As much of the football world cries 'Foul!' over a proposed Super League, spare a thought for grassroots football and clubs like Heswall FC

Above: Pictures by Bob Shaw

Lead balloons don't come much heavier than the mooted European Super League announced yesterday.

The backlash - from the government, football pundits, fans and many others - has been harsh.

Twelve clubs have signed up to the ESL - six of them from the English Premier League.

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham, would join AC Milan, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus and Real Madrid.

The founding clubs want a new midweek competition with teams continuing to compete in national leagues.

The ESL would have 20 teams. Of these, the 12 founding members - plus three more yet to join - would be permanent members and would never face relegation.

Five other sides would be expected to qualify on an annual basis.

The new league would rival the current Champions League competition, one of the biggest club tournaments in world football.

On Sky Sports, Gary Neville at Old Trafford blazed away at the clubs - and more specifically their owners - for trying to rip the heart out of the game which, he argued, belongs to history and to fans.

"I'm a Manchester United fan and have been for forty years of my life, but I'm absolutely disgusted. I'm disgusted with Manchester United and Liverpool most. Liverpool, they pretend, 'you'll never walk alone', the people's club, the fans' club. Manchester United, a hundred years, born out of workers around here, and they're breaking away into a league without competition, that they can't be relegated from. It's an absolute disgrace, and we have to wrestle back the power in this country from the clubs at the top of this league, and that includes my club.

"The owners of this club, the owners of Liverpool, of Chelsea, the owners of Manchester City, they're nothing to do with football in this country...Seriously, in the midst of a pandemic, an economic crisis, football clubs at national league level going bust nearly, having to furlough players, clubs on the edge in League One and Two, and these lot are having Zoom calls about breaking away and basically creating more greed? Joke."

But Robbie Matthews, Chairman of Heswall FC, has glimpsed a possible upside to the furore.

He said: "With the uproar surrounding the proposed Super League spreading throughout our beloved game, it affords grassroots clubs like ours the opportunity to promote the virtues of real football. While the ball is the same shape, the football that we watch on TV is a very different game to that you can watch every Saturday at local clubs like ours.

"With talk of £300m payouts, it very much puts into perspective the work we at Heswall and clubs like ours put into raising the funds vital to our running. We don't have teams of staff, we don't have bottomless pits of money, and we certainly don't have faceless and absent owners using us as a hobby from across the world.

"We have a group of volunteers who give up their time and effort into providing a platform for our players to play the game they love, from committee members, coaches, managers and players. This game we love is a way of life and it's a pleasure we never take for granted.

"Should you decide that you have had enough of elitism and a game ravaged by greed and disregard for us, the supporters, then please come and join us at Gayton Park. Here you'll find a group of people who will greet you with a smile, shake your hand - or bump a socially distanced elbow or fist pump in these current times - and enjoy a beer with you. Here you can be on first name terms with the players, you can have a chat with the manager and give him your views on his team selection, you can see the Chairman wash the kit and the players' kids kicking a ball about hoping to emulate their dads, their heroes.

"So go on, when we're allowed, please bring your mum and dad, your partner, your grandkids, no matter who you are, where you're from or what you do, you are welcome at Gayton Park.

You will be helping your local club - and you may just fall in love with football again.