Poll: Premier League Shake-Up?

PL/EFL changes of structure

  • 18 Team PL, all the power to the top 6 and save the EFL

    Votes: 1 1.4%
  • 18 Team PL, little or no more power to the top 6 and save the EFL

    Votes: 56 78.9%
  • 20 Team PL and the EFL dies.

    Votes: 14 19.7%

  • Total voters
    71
Soldato
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Re the League Cup, I don't think that will change anything tbh. When was the last time the League Cup was won by somebody outside the automatic CL/EL spots? Swansea in 2013? The Europa spot isn't a motivation for anybody, whether that be the top clubs or the smaller PL sides. It will just mean 1 less Europa spot and we have to remember that UEFA are introducing a 3rd European competition soon which will mean as many as 10 PL sides will be in Europe moving forwards.

As for the FA Cup, that's not going any time soon but who knows what the future holds. Who'd have thought we'd have a PL 40 years ago? And at some point in the future, who knows when, there absolutely will be a European Super League.

3rd European comp? be like bringing back the cup winners cup.
 
Soldato
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As like I stated before, give the EFL winners one of the Europa spots

The FA Cup is THE historic competition, what's not to say that wouldn't be next on the list to be scrapped. Just like the League Cup, the Prem sides don't play their first team in the 3rd and 4th rounds either.

^ This, although I consider both historic competitions (5 decades is still a long time) but yeah the FA cup is bigger, and the big teams play the kids in the FA cup early rounds as well, my club won the League cup twice under MON and am proud of it even if some others think its a joke cup. Bear in mind though it is a squad game and if the best 11 were played in every single match it would no longer be a squad game, so I like the fact fringe players get to prove themselves in the cups.

Personally I wonder if it would make my day if the big 6 got kicked out of the PL and they went of to a euro super league, don't care if the TV money goes with it, I feel the English game would be better without them, as they all seem only interested in European competitions now. When Klopp didn't even turn up for a League cup game a year or so ago yet went of on that silly international cup I considered it an insult to the English game. With them gone, the cash divide between top 2 divisions would be gone, and that would be a solution to that issue.
 
Don
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Soldato
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Don
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There would be an initial problem, but wages would fall sharply as contracts wind down, and it would settle down to like the pre sky tv days.
All while there is another League paying sky high wages. This would result in all the best players moving to said League and the quality of the old League falling through the floor. I'm not a darts fan myself, I'm not sure if you are, but this would be similar to when the tops darts players left the BDO. They formed their own competition(s) which have gone from strength to strength while those that stayed behind, taking the moral high ground are now basically playing in a pub League.

No PL club owner would take that moral high ground though as none of them want to see their £200m+ assets become worthless overnight.
 
Soldato
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All while there is another League paying sky high wages. This would result in all the best players moving to said League and the quality of the old League falling through the floor. I'm not a darts fan myself, I'm not sure if you are, but this would be similar to when the tops darts players left the BDO. They formed their own competition(s) which have gone from strength to strength while those that stayed behind, taking the moral high ground are now basically playing in a pub League.

No PL club owner would take that moral high ground though as none of them want to see their £200m+ assets become worthless overnight.

The other league been the closed of european super league. If its closed off then there would be no need to try and get there.

Whilst the chairman may all want to be in the EPL, more fans than you think are sick of it, fans of clubs who just fight relegation every year, I think its fine as long as you can compete, kind of like wolves, leics, everton, but if we became uncompetitive, either due to bad management or the financial gulf becoming much wider, I would rather be relegated back to the championship than be 17th every season.

I loved our league one season.

The SPL must be miserable for clubs who are not Celtic and Rangers.
 
Don
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I think a lot of people love to complain but they're still more willing than ever to pay near £100 per month to Sky & BT to watch it and abroad it's growing quicker than ever. The financial gulf has been there since the start of the PL though - the only times one of the big boys didn't win the competition is a freak Leicester season and Blackburn, bankrolled by Jack Walker. FFP has been put in place to stop Jack Walker happening again though.
 
Soldato
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I think a lot of people love to complain but they're still more willing than ever to pay near £100 per month to Sky & BT to watch it and abroad it's growing quicker than ever. The financial gulf has been there since the start of the PL though - the only times one of the big boys didn't win the competition is a freak Leicester season and Blackburn, bankrolled by Jack Walker. FFP has been put in place to stop Jack Walker happening again though.

Hasn't stopped Man City or Chelsea from winning the league.

Leicester winning the league was a breath of fresh air.

There is no financial gulf for Leicester, our owners are 3rd or 4th richest in the Premier League. We've just spent £100m on a world class training facility.
 
Don
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Hasn't stopped Man City or Chelsea from winning the league.

Leicester winning the league was a breath of fresh air.

There is no financial gulf for Leicester, our owners are 3rd or 4th richest in the Premier League. We've just spent £100m on a world class training facility.
City and Chelsea spent over £1bn to join the elite and FFP was brought in to stop others joining in future.

