Arsenal fans were protesting at the Emirates Stadium

• SOME of us stopped Rupert Murdoch getting his hands on United over 20 years ago, but this Americanisation of European football is one step too far.

So can I offer another angle to Richard Osley’s report, (Where have the politicians and raging football pundits been for the last 20 years?, April 22)?

With the raging over European Super League from among fans and players, in particular, it should be remembered that this idea is not new and has been around since the 1950s when the European Cup was first launched and has periodically come up over the past decades.

What is new is the American form of it all. The owners of franchises of the top American leagues work in a closed shop, where no matter a team’s sporting success, a steady stream of profit is effectively guaranteed by shared television deals and other mechanisms, including salary caps and penalties on overspending.

For example, in the National Football League and National Basketball Association, the top draft picks typically go to the worst-performing squads from the previous year. Revenue sharing redistributes wealth among the rich and poor teams.

Overall success is punished by design, misfortune is rewarded by design, and the power of wealth is circumscribed with spending caps.

In Europe the opposite is the case. The continent’s many national football leagues have long fitted into a Darwinian survival of the fittest.

Success builds on success, often yielding greater revenue and the opportunity for top teams in each country to participate in Europe’s Champions League – the most lucrative annual tournament that runs parallel to the national competitions.

The richest clubs corner greater commercial deals and can outspend the rest as the bottom feeders get relegated to lower divisions, making the target of climbing back to respectability all the more difficult.

This is what the fight is all about really and the difference between European and United States ownership of clubs makes it all the more clear.

Though I am still at a loss of explaining how Barca FC – a fans and members led club – came round to support the European Super League.

MURAD QURESHI AM
Labour Member for Greater London