Beware Big 6 Power Grab - Operation Big Picture

Beware the Emperors Clothes.
A proposal that looks benevolent to all clubs in the pyramid is nothing more than a long term power grab where the top clubs get total control and most of the money long term.
They don’t care about the small clubs. Their owners are hard nosed businessmen.

Premier League: Radical reform plans could have 'damaging impact'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54499998

 

It’s a ridiculous proposal to buy a huge long term competitive advantage.

“As well as the 'big six', ever-present league member Everton, West Ham United and Southampton - ninth and 11th respectively in the list of clubs who have featured in the most Premier League seasons - would be granted special status.”

This is the most blatant bribe of all. Essentially offering enough clubs to pass the motion free passes from relegation if they support the big teams bids to take over English football and control television broadcast allocation.

I do agree with scrapping the league cup however.

 

Reminds me of the situation with BA/IAG at the moment. A seemingly cataclysmic event for the airline industry is actually a fantastic opportunity for them to make all their staff redundant and rehire them on hugely inferior contracts. They’d never be able to do it normally as the strikes would cripple them.

This is the same situation, the big clubs taking advantage of a bad situation to make things even better for themselves. Here is £250m in exchange for your soul.

 

A very troubling yet inevitable development. The power hungry rich boys are looking to raise the drawbridge and exclude the masses, throwing a few scraps to appease them.

 

And THAT, in a few words, brilliantly sums up the whole evil intent of this proposed scheme.
And a cheap £100m for the soul of the FA.

 

And the chairman of the EFL supports the idea - the muppet.

 

Yep he’s clearly shown he is not fit for office by supporting this.

 

So using the covid crisis to bribe EFL clubs that are struggling to stay afloat to vote for it, scum.

Abolishing the League Cup is a no from me and as for abolishing the Community Shield where I think a charity benefits from the game is just disgusting.

 

He might as well be a Liverpool fan.

Oh, he is.

 

Meet the devil at the crossroads.

 

He was also involved in setting up the PL in the first place, so clearly has no regard for the clubs in the EFL. I obviously wasn't paying attention when he was appointed as was to busy being distracted by the bright lights as a member of the elite!

 

I don’t disagree with the concept completely and I think there are some aspects on the proposal I agree with such as the 25% annual revenue going to the EFL.

I’ve never liked parachute payments either as I think this is the main cause of debt with promoted and relegated clubs by overspending knowing money will come in regardless of relegation.

The main concern is that this is leading to one outcome and one outcome only... a shared revenue between the so-called power clubs and no money for others such as what is happening in La Liga and Serie A. The rich get rich with a tiny risk of ever being relegated whilst other teams fight for scraps.

I know the premier league is the top of pyramid so to speak but I’d love for be EFL to grow a pair and seek their own move such as pulling away and leaving the Premier League cold and alone. The EFL may have less financial pull for now but without the EFL the premier league will die not the other way around.

 

Not sure I get that - wouldn’t that make things worse? A complete closed shop. I don’t see why the PL would die unless, perhaps, you are suggesting precluding transfers from EFL to PL?

 

I’m not sure the bit about parachute payments is entirely true, everyone knows what they are in advance and even the first one is a dramatic drop off from premier league money. We’ve seen for ourselves, you have no choice but to cut costs even with the parachute payments.

Without them how would a team like us approach being promoted? Would we have no choice but to approach the season like Norwich always do and not spend anything for fear of being relegated and having nothing to fall back on. Or would we or other teams still gamble and try to stay up but be left in absolute peril if we do get relegated, which of course with 18 teams will be more likely?

It does of course depend how the 25% is distributed, but I highly doubt it will be worth the £50m the first parachute payment is, of course it couldn’t be as thats half the money a PL team get anyway, so 25% of revenue divided by all FL teams will be significantly lower.

Edit: how would we approach signing players? Would they accept relegation clauses which we’d absolutely need but would struggle to get players to accept.

 

Yup. Exactly.

Parachute payments basically exist because 25 years ago the PL clubs realised the gap was already so wide that a club coming up couldn't compete if it didn't have a guarantee of more than one year's money. And, ultimately, it damages the PL product if too many clubs come up, act the whipping boys for 38 games and then fark off again. Funnily enough that's no longer a concern and so the drum beat against parachute payments has started. The PL brand is established and clubs in the big 6 basically live in their own universe apart from everyone else now - they're no longer dependent on how competitive the league is for their income. In fact, in their view, the less competitive it is the better. Norwich were actually idea for them last season. Came up, played pretty but ineffective football, offered a guaranteed 4 or 6pts, accepted their fate pretty early and showcased some young players the established clubs could then hoover up after relegation. Win win win.

As for the 25% of 'net media revenue' - however that ends up being defined - I imagine it's potentially more than the PL currently spends on parachute payments. But as I said on the other thread, it's obvious even to a simpleton that it'll stay at 25% for a couple of years and then the big 6 will announce they're very unhappy with the how their money is being 'wasted' by EFL clubs and announce 'with regret' they've decided to cut it to 10%.

