Premier League clubs reject ‘controversial’ overhaul plan
LONDON, Oct 14, (AP): A plan to transform English soccer engineered by Liverpool and Manchester United was rejected by Premier League rivals at a meeting on Wednesday.
Liverpool and United worked with the English Football League on a plan that would have provided more cash for the three professional divisions below the Premier League, but it was denounced by critics as a power grab by the wealthy elite to strengthen their control.
The plan – known as Project Big Picture – was criticized by the government and Premier League leadership ahead of Wednesday’s video call between clubs.
“All 20 Premier League clubs today unanimously agreed that Project Big Picture will not be endorsed or pursued by the Premier League, or the FA,” the Premier League said in a statement. “Further, Premier League Shareholders agreed to work together as a 20club collective on a strategic plan for the future structures and financing of English football, consulting with all stakeholders to ensure a vibrant, competitive and sustainable football pyramid.”
Liverpool and United have said nothing publicly about their role in the radical strategy, leaving EFL chairman Rick Parry to be their public spokesman.
SOCCER
The divisions the plan created were highlighted in the Premier League statement.
“Clubs will work collaboratively, in an open and transparent process, focusing on competition structure, calendar, governance and financial sustainability,” the league said. “This project has the full support of the FA and will include engagement with all relevant stakeholders including fans, government and, of course, the EFL.”
Premier League clubs have agreed to a rescue package for clubs in the third and fourth tiers but not the second-tier Championship.
There is an offer of grants and interest-free loans totaling 50 million pounds ($65 million) for clubs in League One and Two in addition to 27.2 million pounds in solidarity payments already made this year.
“League One and League Two clubs rely more heavily on matchday revenue and have fewer resources at their disposal than Championship or Premier League clubs and are therefore more at risk, especially at a time when fans are excluded from attending matches,” the Premier League said. “Discussions will also continue with the EFL regarding Championship clubs’ financial needs. This addresses Government concerns about lower league clubs’ financial fragility.”
Leading clubs allegedly threatened to quit the Premier League in a bid to push through a transformation of English soccer being engineered by Liverpool and Manchester United that would hand them more power and wealth.
Football Association chairman Greg Clarke disclosed the warning by elite clubs as the reason he walked away from talks earlier this year on “Project Big Picture”, which only become public on Sunday.
The plans – if approved – would pledge to redistribute more Premier League cash to the 72 professional teams in the English Football League. But woven into the proposals is a transformation of the power structures in the Premier League – that is even angering supporters of the elite clubs who would benefit the most. The number of teams would reduce from 20 to 18 from 2022, and the nine longestserving clubs would gain more control – with only six having to approve changes.
The FA could block the overhaul of competition, Clarke said, by using its “Special Share” in the Premier League, which was created in 1992 when it broke away from the EFL.
“In late spring, when the principal aim of these discussions became the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a few clubs with a breakaway league mooted as a threat,” Clarke wrote to members of the FA Council, “I of course, discontinued my involvement and counseled a more consensusbased approach involving all Premier League clubs and its chair and CEO. Our game needs to continually seek to improve but benefits need to be shared.”
The Premier League said the plans formed by Liverpool and United’s American owners with EFL chairman Parry would be damaging for the English game, particularly as it could widen the disparities. Within Project Big Picture are means for clubs to sell their own rights to live matches which would see the most popular clubs generate the most cash.
The elite could use their newfound power to later force through new changes to the structures or distribution of revenue. Even EFL clubs backing the plans have suspicions, including Preston, which won the first two editions of the English championship in 1889 and 1890.
“If I’m absolutely frank, do I trust the (Premier League’s) top six today irrespective of these proposals? No I don’t,” said Peter Ridsdale, the adviser to Preston’s owner, after participating in a call between clubs in the secondtier Championship. “I don’t think some of them believe in the pyramid. I think some of them believe in a franchise system like you see in the United States.”
That would see teams locked into the Premier League without the threat of relegation.
“Is it a concern? 100% it is,” Ridsdale said. “However, today the Football League has got a unique opportunity if this remains on the table to perhaps protect the Football League in the long term, whereas at the moment in the short term there is real danger.”
Ridsdale knows about the Premier League power mechanisms – and financial difficulties – after being chairman of Leeds when it reached the Champions League semifinals in 2001 after spending beyond its means and threatening the club’s survival. Leeds was relegated from the Premier League in 2004 and has only returned this season.