PAUL MERSON COLUMN: The owners should be punished after the greedy power grab attempt seen with the European Super League this week – plus why it was madness to sack Mourinho and Liverpool look a threat again Fans kept the dream alive by killing the Super League – but greedy owners must be made to pay.

It’s the dream that a club like Rochdale could one day make it all the way to the Premier League. That Leicester could come from nowhere and actually win it. That’s what these fans were fighting for.

The Super League would have been a closed shop. But it’s dead now. Forever. They won’t ever be able to do it now. No chance. And the owners should be punished. It just shows how dangerous these people are and how they don’t understand football. I thought it was disgusting. But the way the fans responded, the Chelsea fans outside Stamford Bridge, the protests up and down the country – they defended football. And they won.

The owners of these clubs are lucky there are no fans allowed at matches because they would have been on the pitch. They would have stormed the directors box. But they must not be allowed to get away with trying to destroy football.

I think they should have to give any money they spent joining this circus AND any money they spent getting out of it to local charities.

Imagine if all these clubs gave £20m away to charities in their local areas. That would help a lot of people and it would help reconnect them with their fans.

People might say they are getting away with it if they’re not punished more severely. But you don’t want to deduct points from these teams. That just punishes the fans and the players and the managers.

Hit the owners where it hurts – in the pocket. My biggest worry was they would get this through and then one day, will they pick their team up and move it to Singapore or Japan or somewhere else?

It sounds crazy but most of these people are Americans and look what they do with their franchises over there. They move them halfway across the country.

At least now these clubs don’t hold all the cards any more. I don’t think they can hold other clubs to ransom now when the big decisions get made.

Their power has completely and utterly gone. Their directors aren’t sitting at the table where all the big decisions are made any more.

I think this will stop them getting their way now. It’s like the school bully. His victim has stood up and smashed him and he’s run away crying. He’s been stopped in his tracks.

How are they going to go Burnley or Crystal Palace now and demand more money for their games or more voting power? The other teams will laugh in their faces.

It’s a relief they got what they deserved and fans showed them who holds the real power. The dream lives on. Football won.

Tottenham sacking Jose Mourinho when they did, with the Carabao Cup final coming up, is CRAZY.

They’ve not won anything for years and they have a one-off game against Manchester City to win a trophy.

If there was one manager who might be able to set a team up to get a result against a team that’s so far better than them, it’s Mourinho.

He’s already beaten City 2-0 this season!

Good luck to Ryan Mason but if Spurs play like they did against Southampton they will get ripped to pieces.

It’s extraordinary they did that just before a big final. I couldn’t believe it. It was like they hoped all the attention would be on the Super League circus instead.

Tottenham live in a little dreamworld of where they should be and what they are. They had some good years under Mauricio Pochettino.

But they still didn’t win anything. And they were top of the league not so long ago. They’ve got to be more realistic.

clubs above them are struggling. I think Liverpool are back in it.

I did the West Ham against Newcastle game for Sky and it couldn’t have been any more disastrous for the Hammers.

An own goal, a sending off, a goalkeeping calamity – everything went wrong.

Now, I don’t see them beating Chelsea this weekend. But I don’t see Chelsea blowing them away either.

Chelsea don’t concede goals under Thomas Tuchel but they don’t score many do they?

They always give you a chance because they can’t kill you off, and Brighton almost made them pay the other night.

I think Chelsea have a few more games like that in them yet this season – and it could open the door for Liverpool.