Demitri_C Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 My opinion is they should spread the 300m parachute payments. Spread two of the parachute payments between three relegated teams and give one set of parachute payments between the EFL. Then the remaining PL clubs gives 10% of their league winning position money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post John Posted October 13, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted October 13, 2020 A couple of very good reports on this power grab from The Times today by Henry Winter and Matt Dickinson below: Joel Glazer, I saw you. I saw your contempt for English fans. I was there outside the main entrance at JJB Stadium in Wigan on May 11, 2008. I was chatting to Manchester United supporters an hour and 20 minutes before kick-off, genuine football people whose life revolves around this great club you’re privileged to own, proper football souls who care for the greatest game as well as their beloved club. And you swept past, smiling smugly. Yes, Joel, I saw you, you ambitious ruler of the English game. I saw your bouncers pushing United fans out of the way, your fans. I saw your look, your sense of self-entitlement. I saw how out of touch you were with English football, the passion, the flaws, the glory, and you still are. As now, I saw then that you don’t understand the responsibility of being guardian of Manchester United, the absolute honour, and the opportunity for leadership for club and sport. You’re not fit to spend a second in the distinguished company of Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Bobby Charlton, legends who have given so selflessly to club and sport. We know your game, Joel. Your game is simple, fistfuls of dollars. Fair enough. Money’s your business, turning sport into business, into dollars. Sadly, you don’t have any emotional connection with United. Your game is the Bucs and the bucks. But hear this: we don’t want Joel Glazer running English football. Fans, government, clubs don’t want the representative of a family who have taken almost £1 billion out of Manchester United deciding who is a fitting owner of another club, deciding how much other clubs should receive in broadcast money, restricting opportunity for those wanting to challenge him and his Gang of Six in this disgraceful, doomed “Project Big Picture”. Welcome to English football: behind closed shops? No chance. We’ll fight the cabal. We don’t want Joel Glazer, or John W Henry at Liverpool, deciding that two places are to be cut permanently from the vibrant, competitive Premier League, that two places are to be cut permanently from the historic, passionately supported EFL? Who are the leaders? Not you. “The fact that our two greatest clubs are showing leadership at a time when the game is crying out for it is fantastic,” Rick Parry, chairman of the EFL, told the Daily Telegraph. Parry’s right, the game is crying out for leadership, but not the type of commercial opportunism masked as altruism from Glazer and Henry. Where have all the real footballing leaders gone? The men and women who thought of the interests of their sport first, themselves second? The people not seduced by the power, the inflating of their egos and, occasionally, bank balances? Where are those like David Dein and David Sheepshanks? Owners and administrators who cared. Richard Scudamore kept the 20 Premier League owners in a line, which Richard Masters has failed to. Adam Crozier was a leader of the FA, too strong for the internal politics, but an undeniable leader. Ian Watmore walked away from the FA, exasperated by the agendas. English football is too riven with self-interest. Gordon Taylor at the PFA loves the game, genuinely, but fails to lead properly, sadly. So a message to Glazer and Henry as you try to seize leadership of English football. Some humility, please, some respect for this great game, for this footballing country that nursed into life and codified this wonderful pastime that already provides you with such profits. Please, some acknowledgment that fortunes, footballing and financial, fluctuate. Special status? How entitled you are. Know your history. Big six? Leicester and Leeds have won the title since Spurs have. Villa have won the European Cup more than City, Arsenal and Spurs. This is not to decry any of those magnificent clubs, simply to apply the big picture. So, Joel and John, you don’t offer the leadership English football craves, the sense of financial probity and community. They do exist within football. I’d trust Mark and Nicola Palios at Tranmere Rovers and Steve Lansdown at Bristol City to lead the EFL better than Parry. Port Vale’s Carol Shanahan would represent and work better for the EFL than Parry; she cares for her club and community, and runs a hugely successful business. I’d trust Matthew Benham at Brentford to do a better job with the maths than Parry, who is trying to sell football’s soul for £3.5 million a club. I’d trust Tony Bloom at Brighton to get the figures right without wronging anybody. I’d trust Clive Nates at Lincoln City, Andy Holt at Accrington Stanley and Simon Sadler at Blackpool to be more in tune with balance sheets and fans’ concerns than Parry. I’d trust Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, Leicester’s owner, and his principled chief executive, Susan Whelan, to run the Premier League with more savvy and empathy than Glazer and Henry. I’d trust Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens at Villa more than Glazer and Henry; they understand dreams, studious investment, striving to challenge the elite, pushing against the door that Glazer and Henry want to close. I’d trust Andrea Radrizzani at Leeds to do a better job on broadcast rights than Glazer and Henry, sharing the riches around, appreciating the importance of competition. I’d trust Steve Parish at Crystal Palace to do the right thing when it counted, to think of the greater good. I’d trust Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones as proper stewards of the national game than Parry. They’re not into Norwich City for the possibility of profit; just the opposite, it has cost them. And how the EFL misses a smart mind and big heart like Dean Hoyle, who has stood down at Huddersfield Town. Now there’s a man with a moral compass. His sons worked in the club shop, he broke down with emotion when his