if only it was all that easy hey!
That particular introduction would actually be very easy. You could implement that within six months.
Hopefully more journalists now start to really get at the real problemâŚ
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Reade is spot on there, to be honest the scenes outside Chelsea would have focused heads, the likes of Klopp and Milner and others would have focused heads. If it had been Neville just bleating it would have been ignored, plus the government could do nothing anyway as Stephen Bush has said in the New Statesman, a windfall tax would require the thing to actually have started, so how would that stop it?
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Its not easy, if it was it would have been done by nowâŚAnything that involves the PL/Fifa being involved becomes toxic. things that seem simple on the out side are so complicated internally because of the politics and money involved.
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good stuff this⌠really good and why i dont see any of this as a victory for the game etc⌠thanks for posting
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Not necessarily. Itâs only relatively easy because of the implementation of TMS and the associated systems, which has only happened in the last few years.
Haha, just listened to that, he certainly doesnât hold back! 
However, I donât entirely share his pessimism. When he says for instance that the American revolution changed nothing but to better the life of another group of privileged people, and nothing changed for the rest, he might be 99% correct.
But the remaining 1% matters: the American revolution engendered the ideas of human rights, of democracy, of liberty, of common prosperity. While they stayed beautiful ideas at 99%, and corruption, privileges, slavery and other horrible things continued for a while, the remaining 1% contributed to change our lives with time going by.
Nothing is perfect, but our world isnât the one of the XVIIIth century anymore, and thatâs in part thanks to the American revolution.
So, heâs 100% right that ESLâs demise isnât a victory of the fans, and that it doesnât change anything for them, but it doesnât mean that the fans should do nothing. Maybe, just maybe, this is a watershed moment, a moment when the fans realise at the good last that the transformation of football into business has gone too far, and genuine changes are needed.
But they need to make their feelings known, because Barnes is right, as things stand, they will continue to be fleeced on a consistent basis if they do nothing about it.
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Absolutely. That Brian Reade article is brilliantly aggressive. 
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Can I ask as genuine question here which will maybe show my complete naivety on the subject.
I am 35, born in 1986 and only really starting to know about football in 1993/94.
So as long back as I can remember I only really know the Premier League Era.
Barnes said in that talk sport that âto the detriment of the football league pyramid/grass roots etc the premier league started in 1992â
My question is was the football league that good then, compared to now to be able to say that the premier league has had a detrimental effect?
So is the premier league this huge evil beast (that we have all fed by the way) or is it genuinely better now that want it was before.
Obviously as a 35 year old I have no clue so going to be relying on the older fans for thisâŚ
And to be fair I get what Barnes is saying but Iâd be keen to know why his weekly wage was in 1990 (football league) versus what it was in 1995 (premier league)
I am sure he had no problem picking up his wages every week back then, obviously no where in comparison to todayâs wages but stillâŚ
It has its similarities to the ESL if im honest.
There had been talk all through the 80s of a breakaway from the football league, the TV companies back them ( namely ITV i think ) met with 4 or 5 of the big Division 1 teams ( Utd, Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal and Everton ). I think it was Greg Dyke who beleived that it would be a money spinner for TV if only the top clubs in the country were shown on TV more often than the smaller clubs.
ITV offered money to the FA and Football Association to purchase the television rights, the Sky ( Rupert Murdoch ) hijacked the deal and offered more money, as i think Sky was a loss making business at the time.
It didnât go down well with the football league at all, but ultimately the big clubs in Div 1 voted for it and the others followed, and subsequently the PL era was born for the 92 seasonâŚand the rest is history.
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The fact that none or very few have actually bothered about this so far says everything about the state and direction of the game.
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Yes but is it better now or bette then
Is the football better? ultimately yes in my opinion, has football lost touch with its fansâŚa massive yes.
Clubs with English owners are the minority now, English owners sold out to overseas owners ( our own David Moores included ) and the PL is now a spectrum of owners from overseas, attracted by the massive investment of TV rights and sponsorship deals.
Theres more coverage of games of course, which is a good thing for many, as not everyone can be a season ticket holder or go to gamesâŚ
Has the pyramid/grass roots improved, probably not, the investment back into grass roots/community football by PL teams is probably less than 5% of their huge TV rights deals, i think i saw something on the BBC site the other week, of 1.5m youth players in the system that only about 1% of those actually get into the PL or go on to make careers from football.
PL has become the norm, weâve all bought into it, weâve all wanted more investment, wages, players from the clubs to be the best.
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Was investment from the old first division back into the pyramid and grass roots much more before the PL then?
When you say clubs have lost touch with the fans, I only have the âLiverpool of nowâ to reference.
Did the club look after its fans more pre premier league compared to how it does now? If so, how so?
There are some
On this site who post just to get a reaction and I can see how the above would come across like that but itâs not my intention
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