Predictable.
In my opinion if the premier league clubs are going to forgo a chunk of their TV Revenue to support grassroots football, then they have to be allowed some flexibility to earn back that money in some way (like some TV rights). That’s just common sense. Clubs are not wiping the arses on £20 notes as is often assumed.
And I see the ‘fan groups‘ have got involved now, like they did on the furlough thing, without the first fucking clue what they are talking about.
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People want the PL to filter more money down to the lower leagues. Clubs at the lower end of the PL don’t want to pass funds on to teams that could come up and replace them.
The richer teams, the ones that drive the majority of TV revenue, are happy to funnel money down but in return they want to reduce the number of games. Clubs at the lower end of the PL don’t want that because they lose match day income.
The richer teams, the ones who have consistently been part of PL from its inception want a greater say on how the league is run given they are the key element driving the product. Clubs at the lower end of the PL don’t want that because they think they’re being squeezed out of a fair say.
Ultimately I can’t see this being resolved. The lower leagues are happy because they’re getting a much needed injection of regular money and it being a percentage means their revenue grows as the PL’s grows.
But the lower PL clubs don’t want to fund potential rivals. They don’t want to give up the additional games because they generate money and they aren’t going to vote for a proposal where they lose power.
The larger clubs can afford to funnel money down the leagues because they can make that up flogging games on their own networks, lucrative pre-seson games/tournaments and more revenue from European games. But they won’t give up what they have without something in return.
Something needs to happen but I can’t see a proposal that gets a 14 team backing unless all the others turn on the top six. Go that route and you start the move towards a European Super League and the 14 essentially kill the cash cow they rely on.
As with Covid, everyone will act in their own self interest and be dismayed that others do the same. It’s a mess caused by the decision to allow the PL to breakaway in the first place. It’s just take 28 years and a global pandemic for it to come to a head.
Ultimately, if the lower leagues need the PL to bail them out and everyone seems to think they have a duty to do so, clubs won’t be happy to just bung them a load of cash with nothing in return. But the real battle is the big six, plus one or two others, versus the rest of the Premier League and that could get ugly.
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It would appear that the vast majority of the EFL clubs support the plan. Parry seems to have the confidence of his clubs, but has become the target for a few PL clubs that are against the proposal. That says quite a bit.
Quite the overlap between the vociferous opponents to this proposal and the clubs that argued that there should be no relegation this Spring.
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Yeah the EFL won’t be against it generally you’ve probably got about 45-50 clubs who will be happy with this.
Also B teams is just horrific, I’d rather clubs become filter clubs for bigger teams if your going look at it.
Like Null and Void it’s just as special interest as the the top 5-10 clubs interest. But if I’m honest they asked for it after the fuss they made, this is Liverpool and Man Utd’s attempt not to go down that route again.
Liverpool having the chance to win the title which had been won once the results were concluded should not have been dictated by the likes of Watford who tried to use the deaths of thousands for their own interests.
We are now worse than it was in March and I’ve yet to hear any vocal debate about stopping the league.
In fact all I’ve heard is “get fans back, we love fans blah blah blah oh and while we are at it let’s charge fans for PPV games”
But then I wonder if that’s the point on PPV to make those games viable it’s the only way, saying that you wouldn’t include Man Utd and Liverpool games in any PPV plan, those games probably fund themselves through advertising and Subscriptions especially Now TV’s day pass stuff.
Most clubs are viable, these clubs have basically lost their only outlet for cash in, you have to remember that. Like concerts, like pubs, like clubs, like theatre all these things are viable and worth while businesses but like everything else it doesn’t work when people can’t enjoy it in a pandemic.
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That’s probably the gist of it. But it’s very short sighted.
Outside the top seven or eight teams, no-one can plan for a permanent stay in the top division. If you are a team in the bottom half of the table, the likelihood is that at some point in the next decade you’re getting relegated. Outside the 9 clubs singled out in the plan, the longest stay in the league is something like 6 years?
Burnley, Brighton and West Ham if acting rationally, should be in favour of a strong well funded championship, because at some point soon they’re going to be there.
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I think it’s probably the fact that it essentially replaces parachute payments which is their big worry. It’s funneling money down and across the rest of the teams in those leagues as opposed to relegated clubs getting a big wad of cash for failing. They then have an advantage over the other clubs Championship for three years, increasing their chances of returning.
Rightly or wrongly they’ll point to the PL being an unfair playing field because those teams without a secure position will have to run on budgets they could sustain in the Championship as they don’t have a safety net anymore.
Personally I’ve never agreed with parachute payments anyway. Too many clubs betting the farm knowing they’ll be financially rewarded even if they fail. Clubs like Brighton and Burnley have shown that well run clubs can come up and have a sustained run without putting the club in jeopardy should they be relegated.
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To be fair though, Burnley probably wouldn’t have yo-yo’d their way to relative Premier League security without parachute payments.
Agree with you though. I think a mandatory relegation wage reduction is in most contracts now so PPs are much less necessary.
I don’t think manure are in any position to adjudicate on the fit and proper persons test.
The biggest regret, for me, is that there’s nothing in the proposals to tackle wages, transfer fees and agents fees.
These are football’s biggest expenses and yet the proposals seem designed to facilitate the ability of the biggest few clubs to continue to inflate these costs, further separating them from the rest. Where’s the self-restraint at the top? A hard salary cap for the EFL? What about the PL?
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Burnley have cut their cloth well though, we might not like them but they have done is sensibly as had Swansea.
But as some have said some bet the family sliver on it, those who lack ambition usually end up coming down. Would say Norwich is another who would probably be ok without.
And that Burnley example proves exactly why PP payments are a poor way of the PL supporting clubs further down the league.
They get promoted, fail to stay up and so go back down with a year’s PL money behind them and then three years of PP payments to help them bounce back. Come up again and it’s another four years of a guaranteed greater revenue than most of the other clubs fighting to get into the league and its funded by the PL teams.
West Ham are the ones that anger me in all this. Pushed the null and void route to try and ensure they remained in the league. Then were only happy to play at neutral venues providing relegation was scrapped. Now they’re the first to publicly come out against this plan.
They’ve done nothing in the league since its inception. They’ve bounced up and down a few times but I don’t think they’ve ever made Europe. They’re the definition of mid-table mediocrity and are run by awful owners who the fans hate. And they’ve snuck their in to having a massive stadium upgrade at taxpayers expense that the fans hate too. But they can’t wait to jump in and criticise others every chance they get.
People see it as a power grab by the big six plus however many others have been included but it’s highlighting the power clubs like West Ham have. They will do everything they can to cling onto the coat tails of teams that are actually driving the success of the league and they’re happy to pull the ladder up behind them to ensure there’s as little risk to their position as possible. Meanwhile, what do they actually contribute? A shit stadium, fans who hate the owners and a team that does very little on the pitch.
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Hard to disagree with any of that.
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But didn’t West Hame win the World Cup in ‘66?
I agree with everything you said. They want no risk to themselves, a soft landing if they fall, and teams below them disadvantaged in the quest to overtake them. Traditional old school hammers fans aren’t a bad breed, but lately there’s a nasty bunch rising up, largely due to disquiet with the dildo brothers.
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I wasn’t aware that this * is at Villa now.
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It’s off
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“will look at formulating as a collective a strategic plan for the future structures and financing of English football.”
But you know, it is not urgent or anything.
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It’s alright everyone. The Premier League have agreed 50m in interest free loans. Panic over.