CLARKE MIGHT BE FORGIVEN... PARRY WON’T

GREG CLARKE, chairman of the Football Association, told the Premier League meeting on Wednesday that Rick Parry was the most dangerous man in football. It didn’t take long for evidence to emerge. Yesterday, Parry’s EFL released one of the many versions of Project Big Picture, a discussion document it implies Clarke authored. It mentions the creation of a Premier League 2, with top tiers of 18 clubs each, and the rest of the leagues below combined with the three National Leagues to comprise five divisions, a catchment of all lower-tier clubs from Sunderland to Farsley Celtic. There would be no League Cup and no FA Cup replays, and the possibility of Premier League B teams in the competitions below. It was plainly released to embarrass Clarke (right), just as the project’s unveiling — supported by Parry — blindsided the Premier League clubs. Clarke has so far escaped criticism by shamelessly reinventing himself as the Premier League’s biggest fan, while admitting participating in meetings that went behind the backs of all but two of its members. Parry’s people, meanwhile, are trying to paint the swift demise of his big idea as a victory, because the EFL have a seat at the table in the strategic discussions about football’s financial future. Two points here. The first is that this does not necessarily give the EFL a position in the Premier League’s review, more the general one that is taking place throughout the game; secondly, that even if there was a movement towards greater cooperation, there exists a majority of Premier League clubs who feel very strongly that Parry’s backside should not be anywhere near that seat. He treated them as the monkeys and two clubs as organ grinders. Clarke may just about be forgiven, but Parry won’t.