THE PREM ERA 37GAME 39
THE COCK-UP THEORY
The Premier League chairmen, in their
eagerness to embrace the money on
offer, did not read the plan’s small print.
Scudamore, so used to getting his own
way within the Premier League and the
European Commission (on TV deals),
did not expect such hostility from
FIFA and the football “family”.
WHO’S COME OUT OF THIS BADLY?
Scudamore has been left to take the
flak by the PL club chairmen, but
then he is highly paid to do that.
WHO’S COME OUT OF IT WELL?
Blatter, who was faced with an open goal
but still took his chance with authority.
Triesman, meanwhile, showed that the
FA can stand up to the Premier League.
WHERE NOW?
The idea of playing Premier League
games abroad is back in its box – for
now. But Scudamore needs to find new
ways of increasing revenues when the
current TV deal expires in 2010. For all
the excitement among Premier League
club chairmen about the extra revenue
that the “international round” would
generate in hosting fees, the bulk of
the new income would have actually
come from selling broadcasting rights
to TV companies showing the extra
games to UK audiences. So, league
format changes to provide more
opportunities (i.e. more games) for
new TV deals are likely on the cards –
expansion of the league to 21 or 22
teams, and end-of-season play-offs
for Champions League places.The appalling attempt by the Greed Is
Good League to foist another, 39th
fixture date on its clubs, all matches
to be played abroad – imagine the
lure of Wigan v Bolton in Beijing –
seems comprehensively to have
been shot down; even though some
executives who should know better
have tried to keep the daft idea alive.
It is not surprising, really, that one
of them should be Peter Kenyon of
Chelsea, the man given gardening
leave before he left Manchester
United, and later involved in the
devious affair of Ashley Cole’s
first botched attempt to leave
Arsenal for Chelsea.
Kenyon’s successor at United,
David Gill, and Desperate Dave
Richards, of the FA and the GIG
League, protested that they had
not sufficiently been consulted by
Lord Triesman, new broom and
panjandrum at the FA, before he
poured some cold water on the idea.
For once, Sepp Blatter had a good
idea – to dismiss the scheme with
scorn – but he spoiled things a little
when coming out with a fatuous plan
to circumvent the European Union’s
insistence that footballers, as EU
citizens, could play anywhere and
everywhere in the Union. That
might have been a good idea had
there been the slightest hope of
it coming to fruition. But the EU
knocked it on the head in no time
at all. Only Artemio Franchi, when
UEFA president, boldly and
skilfully kept them at bay.Glanville on Game 39
Brian Glanville
shares his
thoughts on
the proposal...