IAN Evatt has challenged top stars at the ‘Big Six’ clubs to speak out against involvement in the European Super League.

After condemning the controversial plan as “greedy” and “fundamentally wrong” for football, the Bolton boss hopes some of the game’s biggest names will use their voice in the coming days to prevent the breakaway league going ahead.

Evatt believes the top players have the power to speak out against their employer without suffering serious consequences because they would be backed so strongly by others in the game.

“I think they have the power, the voice,” he told The Bolton News. “If I am Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Mohammed Salah, just because they speak up doesn’t mean the club is going to get rid of their asset. They are too financially motivated for that.

“The players have to make a stance.

“The money were are talking about in this Super League will enable these clubs to pay players vast, vast sums of money – more than they are on now. But my human nature hopes that these lads are not short of a few quid and that the love of the game helps them see sense that this is fundamentally wrong.”

The Premier League has called a meeting with the 14 teams who have not entered the ESL – and it has been mooted that with their backing they could choose to expel the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool from the competition.

Evatt says that removing those clubs, or allowing them to continue and play weakened squads in domestic competition, would be a huge blow to the game.

“The way the pyramid system works is that success if rewarded. That is the whole point of football,” he said.

“If you are at the bottom of the league, you get relegated. If you have done well, you get promoted. You have a chance of bettering yourself, that is sport.

“Why would you take it away? I know why, it’s all money-driven.

“The Premier League might still exist in the future but without Manchester United, City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool in it, so it isn’t the Premier League.

“I want to be managing Bolton Wanderers against these clubs. Next season I want United in the FA Cup and to go to Old Trafford and have a chance of winning, or to bring them here and have a chance of winning.

“That kind of reward will be taken away from us for pure selfishness and greed. It does not sit right with me.

“I completely agreed with Gary Neville, for once, when he said the owners of these clubs – United, City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea – they don’t have any history in the game. They are fans, of course, they like it, but what motivates them is finances. But we have to better than that.

“For the love of the game and the fact most players come from working class backgrounds and understand what it took to get to the top of the game, I hope they can make a stand as well. We cannot allow it to happen.”