From Saturday's Guardian on the threat to European competition from G14.
Eighteen of Europe's richest football powers have launched an attempt to kill off the Champions League in its present form and take ownership of the game's most prestigious club competition from the governing body, Uefa.
In an internal policy document obtained by the Guardian, the G14 group - whose members include Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, but not
The organisation has long been suspected of seeking to form a breakaway organisation. However, having hitherto depicted itself as being merely a pressure group, the document, G14 Vision Europe, makes plain its desire to take control of elements of the game's governance and represents a clear escalation of its ambitions.
In it G14, which formed in 2000 and took in four more members two years later without changing its name, concedes that member clubs should continue to play in domestic leagues. However, it demands guarantees for their year-on-year participation in the continent's elite club competition and does not rule out a complete breakaway from traditional structures to form a European Super League.
"Domestic club competitions currently represent, and will continue to represent, the core football activity of the G14 member clubs," the document states.
"International club competitions represent an indispensable complement to the domestic competitions and therefore need to guarantee the participating clubs a reasonable number of matches, so as to allow these top-level clubs the opportunity to effectively forward plan so that they can maximise their chances of a 'return on investment'.
"Governing structures ... would be based on a clear needs basis ... This would quite possibly involve a detachment of the top professional level from all remaining levels underneath, if this was agreed upon by the clubs."
"Increasing membership is not currently on the table," a G14 insider told the Guardian earlier this week. With the group calling for "more reliable criteria" regarding participation in Europe's elite club competitions in its Vision Europe, the implication for those clubs would seem to be that striving for and investing in a top-four finish would be pointless.
The document states that the final reviewed version became "official G14 policy" last December, though a spokesman said last night that the leaked text was a draft based on discussions. He added that the 10 key principles published on its website on Thursday were the outcome of subsequent talks