When the meeting at the Churchill Hotel had concluded and the various
executives had left, no doubt dreaming of all the lovely global lolly that
would soon be flowing through the game, to reappear as a pool of vomit at
the end of a night of romance with Ashley Cole, or as a Lamborghini
Murcielago LP640 Roadster that the twentysomething owner is banned from
driving, one question was left hanging in the air.
What if the Spanish and Italian leagues look at what English football is
planning to do to the most sacred concepts of the domestic game, the tenet
of the level playing field, of loyalty to the supporters, of the symmetrical
league as the true arbiter of the best team, suppose they look at the way
the Premier League is prepared to abandon these principles for a sack of
cash and just laugh and laugh and laugh.
There is no rush to beat English football to Sydney in January 2011, no
attempt to follow Manchester United or Bolton Wanderers to Bangkok, instead
the representatives of the leagues of the leading football nations in Europe
– the ones that win the odd World Cup – exchange smirks and
then begin giggling. Their shoulders gradually shake until they dissolve
helpless into guffaws and howls, legs kicking in convulsive spasms. Can you
believe what they have done, they gasp, between rapid breaths. They have
turned their competition into a silly little circus.
What type of league is decided by an odd number of matches anyway? What type
of league is hawked to the highest bidder, or left at the mercy of a random
draw? What type of league risks alienating people that will be there for it
week in, week out, whose investment is total, to flutter its eyelashes at a
part-time fan whose loyalty will never be tested over a wet weekend away to
West Bromwich Albion? Still, at least the local supporter now knows what
matters to the Premier League. Not him, apparently. Not so much.
To be fair to Richard Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, if this
country ever needs a man to front up an unpalatable idea – a foreign war
fought at vast cost on an entirely specious basis, for instance – he is the
man for the job. The Government missed a trick by not getting him in over
Iraq. “Yeah, Rich, there’s no weapons. No, no weapons at all, mate. Nothing.
No, it gets worse. All the stuff he has got – it turns out we sold it to
him. I know, he’s even got the receipts. That’s where you come in, mate.
Could you talk it up? I don’t know, some old guff about strategy and
integrity, I suppose. You know what to say. If you can get Wigan Athletic to
Kuala Lumpur, anything’s possible.”
So yesterday Scudamore sat before an audience that was sceptical to say the
least and played an absolute blinder. He presented the move as a logical
response to globalisation, claimed it was not the thin end of the wedge,
pledged there would be no expansion of the international round – as the
proposal has been tagged – in the next ten years, insisted it would not
affect the fairness of the competition, he even promised that the most loyal
fans would not be left stranded, as if the prospect of a match on the other
side of the planet is affordable to a supporter who has already followed his
team home and away throughout England and Europe.
There were moments when it was possible to believe him. He said the Premier
League would only go where it was welcome and, challenged on potential hosts
that are not so tolerant – Israeli passport-holders such as Yossi Benayoun
would be banned from entering some Middle Eastern states, for instance – he
immediately excluded those nations from the bidding.
It was a tough room. A lesser performer would have been skewered. Instead,
Scudamore remained unruffled, persuasive, diplomatic. The chap from Sky News
asked why the move could not be put to a vote of the fans. The Premier
League PR man began to panic at this mention of the disenfranchised but
Scudamore, at his side, remained calm. The chief executive patiently
explained that, if the fans were allowed to vote on everything, kick-off
times would have remained at 3pm on Saturday afternoon for all matches and
then where would a certain television station be? Touché.
Yet there is a reason the mention of supporters brought a shiver. Scudamore
knew he would be in for a rough ride, but if the room was high on cynicism,
it was low on season ticket-holders. The real anger would be bubbling up
from the fans, those who were now realising that no percentage of their pay
cheque will ever be enough for football’s new aristocracy, and no
well-rehearsed speech was going to placate them. Many will only see this as
a further act of rejection from a league that is already distancing itself
from reality. Sure enough, the early reaction has been overwhelmingly
negative. Scudamore’s arguments are slick, but they do not bear analysis.
