Robbie Williams while performing a concert at The Emirates "How far are Arsenal away from a European trophy?" "Four f**King miles. "
Arsenal's first 3 away games for next season: Man Utd, Liverpool, Newcastle, with City at home in between for good measure.
This is a gloomy, but possibly accurate statement about the future of the Premier League, from a political journalist who is a Liverpool supporter. YOU may have failed to notice that there’s something going on in America called the Club World Cup of football. It’s not the club football you’re used to seeing in the Premier League, where two psyched-up teams go like the clappers for 90 blood-curdling minutes in front of packed, passionate stadiums. This newly-invented competition is quite the opposite. Take Chelsea’s game against Los Angeles FC on Monday in Atlanta, when there were so many gaps in the stands you could have played a five-a-side game as 50,000 tickets went unsold. FIFA’s latest month-long, out-of-season, vanity exercise comprises hopeless mismatches between minnows and giants and slow-paced bore-a-thons in the searing heat. Which leaves European players wishing their knackered bodies and minds were recovering on a beach after a gruelling nine-month season before training starts for another one next month. Like the recent equally pointless and anaemic England games, the only reason footballers and fans are being denied a vital summer break from the sport is that those in charge of it are hopelessly consumed with greed. Spy a blank date in the calendar and a rich, relatively-untapped market like the USA, and they will pull out all the stops to squeeze more sweat from the players and money from the audiences. And, sadly, it’s only going to get worse. When US tycoon Todd Boehly bought Chelsea for £4billion in 2022, he told a private equity conference: “The global footprint of soccer is really underdeveloped” and needs “an American mentality” to fully realise its financial possibilities. Boehly is just another Yank moneyman who sussed that the earning potential of American football had been maxed out and the hugely-popular English Premier League was the certain route to unlocking sport’s global riches. Next season 11 Premier League clubs will be run by Americans, and when it reaches 14, which it soon will, they will run the show as that is the number required to rewrite the rules. Which they will swiftly do. And thus the top echelon of English football will become a closed shop run by, and for, US hedge funds. Looking at what they have already hinted at there’s every chance relegation will be scrapped, eliminating financial jeopardy and demolishing the 136-year-old pyramid that sees money flow down to the lower leagues and grass roots. You can expect rounds of Premier League games played in America, or even a global day of games spread across the world’s different time zones. Domestic kick-off times will be changed to suit global audiences and a cup final could be played in Baltimore or Beijing where, for one night, the teams who, for example, played in last season’s FA Cup final, could be renamed The Crystaldelphia Eagles and the Manchester Dolphins. I wouldn’t bet against the two top teams in the league eventually being forced into a Superbowl-style finale, with cheerleaders, Taylor Swift, tailgate parties and adverts popping up during stoppages where sponsors announce “this substitution break is brought to you by StayHard erectile dysfunction pills”. And any complaint from the paying fans whose life revolves around following their team, will not register. They will simply be told that the Premier League is now a US-owned, blue-chip, global brand like McDonald’s or Disney and, like Coca-Cola, you old school, legacy dudes will just have to suck it up. Have a nice day, y’all.
“We expect this offside decision to take at least 10 minutes, so here is an infomercial about synthetic burger protein brought to you by our sponsors…”
Its kind of a source of both pride and shame that this is the one thing I could imagine the British public and politicians rising up against. If there is one thing a Government might obstruct this would be it, failing that phoenix clubs galore and a big old boycott of the PL would be forthcoming with the Championship being treated as the new 'top league'. Well actually thinking about it the Championship would just be reclaiming its title.
I think this is mostly fearmongering nonsense by a journo with a chip on his shoulder against Americans.
Salary cap would be the most likely thing if they want to make money out of football, and that would probably be a good thing all round
The journalist is a Liverpool fan. He’s got a chip on his shoulder against everyone and everything, but I think he has a valid point with this, partly because I agree with what he’s written and partly because I have raised this as a possibility myself, in the past. This is different to the attempted breakaway European league that was mooted before, because the rules allowing them to make the changes are already established.
I like the Club World Cup as an idea. I also don’t think we need three European competitions. Especially when the elite one allows four/five teams from the top leagues. Maybe downsize the UCL and allow teams from all over the world to compete in the Europa/Conference League. Then have a ‘super final’ between the winners of each or some sh*t. I dunno, there is obviously a way to do it, but I guess the TV revenue makes UEFA too protective of their product.
Agree with the Club World Cup, but I just don't think this large format is sustainable, but there was also room for it to be slightly more substantial than it was. They could have held it annually with 8 Teams including; 1 Champion of the Host Country 2 Previous Club World Cup Champion 3 UEFA Champion 4 CONMEBOL Champion 5 CONCACAF Champion 6 CAF Champion 7 AFC Champion 8 OFC Champion That could have been 15 games long and held in just under 3 weeks during the European pre-season to avoid adding to fixture congestion, held annually and still a bit more of an event than it was before.
