Season 1987/88 Episode 1 - The Game That Changed Football

‘The European Cup has become a historical anachronism … it is not modern thinking,’ remarked Silvio Berlusconi when Diego Maradona’s Napoli were pitted against six-time European champions Real Madrid in the very first round of the competition in 1987/88. ‘It is economic nonsense,’ he said, ‘that a club such as Milan might be eliminated in the first round.’ He wanted the security of more games and turned to a Saatchi & Saatchi executive to design a European Super League to put pressure on UEFA. The man behind the idea that led to the Champions League and the Premier League was Alex Fynn and he joins Martyn to chat about his reasoning, having his head turned by Berlusconi, the background to such a climate of change in football at the time and why the idea hasn't died.  Martyn also proposes his new format and awaits UEFA's response.  If you want weekly exclusive bonus shows, join our Nessun Dorma community chat, want your episodes without ads and a couple of days earlier or just want to support the podcast, then head over to ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/NessunDormaPodcast⁠⁠⁠ where you can subscribe for only $3.99 a month (less than 75p a week!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices