Thomas Tuchel has defended the owners of the Premier League’s ‘big six’ over their attempt to create the Super League and believes they do care about the spirit of competition.
Just 48 hours after its inception, all six Premier League teams involved – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham – confirmed they would be withdrawing after the backlash the plans had received.
Chelsea were playing when the news of the Super League’s looming collapse filtered through, and they only managed a draw against Brighton, but Tuchel wants supporters to be forgiving towards the owners who signed up to the new league.
Asked if the owners must now accept the need for competition and integrity in football, Tuchel said: ‘I think that the owners and the presidents or the people responsible in the clubs know this.
‘I cannot think anything else other than they love competitions because they like to win big trophies and they have a passion for football.
‘Look at the owners here in your league, the Premier League, what they invest, what teams they built, what clubs they built – this is the most competitive league in the world and this is also because of the owners to build such strong clubs and strong teams, so don’t forget it.
‘So I would like to hear arguments and I would like to hear the points behind [the Super League], the real points behind it, and the ideas and details.
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‘I did not have any details and that clearly does not feel good as a coach when you are asked all the time about it. That’s why I can only repeat that I am not the right person to talk about it because I have not read one page of this idea.
‘But I believes strongly and I trust my club of course and I believe strongly that the owners are about competition because they built a very competitive league and very competitive clubs here.
Ask how it feels to hear about the looming collapse of the Super League, Tuchel added: ‘I don’t think I have to prove to you to be honest that I’m passionate about this game and this is clear.
‘Everybody who works in this club – me, myself and my team – we love this game and we love the competition. ‘Honestly, the last two hours I did not think one second about Super League and then all the questions come up again right after the game.
‘I was totally into the match and now I’m more disappointed that we didn’t have our best day and didn’t deserve to win than about any other subject, including Super League. I’m just coming from the dressing room and we were not talking about that, we were talking about the game 100%.’
