Fans of all premiership and championship, including especially championship clubs, do you want the chance for your club to be crowned league premier league champions without even being at the top of the log standings sat the end of the season? Do you want the chance to qualify for the champions league? Well it would be very probable if what follows is ever implemented. I propose the establishment of a 48 club premier league comprised of current premiership and championship clubs and an additional four other clubs in the UK and Ireland. Something very vaguely similar was proposed by phil gartside of bolton in 2008 and 2009, but it didn't describe this in detail and it was unfair to championship clubs. This league will be divided into two conferences of 24 clubs, with each conference further divided into three groups of 8 clubs. Each participating club will contest a total of 38 regular season matches, 19 at home and 19 away according to the following formulation: Each club will contest a total of 14 matches, twice each against every other club within its same group. Each club will also contest 16 matches against the one each of clubs within the same conference but different groups. Further more each club will contest 8 matches against 8 different clubs from the other conference. To reiterate the above that is 14 intra group intra conference matches, 16 inter group intra conference matches, and 8 inter conference matches for a total of 38 matches played. Victories and draws will earn participating clubs points that will rank and differentiate them in standings. Two seperate tables of standings, one per conference with 24 different rank positions, will be established. Points, goals scored, conceeded, difference of goals etc. will be used to differentiate club rankings. After the conclusion of 38 matches played by all clubs (the regular/qualification season) a final ranking will be established per conference and the 8 leading clubs of both conference - 16 in total - will qualify for a four-round knock out tournament (the play-offs), the winner of which will be crowned the league's champion. The first two rounds of the competition (last 16 and quarter finals) are two legged encounters, the semi-final is a single leg encouter played at the venue of the club that was ranked higher in the regular season standings, while the final match is played at a neutral venue. During the play offs only in the final match can clubs from different conferences clash and in the last 16 round, the four highest regular season ranked clubs in each conference cannot clash. With regards to qualification for European football, the two conference standing leaders at the conclusion of the regular season will automatically qualify for the EUROPA league. Qualification for the champions league is earned by the clubs reaching the play offs semi finals. One to four of losing quarter finalist also qualify for the EUROPA league, depending on whether or not the end of regular season conference standing leaders and the FA Cup champion has progressed to that stage of the competition. Noteworthy, there are no relegations and promotions. But 48 clubs is sufficiently participatory of a league enough. Groups and conference representation need not be static, they can be altered on a seasonal basis and permetuations and combinations can formulate ways in which to ensure clashes between each club at least 6-7 times in ten seasons.
This guy down the nuthouse once proposed that people should be allowed to have sex with dogs for the purpose of creating human-dog hybrids that can derive the laws of quantum mechanics while licking their own balls. The doctors decided his medication wasn't strong enough.
So this seems to be one of your first posts so let me try and take it seriously. 1. It probably wouldn't get past UEFA who have to approve qualification. Promotion/relegation is one of the criteria listed. Franchise systems are not allowed. 2. It might reduce gate money for the top clubs so they probably wouldn't approve it. If there aren't 2 Man Utd/Man City derbies each year for example. 3. These kind of group systems are usually only put in place for geographical reasons, there is no travel issue in Britain. 4. It would dilute the competitiveness of the league. 5. Not sure how TV/media would deal with this. Twice as many games to cover and pay for. Can't see them being happy. 6. The PL is not a franchise so fairness is VERY important financially. I think there would be legal challenges to an unbalanced schedule like this. 7. Tradition is important in England. This would unbalance records, stats, rivalries and match ups. and 8. This is the really big one - WHY? - What is this supposed to fix or change?
Thank you for your courtesy in giving well articulated points. You seem to be very well informed concerning the regulations of European league football organizations. I must admit, I will need to research this myself. essentially brought up this topic for an intellectual discussion and certainly not because believe it has much a chance of happening. Persons of prominence have suggested things roughly similar, such as phil gartside of bolton, though what I read from him was not thoroughly detailed in the way I describe it and his proposal was for a 36 club league, which is more restrictive in participation than what I have written, nor am I the first to suggest that relegations be scrapped . Now let me address some of your points: 1. If indeed relegations and promotions are a stipulation of UEFA governed leagues, then it would be a very difficult hurdle to break. 2. The top clubs are likely to sell out regardless of which club visits them. 3. Group systems can be established regardless of geographic area. The purpose of the grouping system here is to ensure a realistic limitation in the number of matches played in the season. Certainly, one can't have 94 matches in 8-9 months in football. It is not basketball or baseball. 4. With time, there's a genuine probability for even current middling championship sides to become realistic contenders for the play offs and probably it would be difficult for most clubs to consistently make it. There could be dramatic swings in fortunes every half decade, a few seasons of disappointment, mid table mediocrity and losing records, mixed with high standings and making it to the last 8. 5. Does the media not already cover the championship? Are they unhappy about it? 6. On this point it is hard to argue. There will be genuine complaints amongst those contenders who are drawn a tougher schedule than their rivals. The luck of the draw, huh? Arsenal, tottenham, liverpool, everton in the same conference group, while man utd is in a different conference and isn't scheduled to play any of the above. Instead it has the company of the stokes, gillinghams, prestons, and burnleys in its group. I can understand, tough luck is rarely met stoically. 7. There's some truth to what you say, but relegations and failure to promptly return to the same division as an arch rival does upset rivalries. Look at birmingham city and aston villa. Villa an ever present, but birmingham hasn't even been represented for half of the premiership era. Then again coventry's failure to regain promotion since 2001 has seriously dented their fierce rivalry with villa. West Ham and millwall has long been just noise off the pitch without anything on it. A formula for at least 6 or 7 clashes per decade upholds rivalries far more than a decade and a half without a clash due to relegation. 8. I am not expecting it to happen. Yes, I'd like it, but i accept it likely won't happen. The best reason I can give is to spice things up for everyone and give hope to less prominent sides.
Just to come back with a few things: 2. Many top clubs, Arsenal one of them, have different prices depending on the opposition. Selling out isn't the issue, the price they charge is. 4. Without a draft or a salary cap, they don't have any chance. Even in the existing league only 7 or 8 have any realistic chance of winning it, maybe even less. Certainly some Arsenal fans don't think we have a chance of winning it this year, so I would think they would feel the number is probably only 3 or 4. 5. They don't cover it to the same degree, or give very much time to it. It is also a different rights package, I think. 8. Still think this is the main thing though. For this kind of change there would need to be a clear benefit.
The 48 club system will only dilute and make the Premier league weaker and be unworkable. Personally I would reduce the size of the Premiership. This would keep things more competitive, keep players more fresh and reduce injury. This would also help International football. How many times do we see England players look knacked come every big tournament.
Why don'e we have one big 'league', and call it professional football? But to make things more manageable and tiered, let's split it into 4 leagues? with the ability for the best and worst teams of each league to move up/down a league? So we could have a top league, let's say the premier league, then perhaps (to make the smaller guys feel better) lets call leagues 2,3 & 4, "The Championship", "League 1", and "league 2"? just a thought