As for Leicester, their owners aren't Sheikh's and haven't shown any willingness to spend the hundreds of millions needed to bridge the gap between them at the clubs at the top. Their revenue was £178m as of their last set of accounts, compared to £500-600m of the big sides. That's a gulf.
 
Soldato
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City and Chelsea spent over £1bn to join the elite and FFP was brought in to stop others joining in future.

As for Leicester, their owners aren't Sheikh's and haven't shown any willingness to spend the hundreds of millions needed to bridge the gap between them at the clubs at the top. Their revenue was £178m as of their last set of accounts, compared to £500-600m of the big sides. That's a gulf.

Leicester doesn't need to spend £1bn to be successful.

Which means that the big 6 are based on £££ rather than winning trophies. That does make sense, seeing Spurs haven't won anything. Been 16 years for Arsenal and nearly a decade for Manchester United.
 
Don
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Leicester doesn't need to spend £1bn to be successful.

Which means that the big 6 are based on £££ rather than winning trophies. That does make sense, seeing Spurs haven't won anything. Been 16 years for Arsenal and nearly a decade for Manchester United.
That explains why Leicester have consistently challenged at the top of the table.
 
Don
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It's not a bluff. FIFA have been actively looking to create their own rival to the CL for a number of years with initial plans to expand the Club World Cup and play it in the summer. Even without this tournament, as who knows whether it will happen, the alternative will be an expanded CL with 14 group games instead of the current 6.

This is why the big sides want the League cut to 18 teams and the fact that this is backed by FIFA will put huge pressure on the FA to clear the calendar to make this happen.
 
Soldato
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It's not a bluff. FIFA have been actively looking to create their own rival to the CL for a number of years with initial plans to expand the Club World Cup and play it in the summer. Even without this tournament, as who knows whether it will happen, the alternative will be an expanded CL with 14 group games instead of the current 6.

This is why the big sides want the League cut to 18 teams and the fact that this is backed by FIFA will put huge pressure on the FA to clear the calendar to make this happen.
I know that baz, it’s just awfully convenient that this is released the week after the the power grab was shot down in flames, I bet within a month another draft will come out from MUFC/LFC/EFL with parts of it pointing toward this breakaway, They want Closed shop set up by self elected elite, to swallow as much of the money swilling around in football, to line their own pockets as much as possible.
 
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Don
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I know that baz, it’s just awfully convenient that this is released the week after the the power grab was shot down in flames, I bet within a month another draft will come out from MUFC/LFC/EFL with parts of it pointing toward this breakaway
Claims that their plans were shot down in flames is nothing more than spin from the PL & smaller clubs. The original proposal, which we have to remember was never actually finishined and formally presented to the League (it was leaked to the press) was never going to be passed at the first sitting. It was an opening set of points to start negotiations and the PL have confirmed that they're now going to begin their review (hoping to conclude before the end of the year) on the structure, finance and governance of the League. The big clubs are 100% going to get some of the concessions they want.

As for the timing of this news coming out, I really don't think it makes much difference. Unlike previous European Super League Leagues, either this FIFA League or an expanded CL are going to happen. It's not a threat, it's the reality. FIFA have already announced that the Club World Cup is going to be expanded and played in the summer however the European clubs are/were refusing to enter it due to the congested calendar. Is this the compromise? FIFA move it to a midweek League and this FIFA League effectively replaces the CL, with the CL effectively becoming the Europa League? Even if this idea doesn't get off the ground, UEFA are already drawing up plans to change the CL with 8 groups of 4 teams (top 4 progress) instead of the 4 groups of 8, creating an extra 8 group games.

More midweek European football is coming and the fact that it will be lead by one or both of UEFA and FIFA will mean the FA and PL have little choice but to make space for these games. Will scrapping the League Cup and FA Cup replays create enough space? I'm not sure and that's probably why they're pushing for an 18 team PL.
 
Don
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I'm sure a few people will get mixed up so I'll say this now, this idea isn't a break away from the PL or domestic footbal. It's effectively a League to replace the CL.
City will be spending 500mil a season with a European Premier League.
I wouldn't be so sure. The club pushing for this sort of League/expanded CL the most are the likes of Real, Barca and Juve because they know their place at the top table is becoming under threat from the PL's TV revenue. Even with the way TV money is split in Spain and Italy (which is far more in favour of the bigger clubs) the big PL sides are making more than them and will make even more in the future. They want a bigger, richer European competition so that domestic money isn't as important as it is now. They're not going to then allow City to spend billions and put them under threat again. This is why the forced UEFA to change what FFP was meant to be and why, if this League happens, they'll put even stricter spending controls in place.
 
Caporegime
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I can never see the spending being toned down tbh and it sounds like the English sides are pushing for this league more than anyone. Bigger and better squads will be needed and transfer fees will only go one way in the coming years. My post was half joking but when you consider the amount they've spent on defenders alone since Pep came in, I can see a club breaching 400mil in 2 transfer windows before 2025, if this league goes ahead.

It sounds nice having blockbuster games week in week out but it will soon get boring.
 
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