Premier League Stitch-Up?

Maybe there are simply too many EFL clubs?

Not possibly the most popular view!

 

Has anyone asked how much Parry is making out of all this?

 

No doubt his big pay-off will come if successful...

 

Derby still haven't filed their 2019 accounts yet despite a 3 month extension to end of june due to covid.....what could they possibly want to hide?

 

Premier League announce 'unanimous' decision not to pursue Project Big Picture and are making £77 million available to L1 and L2 clubs and are negotiating package with Championship clubs...

 

Liverpool and mun utd wont leave it there
they will be back with another plan

 

Analysis
BBC Sport's Simon Stone

The wording of the Premier League statement is interesting.

On the one hand, Project Big Picture is not being endorsed; on the other, all 20 clubs have agreed to work on a strategic plan "in an open and transparent process, focusing on competition structure, calendar, governance and financial sustainability".

So, depending on how you look at it, the work of Liverpool owner John Henry and Manchester United counterpart Joel Glazer is either dead in the water or has opened discussion on something the EFL in particular has been calling for desperately.

I was told the reaction to Liverpool and Manchester United in today's meeting was tame compared to what it might have been.

However, there has been no apology and some clubs believe there is now a lack of trust between the 'big six' and the rest, which probably underlines why "all 20 clubs" and "open and transparent" were so high up in the Premier League's statement.

We can never know whether there would have been this new commitment to reform had Project Big Picture not made its way into the public domain. Its authors are sceptical that there would have been and hence feel justified - nor do they view their ideas as being over.

Evidently though, the suggestion that the voting mechanism within the Premier League could be changed so six clubs out of a 'special' nine would have to power to create, change or block any issue has no support and will have to be changed.

The other interesting aspect of the past 72 hours surrounds EFL chairman Rick Parry.

There were some EFL clubs who were not entirely happy with Parry before this news came out. Now they are solidly behind him. It is fair to say this enthusiasm is not shared by his Premier League counterparts. The relationship between the two leagues now will be fascinating.

 

There's a pretty interesting debate here, with Clive and a couple of others on the podcast, plus a football finance expert from the "Price of Football" website, who has seen the proposal in full and is pretty vehement about how bad this would be for the EFL and lower PL clubs...

https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/news/53105/say-cheese--podcast

 

If you don't have the time or inclination to listen to the podcast, this piece from Clive is quite informative in his own way on Project Anal Fisting, especially the issue on voting rights....

Let me paint you a picture

Friday, 16th Oct 2020 12:30 by Clive Whittingham

As QPR return from the international break with a tough looking game down at Bournemouth, there is at least some good news on the horizon with a benevolent rescue package on the table from long-time champions of the Football League, Manchester United and Liverpool.

In a 2020 growing more horrific by the day, some blessed, long overdue relief from an unlikely source: Manchester United and Liverpool have come to save us. Thank God. It was looking hairy for a moment there.

The offer - a long-overdue and much-campaigned-for greater share of the Premier League’s vast television revenues for the EFL, and £250m of “free money” right now to get us through these desperate times. Pure, icy cold water, condensation dripping down the bottle, slipped gently into the parched palm of a league that was already crawling on its hands and knees through a desert of financial mismanagement even before China Crisis reformed as a grandparent extermination outfit.

In return? Some bits and pieces, sure. A reduction in the number of Premier League teams from 20 to 18, for example. But then it was only ever meant to have 18 teams in the first place, and do Rochdale, Cheltenham Town and Newport County give a single **** if the Premier League has 18 or 20 teams in it? They do not. Adjustments to the promotion and relegation picture, so a club that’s taken its £200m annual Premier League windfall and spent it on a team that finishes third bottom of the league over a 38 game season gets another chance of a reprieve through the play-offs. But then that’s how the play-offs were originally conceived, and do Port Vale, Plymouth Argyle and Carlisle United give two hoots whether the Championship play-off line is drawn after fifth or sixth? They do not.

Any port in a storm. Waves starting to lap over League One and Two heads, final breaths being taken, water clogging lungs, and now suddenly a lifebelt. Thrown from an unlikely source, I’ll give you that, but there’s no time to check the small print when you’re lost at sea. Besides we have the cast iron assurance of our own EFL chairman Rick Parry, who you may remember from such films as CEO of Liverpool, to sooth any latent concerns and worries. “The thing that has to shine through is the passion that Liverpool and Manchester United have shown for preserving the pyramid, and the relevance of Leagues One and League Two. That is the most rewarding aspect of all of this,” he gushed. Steady on Rick, there’s a puddle forming.

Continued here.....

https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/footb...ws/53115/let-me-paint-you-a-picture-–-preview

 

As I predicted on here years ago the Super League is coming soon, maybe Project Big Picture was just a teaser to let the Big Six see what they might get away with but it's rejection will surely move things on to bigger riches. Hopefully any clubs that join it will be told there's no way back, we'll all be better off without them...

 

I hope that all true supporters of these clubs are extremely embarrassed and let their respective clubs know unambigiously how they feel.

 

Sooper a dear old QPR friend said to me some 20 years ago that this was coming. TBH the Champions league was the start of this. Let them go and join their super league and have to play every other week in Europe. If they want out (this sounds a bit like Scotland and politics) let them go and don't come back.

 

The fact it's FIFA and not UEFA suggests a power struggle and subsequently may push the bidding rights to astronomical sums. Probably a precursor to a World League on a franchise basis. Those that go from the PL will never play in our leagues again, probably the best thing that could happen to domestic football as it would be a far more competitive Top Division and the best players would be snapped up at the end of every season by the Big Guns...

 

I wonder how the fans of these clubs feel? bar Chelsea who are full plastics how must a spurs fan feel that one day they could end up leaving our league and playing someone like "Miami super sentinels"

 

The clubs don't give a flying **** what the supporters think - their only interest is cash. They'll find new supporters in the US, middle- and far-east who will be more than happy to follow them and buy their outrageously priced kits and souveniers, along with all the half'n'half scarves

 

Worse still when most of the other teams will be highly competitive how will they feel being in the bottom half most of the time? There can only be one winner and when you're used to being top dog or thereabouts the tickets may not sell...

 

First step - limited European super league, while maintaining national leagues but big clubs dump FA cup and League Cup and insist on reduced size of PL. Then, after a couple of seasons, expand European League and dump PL. perhaps end up with World League. As ordinary fans will not have the cash or appetite for endless travel, the clubs will ultimately become franchises, shifting geographically to where cities will give them the best deal.

 

Good, then normal fans will start watching the lower teams as they won't be able to afford to go to and see their teams.
I think its a bloody stupid thing, however I can see it happening in an ever changing world. It will all end up in 4 quarters/advertising/hot dogs and players earning more money than Bill Gates.

 

'The Chicago Chelsea blues... and orange'

 

It'll be interesting to see how the Yanks react to this. In the 70s the TV companies were so protective of 'their sports' that the Major League was virtually strangled at birth. Now 'soccer' is more established they'll be a much bigger threat and determined to be the dominant force. The World League would probably generate more than anything in Sports history. Which of the Big Six will be the first to fail assuming six would be chosen?...