SO English football’s big six have sounded their retreat from the European Super League after the convulsions from Monday went way beyond the world of sport.

It was quite a few days, completely throwing the long-standing supporters of Liverpool, City, United, Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea into choice of ripping up a lifetime’s allegiance or siding with the guys who basically want to tear apart the game's long-established structures in a tawdry power grab.

Fair play to those fans, players, pundits and managers who did not roll over and let the rich clubs get even richer in a ring-fenced competition of the elites.

But it still leaves questions to answer. Maybe those owners, many of them detached from the traditions and heritage of this sport, felt they were pushing at an open door.

Maybe for them the European Super League closed shop was an inevitable next step from the Champions League which has made qualifying clubs richer and stronger by creating a self-perpetuating elite.

In a way, with the exception of the shock break-in by Leicester, those big six have rotated the English placings in the Champions League for the past 15 years.

Is that because there is a glass ceiling…all clubs can in theory climb the football pyramid we have been hearing a lot about this week, but it takes an extra special effort to actually break in.

Of course, that pathway is made much smoother if your club attracts a super wealthy backer.

And this where the top level football has already left a lot of people cold.

Success in football was always a combination of the players’ skills and endeavours, tactical nous and man-management from the gaffer and shrewd transfer wheeling and dealing from the manager, backed by the board.

All roared on by a passionate, largely local support base.

For too long now the biggest factor in breaking through and succeeding is not snaring a striker who can find the back of the net, but rather attracting the right sugar daddy with deepest pockets.

And that is not sport.