The BBC are reporting that several "foreign" owners want to end relegation from the Premier League.I have honestly believed that from the start the Premier League would end up like an American sports league with nothing but franchises.
I think it will happen eventually.A Premiership made up of "franchised" clubs would attract far bigger gates than games against European clubs.
It's unfortunate that the head of the LMA doesn't know the rules of the Premier League. The FA has a special share and has a veto on various issues including: 7.2 Notwithstanding any provision in the Articles or the Rules to the contrary, each of the following matters shall be deemed to be a variation of the rights attaching to the Special Share and shall accordingly be effective only with the consent in writing of the Special Shareholder and without such consent shall not be done or caused to be done: 7.2.4 the making and adoption of or any amendment to, removal of or waiver of any of the provisions of the Rules which relate to: (b) the number of Members and promotion to and relegation from the League; See http://www.premierleague.com/staticFiles/c2/8a/0,,12306~166594,00.pdf
it surely cannot go on with 10 top teams and 10 journeyman clubs, please remove the ladder once shrewsbury town are up there. nb this may take a little time!
When it comes to protecting their own interests the clubs will simply change the rules or simply threaten a breakaway as happend with the formation of the Premier League
Any club in favour of this is welcome to go and form their own league - I doubt there would be many takers.
With the greatest of respect it is easy to pinpoint a single game.What i'm talking about is somewhere like Sheffield being given a franchise.A single Sheffield club could easily attract crowds of 40-50,000
It'll never happen. One of the things domestic football has over US franchised leagues is history and rivalry, you cannot dismiss 140 years of the Merseyside derby just because Everton currently aren't good enough to make Europe's top 40 clubs. And whilst the Scottish, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese leagues are often dominated by the same teams the Madrid derby for instance is a great rivalry. I may bury my head in the sand every now and ignore change but this is one change that will not happen
Do you really think a foreign owner would give two ****s about history and tradition when it came to making money ?
The PL is already the most popular around the world.It attracts the highest TV money.Why would anyone want to change that ? The franchised league would also have the benefit of higher attendances
I don't want a European super league, would prefer to see the premiership made more competitive. If the top clubs moved to another league entirely it would alienate most of the clubs in England and I think it would take the excitement out of playing other big European clubs.
Obviously not, but setting up a league that falls outside of Eufa or Fifa's control isn't easy, it would take some years to achieve and the domestic leagues would (if they had any sense) suspend the clubs intending on joining the breakaway league which means owners earn nothing, fans drift away, image takes a hiding so sponsorship delivers less revenue and then the players end up not playing. As for the suggestion that Sheff Utd and Sheff Wed should form one club called 'Sheff City' same North London, same Merseyside etc, I doubt any fans would accept that. Look at the furore surrounding Tottenhams failed bid to move a few miles across London, and that proposal came with retaining the clubs historical name. Football is a sport built on tradition in England (and throughout Europe), there are an enormous amount of hurdles to overcome if successfully dismissing this history....
The Premier league have already been floating the idea of a 39th game in the Far East, one of the biggest markets for the clubs. I think a pan European super league could well be on the table for the owners of the top European clubs. It's not something I would like to see. In the last 5-10 years the PL has improved enormously - and even the 'smaller' clubs are now beginning to catch up with the big four. A super league, would just destroy all of that hard work and turn the likes of Bolton, Blackburn and Wigan into also rans.
I don't see it that way, instead of a top 4 we now have a top 6 that now other team can break in to unless another billionaire buys a club. Most of the teams in the prem will never challenge for the title or play in Europe, the best they can hope for is domestic cup success. Having said that I don't think the super league is the answer because i am opposed to clubs completely abandoning their nation.
Even then they play their 2nd teams for those games. And their 2nd teams are most of the time pretty poor. These teams only have two eyes on one thing and one thing only. And thats staying in the prem.
