Football has dominated the headlines this week after proposals for a European Super League were announced, attacked and then swiftly abandoned within just 72 hours.
Football governing bodies, players, fans and politicians responded with fury after plans for the UK’s six richest clubs to join the league were unveiled late on Sunday. Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville led critics in putting the boot in against what he described as a “criminal act against football fans in this country”.
By Wednesday morning, the plans were in tatters, with nine of the 12 founder member clubs withdrawing from the competition, in what was billed as a “victory for football fans”.
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Meanwhile, Boris Johnson fell foul of further Tory sleaze allegations, after the leak of texts that the prime minister sent to British billionaire James Dyson offering to intervene over a tax issue.
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Need a reminder of some of the other headlines over the past seven days?
Mass celebrations erupted in the US after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted for the murder of George Floyd. The guilty verdict prompted a renewed push among Democrats for wide-ranging police reform, with Joe Biden hailing the “chance to change the trajectory in this country”.
Over in Russia, Vladimir Putin’s problems continued to grow, with allies of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny leading protests across the country as the European Commission met to discuss further potential sanctions against Moscow.
The EU is also reportedly gearing up to take action against AstraZeneca, with a lawsuit over repeated delays in Covid vaccine deliveries by the pharma giant to the bloc.
And the workloads of the EU’s lawyers may be increased further after a massive leak revealed the mechanics of Malta’s cash-for-passports scheme.