beloved Town were promoted at Wembley, and was so concerned about local childhood poverty that he established breakfast clubs to feed the needy. So Parry is right: English football does need a reset, but not dictated by those whose start, middle and end is the bottom line. Not Glazer and Henry. English football needs leaders who care for all, but also possess the financial expertise to make the sport a viable business. For years, it has been tottering towards the “cliff-edge” as Parry calls it, and is now teetering. Proper leaders, those with a real big picture, would have reined in the ludicrous wages, making them more performance-related. Proper leaders would have confronted the unconscionable, extravagant, multi-layered system of paying agents. This is not a plea to retreat down memory lane, finding sanctuary in the iron-fist Fifties leadership of Alan Hardaker, the Football League secretary who protected convoys on brave Royal Navy duty during the War, who played for Hull, who fought for his sport. It is about tapping into the intellectual property that exists in football, in the minds of Shanahan, Whelan, and the cerebral Palios couple, and working as a collective to sort English football’s myriad ills, to bring the real leadership, not the greed of a Joel Glazer. We know what you’re doing, Joel. ...................... It is 59 years since Tottenham Hotspur won the English league title, only four years since Leicester City pulled off one of the most sensational and inspiring achievements in all of sport. One club is invited by John W Henry to join him in carving up English football — deciding on the rules, vetoing owners if they so choose, shovelling more cash to the wealthiest — while the other is treated with contempt. “We don’t want too many Leicester Citys,” an anonymous football executive told The Independent a little while ago. Project Big Picture is the bare-faced embodiment of that jaw-dropping quote. Never mind the “big six” — Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham — Leicester would not even qualify as one of three patsies invited to sit with the big boys while they reshape the game. Everton, Southampton and West Ham United are the lucky three offered Special Voting Rights on time served in the top flight (though they could be out-voted by a two-thirds majority, ie the “big six”, so are basically there just to get the coffees in). Crystal Palace would be next. Leicester have to wait in line like obedient servants. Those who think this proposal is a financial lifeline for EFL clubs that must be grabbed in desperation need to pause — it should only take a second — and understand why these demands are simply non-negotiable. It is not only that Henry and his ilk do not want too many Leicester miracles, and want to make it as hard as possible for another as they seek to protect their cartel. Does Henry even see the point of clubs like Leicester? There was a profile piece about the Liverpool owner yesterday, by a journalist who has dealt with him, which explained how Project Big Picture had started to form in Henry’s mind as far back as 2012, when he fully realised the wealth-sharing system of the Premier League. This went against all his capitalist instincts. In Henry’s mind, apparently, it was hard to see the point of the likes of, say, Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City and half a dozen other clubs who came and went from the top flight, yo-yoing up and down, scrapping against the odds, taking cash even in the Championship. For an American, the division was stacked with minor league clubs playing in the majors. And, worst of all, these schmucks got money that could be Liverpool’s by rights given their heritage and popularity in Asia. Ian Ayre, the former Liverpool chief executive, once clumsily picked on Bolton Wanderers to articulate how these apparently piddling clubs — a founder member of the oldest league in the world, 73 years in the top division, four-times winners of the FA Cup — were such an unattractive proposition for overseas viewers that Liverpool should be able to carve off all their own rights and leave the underclass behind. His master’s voice, Ayre will have been less surprised than anyone that Henry has now put his master plan down in writing. Liverpool, in particular, have been chipping away at the collective foundations of English football for years. A pandemic, with the game at its most vulnerable, has provided the opportunity to launch a hostile takeover. That is bad enough but we have to endure the disingenuousness of Rick Parry claiming that the owners of Liverpool and Manchester United care for the pyramid. There is one simple way to prove it — a rescue package without so many strings attached that it wraps the whole game in their red tape. Henry’s background in American sport, and a land of closed leagues, is bound to inform his desire for a protected cartel but it is not just the stateside executives who want to enshrine the “big six” in perpetuity. A frequent complaint from Premier League chairmen and senior executives is the way that Ferran Soriano, the chief executive of Manchester City, makes clubs outside the “big six” feel like an inconvenience. Playing Aston Villa or Crystal Palace is a chore when Soriano, with his grand vision, thinks City should be facing Barcelona and Real Madrid far more often. The point of the lower leagues for him is so that City can have a B-team. For all the sweeteners being thrown at the EFL clubs, are these seriously the people who are going to be given unprecedented powers in English football? Allowed to change the game for ever? Their agenda is clear; unequal distribution to increasingly favour the richest clubs; many more games in Europe; no pesky League Cup; games carved off from the main broadcast deal so the biggest can cash in around the world; more money-spinning pre-season tournaments. And those are only the changes they admit to, the thin end of the wedge. How many more steps to a Super League? Of course none of this opposition is much comfort to those EFL clubs losing money. But given the wealth in the game — more than £1 billion spent by Premier League clubs in the transfer window just gone — is it any wonder that government despairs of football’s inability to muddle through the financial challenges of Covid-19 without tearing itself apart? Perhaps Henry and Parry, the former Liverpool chief executive, have been smart enough to draw up a Plan B which has most of the good parts of the deal without the demands that would disfigure the game permanently. They have less than 48 hours to come up with an alternative before the top-flight clubs are due to gather. It would be nice to think that Henry might be at that meeting, to look Leicester, Palace and the rest of the clubs he has treated with such disdain, in the eye — or does Parry have to do all his dirty work, the convenient fall guy? 12 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meregreen Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Says it all. I could weep for the game. