Andrea "Il Bruco Brutto" Agnelli (82 Viewers)

Buck Fuddy

Lara Chedraoui fanboy
May 22, 2009
10,883
Of course he doesn't care. He sees the business aspect first above sporting, Atalanta generate peanuts. They can't even play in their own stadium. Although I do think when teams like Atalanta come along there is a sense of romanticism because of the way they play. I remember Udinese had a bit of that about them but for years they have been fairly boring. If it was anyone but this Atalanta I'd wager that the argument against would be much less.

On this particular forum, I'd also wager that if Juve were playing better right now there'd less of an argument as well, but maybe that's another story.

Also you will notice that successful PL clubs like Liverpool or City will not be for it, but struggling ones like Man Utd or Arsenal will be.
I'm not sure it has anything to do with the specific club, of whatever country.
For me, it's more about the notion about giving everyone the chance to compete. If you win, you'll get your rewards. If not, then work to improve & try again. Any sort of closed system removes this idea completely.

The current CL already massively favours the big clubs. Increasing the current imbalance even further is not something I will ever agree with.

I get it though: in these current times your global exposure is much more important than the local one. As a result, your (potential) global fans are much more important than the local ones. I think that's a very short-sighted way of looking at this & not beneficial in the long run, but that remains to be seen obviously.


atalanta is the new darling of every single serie a fan, and rightfully so. you can't create enough context to agnelli's words to make it look at least understandable. while i get his general point of view, it was a stupid remark, no two ways about it.
They have been my darling for years now! :stuckup:
 

cimenk

Senior Member
Jul 23, 2008
3,129
What a idiotic statement. So if Milan finishes 4th, they deserve direct qualification but if Atalanta does they don't? The whole ranking is determined by how well historically the teams in that country performed in the CL. If the country collectively sucks, it will lose champions league spots. Historically also it's been a bigger achievement, at least for a club such as Atalanta, to get that 4th spot vs winning the league in say Scotland. Of course media is going to pounce on it and will read without context. We are absolutely getting roasted again publicly with these moronic statements.
He put a question mark in his statement. So everyone can thinks and discuss.
People need to read or listen it based on context.
But somehow Journalism need a BIG Headlines to attracts reader and most of them doesnt think while they read it

Such a bad timing, but yet he needs to say it based on the event
 

DS8_Montero

Senior Member
Aug 10, 2018
985
They bought CR7 as a guarantee of quick success on the new markets (mostly Asian), but apparently haven't done anything to capitalize on it in the long run (just pissed Korean fans off instead). Once Ronaldo is gone, there will be no reason for a casual football fan to prefer a plastic faceless JJ over Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Manchester United, PSG, Manchester City, etc. It's either they have some ingenious long-term strategy not visible from outside, or they make mostly random moves in pure pursuit of short- to mid-term financial results, and in the long run they went all in for this dubious Super League idea. The latter seems much more plausible at this point.
 

JuveJay

Senior Signor
Moderator
Mar 6, 2007
74,944
Joke on us when Atalanta goes through, while we get disqualified.

He could've made his point without naming anyone. Uncharacteristically undiplomatic of him.
He made those comments knowing Atalanta are in a better position than us so I don't think he's really bothered about that. It is only one season.

He could have avoided a name check but really whichever club he named is obviously going to take it personally or be defensive, I'm sure they'll make a big song and dance if what you mentioned does happen or they beat us in any random game but it proves nothing other than football is a sport where the underdog can win, it's the nature of the sport.

There needs to be some middle ground between this elite list of clubs with the money they bring into the sport, and giving a chance for others to improve and reach that level in 10-15 years time. Or they can do that by just being taken over by random foreign billionaire, that always helps. Football is a business now, you can't escape it.
 

Hust

Senior Member
Hustini
May 29, 2005
93,703
Doesn't seem very classy of him but I think in the wider context it's not as harsh as it seems. Once they changed the rules from 2+2 qualification or 3+1 to a straight 4 it weeded out those constant Italian flops in the qualification round. That change massively benefited floundering Italian clubs tbh, whose ranking and enabling the league to have four spots was not earned by Atalanta, Chievo, Udinese, Sampdoria or the others but by Juventus, Milan, Inter and Roma.

Obviously Atalanta are doing fantastically well but they are hugely benefiting from the change in rules and have a chance to cement themselves by finishing 4th every season. Other Serie A success stories didn't have this chance. And compared to clubs like Ajax, Porto etc they are victims of the weak league they play in and have no chance for consistent improvement in this modern football. A good team of their comes along and gets decimated and they start again.

I don't like the ringfenced elitism that Agnelli's SL proposal has, but also without it you just create another CL in the same format. It's an argument the 'little guys' won't like.
Agree. Now that I see what he said was partially taken out of context I see his point. Could have elaborated a bit more, but I do think he needs to focus on issues here rather than trying to run European soccer football.

Also agree about elitism coming out more than it needs to. We can't even win the CL yet he wants us in some super league lol
 

Bianconero81

Ageing Veteran
Jan 26, 2009
40,177
Agree. Now that I see what he said was partially taken out of context I see his point. Could have elaborated a bit more, but I do think he needs to focus on issues here rather than trying to run European soccer football.

Also agree about elitism coming out more than it needs to. We can't even win the CL yet he wants us in some super league lol
The reason he wants a European Super League is because he realizes we're never going to win the CL in its current format :D
 

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