Is it time for the Monopolies and Mergers Commission to intervene in the Premier League?

The current top six teams in the Premier League are operating a cartel to maintain their elite position supported by the grovelling media.

Surely if it is not in the best interest of the consumer for ASDA and Sainsbury to merge then it cannot be in the best interest of football fans for the elite Sky Six to asset strip clubs lower in the league to monopolise the Premier League..

Should the Monopolies and Mergers Commission be required to approve all signings by the elite clubs in the Premier League or must we fans of other clubs just sit quietly by while our clubs are overrun?

If you haven't read this link then you must do so now.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/26/sports/premier-league-liverpool-manchester-city.html

 

Just reading that boils my piss

 

But that's how all "free markets" work - sell everything off to a few big companies who can then control the market e.g. the railways where privatisation has made them more efficient, cheaper and given the customer better choice....

 

A few years ago, Manchester City was an alsoran, languishing in the third tier of English football,whilst Everton were part of an elite. History teaches us that things will evolve and change. And if West Ham ever make that stadium work for them, it could become the Top 7!!

That aside, the situation should be a challenge to the rest of the PL to face up to. Although not in the PL at the moment, a club like Aston Villa should be able to get the best young talent from around the West Midlands (an área that should have a gold mine of talent) and beyond, to créate a team that should be at the forefront of English football.

 

What about Brum,Wolves and WBA?

 

Their grounds are not big enough. Yep I know gate receipts are falling % wise vs total income but it remains relative. I agree that really the only club capable of not really breaking into the top 6 but making it 7, is Spam.

 

I was responding to Ides and was questioning why those clubs shouldn't be able to get the best talent in the WM.

 

Said before, our VD saga tells me exactly why a team outside of the 6 will never make it. If any club shows any discernible quality to be knocking on the door, beware, they’ll be having b’fast with your best players, flashing the cash & “history” & imo, are gone. That’s just the reality. Could a Leicester happen again? Nope, not imo. Ok there’s a 1/trillion possibility but it’s definitely x10 harder to do not than when Ranieri managed the impossible. Best to accept & target a domestic cup. And as for the UEFA Cup, jeez none of us also tans will have the squad quality to compete on both fronts. That saying, the ride was great

 

May as well go down then

 

I think a free stadium, owners with stupid rich pockets & being 2nd city (?) had a major influence. Just don’t think that could happen here or elsewhere including Birmingham- too fragmented.

 

There’s still the momentary thrills & as I said the cups. And if you’re Saints, the occasional flirtation with relegation! Must admit, last years last few games was amazing

 

Are the EPL top six feeder clubs for Barca, Real possibly PSG and Juve? Look at what's happening to Ajax, a talented young team is being broken up. Factor in the glamour, financial and ambition incentives players such as ours had going to Liverpool, managers to Everton and Spurs. The buy and loan system as it stands, revenue streams, media coverage, it's all geared to skimming talent. I wish I had an answer, I'll just keep supporting the Saints enjoying the highs and enduring the lows.

 

I said 3-4 years ago of the pre-determined cherry-picking of Saints' best players after every season, by glamour clubs, was a deliberate action to eliminate the ambitions of a potential smaller rival. The argument I received back was that it wasn't deliberate. Whether it was or not doesn't really matter, although I think there is quite a bit of circumstantial evidence that has accrued over the years to say that it's true. Unless a collection of sugar-daddies, with more money than sense, come into Southampton FC, just to see a provincial club regularly knock over the biggest, and therefore ultimately grow themselves, then I know that a club like Saints is doomed to 8th at best, or maybe 7th to 6th if the tumblers really fall into place. Ultimtely, that makes the whole competition boring, because the game is too loaded.
One thing that is ironically ridiculous. Leicester's success was the best thing ever that happened to the Premier League. Practically everyone would accept that. Yet it'll never be allowed again. Funny that.

 

I was delighted that a club like Leicester won the title, but it also fills me with a bit of regret that we missed our moment. We had a great team a few seasons back and the big boys were losing matches you wouldn't expect...it was the perfect time for a good organised side to strike. Leicester were such a side and got their points in early before the top 6 woke up and realised they were a threat....could have been us....perhaps the season before.

 

I was just citing Villa as an example, but I believe West Brom now have in their younger age teams, players entirely from the West Midlands. As for Wolves they possibly have "associate" academies not only across their área but further afield, Portugal!

As we know, Wolves were once great and the way they are progressing, who is to say they won´t make the top 6 next season?

 

For a Leicester to happen you need a perfect storm of a couple of players being recruited at the same time who turn out to be very good (Kante and Mahrez in Leicester's case), a couple of top 6 players already there (Drinkwater, Vardy possibly Schmeichel), the rest of the team going through a purple patch for basically a whole season (see career average PL players at best like Simpson, Morgan, Huth etc performing as well as they did), no injuries and, most importantly, the top teams having a terrible season.

Ironically Saints ticked a couple of those boxes for a couple of seasons, only thing was the top teams weren't quite as bad.

It says it all that everyone has talked about how **** United/Chelsea/Arsenal at times are this season and laughing at them etc and they are still 11 points+ clear of the "excellent" Wolves team this year. To break the top 6 you need to be lucky for a season or 2, to do it consistently is very hard. Spurs have gradually done it over the past 10+ years so it is doable but football has changed a fair amount since they first started on their journey and I'm not sure a team can regularly do it again.

I don't think there is some huge conspiracy to keep everyone out, I just think that if there is a player performing well in the PL the top teams will want to buy them. It is why we probably got to see players like VVD, Mane, Wanyama etc at Saints in the first place. There is no way the top teams hadn't heard of them at the time we bought them, they just don't need to take the risk to see if they can make the step up from a smaller league to the PL. They will just wait a couple of years to see how they do then buy them. For every 1 £50m player they buy from a smaller team, there would be 4/5 £10-£15m signings the smaller clubs will have made who looked great in another league but didn't make it in the PL. It makes both financial and football sense to let the smaller teams buy these players then buy only the really top ones after a couple of years.

 

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Wouldn’t it be nice if that talented young Ajax team could win the CL before they are broken up? It’s happened before; and it would be great for the sport if it could happen again. It would also be great for Saints, because Ajax’s model is in some way really not that far from our own - albeit they are competing in a domestic league where they are one of the biggest clubs, in European terms they are minnows who rely massively on their academy.

 

i used to play monopoly
community chest and chance all day long
i liked the Hat. Slid round the board nice and proper as i built up a property empire on old kent road. top end see.
Big red hotel - 3 of 'em all ined up all on one piece.
yer bankrupt if you land on that. do not pass go. do not move. you owe me 300 sheets. yer tresspassing.
Its mine
i pay the mortgage.

 

Trouble is, look at Leicester now. They’ve lost a few quality players (to the 6) & are now back with the “rest”. Same would have / will happen to any of us.