AUDACIOUS plans by the dirtiest dozen clubs in Europe may have collapsed into a laughable mess within 48 hours of their announcement - but, sadly, their attempted coup will most likely leave a permanent scar on English football.
On Sunday night, six Premier League clubs - the so-called Big Six of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and, rather bafflingly, Tottenham Hotspur - took turns to confirm their intention to join a European Super League via their official social media accounts.
The English clubs were set to be joined by Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid from Spain, and Juventus, AC Milan and Internazionale from Italy.
But, by the end of Tuesday night, it was clear the plans were in total disarray as Chelsea and Man City led a rapid retreat by all six of the English clubs following widespread anger from nearly all football fans.
Chelsea were first to crack, undoubtedly as a result of the fury vented by Blues supporters who protested against the plans outside of Stamford Bridge ahead of their Premier League match against Brighton and Hove Albion.
Man City quickly followed - and it never made sense quite what exactly owner Sheikh Mansour was thinking in the first place, given his almost unmatched riches already.
Then, towards the end of the night, Man United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli had stepped down from their lofty positions.
On Wednesday morning, John W Henry - the Liverpool owner - apologised for the "unnecessary negativity" which had occurred over the previous couple of days.
And, with that half-apology from Henry, it became clear for certain that the whole idea was dead in its birthing pool waters.
A sense of relief, perhaps even elation, swept over the proper match-going supporters who have realised this week that they can still have a real influence on a sport which is being increasingly drowned by money.
The 12 original members - and three other unnamed clubs - would have received €3.5 billion to support infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of a pandemic which has affected everyone.
They would also enjoy a perpetual place in the competition along with five hugely disadvantaged invitees.
Invited teams would be selected annually on some sort of merit system literally to make up the numbers with the 15 founding clubs of the Super League sharing 32.5% of all of the commercial revenues.
A further 32.5% would be distributed between all 20 participating teams and another 20% allocated based on performance in the Super League.
Finally, 15% would be shared based on broadcast audience size - and clubs would also be allowed to retain all revenues from gate receipts and club sponsorship deals.
Of course, the Premier League itself was a breakaway movement from the Football League back in 1992 - and, along with UEFA and the broadcasters, it has been accused of merely trying selfishly to protect their interests.
However, the Premier League was at least not a completely closed shop.
Rather, to begin with at least, it was an - arguably much-needed - rebranding exercise which unashamedly featured unfashionable clubs like Oldham Athletic and Wimbledon among its inaugural members.
Furthermore, it retained direct connections to the English football pyramid via promotion and relegation, allowing the likes of Brighton and Bournemouth to recover from the depths of the basement division.
Football backwaters such as Wigan, Hull and Swansea have seen their clubs enjoy the best days in their history since 1992 - and, as it stands, 49 different teams have played Premier League football.
At the same time, it is hardly as if the criticisms of UEFA, the Premier League and the broadcasters are entirely without merit.
In Europe and in England, more and more money has been concentrated into the pockets of a select few teams, while Sky Sports and BT Sport have been more than happy to push the interests of a European elite abroad and their Big Six construct domestically.
Is it really any wonder then that these clubs have consequently felt empowered to act as disgracefully as they have this week?
Worse still, there is currently little sign of any punishment being meted out to the guilty clubs by the Premier League or UEFA - despite, in the case of the former, the rules of the organisation having clearly been breached.
Rule L9 of the Premier League rule-book states: “Except with the prior written approval of the board, during the season a club shall not enter or play its senior men’s first team in any competition other than:
L.9.1 – The UEFA Champions League
L.9.2 – The UEFA Europa League
L.9.3 – The FA Cup
L.9.4 – The FA Community Shield
L.9.5 – The Football League Cup or
L.9.6 – Competitions sanctioned by the County Association of which it is a member.”
Yet there is no genuine expectation that spineless Premier League chief executive Richard Masters will have the bottle to act as he should.
Project Big Picture - proposed by Liverpool and Man United, and supported by Tottenham - came just over six months ago. The scheme was voted down on 14 October 2020 but no sanctions followed.
Next time really might be the last time - and, indeed, it probably will be, considering the stack of bargaining chips held by the likes of UEFA and the Premier League have been rapidly reduced recently.
For now, at least, there is still an understandable sense of relief that the worst of it is over with the European Super League having been prevented.
More than ever, though, it feels as if football is quite prepared to indulge continually in gross acts of self-harm - and, one day, the cuts will simply run too deep to heal.
