Proposals. 1.....Premier League cut from 20 clubs to 18. 2.....Bottom two in PL relegated and 16th team joining Championship play-offs. 3.....League Cup and Community Shield scrapped. 4.....Parachute payments scrapped. 5.....£250 million rescue fund available to the EFL and 25% of all TV deals. 6.....£100 million paid to the FA to make up for lost revenue. 7.....Nine clubs given "special voting rights" on certain issues...based on their extended runs in the PL. The nine clubs will be comprised of "The Big Six"...Liverpool, Man U, Man C, Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea....plus Everton, W Ham, Southampton. Liverpool and Man U have been the main planners of this "take over" scheme. QUESTION....where does this leave Argyle and similar sized clubs. I have noticed that Leicester aren't one of the nine....but Southampton is....how come....what's going on here.
Simple the other 3 are the ones who have been in the Premier League the longest out of the remainder. This proposal will kill off a shed load of interest in the EFL. 30 pieces of silver come to mind. Tell them to do one and take their millions with them. If they want to join some sort of European Super League then feck off and do and leave the rest of us alone.
I saw the chairman of the EFL on TV. He's strongly in favour as 25% of the EPL money is a huge sum. There are a few puzzles. What happens if Southampton or West Ham get relegated? That could have happened several times recently. Equally, there was football before the EPL. You could argue that the likes of Newcastle and Wolves (first English club to play in Europe amongst other things) have a better pedigree than Southampton.
Oh and of course, an end to parachute payments. These haven't saved clubs such as Bolton and Sunderland from plummeting down the leagues but have encouraged unsustainable spending at the bottom of the EPL and suicidal spending in the Championship. They are a block on a club like Argyle progressing up to the top half of the league system.
It seems that clubs unite to declare plan 'dead in water'....that's the headlines in the Daily Telegraph Sports Section....commenting further that '13 top flight teams opposed to bombshell proposal'.....and that 'Deadlock likely with Big Six not prepared to leave League'. In the meanwhile I wonder what Sky think about it all....it is their honey-pot they're talking about......no mention from what I can see about their thoughts.
The other EPL clubs have voted this down. Apparently another support package for Leagues 1 and 2, worth an average of £1m per club, although in practice the total will be shared pro rata to each club's attendances, which could give Argyle a bit more. Some of it is in the form of interest free loans. I wonder whether Simon Hallett, having put in so much to make Argyle debt free will be open to that given that the club is not yet self financing and therefore not in a position to repay loans from it's own funds. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54545053
I see our old Buddy Peter (I'm down here walking) Ridsdale ...Preston's Advisor... has added his six pennyworth by saying that several Championship clubs could fold by Christmas unless they get funding.
I don't have a lot of sympathy with the Championship. Unparalleled levels of financial irresponsibility.
