Move might take away people’s dreams – Joey
League on the whole has improved the well-being of the pyramid.
“It’s allowed a lot more money to cascade down the pyramid and help keep probably a lot of smaller community-based clubs alive. And I think we could do it a lot better, so that we do have a healthier ecosystem. I think this move by the six in our country and the six from Italy and Spain is very worrying for the pyramid as we know it in England.”
The Premier League, FA and UEFA have responded furiously to the proposals, threatening the harshest of sanctions against the clubs involved. But the consensus from the powerhouses is they will persevere.
Barton, who played more than 150 games for Manchester City, believes the ecosystem could survive if some of the clubs involved broke away entirely, but admits Manchester United and Liverpool’s worldwide interest is vital to the EFL’s health.
He continued: “Could we carry on with our football pyramid without Tottenham? Probably, in my lifetime they haven’t been very successful.
“Chelsea? I remember Chelsea being crap when I was a kid. No disrespect to them, but they weren’t Chelsea as they are now.
“Manchester City when I was there were not what they are now. They were in the third tier when I was first at Man City, winning the play-off final against Gillingham.
“Liverpool and Manchester United have sat at the top tier of English football for a long period, and if you take Liverpool and Man United out of the football pyramid it would be affected, but the other four clubs, even Arsenal, if you take Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City and Tottenham out of it, that wouldn’t really faze me.
“I think Liverpool and Man United leaving is a huge factor. They are the big global clubs that people come and look for. It’s sad, it’s really, really sad, but hopefully there’s enough opposition to it from the fans. It looks like there’s going to be uproar and if enough people are against it and enough people don’t support it, we might have a salvation.”
The 38-year-old believes that the creation of a closed shop at the top of the game could “take away people’s dreams”.
“You look at Leicester and West Ham, who are having fantastic seasons and not being used to playing in Europe’s biggest cup competition,” he continued. “To have that opportunity taken away from a team and for the domestic programme to play second fiddle to this Super League is strange.
“I think they will lose money long term, because people will just get bored of watching the top teams all playing each other.
“Maybe this is just a power move in the midst of a pandemic, a chess move to get more of the TV share. I don’t know, and I’ve got to really focus on us being second-bottom of division three and a lot of people will rightly say “What has it got to do with you? You focus on your team”.
“I’m a concerned football fan first and foremost because I want my kids to have the same passion for football that I had and I would love to see other generations of kids be allowed to follow their dreams in the way I was. This is a move that might take away some people’s dreams.”