‘THE MORE SMALL PRINT YOU READ, IT’S CLEAR THE PROPOSAL IS LESS BENEFICIAL TO SMALLER CLUBS...’
PROJECT Big Picture could mean less chance of promotion for Stoke City, fewer games if they did go up, an even smaller chance of ‘doing a Leicester’ and even having any takeover deal blocked by Manchester United or Liverpool.
The impact of a revolution led by Manchester United and Liverpool has been laid bare by football finance expert Kieran Maguire, who has been scrutinising the blueprint over the short and long-term.
In brief, the idea is to reduce the Premier League to 18 clubs and give the EFL £250 up front to help navigate the current crisis, as well as 25 per cent of all future net broadcasting revenue received by the top flight.
But power would be consolidated by the Premier League’s nine longest-serving clubs and that is not the only thing causing controversy.
Maguire said: “The immediate thing is that it would be extra cash coming to those clubs which would allow them to pay wage bills over the coming months.
“This £250m is not extra money, it’s a pre-payment of money that would be coming down to them in future years. It’s money that will be deducted, eventually, from this increased or enhanced TV deal.
“The more small print that you read, the less beneficial it is for smaller clubs.
“Although the claim is that it will benefit the whole pyramid, two clubs would be kicked out of the EFL and into the National League - that’s affecting clubs in League Two.
“It will be more difficult for Stoke City to be promoted to the Premier League because there will be fewer opportunities. The number of play-off places will
drop from four to three and clubs in the Championship will be competing against clubs in the Premier League, which will make it very tough.
“Also in terms of the TV money, the TV money of the Premier League is going to decrease. The reason for this is that the Premier League clubs will be able to sell their own rights for up to eight matches a season to international broadcasters.
“Presently, the Premier League deal generates about £1.5bn and EFL clubs get a share of
that. Money that is generated by clubs individually would not be available to EFL clubs. They would get 25 per cent of a much smaller pie.”
The project would have a major impact on Stoke’s ambitions or dreams - even if that is not necessarily the same as from a pragmatic viewpoint.
Maguire told Radio Stoke: “It wouldn’t actually change things very much for clubs in League One and League Two. They would still be 24-club divisions with the same promotion and relegation..
“It’s slightly more complicated in the Championship and the big changes would be in the Premier League itself as we are likely to see an expanded Champions League.
“If Stoke City got promoted to the Premier League, they would only have 34 matches instead of 38 while a club like Liverpool could have up to 19 Champions League games.
“There would be no opportunity for Stoke to ever hope to do a Leicester because the financial disadvantage would be huge.
“If somebody came in and tried to buy Stoke, that wouldn’t be decided by the owners of Stoke. It would be decided by the owners of Liverpool and Manchester United.
“The reason for this is what they fear, the big clubs, is another competitor at the top of the Premier League. They don’t want another Manchester City, they don’t want another Chelsea. They would have the power of veto.
“Those clubs might also decide in due course that they are going to change relegation and make it two up, two down or even one up or one down.
“One final thing is that they might decide to play some matches overseas because those would be more lucrative. We have seen the NFL come to London. Could the Premier League go to New York or Beijing because it raises more money?”
The question now being asked is how likely the idea is to come to fruition.
“What we will potentially see is lots of offers made,” said Maguire. “We have seen the offers of a gift of £100m to the Football Association, which effectively has the power of veto with a golden share which has never been used to date.
“Manchester United and Liverpool describe this is a gift. Other people might describe it
in slightly more cutting terms. One of the potential proposals is that it has been suggested by somebody senior that Manchester United and Liverpool resign from the Premier League and join the EFL instead as a means to try to force this deal.
“It makes the House of Cards look like a vicar’s tea party in all its Machiavellian ways.”
He added: “I think Manchester United and Liverpool are desperate to press this through. It would double their revenues.
“They are currently earning around about £500m to £600m each year.
“This could be a real game changer for them and make
their owners who are already billionaires, very wealthy indeed.”
Malcolm Clarke, the Stokesupporting chairman of the Football Supporters’ Association, made his own stance clear.
He said: “If the motivation is to solve the immediate crisis, we say, ‘Get on with it, give them the money!’ They need it, there’s no doubt about that.
“But it’s a cynical exploitation of the crisis to introduce a whole lot of other changes which would drastically alter English football and in particular give huge amounts of power to nine clubs in the Premier League.
“That’s not a good thing, to put it mildly.”