European Super League: JP Morgan boss admits investment bank failed to grasp football fans’ passion
JP Morgan’s boss has admitted that the investment bank had failed to understand the passion of football fans when it agreed to finance the failed breakaway European Super League.
Chief executive Jamie Dimon said the US banking giant had “kind of missed” the strength of feeling among football supporters before it agreed to fund around €4bn in financing for the league.
“I’m not an expert in European sports, but obviously it is a lot of fandom. Fans have views and opinions [that] we kind of missed a little bit,” Dimon, 65, told The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council. “We’re talking about a commercial relationship, but a lot of people feel and I completely understand that.”
“Now I know a lot more about European football than I knew before,” Dimon added, after JP Morgan faced fans’ anger over its role in the saga.
The investment bank said it will learn from the mistakes of the proposed competition, which fell apart just 48 hours after it was announced.
Six top-flight UK teams, including Manchester United and Liverpool, announced late on 18 April they were joining a new continental competition called the European Super League, only for it to collapse amid intense pressure within 48 hours
A new set of measures have now been put in place by the Premier League to stop any future attempt of a breakaway division, which include additional rules and regulations and a new Owners’ Charter that all club owners will be required to sign up to committing them to the core principles of the competition.