He said the league would not lose integrity because the extra game was only a
variable like facing a team with nothing to play for on the last day – as
West Ham United did last year, avoiding relegation with a win against a
Manchester United side already crowned champions. He said the international
draw that will ultimately pair teams up – first versus eleventh, and so on
down the league, is an early suggestion – is only a twist of fate, such as
getting a home tie in the FA Cup.
He misses the point, which is that any cup has a random factor, which is why
the league is regarded as the true competition of worth. And a soft final
game is something over which the Premier League has no control – here the
league has factored in its weakness, the chance that the whole season could
be affected by a fluke of a fixture, taking place on the other side of the
world, for a bounty. It gives the elite clubs an advantage before a ball has
been kicked.
For two weeks in January, English football is now on sale to the highest
bidder. One can only hope the mayor of Kabul is thinking big right now; or
the mayor of Baghdad.
Let's presume that the premiere league has 100 million supporters outside the british isles.
If we ship our product to them, won't that deprive our nation of 100 million tourists. There is a reason you can't buy Harrods' products at Tesco!
Huw, London,
The clue is in the name...ENGLISH Premier League. That is how it should remain. Why should ENGLISH supporters be punished by having an unfair league simply because the American and far-east laegues arn't as good as ours. We have built and maintained this wonderful league, others can enjoy it via their television sets, if you want a league as good as ours, build it yourself.
Farid Charidine, Milton Keynes,
A further difference with NFL is that, to my knowledge, there are only two countries that play the game professionally (US and Canada). Attempts to launch the sport elsewhere have floundered due to lack of interest (most recently NFL Europa), and there is still an ambition to export the game elsewhere.
The same cannot be said for football. It's firmly established as the major sport in most other countries. With the imbalance created, the FA will look extremely silly once the novelty wears off.
FC United may have received mixed reviews for the stance they adopted in light of the Glazer takeover at Manchester United, but I cannot fail to admire them for having the balls to reclaim the game we grew up loving.
Ian Thomson, Houston, Texas, USA
oh give it a rest -has it only taken the fans this long to realise that the clubs don't care? only now think it's sold it's soul-did that long ago when it became the league of nations on offer to the highest bidder. too much moaning far to late - and do you know what, you all know deep down your moaning counts for nothing - you'll either keep going and if u don't then there are thousands of fans waiting to take your place. so pleaase stop whining and please shut up
Justin, leicester,
It may be greedy by the Board, but as usual, British people don't understand that English clubs would be worth miniscule percentages of what they are worth now without a global market.
Nobody would pay billions of dollars for TV rights if it were not to be broadcast worldwide.
The English league would not be a top 3 league without the money generated by outside interest as the British public do not have the money to sustain the level of pay and talent alone.
Freaking out about one match is true snobbery and totally expected.
John, London, UK
David Jones. Your quite right "There's a huge market of real fans out here, and they are just as deserving of seeing games in the flesh as fans in England". All they have to do is get on a plane and roll up into this country to watch them. By this arguement I would like India to send The Taj over, Egypt the Pyramids, Russia Red Sqaure and Australia Sydney Harbour. I am a big fan of these places and have paid money to see them, so I now deserve to be able to see them in my home country.
DohDohDoh, Newcastle, UK
So this idea is great for the fans ? I'm a fan - What if the 39th game involves my team who are 17th in the table playing Man Utd whilst the 18th placed team plays the team already relegated in 20th spot ? - - That sounds fair.
How many of the Premier league fans are actually going to get in to see the match ? The Ticket prices will be beyond their reach, but I'm sure the Premier League will have masterminded a Games Packages for people in the UK to fly out to see the games ?
What about me, the football fan who pays his monthly subscribtion to Sky to watch the football. Let's not kid ourselves here, this will be another package we have to pay additional money to watch.
Winners v Losers - Interesting !!
