind of feeder club for Barca, effectively being like Barca reserves. As I say I could be wrong but I can't be bothered just now to research it. If that is the case they are NEVER going to overcome any Barca dominance.

What are Barcelona B and Barcelona C then?

The French FA chair has today invited them to play in Ligue 1. It's only about 2 hours from Perpignon, so makes more sense than playing in England.

box_of_frogs wrote:Does this win the most pointless thread of the day award?

Absolutely not. The Barca Chairman has suggested they will pick what league to play in: PL, French, Italian or Spanish. therefore it's relevant.
I think he's blowing smoke out of his ring and it won't happen.
Interesting away day though.

Why would Barcelona, after fighting all these years for their political independence, think that it would be a good idea to get their football from the English Premier League? In a rainy country 1000 miles away, with no historic or cultural ties, where they don't speak the language, with a completely different football philosophy. Absolute lunacy. How would we feel about upping sticks and playing in the Polish Premier League?

If they do gain independence and they aren't allowed to carry on playing in Spain (which I find unlikely), they'll set up their own Catalan league and then get busy pushing for a European Super League.

What about Espanyol?

piston broke wrote:Absolutely not. The Barca Chairman has suggested they will pick what league to play in: PL, French, Italian or Spanish. therefore it's relevant.
I think he's blowing smoke out of his ring and it won't happen.
Interesting away day though.

'They will pick what league to play in'? I think he will find that they won't.

lucs86 wrote:Why would Barcelona, after fighting all these years for their political independence, think that it would be a good idea to get their football from the English Premier League? In a rainy country 1000 miles away, with no historic or cultural ties, where they don't speak the language, with a completely different football philosophy. Absolute lunacy. How would we feel about upping sticks and playing in the Polish Premier League?

If they do gain independence and they aren't allowed to carry on playing in Spain (which I find unlikely), they'll set up their own Catalan league and then get busy pushing for a European Super League.

I think any bad feeling would make it impossible for them to stay in the Spanish league (and I suspect that would be more a government decision than a league one).
Incidentally if anyone wants a laugh, speaking of the Polish league, Google Polish football away ends. It's hilarious, just look at the cages (literally) that they are in. Just about the worst football viewing facilities you will ever see (and I've occasionally watched football in Scotland).