"Man Utd and Liverpool driving 'Project Big Picture' - football’s biggest shake-up in a generation"

[fridgemagnet]

I'm too young to remember but what was the reaction/feeling when they tried to form the Premier League compared to this?

I can remember thinking Alan Sugar (him of the company that made nearly all set-top boxes for sky) how the hell did you let Spurs get left behind when he must've known it was coming for months ahead of most.

I've had a whack on the head since so I might be misremembering the details.

 

[floydiohead]

Fundamentally disagree with it. Will be the death knell for football as we know it.

 

[UncleBuck]

They have, hence why it's being done by the number of current consecutive seasons in the PL rather than total number of seasons in the competition. So if one of the 9 long-term shareholders went down, I believe Crystal Palace would be first in line to replace them at the moment, followed by Leicester.

Saying that seeing as Leicester and Leeds have both won the PL as previous champions should they not be part of the majority vote? Wasn’t that how the old ‘big 6’ was made up...

 

[Tucker]

Saying that seeing as Leicester and Leeds have both won the PL as previous champions should they not be part of the majority vote? Wasn’t that how the old ‘big 6’ was made up...

Leeds haven’t won the PL

 

[UncleBuck]

Leeds haven’t won the PL

Must have been the year before it formed so forget about that!

 

[Lilbaz]

I can remember thinking Alan Sugar (him of the company that made nearly all set-top boxes for sky) how the hell did you let Spurs get left behind when he must've known it was coming for months ahead of most.

I've had a whack on the head since so I might be misremembering the details.

The premier league was sugars idea. Along with dyke and the other big 5.

 

[fridgemagnet]

The premier league was sugars idea. Along with dyke and the other big 5.

That was it, thanks, told you I'd had a whack on the head.

 

[Lighty64]

West Ham the latest to shit on the plans. Fair play to them.

West Ham 'against Big Picture plans'

West Ham would be against radical plans by Liverpool and Manchester United to reform the English football pyramid, according to a club insider.

www.bbc.co.uk

well that's quite understandable considering the number of times they have only just about survived from being relegated. if West Ham were to be relegated it would hit them big time, and to then not get the parachute would be a massive nail in the coffin.

there has not been any mention of when or how they would decrease the league to 18 (apologies if it has been mentioned) but I'd expect at best it will mean that if it happens the last season of 20 clubs would see 4 going down and only 2 from the championships coming up

 

[Lilbaz]

well that's quite understandable considering the number of times they have only just about survived from being relegated. if West Ham were to be relegated it would hit them big time, and to then not get the parachute would be a massive nail in the coffin.

there has not been any mention of when or how they would decrease the league to 18 (apologies if it has been mentioned) but I'd expect at best it will mean that if it happens the last season of 20 clubs would see 4 going down and only 2 from the championships coming up

They could do it by 3 down 2 up for 2 seasons. Or 2 down 1 up for two seasons. They could do a big playoff with championship teams. Take your pick.

 

[yankspurs]

Wonder if this has anything to do with it.

Redirect Notice

RedBall just appointed Scudamore to there board.

 

[davros]

well that's quite understandable considering the number of times they have only just about survived from being relegated. if West Ham were to be relegated it would hit them big time, and to then not get the parachute would be a massive nail in the coffin.

there has not been any mention of when or how they would decrease the league to 18 (apologies if it has been mentioned) but I'd expect at best it will mean that if it happens the last season of 20 clubs would see 4 going down and only 2 from the championships coming up

How about a giant two year long season with Premier League and Championship teams all in together. The top 18 form the new Premier League, the bottom group are the new Championship, and the bottom 3 are relegated? It obviously wouldn't happen, but it might throw up a few interesting surprises. The mid table battle at the end of the season would be intense.

 

[nailsy]

I hate almost everything about these proposals. The idea that they want to reduce the number of premier League games to make space for more preseason friendlies and a summer tournament shows that this is just about making more money.

Just read the article about this on the Athletic. Pretty much sounds like the big 6 intend on forcing this through by hook or crook. There’s even talk of them resigning from the premier league and rejoining the EFL in order to get their way.

If they resigned from the Premier League they'd no longer be one of the nine longest serving teams though.

 

[popstar7]

there has not been any mention of when or how they would decrease the league to 18 (apologies if it has been mentioned) but I'd expect at best it will mean that if it happens the last season of 20 clubs would see 4 going down and only 2 from the championships coming up

Four clubs relegated and only two going up is the proposal.