Martin Ball, Middlesbrough, England
Last weekend I took my two children to watch Liverpool play Sunderland at Anfield. Total cost, including travel from Cheltenham, approx £200. Entertainment value, virtually nil. And now the Premier League is saying, sorry that's not enough, we need even more revenue and will sacrifice the competition's integrity to generate the cash. I feel totally mugged - my club is owned by American capitalist's who don't care about anything but profit, the players are earning obscene amounts to turn in indifferent performances, and the governing body are prepared to sell the competition's soul for a few dollars more. NO MORE! As painful as this will be (after 40 years of loyal support) I have come to the end. Football has lost its soul. My kids deserve better.
Philip, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Money over fans, money over sport. There is a world of difference between moving kick off times for the telly and completely unbalancing the league. So Roy Keane backs it; let's see if he's still in favour when Sunderland are just safe in 17th after 38 matches and need a win from their 39th game: against Arsenal in Sydney, while Birmingham, in trouble in 18th place, get to play already relegated Derby in Beijing.
Chris, Worthing, England
The Premier League have made a fundmental error here in what is at best a copy cat move or at worst panic ! They have seen the NFL and NHL export their "product" across the Atlantic and want to do the same,before the other European leagues do the same. Their mistake is in not understanding the structural and almost as important,logistical differences between them. Structurally the US leagues are Franchises which are regularly moved or new ones created purely on financial terms,also crucially they are set up to give all teams an equal chance of success via the draft and match schedules. Logistically the teams cross several time zones to play each other, not fly an hour to Newcastle from Portsmouth!! I can be no coincidence that the influx of US owners and the appearance of the NFL have prompted this ill judged and doomed response.
Peter Nicholas, Guildford, UK
Instead of the Premier League coming up with these mad schemes, would they not be better off finding a way of making their league more competitive in sporting terms and not just a competition that can be bought by the highest bidder. If Richard Sudamore is trying to sell this as a natural progression, I would suggest to him that a more natural progression would be for the top teams to break away from the Premier League and form a franchised European League with the other super powers. Or is this what they are scared of?
George , Leeds, Uk
This plan is idiotic and pure greed! It's as simple as that. There are more important things to be fixed in the game like players diving about for penalties or going downfrom the slightest touch to get a player booked or sent off. This moronic plan should be junked PERIOD!
Robert, Mississauga, , Ontario, Canada
What I don't understand is we were all told that managers should not expect a wonderful and ancient tournament like the Africa Cup of Nations to be changed (and rightly so) which is becoming a big event held in a continent whose passion for the game is well documented. Then we are told that it is not a wholly commercial exercise to play Premiership games abroad and it is to let others experience the thrill and beauty of our game, and yet there is not a single African country being touted as a possible venue.
Why is that then? Nothing to do with money? Of course it isn't.
Paul, London,
David Jones, San Diego. Why not watch Major League football and support a team near your house? Leave the rest of us alone with your "football is a business" argument, y'all!
Phil Darnton, Manchester,
How long will it be before we kick off here at 3.00am to accommodate viewers in the far east or we seee Manchester United and similar being uprooted to New York or Hong Kong?
John Haynes, Rotherham, Uk
It is all about money. I found it difficult to accept 20/20 cricket even though it is popular and as for this football idea the greed is all too self evident. If they want to see Arsenal or the likes in China I imagine that they can do so on huge high definition screens in full glorious colour. Long standing Premier League fans surely want to see all their team's home games and do so by visiting the stadium either by car,bike, foot or tube not by plane.
Wilf Bell, Camberley, England
I thought we were supposed to be thinking of ways to REDUCE the number of games played by our top teams, not add another one, in the middle of the night, after an 18hr journey. The thought that my team, Spurs, might have to play an important game in unfamiliar circumstances is a nightmare - yes the people in Japan may be enthusiastic to see a sporting event, but they won't be fans. I can picture a Spurs vs Everton game in Asia, packed out with "supporters" wearing Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd tops and wondering who the hell those guys in the blue and white are! These are fans who's allegiance comes in the shape of a christmas present shirt from an Uncle.
This plan has the tell-tale, "let's conquer the whole world", look of a secret Sepp Blatter plan (with the World Cup carrot always dangling just out of reach) and should be spurned as such. If it is such a great comercial plan, then let them have the Superbowl or the World Series.
