'Sickened' Aston Villa boss Dean Smith takes aim at 'elitist' Super League plan

Smith sees the proposals as a direct threat to the ambitions of clubs including Villa, Leicester and Wolves.

But he is also aghast at the timing with many businesses, both inside and outside of the game, still struggling through the pandemic.

Smith said: “We’re in the middle of a pandemic and this format stinks of elitism. People have forgotten maybe, that we are in a pandemic.

“Lots of businesses in football and outside football have gone to the wall because they haven’t been able to get money.

“They haven’t been able to work, people have been shut down. The hospitality industry has been closed down for almost a year.

“We’re talking about an elite band of clubs trying to get together for more money so they can try and become unbeatable in the future – because they will have the most money out of everyone. It’s wrong in my opinion.”

Smith dismissed the ESL plans as a ‘total commercial venture’ aimed at ‘taking the competition’ out of football.

A boyhood Villa supporter, Smith used the example of the club lifting the European Cup in 1982 – just 11 years after they sat in the Third Division – as an example of how quickly fortunes can change.

“Teams who are winning will probably not be winning in 10 years, that’s the way football has always been,” he said. “This is taking the competition out of football and that is very disappointing.

“It does sicken me because it was not how I was brought up in terms of the competition. Our owners want Aston Villa to be challenging for Champions League places and to try and win the Champions League.

“The so-called elite few are trying to take that opportunity away from us. That doesn’t sit right with me.

“When I was a kid, in 1971, Aston Villa were a Third Division team. Just 11 years later they lifted the European Cup and should this Super League come about I don’t think our fans will ever get the chance to see their team win that cup again.

“That is because of the elite few. I don’t know what gives them the right to become the elite few.”

He continued: "If history has taught us anything it's that there is no certainty in sport. It's full of uncertainties.

"The fact that such a good Liverpool team could lose to Wimbledon who had come from non-league.

"Or Leicester go and win the Premier League having nearly been relegated the season before.

"It looks like this Super League will be used to try and guarantee clubs more money.

"I've been involved in professional football for 37 years and I've never seen anything that has brought the football community together like this has before."