Chelsea fans have reacted with a furious backlash after the club tried to drum up excitement for tonight's Premier League clash with Brighton.
Thomas Tuchel's in-form Blues are in the thick of the race for the top four this season, yet that process has now been rendered all but redundant by the recent announcement from six top flight sides of their allegiance to the European Super League.
Chelsea, along with Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham have identified themselves as the six 'Founding Members' from the Premier League, to join 12 overall.
The news has rocked the world of football and incensed supporters all over the planet, and now the fight back appears to have begun.
Taking to their social media channels on Tuesday morning, Chelsea went about their usual business of promoting the evening's match and declaring 'It's matchday!' which often goes down well with supporters.
Yet, before Chelsea could follow up the Twitter message with the usual requests for score predictions or fan messages, supporters in their droves piled in and hit back at the boldness of the business-as-usual type statement.
Many were visibly see seething about the news that their side had opted to turn its back on the Champions League in favour of a money-spinning breakaway division, which will act as a closed shop and permit Chelsea automatic entry season upon season.
In response, supporters responded fiercely to the Twitter message by insisting they now wish to see their side lose this evening, given the match now seems to have been completely devalued.
One angry Twitter user responded: 'As a Chelsea fan, kinda want Brighton to win, want to see us get beaten by a team deemed not good enough for us to face #NoToEuropeanSuperLeague.'
Another simply added: 'Let's go Brighton,' while changing their Twitter handle from CFC to 'on loan at Brighton.'
Others made it clear that they now see the fixture as a dead rubber, given that Chelsea would be in a European competition next season if the Super League goes ahead, regardless of where they finish.
Chelsea, along with their Premier League counterparts, have been widely slammed and UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has made it clear that all clubs involved are 'making a huge mistake.'
Ceferin launched a scathing attack on the plans on Monday - blasting those 'snakes' and 'liars' for making it happen - and just one day on he continued to make his resentful feelings known.
'All the Governments are with us, all the fans are with us, all the media, only some greedy people, a few, are on the other side,' Ceferin insisted in a damning speech on Tuesday morning.
'Are we allowing them to take football? No. You can trust me, we will not allow it.'
The Super League - which will see the founding members receiving up to £300million each when it starts and guaranteeing them a place on Europe's top table every season - has come in for immense criticism worldwide.
The plan is to expand the competition to 15 founder members - with a further five annual qualifiers - but there will no relegation for the big founding clubs, even if they finished bottom of the table.
Ceferin added on Tuesday: 'The ultimate aim for some is no longer to decorate the club's trophy cabinet with silverware but fill the bank account with cash. Contempt for smaller clubs, for supporters respectful of traditions is replacing ethics.
'Selfishness is replacing solidarity. Some CEOs change clubs like they change their shirts, or even faster. Money has become more important that glory, greed more important than loyalty and dividends much more important than passion.
'We hear day and night about owners. What or whom do they own? Football does not belong to anyone, rather it belongs to everyone. Football is part of our heritage.
Lucca silva
573
It's a shame people still support Uefa and Fifa. They are obviously scared and intimidated by the ESL and they only care about their own pocket and because they know the fans are use to the UCL and Domestic Leagues they now threathen to ban the teams from them just to get fans to support them. How have they helped big teams whose value are dropping? How have they helped the racism issues happening in football everyday? But because their pockets are at stake they are ready to do anything to stop the ESL which would be double their standard from happening. Everyone is saying "The ESL is all about Money, it's not football". What is UCL and the domestic leagues all about??? we're they ever free entertainment??? No player plays for free, Every player plays on their payday! Every fan pays to watch their favorite teams either in stadiums or Tv. Players are traded for money. Of course it's entertainment but it all evolves around money!! The EsL is gonna gain a lot more and Fifa and Uefa are gonna lose value because of that , at the end of the day it's all about Money
bindilntz
365
😂😂My case is different all I want Chelsea to do is to keep on winning and winning and winning. I love you Chelsea COYB 💪
Faraday Efe Emmanuel
333
I strongly understands how disappointing and emotionally down fans at SW6 felt over this drastic decision made by Chelsea and its board. But again look at it this way Roman Abramovic has done highly of a philanthropic for the UK owning a club now worth billions of US dollars, during the Covid 19 rise he's the only one among 20 EPL teams to pay full salaries. Over the years the British government has denied him entry in country where his business was. He made a huge effort to avert it by becoming a Israeli citizen and yet NADA. My question is; as a die hard fan of the club over the years. Did you ever for once protest against the your (UK) government decision to overturn their actions in a bide to allowing Abramovich entering the UK? No. You all kept quiet didn't do anything. He was ready to rebuild a world class mega stadium for this beloved club but he was denied and now he's taken a decision to favor his investment you're all prosecuting him by signing up for the ESL, he's invested millions of British pounds sterling and has done far beyond what most British billionaire has failed to do and can't even do. Let Roman and Chelsea do what's right for them and his business after all every investment needed profit. I understand without the fans there's no club also without the fans with ESL there's business.... Thank you! copied
SawHotz
289
A wise man once said that acting like not being racist is worse than actually being racist. Same thing applies here. Some of you "football fans" are worried about the so called smaller clubs, but do you actually realise that these are some of the clubs which you didn't really care about?? When was the last time some of you talked about clubs like Burnley or Brighton? I reckon everyone of you considered some of these clubs IRRELEVANT before all this ESL stuff happened. And let's be real here some of these clubs would still be irrelevant if y'all didn't spill out your "once in a lifetime opinions". For instance, half of West Ham's hype this season has come from Lingard. Imagine Grealish left Villa this season, who would be talking about them now? What about Sheffield United who were once in contention to make Europe last season and now get relegated? Does anyone talk about their amazing run last season anymore? The best part is that no one actually trolls some of these clubs when they falter. When we lose, people start trolling us. When Barça lost 8-2 last season, people spammed the comment section with memes. It's fun and easy to make fun of big clubs, but what about the smaller clubs? You can say that all clubs are equal, everyone deserves to compete, but for a moment, step into reality and admit that you are talking stuff that you didn't really think about ever in your life. Mind it.