Nogbad. T. Bad, Aberdeen, Scotland
Look at the NFL, than you know what's going to happen. This league is a veritbale empire within the US, they answer to nobody and do whatever they want. And all they do is finding new ways to increase revenue. Now they can't grow any bigger, so they try to infect other marktes with their product of greed. They already do what the EPL is planning, the quastion is this: If money is the only motivation for the big wigs, how long until you Brits enjoy the game subdivided into four quarters to make room for more commercials? How long until time outs, coaches challenge, two minute warnings and all this crap? Although I love the Bundesliga, I have never doubted that the Premier League has more pace, more passion and is overall more exciting to watch. I used to envy you for that, but it seems that this will be a thing of the past soon.
Joaquin, Duesseldorf, Germany
"asian fans do deserve a game for the money they have started to indirectly contribute to the english game". If we go down that road, could I require a small piece of the Great Wall of China in my own backyard ? Would only be fair given the number of European tourists who indirectly paid for its maintenance... Or could one not more sensibly argue that nobody was ever forced to watch/visit and everyone already got what it paid for ?
Jerome, Brussels, Belgium
If the league want a set of meaningful matches, the have an end of season tournament between the top eight sides, with the four semi-finalists getting into the Champions League. You can even have a meaninful 3rd 4th play off match. This way the league would be more open, since coming 8th would give a chance a getting into Europe. In fact this system would allow for the UEFA cup spots to be allocated as well, since coming 8th would mean no Europe! (Also means that all teams would 3 meaningful matches) This playoff could be played abroad - wonder how much the 'host' city would pay for this!
Alan Dow, Fleet,
The only real reason for this proposal would be to gain extra income for clubs. FIne in principal but what will they then do with it?
Will they spread their largesse around the lower divisions? Build parks and pitches for the local community to use? Subsidise ticket prices and travel costs for their loyal fanbase?
Promote kids football and sponsor school and U18 leagues?
Help raise referee and coaching standards in community football?
Offer their training and coaching facilities to local amateur teams at a subsidy?
Or pay even higher wages, transfers, sign-on fees and agent bungs.
Answers on a postcard please...
Sean , Edinburgh, UK
If LA Galaxy vs Sydney FC got 70-odd thousand, imagine what the epl will pull. Totally worthwhile trip if the game comes to Australia. I do agree that the game shouldn't have any bearing on the league proper as all sorts of factors are diminishing the integrity of the competition when it is not played on a completely even keel.
Paul, Sydney, Australia
If this proposal goes ahead, it will mean that 1 game out of 39 will be played outside of England, which is 2.6% of the complete schedule. From what I've been reading, the next time the Premier League TV rights are sold, approximately 50% of the revenue will come from outside of England. There's a huge market of real fans out here, and they are just as deserving of seeing games in the flesh as fans in England, and all they'll get to see is 2.6% of them. Playing games at international locations that want the games - in other words know they'll be able to fill their stadium - also makes business sense. And the so called "purists" ( and most of those died out when Corinthian Casuals last won the FA Cup) shoud remember that this is a business. I agree that there are some significant details to be worked out, but I doubt that any are insurmountable.
David Jones, San Diego, California, USA
I sincerely hope this is an early April fool.
To begin with, 39 fixtures means that some teams will automatically get an unfair advantage, simply by drawing the season's whipping boys (eg. Derby) for their extra game, completely removing the inherent fairness of everyone playing everyone twice, both home and away.
Next, the idea that the top five are seeded to avoid each other - not exactly going to help make the Premier League more competitive is it, giving the big boys more winnable games and denying them the chance to lose points to each other?
Thirdly, fixture allocation: Arsenal vs Liverpool will no doubt pack out any stadium in any oil-rich sheikhdom, Kuala Lumpur or Shanghai. Wigan vs Blackburn, a local derby, can't even fill the JJB, so what on earth is going to make this a big draw 2000 miles away?
Finally, the fans; many are already gouged to financial breaking point, so following their team overseas is no-go. But why bother with them when you've got others to exploit?
