It seems we’ll never find out exactly what Boris Johnson meant when he said that "no action [was] off the table" to prevent six of England’s largest football clubs from joining the much-maligned European Super League; all six have pulled out.
But the speed and enthusiasm with which the government condemned the new league was something to behold. Within hours of the league’s big reveal, everyone from the future king to the
X-Factor 2004 winner had moved to condemn it, while Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for digital, culture, media and sport, solemnly lamented that he was left with “no choice but to formally trigger… a fan-led review of football”. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK’s competition regulator, said it was “carefully considering” competition concerns.