ENGLISH football's “Big Six” decision to withdraw from a competition that “threatened the sporting principles of the football pyramid” as been welcomed by fans.

The power of fans is believed to have played a major part in the owners of Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, the Tottenham, pulling out of the proposed European Super League.

The Football Supporters’ Association, which had met with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday to discuss how legislation could be used to thwart the breakaway, released a statement on Wednesday morning.

It read: “Appeasement of football’s richest clubs doesn’t work. The vultures circle, they’re always after more and they only get stronger when you feed their greed.

“This time the cabal of billionaire owners overplayed their hand and their rapacious appetite for more united an unprecedented array of opponents.

Football League chiefs have welcomed the decision of England’s “Big Six” to withdraw from a competition they claim would have “threatened the sporting principles of the football pyramid”.

“Fans across the entire game, players, managers, pundits, clubs, leagues, football associations across the continent, politicians, Prime Ministers and governments. Even the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge shared their concerns.

“English club involvement in the Super League has collapsed and the concept itself teeters on the edge. At a continental level the FSA will continue to campaign with our friends at Football Supporters Europe to kill the competition for good. Agnelli’s ‘blood pact’ has no place in football.

“The past 72 hours of white hot action and anger has killed domestic involvement in the Super League but that doesn’t mean fans can take their foot off the accelerator – a return to the status quo is unacceptable and will only allow these unscrupulous owners to regroup.”

Fans of Liverpool and Manchester United, both considered "clubs of the people" with large fan followings in North Wales, were particularly vocal in their opposition to the Super League.

Liverpool’s principal owner John W Henry has apologised for his part in the proposed European Super League.

Henry said in a video posted by the club on Twitter that the ESL would only have worked with fans’ full support.

“I want to apologise to all the fans and supporters of Liverpool Football Club for the disruption I caused over the last 48 hours,” he said.

“It goes without saying but should be said, the project put forward was never going to stand without the support of the fans.

“No-one ever thought differently in England. Over these 48 hours you were very clear that it would not stand. We heard you. I heard you.”

LaLiga leaders Atletico Madrid have now joined the Premier League’s “Big Six” in withdrawing.

A statement on the Spanish cub’s official website said: “The Atletico de Madrid Board of Directors, meeting this Wednesday morning, has decided to formally communicate to the Superliga and the rest of the founding clubs its decision not to finally formalize its adherence to the project.

Another giant of European football did not entertain the idea of joining the now rapidly dwindling Super League.

In a video message, Wrexham AFC co-owner Rob McElhenney told fans that the club would be focussing on returning to the English Football League.

He, however, did express interest in joining a European Justice Leage.