stealthpapesMoorgateRoyal6ft Kerplunk Yeah, can't help but be a bit cynical about it. Just worry that it could be linked to the European league stuff that there's been rumours about. Is that about to happen and the Premier League becoming a closed shop...
A European league won't happen because the clubs who are always successful in their domestic leagues won't want to be finishing mid-table or lower in a new league, and the Champions League will cease to exist.
I also don't think the Premier League will become a closed shop. The money they make is based on the excitement and if there's no relegation, the bottom clubs will get even worse while the bigger clubs will also suffer from a total lack of competition outside the top four or five. The product on offer will completely stop being exciting and worth the money, and the whole thing will go to shit. It'll also ruin the Football League as they would lose funding as there would be no excitement at the top.
If this proposal is with the idea of making more teams professional, why don't the put some money into the National League and get all of the teams in that to turn pro? A good number already are and that would benefit the game at that level. Perhaps they could add a relegation place from League Two as well to make it a little more exciting.
It's hard to tell if there is going to be a re-structuring but the one proposed won't get the required votes.
Actually, as overseas TV becomes more and more valuable, it is increasingly not.
I still think that they would need to offer an exciting, competitive 'product' to justify the overseas sales. Having a non-competitive exhibition-style league will knacker it because one of the big draws of the Prem is the end-to-end excitement you get with the games, and the feeling that anyone can beat anyone.
If you reduce it to the big four/five smashing people every week with almost no competitive element, and the rest of the games playing out like end of season matches because there's no threat of relegation, the audience will quickly look elsewhere.
It's certainly not perfect as it is, and it would be in the best interests of the game in this country as a whole for the Premier League to let more of the money trickle down (I know this won't happen), but it's definitely better with relegation and promotion in place. I think the Premier League know this and it's one of the things that make the game here more entertaining.
Without promotion and relegation, there would be no Leicester fairytale, no 'big' clubs like Newcastle and Villa falling from grace, and no little teams like Bournemouth going up and holding their own.