Anas101messi
274
My take on Perez's interview and that no one is talking about : Florentino Pérez: "If I had to, I would leave my post as Super League president for Joan Laporta tomorrow” My take: Omg this is one of the most cliche lines I have seen. I think we all know the reality Perez is the most powerful chairman. Sadly, Laporta isn't even vice chairman of this ESL. Florentino Perez: "The Super League contract is binding. No one can leave, we'll all work together. All clubs signed the contracts last Saturday." My Take: It's 100% true. I read that all participating will have to play in this tournament for a minimum of 23 years. Florentino Perez: “I’m not going to name the clubs, but one club lost €250M while the other one lost €180M. We need to save football..” My Take: Again true. Florentino Perez: “Everything I do is for the good of football. We created this [European Super League] to save football..” My take : 🤡😂😂 Florentino Perez: "The Super League is not a closed league. That's false. It's an open league that any good team can reach, regardless of their name." My take: First thing first we don't know how five teams will qualify for this tournament. Will there be qualifiers or based on position in the league. But one thing is clear founding 15 teams will not be relegated. No matter how bad Arsenal, Milan, or Tottenham play they will stay whereas it is not clear what happens to the rest of the 5 teams. If they stay in the league even after winning the trophy or not. You know it's like saying "everyone is equal but some of us are more equal than the others." The format of this tournament is ridiculous in my opinion. Florentino Perez: "If young people find football matches too long it may be because they are not interesting enough... or maybe we might have to make the football matches shorter". My take: This is something really interesting Perez has hinted matches could be made smaller. It makes sense commercially with broadcasters getting more ads but do tell me are you in favor of smaller games? Florentino Perez: "When Madrid and Barcelona play, the world stops. It's a luxury that we have here. That doesn’t happen when United and City play..” My take: True Florentino Perez "Boris Johnson said he will do everything to cancel the #SuperLeague because they explained to him that the Premier League would disappear: it's false, it's not true. Everything will go back to normal...". 🚨 My Take: PL or other domestic leagues will become a far inferior tournament than it is today. Unlike CL, ESL is going to be a full-blown league tournament consisting of 38 games. With each week multiple blockbuster games taking place. No one is going to watch Chelsea vs Burnley when Manchester United vs Liverpool is happening in the same time. #ten
Mesberh
244
#yes to super league
Seacilorz
196
Bullshit!!! Super league or whatsoever won’t hold any grounds. Even FIFA disapproves of it. Let alone UEFA and other FA. Irrespective of Chelsea’s silly decision we still with them to win today! COYB 💙🔥
mukete10
95
what type of league is that. why should a founding member be found button of the table and not be relocated. why should an invited team win the league and be replaced the following season because she was invited just for a season. Why should 15 teams be consistently present dispute taking into account their performances. What a bias league meant only to increase the financial statues of the rich clubs what then will happen to the smaller clubs like Wolverhampton wonderers, Wolfsburg, Elche, Atalanta, Celtsa vigo , Lilles , Shaktar , Leipzig just to name a few. would such clubs be ever invited when we have lower ranked clubs like Lyon, sevilla, Dortmund, Bilbao, Roma, Napoli and many others. What criterion will be used in selecting the 5 teams that will be invited and what makes the 15 founding more deserving to participate. This tournament is meant to widen the gap between the nobles clubs and the poor ones and its not good for the sport. #Say No To European Super League#.
Fowabcosu
8
It's a shame people still support Uefa and Fifa. They are obviously scared and intimidated by the ESL and they only care about their own pocket and because they know the fans are use to the UCL and Domestic Leagues they now threathen to ban the teams from them just to get fans to support them. How have they helped big teams whose value are dropping? How have they helped the racism issues happening in football everyday? But because their pockets are at stake they are ready to do anything to stop the ESL which would be double their standard from happening. Everyone is saying "The ESL is all about Money, it's not football". What is UCL and the domestic leagues all about??? we're they ever free entertainment??? No player plays for free, Every player plays on their payday! Every fan pays to watch their favorite teams either in stadiums or Tv. Players are traded for money. Of course it's entertainment but it all evolves around money!! The EsL is gonna gain a lot more and Fifa and Uefa are gonna lose value because of that , at the end of the day it's all about Money
this isn't about uefa or FIFA, this is about a closed competition based on pedigree and not merit