Forest and Newcastle should not be the Big Six’s useful idiots

ACLoSED shop is not looking for trade. And the Big Six are not looking to become seven any time soon either. Certainly not eight.

So, if the word from recent Premier League meetings is to be believed, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest are what are known as useful idiots. It is suggested both are cosying up to the elite cabal, the Super League clubs who not so long ago were looking to stampede over the horizon, destroying the Premier League in the process, and leaving the clubs who remained choking on their dust. Newcastle and Forest have big ambitions and see the six as their natural allies. If this is true, they are even more foolish than they look.

And Forest, certainly, look foolish right now, with their unadorned red shirts, the result of an inflated sense of importance. They had sponsorship offers at £5million, considered reasonable for a newly-promoted club, but felt they could get double. Turns out they were wrong. And while £5m would not have made much of a dent in a summer spending spree that has so far pushed them to the lofty heights of 19th, it would still be better than nothing. Which is what Forest’s shirts look like they are worth right now.

Newcastle are faring better but if they think they are any more welcome in the ranks of the elite than among the disgruntled 14, they are wrong. The likes of Tottenham and Arsenal fear their rise as much as West Ham and Everton, and the only reason Manchester City abstained on rules that appeared to target Newcastle’s ability to raise commercial revenue from Saudi enterprises is they believe it is as much an attack on their links to businesses in Abu Dhabi.

If Newcastle want to know the true nature of the six, ask City, the last members through the door. City are in because, without them, without Pep Guardiola, Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne, the competition would lose some of its allure. Yet just about every regulatory move made by the elite clubs of England and Europe in the last decade has been designed to curb City. And Newcastle are no different. From financial fair play to related party agreements, the rules are to limit access to the upper echelons, not to drop the red rope cordon.

If Newcastle and Forest think these people are their friends, it is only because the six hope they can skew Premier League votes against the rump of 14, making it impossible for the smaller clubs to get anything done.

Divide and conquer, that is their strategy. Remember Project Big Picture, the first attempted Big Six power grab, in league with another useful idiot, Rick Parry of the EFL? As part of the proposal, the votes of the nine longestserving clubs in the Premier League would count for more than the rest. So the Big Six, plus Everton, Southampton and West Ham.

They would all have got ‘ longterm shareholder status’ giving them the power to veto new owners, decide on the chief executive and amend rules and regulations. And what would be needed for these vetoes and changes? A twothirds majority of long- term shareholders. So six. Welcome to Patsyville, Everton, Southampton and West Ham. Population: you.

This is no different. The Big Six do not want new blood. They did not even want six. Left to their own devices, they would only be three. And everyone would be playing in red.