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 I wish they stop saying this is a premier league proposal. It is a power grab by Man U and Liverpool aided by former Liverpool CEO Rick bloody Parry. I have not seen any other Premier League come out and support this utter garbage proposal. It won't get voted through, certainly in this make up. I suspect it will get kicked down the road, but the Premier League giving a one off solidarity payment to the efl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAZZAM Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 I think the 14 clubs outside 'The big six' should implement there own initiative. Operation Bigger picture: A cap on Transfer spend -max 150 mill Wage cap - TBD Anything else which negates the extra income from being big plastic clubs. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jareth Posted October 13, 2020 Author Share Posted October 13, 2020 Would be interested to hear our club's take on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted October 13, 2020 Moderator Share Posted October 13, 2020 39 minutes ago, Jareth said: Would be interested to hear our club's take on this. A lot of people would - there are a few clubs who are notably very silent. I'd hope that's because they're preparing a collective response, but I'm not keen on the quiet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommo_b Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 What I don’t understand is why are West Ham and Southampton deemed worthy to join this stupid group? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rightdm00 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said: A lot of people would - there are a few clubs who are notably very silent. I'd hope that's because they're preparing a collective response, but I'm not keen on the quiet. I think they are currently in negotiation with the Big 6. Liverpool and ManU going public and getting EFL support was a way to force the Other 14 to the negotiation table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcdedi Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 I find it utterly disgraceful. The sick thing is that they are using the EFL £250m ‘bailout’ as a cover for their blatant power grab. It’s clever in that the big 6 support, along with all the EFL and will get some positive reaction due to the ‘bailout’, however for many proper football clubs like ourselves it is trying to push us down and keep all the power for themselves. It is terrible for the future of the English game and I pray that this gets batted away as it rightly should. Also the ‘super-squad’ proposal where they can have 15 players out on loan us just utterly vile... it’s probably the worst part of the suggestion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted October 13, 2020 Moderator Share Posted October 13, 2020 The supporters trust has written an open letter to Christian Purslow asking him to do everything in his power to make sure this doesn't go through. It'll be interesting to see if that elicits a public response from the club. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerCollins29 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 1 hour ago, Tommo_b said: What I don’t understand is why are West Ham and Southampton deemed worthy to join this stupid group? What happens if either get relegated this year, does the power switch zgain? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 2 minutes ago, GingerCollins29 said: What happens if either get relegated this year, does the power switch zgain? yeah it goes to the next team then who I think is Palace, we are about 16th on the food chain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerCollins29 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 1 minute ago, Zatman said: yeah it goes to the next team then who I think is Palace, we are about 16th on the food chain If villa were one of the 9 clubs, do you think villa fans would be more for it? I think purslow would Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 5 minutes ago, GingerCollins29 said: If villa were one of the 9 clubs, do you think villa fans would be more for it? I think purslow would I think Purslow definitely would be keen but I dont think Edens would if honest. Part of me thinks thats not his style Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Lichfield Dean Posted October 13, 2020 VT Supporter Popular Post Share Posted October 13, 2020 29 minutes ago, GingerCollins29 said: If villa were one of the 9 clubs, do you think villa fans would be more for it? I think purslow would I would seriously hope not. It is the antithesis of everything William McGregor set up: "McGregor envisaged the League as a friendly union, within which clubs would share ticket revenues and work together in their mutual best interests" 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rightdm00 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Seriously, the Other 14 have a simple question that still hasn't been answered. What's in it for us? Why would any club outside the Big 6 vote for this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaJ100 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 1 hour ago, Rightdm00 said: Seriously, the Other 14 have a simple question that still hasn't been answered. What's in it for us? Why would any club outside the Big 6 vote for this. You get the privilege of sharing a league with these titans of world sport so your pathetic teams fans get a glimpse of a big club. Henry & glazers should be thrown out for bringing the game into disrepute 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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