Operation Gandalf: Uber-greed in European football leagues

I have to admit that in over thirty years of being a Tolkien afficionado I never asked myself whether there is a cross-over between football fans and lovers of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. As far as I know nobody ever did a study on this. With the (renewed) rise of the spectre of an 'European Football Super League' this might change as there is a tiny and rather odd detail to this which beggars belief: The first major attempt was codenamed Operation Gandalf.