'European Super League a sincere betrayal of all British clubs' - Crawley Town CEO Erdem Konyar

English heavyweights Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur are among 12 founding member clubs who agreed last night to join the breakaway competition.

The Premier League giants will be joined by AC Milan, Juventus, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid as founder clubs in what would be a seismic move in world and European football.

It is anticipated that three more clubs will join the breakaway group which will begin 'as soon as practicable' to eventually feature 20 teams

European Super League games will take place in mid-week with the teams continuing to participate in their respective domestic leagues.

The 15 founding clubs will be guaranteed entry each year, regardless of their league standing, with five more teams qualifying annually based on achievements in the prior season.

Last night's announcement of the breakaway league has been met with wide-spread criticism from clubs across England and Europe.

And Konyar did not hold back in his disapproval of the controversial new competition.

He said: "I think it's extremely disappointing. I believe it's a sincere betrayal of all the British clubs.

"It's making a playing field that's not level even more unbalanced. It's just creating a further gap.

"What does it mean for Crawley? Time will tell.

"But in a time where, in the last 16 months, we've done our upmost to try and stay afloat and survive through football strategies and so forth, it seems the elite clubs have been thinking about how to get richer instead of how to look after the clubs that play a role in looking after the British population.

"Football clubs are important for all local communities and it's a shame they're trying to increase that gap between the smaller clubs and the bigger clubs.

"I also question how a club that hasn't won a league title in 60 years (Spurs) is among the elite clubs. It's beyond me.

"If that title won in 1961 meant they went on to win 30 titles, then fair enough, but that's not the case."