...and do things right, like they do in the global footballing mecca, the U.S. of A. Get real, we've been playing the game for over 120 years, they've been up and running for about 5, and I don't subscribe to his views, though he does make an occasional decent point. http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/...011-12-promotion-relegation-going-away-080211
Total tosh, cromer He must be in a coma To suggest such a ridiculous thing, But what do they know The NFL show Never has been at all exciting.
we may well mock, but there are a few of the premier league clubs who would agree with this. gartside, bolton chairman for one and i wouldn't bet against many of the big clubs wanting only the biggest revenue streams from bigger clubs... they'd love to see the back of wigan and blackburn i bet. closed shop. the day it happens, if it happens, is the day i fall out of love with football completely.
Agreed he makes some good points, particularly about clubs having to choose between short term expenditure on players against longer term expenditure on stadia and facilities, but this isn't a problem of relegation, it's a problem of how much players cost (transfer fees and wages), and salary/transfer caps would probably be equally effective in reducing these problems. I also disagree with his point that it will help develop domestic talent, with the financial rewards so large there would still be no incentive for developing young talent; in fact, without the risk of relegation and subsequent financial doom, teams might be more likely to spend big on foreign imports to deliver success. It would also be very difficult to decide which clubs would be in the league. No doubt "big" clubs (a phrase I hate) such as Leeds, Nottingham Forest etc. would demand a place in the Premier League based on fanbase, history, but why would clubs such as Wigan and Stoke, (who might not have the fan base or history but have earnt a place in the PL by promotion and avoiding relegation) deserve to miss out. Selecting teams would also damage football in most of the country; given that there would be at least 3 maybe 4 teams from London, 2 from Manchester, 2 from Liverpool etc, most of the country would not be near to a top flight team, and so support for other teams would drop, they would then have less money to find and develop young local players, so I think it could harm the development of local talent.
