Manchester United's troubled defence of their Premier League title is harming the English top flight's worldwide brand, says the competition's chief executive Richard Scudamore. "There are lots of fans around the world who wish Manchester United were winning it again," Scudamore told Bloomberg. There are a lot of people in Hampshire who wish Southampton were winning it matey. My first thought was who cares about Manchester's second team but then I began to think about what Scudamore is trying to say. Is he suggesting that we should all let United win to protect the PL brand? Does he think we should let them buy all the best players? Is he sticking the knife in to Moyes's back? I was reassured by his comments that it is a competition "But you have to balance that off against, generally, we're in the business of putting on a competition and competition means people can compete." Overseas television deals will earn the Premier League more than £2bn between 2013 and 2016. Should we all be saying "Stuff Man Utd" or should we be a little more than worried about potential loss of income?
I think this season has been the most exciting for years...even if you remove Saints from the equation. We are nearly in to April and the title isn't settled and a lot of teams are still in the mix for relegation. Last season was one of the most boring as far as the title was concerned...a poor United side romped to the title. Who really matters....the fans in this country who have real investment in the league or a bunch of overseas hangers on? The PL is on very fragile ground if it believes that one poor season for United affects the brand.
I'm happy to see Manchester United fail even if it means harming the English top flight's worldwide brand, because I hate Man U. But also, why should I give a stuff about the Premier League Brand? It's not making me any money, infact it's costing me more as tickets get more expensive. Arguably we get to see a better type of football now, but that wasn't really the case when we were playing in the lower leagues because it doesn't trickle down, and I was happy watching that football too. So stuff Man U, and stuff the Premier League "brand".
Dangerous ground, and probably out of order to say that imo. Makes all those accusations of refs being kinder to Manu U etc. ring true, if there is some sort of unspoken requirement to keep the Man U success train rolling, so that we can all enjoy the riches the brand brings us.
I can just about see where Scudamore gets his idea. If one is trying to sell into new markets then one of the big features is ManU. New markets aren't necessarily interested in competition. They want a guarantee of entertainment and feeling good, and that means possibly the only club they know, or the one they know best, winning all the time. The only thing it is really harming is Peter Scudamore and his Premier League sales pitch. He needs to change it to something which suggests that the Premier League is not boring, in terms of who will win the league. He needs to tell those new markets that this is competitive football, and that there are no teams with a guarantee of the title. This is where much of the entertainment lies. This is what football is all about. Is that such a hard sell..?
Aah, diddums. Perhaps we should all agree to give Man U a one goal advantage whilst they're going through this difficult transitional period!
Ridiculous. One team succeeds another and the overseas "support" shifts. The brand stays the same, the name of the flagship changes.
Yeah ridiculous, but people don't like uncertainty or change. I can see where Scudamore is coming from, but it's hard cheese and everyone will get used to it. Unfortunately, I suspect within a couple of seasons, ManU will be back annoying us again. As I've said on many an occasion, my personal preference would be that clubs like Arsenal and ManU, who have tasted wall-to-wall good times [Arsenal because they've never been out of the top division, and ManU because of their 20 year success story] should have a taste of the lower divisions. It would spice up the leagues a bit.
When I were a wee lad, it was Leeds. Then it was Liverpool. There was even a brief Forest period. Then it was Man U. There was a time when Burnley and Preston were the ones. Prewar, the idea that Manchester United would ever be any good would have been laughed at. This kind of thing happens all the time, so nothing new to see here, Peter. Let it happen and see who comes on next. Probably Man C for a while (my nephew, born in Wimbledon, chose Man C). Maybe Chelsea. Possibly one day us. Vin
Exactly. Well put, though, in terms of domination, you forgot Liverpool [again] after Forest. [I'm being picky] It has actually been refreshing to see ManU stumble. Not because it's them stumbling [though that is fine by me as well], but because it starts to ring the changes once again. Without changes, anything can become stale, and the PL has been doing that for more than several years.
From Wikipedia Richard Scudamore has a preference for the League to have a status quo. I can't think of a good reason for this, so I assume it's to do with money.
What the fuzzy?! Come on Scudamore, act a bit more professional, ffs. Or should the rest of the league roll over to protect the 'brand' (and your wallet)?
Lets hope we can help the brand by trashing the arrogant bar stewards on the last day of the season to shove them down below us...oh what a glorious day that will be!!!!
