The PL will soon be the closed shop they want it to be, just gutted that it looks like Palace have fluked their way into it at just the right time.
This is my hope. I said it when the PL was created and have done so plenty of times since. What makes football interesting is competition - no relegation = no excitement for at least ten of the teams in the PL.
If the door shut tomorrow just how much interest would, say, Leicester City be garnering in six years, having finished bottom for five of those six years? Their three quarters empty stadium echoing away during their four live TV appearances a year? No great attraction on Sunday at 4 o'clock there I fear.
Despite all the upfront TV money, their TV appearance money, gate money and sponsorship would still be way behind the Sky favourites, leaving them unable to catch up and with an ever dwindling fan base, bored of turning up every week to watch them get stuffed, and with no real competition with Palace, West Brom, Hull and all the other also rans, as there is nothing to play for when there's no relegation to worry about.
The Football League could exclude the PL sides from the league cup, and FL sides could stop entering the FA cup. The conference could become division four, leaving the PL sides to play each other week in, week out, except for the third and fourth round of the FA cup where they might draw someone as exciting as Concord Rangers or Leiston ...
As a US style "draft system" is impossible (and even if it were, the Sky favourites would make sure it was slewed in their favour, somehow), the only way around it would be for the whole PL to share their entire income (sponsorship, gate money, retail sales e.t.c) totally equally, so that Palace, Leicester et al can genuinely compete, and have a chance of actually winning the thing, or at least making the Champions League. And that just wont happen with the kind of "business minds" in charge of football clubs these days.
Lets not wait for the PL to shut the door, the FL should have had the balls to do it 25 years ago, and now the gap is so wide they should seize the opportunity to do it now... Of course the problem is that the same kind of "business minds" are in charge of the FL clubs.
But, and I've said it before, if necessary the PL would split itself into NFL-style conferences and divisions, with every team in for a chance of the Wembley Bowl play-offs until the last match of the season, even with one of the "most losingest" records. So there will be a lot fewer dead fixtures than you suggest.
I see what you mean, but it couldn't be done on a regional basis, as three of the Sky faves are in the north west and two in London. I suppose it could be seeded? But then the same teams would still ultimately be in the final, nine times out of ten. And then how would you sort out the all important Champions league places? I don't think UEFA would be too keen on, for example, the four conference winners taking the slots in one country and the rest being decided in the traditional manner? And as for the Europa league...
I still see the same also rans year in year out to be honest MP, but it's certainly one way they could try to operate.
I agree. I'm sure some schemes of that type have already been considered and rejected for now. But I think they could devise something workable, if they decided that was the only way forward for the benefit of the PL (no-one else matters).
Take a look at a place dear to all our hearts, Belgium. The play-off system is weird and not so wonderful, but it's acceptable to UEFA. Of course, it does still involve relegation, but that's not my point. You still have a reasonable mathematical chance of winning a Europa Cup place, even if you're bottom after 20 games of the 30-game regular season.
The PL will soon be the closed shop they want it to be, just gutted that it looks like Palace have fluked their way into it at just the right time.
This is my hope. I said it when the PL was created and have done so plenty of times since. What makes football interesting is competition - no relegation = no excitement for at least ten of the teams in the PL.
If the door shut tomorrow just how much interest would, say, Leicester City be garnering in six years, having finished bottom for five of those six years? Their three quarters empty stadium echoing away during their four live TV appearances a year? No great attraction on Sunday at 4 o'clock there I fear.
Despite all the upfront TV money, their TV appearance money, gate money and sponsorship would still be way behind the Sky favourites, leaving them unable to catch up and with an ever dwindling fan base, bored of turning up every week to watch them get stuffed, and with no real competition with Palace, West Brom, Hull and all the other also rans, as there is nothing to play for when there's no relegation to worry about.
The Football League could exclude the PL sides from the league cup, and FL sides could stop entering the FA cup. The conference could become division four, leaving the PL sides to play each other week in, week out, except for the third and fourth round of the FA cup where they might draw someone as exciting as Concord Rangers or Leiston ...
As a US style "draft system" is impossible (and even if it were, the Sky favourites would make sure it was slewed in their favour, somehow), the only way around it would be for the whole PL to share their entire income (sponsorship, gate money, retail sales e.t.c) totally equally, so that Palace, Leicester et al can genuinely compete, and have a chance of actually winning the thing, or at least making the Champions League. And that just wont happen with the kind of "business minds" in charge of football clubs these days.
Lets not wait for the PL to shut the door, the FL should have had the balls to do it 25 years ago, and now the gap is so wide they should seize the opportunity to do it now... Of course the problem is that the same kind of "business minds" are in charge of the FL clubs.
But, and I've said it before, if necessary the PL would split itself into NFL-style conferences and divisions, with every team in for a chance of the Wembley Bowl play-offs until the last match of the season, even with one of the "most losingest" records. So there will be a lot fewer dead fixtures than you suggest.
I see what you mean, but it couldn't be done on a regional basis, as three of the Sky faves are in the north west and two in London. I suppose it could be seeded? But then the same teams would still ultimately be in the final, nine times out of ten. And then how would you sort out the all important Champions league places? I don't think UEFA would be too keen on, for example, the four conference winners taking the slots in one country and the rest being decided in the traditional manner? And as for the Europa league...
I still see the same also rans year in year out to be honest MP, but it's certainly one way they could try to operate.
I agree. I'm sure some schemes of that type have already been considered and rejected for now. But I think they could devise something workable, if they decided that was the only way forward for the benefit of the PL (no-one else matters).
Take a look at a place dear to all our hearts, Belgium. The play-off system is weird and not so wonderful, but it's acceptable to UEFA. Of course, it does still involve relegation, but that's not my point. You still have a reasonable mathematical chance of winning a Europa Cup place, even if you're bottom after 20 games of the 30-game regular season.
Yes, same kind of scenario in Holland with the Europa league MP.
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Take a look at a place dear to all our hearts, Belgium. The play-off system is weird and not so wonderful, but it's acceptable to UEFA. Of course, it does still involve relegation, but that's not my point. You still have a reasonable mathematical chance of winning a Europa Cup place, even if you're bottom after 20 games of the 30-game regular season.