(Reuters) – Executives from five of the six English clubs involved in the controversial breakaway European Super League have resigned from their posts on various Premier League committees, Sky Sports reported on Thursday.
Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck, Manchester United executive vice chairman Ed Woodward, Liverpool chairman Tom Werner, Arsenal chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano have stepped down from their roles.
Tottenham Hotspur, who were also involved in forming the Super League, do not have representation on the league’s committees.
Woodward, who will also leave his position at United at the end of the year, has resigned from the Premier League’s Club Broadcast Advisory Group, along with Werner.
Venkatesham and Soriano have left the Club Strategic Advisory Group, while Buck is no longer part of the league’s Audit and Remuneration Committee.
Former Premier League executive chairman Richard Scudamore said earlier on Thursday he believed there would be have to be consequences for clubs who were founder members of the ill-fated Super League.
The resignations are the first of these and the six clubs will now wait to see if any further action will be taken against them, though what form this could take is unclear with the Premier League sides reportedly studying which rules of the organisation may have been broken with the breakaway proposal.
Those wishing to play in the Super League had hoped it would increase revenues to the top clubs and allow them to distribute more money to the rest of the game.
However, the sport’s governing bodies and fan organisations criticised the venture, arguing it would increase the power and wealth of the elite clubs in a ‘closed shop’ competition that would see them compete every year without the need to qualify.
Within 48 hours of league being announced, the English sides withdrew due to the fierce backlash they received from fans, their own players, politicians and the 14 other Premier League clubs.
