Breakway clubs?

I don't think if this continues that anyone will be able to match the super powers that will be English Premiership clubs, I don't even think it matters now what EPL club it is, I think they will just be bought and taken over by super rich guys from the middle east.

I think this is the beginning of the end for football as we know it, I just can't see how other clubs or countries can compete with the way things are going in England at the moment, the money is obscene and the wages and transfer fees distinctively average players cost and earn practically kills it for most other clubs.

I can see a deal being formed where the rest of the English clubs outside of the Premiership simply resign from the English Football Association and form there own version of there Premiership, basically what they have got just now but with a simpler out-look and a more realistic hope for success, I don't know how this would impact the European scene though, obviously they couldn't just let championship clubs into Europe however if this breakaway does happen and Fifa and Uefa recognise it then it could be a possibility!

I see it happening but in a completely different way. Soon almost all(if not all) will be owned by rich foreign people and they will vote to stop relegation, its already being talked about.

Lets not forget the premiership IS a breakaway league in itself, they do have the power to block promotion/relegation if they wish too.

Is that right? Can they block relegation????????? I would have thought Fifa or Uefa would have had final say in that

Yeah, there was a debate on 606(radio program) with David Davis, Brian Barwick and some other bums just before the European championships and the promotion/relegation thing was brought up by a journalist and Barwick admitted that if the clubs wanted to they could vote to block it, even though the FA would be against it, in the end they couldn't stop it.

It was news to me, and I'm sure they would face major opposition, but technically they can do it, which I find shocking and would kill the game as we know it.

I think if they did do this or tried to do it Uefa would step in and threaten European expulsion, It's not feesable IMO to have a fair competition without fair chance to progress

Apparently Uefa couldn't do jack shit about it because it would need a certin amount of votes to block it from the European club committee, but when you become a member of the prem, you also become a member of the club committee.

I honestly can't remember all the details of how/or why, but when Barwick says there would be nothing to stop them, then there really would be nothing to stop them.

Bit like the 39Th game.

It wouldn't work anyway IMO, because there would be no incentive of fans of the smaller clubs to watch there teams.

I think what we may see is Franchise Teams in the Prem with relegation/promotion blocked.

Similar to the NFL where you have to be voted as a team. Look at rugby thats how I think the Prem will be.

who would decide who the top 20 clubs were, thats what i want to see. Forrest told they are in but leeds arent

Well would the top 20 not just be the clubs in the EPL at the current time?????????

Or would it be the 20(22) ORIGINAL members of the English Premier League

Well I aint to sure but the way they did it in Rugby was that all who wanted in applied and they were judged

on

Fanbase
Ground
Marketing potential
How many teams in one location

So using this we may see Forest, Leeds etc but maybe not some of the teams currently in the Prem ie Fulham

Like Fulham, Wigan, Bolton and Hull????????????

That would be death for football, while none of these clubs excite me they have played the system and deserve to be where they are

I totally agree if this type of thing comes in I will join the lower league fan club.

Fifa and UEFA would surlely have something to say about it but with the majority of the major money makers in the world in England I think once again money may well talk

UEFA couldn't do shit and neither could Fifa.

I'm gonna see if I can hunt down the podcast of that debate on 606.

If you could mate that would be good I will have a look too

Ok can't find the podcast, I think you have to subscribe or some other crap, but I did find this interview with the man city executive chairman from only 11days ago talking about it in the Times.

To those who despair at the growing commercialisation of English football, embodied by the Premier League's plan to introduce an “international round”, Garry Cook, the Manchester City executive chairman, has a blunt and rather terrifying message.
He believes that the league remains too parochial in outlook and that the future lies in a “central entity” of perhaps 14 elite clubs - with no promotion, no relegation and bundles upon bundles of cash for those involved.
“We are starting to segment the league now,” Cook said of the present landscape in the Premier League.




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“We're getting into a situation where there are maybe ten clubs. Do Saudi Arabians want to buy - and no disrespect to these clubs - Stoke City or Derby County? Or do they want to buy Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Manchester United, Manchester City?”
Cook was asked whether this meant that he would advocate a breakaway league of, for example, 14 clubs. “Yes,” he said. “And I wouldn't have promotion and relegation. That's what central entity is, like the NFL in American football. Once you get central entity, you basically share the wealth.”
It was put to Cook that a “closed shop” would minimise the excitement for supporters and lessen the appeal for sponsors. “I don't believe it would be the case,” he said. “You would create that excitement in another way, wouldn't you? I agree that there's an emotion around those relegation and promotion issues, but when we first had the Uefa Cup and the League Cup and the Champions League, people wondered what would happen there.
“The sport will change and the fans will find a way to get passionate about a piece of it. I think they do that because they're committed to their football club and they're committed to their sport. The dynamics and the mechanism by which they can get their kicks can change.
“I'm not dispelling the model we have. I'm just saying that, if you want to keep this within the islands of the United Kingdom and make sure it attracts everybody's attention for the right reasons and the reasons we've had the history and heritage for, heck, let's keep going. I don't mind.
“If you want to become a multi-multibillion-pound empire, you may have to look at changing the model.
“You look at Manchester City's brand and it looks like it's Thomas Cook . And there's something not right about sitting in a bar in Bangkok or Beijing and seeing a match here and seeing Fred Smith's Plumbing. Call 0161.' You have to think on a global stage.
“I talk to Richard Scudamore about this all the time: ‘Are we maximising the central entity of the Premier League?' And he rolls his eyes and says: ‘If only, if only we could, if only we would.' But these opportunities are massive. Even Manchester United haven't scratched the surface yet and, if anyone has got a head start, it's them.”



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I'm thinking the thing holding them back is the backlash from fans.

Bazz how would you feel about that being a staunch United fan?

Tell you what if this does happpen I am certain Rangers and Celtic will come in as well because there invest possibilties would be huge

the-gaffer wrote:

Bazz how would you feel about that being a staunch United fan?

Against it 100%, It goes against the very soul of the game.

Agreed!

CruiserJim wrote:

Tell you what if this does happpen I am certain Rangers and Celtic will come in as well because there invest possibilties would be huge

Yea I thought that too, would be against it completely

Same here i sense this should be under another thread

But I just do not think either of them should go south because it would take away massivly from the SPL which apart from the top 2 is not great any way

With the Glasgow boys the SPL would be no better than ssay the Welsh league

Plus it would give Fifa even more ammo to complain about us having independent national teams.

I don't want to leave the SPL either, as crap as it is, more so in attendance than anything else, at least there is some kind of real feel about it, for now anyway, if Celtic got the chance to go to England I have no doubt that within weeks we would be subject to some takeover from some random billionaire

While I cant say that would be a bad thing with certain world class players obviously appearing for the club I just get the feeling that all this can't last forever, guys will get board with there toys sooner or later.

Its real life football manager, and if anyone's played it they will know you get bored with that after so many seasons, although back in the old champ-man 01/02 season I did 23 seasons before it crashed, ahhhhhhh for good old broken legs ehhhh

Ahh Champ manager was awsome, 23 season is a bit special!

I got up to 15 seasons before we got a new PC!