Paul, Bermondsey, UK
the money in the premier league is because of huge television rights . a major contributor in this value is asia . undermining the importance of asia in improving the standard of your league smells of jingoistic nationallism . asian fans do deserve a game for the money they have started to indirectly contribute to the english game
sidhant, delhi, india
Two things: first, Scudamore should never have got involved in this: he should have been shot into space after the West Ham/Sheffield United debacle. And secondly, when will fans learn just how big a part they play in the 'spectacle' which is English Premier League football. If they stayed away for a month, Sky would be paying them to turn up and support their team. Football without fans is nothing.
And bye the way, I thought Capello did very well: substitutes came on, and everybody knew what they were doing. It made a refreshing change from Sven's headless chicken approach.
Oliver Sellen, Cambridge,
The Premiership is popular because foreign players make up the vast majority of the players and are paid alot of money. The money comes from many sources and many of those are outside England. It is a global league and a global sport. Plus, I don't know why the supporters are upset, only a few of premier teams actually sell out every game. Wigan, Bolton, Fulham and others should be excited about playing in front of a full stadium. The English always talk about their club being the biggest in the world but throw their toys out the pram because one game will be played outside England.
The Premiership is wise to try and export the league and it will help ensure the best players go to England because it will have the money to pay them. It will also give supporters another opportunity to travel outside England to support their team and be good ambassors.
Simon, London,
Forgetting imbalances and fan's rights, it is still a completely self-defeating proposal. If you rate a league by its commercial size as Mr Scudamore clearly does, then the English Premier League is a huge success. Its an English league but we are very happy that people in other countries choose to take enjoyment from it. Well done. So what shall we do now? Er, let's take the "English" bit out. A move to internationalism after all only makes logical sense if they intend to gradually go down the path to completely become really global. Let's relocate Arsenal to Tokyo and Chelsea to Dubai (one can only wish). Oh I see Mr Scudamore has stated this catagorically will not happen. Then what is the point? Fashions will move on as developing countries create successful domestic enterprises of their own. People will no longer crave a patronising gift of one "wonderful English game" and the league will end up looking ridiculuos playing to empty stadiums thousands of miles from home.
Dave Williams, Beijing, China
the premier league is run by SkyTv and the gradual undermining of referees has made TV cameras essential for future important on the pitch decisions - they have already proved that the offside law is actually unworkable without slomo Tv replays - even if the officials understand it.
Therefore the idea mooted must be seen as Sky's attempt to redress the situation reached after the division was reduced to 20 clubs because of the heavy work load on players. Similarly the new proposed seven substitutes rule is to guarantee the bigger clubs stay bigger and perhaps the longer time to get the game played may enable them to get rid of the cretinous pre and post match interviews. A sfor the average fan who actually turns up to watch - well, you would have to be on an expenses paid salary to to do it these days so what is a few extra air miles between corporates?
Rob, Telford, Uk
This proposal will never be implemented because it is patently unfair and unworkable. It is laughable to think that it has even been contemplated. Even by announcing that they are just looking into this as a possibility it is abundantly clear that the Premier League has sold football's soul and the result will be that the fans, whose passion for the game the Premier League's success is built upon, will now rightfully decide not to bother. In this day and age there are plenty of other places to spend ones money. It defies belief.
Jon, auckland, NZ
I'll be very interested to see the reaction of these host cities to hosting 'non-Big Four' games. Many of the cities that have been mooted also host not only their own football leagues, but other international events. Here in Melbourne, for example, we have a tennis grand slam, a formula 1 GP (for now..), football world cup qualifiers, international rugby & cricket etc. You'll forgive me if I don't see 16th v 9th in the Premiership getting marquee status.
Most importantly though, as your article states, it is the passion of the British football fans that makes the Premiership what it is, and international matches will rob the games of their greatest virtue. The reason myself and many others follow your league via cable TV is to revel in the passion of your fans and see rivalries being played out on grounds bathed in history. Playing these games on neutral grounds would not be as strong as a promotion as well-edited 90mins highlights package.
Andrew, Melbourne, Australia