Someone in the Telegraph said the right to show (and charge for) eight PL games worldwide exclusively on their own club digital platforms is the driving force behind this for United and Liverpool. How many people worldwide would pay a tenner a game to watch a Man U match they can't see anywhere else? 5 million? 20 million? Who knows? If it's 5m that's 8 x £50m per season.

And that's why United and Liverpool have sprung this not just on the rest of the league but on us, Arsenal, Chelsea and City. No way any fixture those four play will bring in comparable revenue. They want a Real Madrid/Barcelona situation with the next four 'big' clubs giving legitimacy to a league they can't really compete in.

 

[Dov67]

you can obviously question the motives behind these proposals, but not the intellect of those making them (especially & particularly Fenway)

They would have known there would be a huge backlash, and they would have known there is zero incentive for Palace, Burnley, Wolves, Leicester etc etc to vote for these proposals. So what's the play now? How do they get this plan accepted?

Could it be they present something horrible, knowing it will not succeed, and then present a not so bad alternative that does get accepted out of sheer relief.

Just speculating, but wondering what the next move is going to be given the strength of opposition.

 

[floydiohead]

They could do it by 3 down 2 up for 2 seasons. Or 2 down 1 up for two seasons. They could do a big playoff with championship teams. Take your pick.

Maybe they could get all the players from the bottom three in the PL and places 3-6 in the championship and throw them in a ring with some lions, then have music blaring out with fireworks constantly going off, and cheerleaders dancing around the outside. Have adverts playing on a loop on a giant screen above them, and charge £1000 per ticket to attend and £150 pay per view on TV........ Oh, I must have stumbled into one of John Henry's wet dreams.

 

[Tucker]

If they resigned from the Premier League they'd no longer be one of the nine longest serving teams though.

I think the point is that it would gut the heart out of the premier league and they’d then struggle to get the big tv money without the big clubs. They’d then simply apply all these new rules to the efl and wait for the other prem clubs to come crawling back. It’s the nuclear option.

 

[Ickle73]

Maybe they could get all the players from the bottom three in the PL and places 3-6 in the championship and throw them in a ring with some lions, then have music blaring out with fireworks constantly going off, and cheerleaders dancing around the outside. Have adverts playing on a loop on a giant screen above them, and charge £1000 per ticket to attend and £150 pay per view on TV........ Oh, I must have stumbled into one of John Henry's wet dreams.

Meanwhile....somewhere on the Boston skyline

 

[CowInAComa]

Arguably there were things wrong in the game when the premiership was created - crowds were down, stadiums were in poor repair, our league was third rate and the better players wouldn't come here.
And this malaise fed into the national team that was uncompetitive.

Satellite tv was always going to pour money into the game so the problems would have been fixed anyway, but draining resources from the other divisions has made the premiership the no 1 in the world, with crazy transfer fees and salaries.
In this crisis, it seems reasonable for the premiership to help out the other divisions. But that is not what's driving this big project.

Fenway are driving and it seems odd as surely Liverpool are doing very well - big cup, champions and although Klopp looks a little rattled, they surely will finish in the the CL places and are amongst the favourites to collect more silverware. What's their problem?

According to swiss ramble, this success hasn't translated into money to spend and strengthen. Income has been eaten by salaries and bonuses. Fenway are not in this for the glory - this is an investment and they figure if they are not coining it in now, then what's the point. They see the teams at the bottom getting beaten week after week and not contributing very much but collecting £100m for their efforts as they go down, plus parachute payments to come. That's their profits leaking away, as they see it.

That is not an unreasonable view, but the core problem is not those at the bottom but the oil clubs with the wealth of nations. To consistently finish above those clubs you have to spend more money than you'll ever make back.
Spend more money was Benitez's complaint at Liverpool, but the money wasn't there and they effectively went broke trying to keep up.

Correct. Fenway arent interested in Liverpool winning trophies for the glory.

It was all about turning a profit and they want to squeeze as much profit from a successful brand as possible.

I actually prefer oil clubs than American investment clubs. Americans are the biggest ****s in the world and hold nothing sacred except money.

 

[CowInAComa]

Sorry, do you think we have American owners?!

The English National Investment Company aren't American?

 

[stov]

So it sounds like Levy is faced with a choice of being with them or against them, and at the end of the day without the big clubs the premier league is nothing.

This is all very shitty.

a 125m stadium rebate may soothe his conscience

Tottenham and Liverpool eligible for over £150m in rebates

The 'infrastructure funds' section would see Premier League clubs set aside £150m per year from central funds for this purpose. Clubs would then be able to claim money for improvements.

www.dailymail.co.uk