Premier League clubs are to abandon pay-per-view (PPV) matches after the huge outcry against the £14.95 charge, it can be revealed. A formal decision on the U-turn is expected next week but there was a consensus at today’s Premier League shareholders meeting that no matches from after the international break until the end of the year will be subject to PPV charges. The decision has been given impetus by the new lockdown, and insiders also believe it is unlikely that the PPV system will be continued in the new year, rather than the other option of reducing the price. Club chiefs had been taken aback by the storm of criticism by fans following last month’s announcement of the £14.95 cost of watching those matches that are not already being shown on Sky or BT Sport. However those matches scheduled to be PPV games this weekend, including West Bromwich Albion v Tottenham Hotpsur and Arsenal v Aston Villa, will still be shown on the Sky and BT Sport Box Office channels as some subscriptions for the matches have already been sold. The outcry from fans had rattled the clubs with some of the biggest fans’ groups in the country organising PPV boycotts with the money raised going to food banks instead. One club source told The Times that most of the 20 chairmen had conceded that the £14.95 charge was far too high and were ready to make changes. “It’s been a PR disaster — £14.95 was a mistake and now we are going into lockdown again there is a feeling we have to do something to change it,” the source said. One issue the Premier League will have to tackle now is that its main broadcast partners Sky and BT Sport do not actually like having to show every match to subscribers for no extra charge. Today’s meeting was also updated on the Premier League’s latest offer of a bailout to the EFL — £50 million to League One and League Two and a commitment in writing to help any Championship club in distress due to the coronavirus crisis. There is political pressure for an agreement to be reached soon after the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee summoned the Premier League’s chief executive Richard Masters and the EFL’s chairman Rick Parry to an evidence session on Tuesday. Julian Knight, the committee chairman, said: “Many of our football clubs are already facing a precarious future yet they are being put at further risk because the football authorities who should be showing real leadership have reached a place of stalemate. “The government has made it clear that it won’t step in. A deal must be reached before it’s too late, the loss of any club will leave a gaping hole in its community. “We’re calling in football chiefs next week to put their case in public in an attempt to break the deadlock between the Premier League and EFL, it cannot go on.” The FA’s chairman Greg Clarke will also appear at the committee when he and Parry will be quizzed over their involvement in ‘Project Big Picture’, the plan put forward by Liverpool and Manchester United to revolutionise English football.
The PL dipped their toes in the water, got horribly burnt, and (seemingly) have rightly decided to retreat back.
It does kinda make sense: he isn't looking to get every match right, just to get more matches right in the aggregate to win against whatever B-list musician from 1996 that he's playing against. So there's some logic in picking Liverpool to win/draw all of their matches, and to pick West Brom to lose all of theirs: it's somewhat lazy but it means he'll win more than if he attempted genuine prognostication. The truly WTF element is that he has picked a rather average Man Utd side to win all of their prior matches, including against Chelsea/Spurs/Arsenal.
I never saw another 0-0 coming for Burnley. Or Brighton for that matter. Few will miss either of them, should they go down.
Manchester United. West Bromwich Albion. Wolverhampton Wanderers. Manchester City. The City of Southampton are with you
I've done a bet for all four results to go our way over the weekend to keep us top. A fiver pays out £107
It's certainly very possible that Utd, City and Wolves could all help us out (although we don't want Wolves helping too much). But WBA is definitely the very unlikely one.
Bugger... Everton 1-0 Manu Don't want Ole getting sacked anytime soon - just in case, well, you know.