 

The EFL payments would be set as 25% of the Premier League television income. The danger is that the 'Big Six' clubs will vote to set up their own individual overseas streaming deals rather than a group television deal and that - as a result - the Premier League television income will be much less. I suspect that the distribution of income within the Premier League will also be skewed in favour of the 'Big Six' clubs because they will be able to vote to change the rules.

Does anyone really expect the Fenway Sports Group and the Glazers to act in the best interests of all the football clubs? They appear to be trying to take advantage of the financial crisis for EFL clubs created by the Covid-19 pandemic. One well-placed Premier League source has described it as a "takeover attempt, rather than a rescue package".

 

Love the way that the EFL would have a strict salary cap under the new terms.

Not the PL though. Nope. They don't need one.

Also, the 'big w*nky 6' would have full control over ownership decisions in the PL. So, basically, any club they don't want to be owned by billionaires, won't be.

 

And surprise surprise, the majority of EFL teams back the plan.

A little like FIFA giving World Cup money to small island nations who will never ever qualify for it, offer the League 1 and League 2 teams £10m for nothing, they'll cup their hands and bend over as much as you want.

 

And even if they included the money made from subscriptions (which I doubt they would), offering a Netflix style subscription model to watch every match would still benefit the big clubs more than 25%.

 

This self labelled 'big 6' tosh is awful and has been for many years. Newcastle and Villa have more PL seasons to their name than Man City yet aren't considered in the big 6, but now they are trying to close the door.

If the league cup is such an issue then why not allow the 'big '6 to stay out of it? It would make it a more meaningful competition for other clubs as they would have a chance of winning it, and means less games for the delicate little squads the big 6 have.

Football in this country is in a horrendous state at the moment, this move isn't going to help that. The Premier League for many years has been an overhyped snooze fest unless you see it as a TV show.

 

I just posted an article from The Athletic this morning on the subject in the usual place if anyone is interested.

 

Where did you read that?

 

I'd probably give up on football if this went through.

 

The big clubs are terrified of becoming the next AC Milan. A huge club, that was managed awfully and slipped to mid-table mediocrity. Clubs like United know that could be them and are desperate to rig the system so it's not possible. So depressing.

 

Adam Crafton of The Athletic.

 

From what you read, these talks began in 2017 as a response to Leicester winning the title. The 'big 6' were not prepared to let it happen again. Especially with the likes of Arsenal and United frequently not qualifying for the CL.

Let's be honest, for all the rights and wrongs of the Newcastle takeover saga, it wasn't rejected because of the alleged crimes of the potential owner, it was the likelihood that the overwhelming wealth would put Newcastle in an unassailable position in the PL.

 

Rick Parry on talksport now. Absolute bell end.

Jordan Vs Parry

 

In way I do get Rick Parry’s stance in the sense that if you’re looking at the EFL as a stand-alone entity then this will make them better off.

In return however, the trade off is any dreams of becoming a bigger club and getting into and staying in the premier league will be vastly diminished.

 

why would you agree with scrapping one of the ways we could win the first cup in our history? Absolutely baffling.

 

The biggest thing for me is potentially taking away a promotion slot by dropping 17th into the championshop playoffs.

Make the charity shield optional, opportunity goes to next placed team if they don't fancy it.
Take away league cup places for clubs playing in Europe. If multimillonaires can't run about for a few extra hours a week.

All clubs should have an equal say in voting.
25% all online and TV revenue to championship.
10% to league 1
5% to league 2
And so on.

 

This is the thing that irritates me most: the idea that the ‘big 6’ are somehow set in stone. It suits them to push that agenda and the media perpetuate the idea. If you go back far enough they’ve all been in lower leagues and many other clubs have been in the ‘big x’ over the years. Even in my time watching football Chelsea were considered a yo-yo club alongside the likes of West Ham and Leicester, regularly spending spells in the 2nd division. Man City of course were in the wilderness for years and Spurs have been a Cup team at best for decades. City clubs will always have more spending power than town clubs and that’s fine but to consider these arbitrary six as being ‘bigger’ than Villa, Newcastle, Leeds, Sunderland, the Sheffield clubs, etc., etc., is nonsense.

 

I find it very odd as well, especially when it comes to football. Being a big club is only predicated by people choosing to support you, people can support whoever they want. It ignores the notion that a club could grow over time and gain more and more fans, build a bigger stadium and likewise a top six club could have a bad run and lose fans. It’s really all based on the assumption that fans will be consistent and loyal. No business can just assume they’ll remain a big business.

 

I get that Parry would back the proposals as it would help the majority of clubs in his organisation with their main problem - lack of cash. Why should he care about issues with the power in the prem? I get that it could make it more difficult for his member clubs to progress to the top level and grow, but that's not his biggest concern at the moment, survival of the members is.

But that's only with the proposals in it's current form. As someone said, what are the odds in 3 years of the all powerful "Big 6" voting to change the amounts or other things.

And it might help his cause if his nose wasn't so firmly tucked inside Liverpool and Man Utds arse

 

I was just thinking the same. I love going to football and have done for 40 years but I haven't missed it as much as I thought I would during Covid and decisions like this make me wonder if I could live without it. My golf handicap has been getting lower since not being able to go to football as well!

 

Well exactly. You'd have to be pretty naive to think he's backing this agenda because he cares deeply about the minnows in League 2.