Euro weekends are just a plot to pick our pockets

ONE of the brainstorming ideas to revamp the Champions League includes playing matches at weekends. Of course it does. The super-elite of Europe have destroyed their own domestic competitions, turning them into moribund monopolies, so broadcast revenue is tumbling. If they can move European football to the end of the week, they can tap into the pool enjoyed by the Premier League, the one European domestic competition that sells globally. They fill their pockets, by draining those of the English clubs. The same thing happened when the division of Champions League revenue was addressed. The bottom team in the Premier League gets more than the champions of France. But so they should. West Ham 4 Huddersfield 3 was more interesting than anything that has occurred this season at Paris Saint-Germain, with the club leading Ligue 1 by 20 points. Juventus are 15 points ahead in Italy, despite a first defeat, Barcelona lead La Liga by 10. And while the top two are level on points in Germany, if Bayern Munich hang on, as seems

likely, it will be their seventh consecutive title. Juventus will land their eighth on the spin, PSG their sixth in seven. Even in La Liga, which is considered more open than most, Barcelona are heading for an eighth title in 11 seasons. These greedy clubs have made their domestic competitions dull and now want UEFA, and the Premier League, to oblige so they can carve out even more for themselves. They should be rejected in no uncertain terms. If they want to make their football interesting again, they take less, not more. SURELY there is a very simple solution for the European clubs opposed to FIFA’s 24-team Club World Cup idea. Don’t sign up, don’t go. Without Europe, the competition is nothing.