SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

In the middle of a health and economic crisis of unprecedented dimensions for the country,it’s always nice to know that we are all in this together. Of course,the on-field rivalry is undiminished no matter which neck of the woods you are playing in and the fight for three points is every much as intense as it has ever been,but there has been something of a coming together throughout the game,a consensus that for it to survive we need to look out for each other.

Or so those of us with our rose-tinted glasses thought. That utopian fantasy was blown out of the water yesterday by the revelation that two of the biggest clubs in The English Premier League are already drawing up plans to force through changes to the structure,and none of it is designed with any thought for anyone other than themselves and the other big teams. Their plan is to reduce the EPL from twenty teams to eighteen,a move which will beggar the teams denied promotion in the year that it is pushed through. In fact,their plan envisages worse than that-because they propose to maintain the lower three divisions at 24 teams each.

That means the domino effect of two of the minnows at the bottom of the fourth tier being forced out of the league altogether. But it isn’t their problem,they can shrug their shoulders in the time-honoured “I’m alright,Jack” or CGAF,as we say nowadays. They also propose to scrap The League Cup. Worse,they want to drop the Community Shield,presumably because they can’t be bothered with it as the proceeds largely go to charity. Not their problem. CGAF again.

So what’s in it for them? Well,they won’t be reducing the price of their season tickets to reflect the loss of two home games,that’s for sure. And they’ll still be expecting the TV companies to pony up as before. But the four matchdays being dropped from the calendar,as well as a few free midweeks from dropping The League Cup,means less stress and strain being put on already overworked and overplayed footballers,so that’s a good thing isn’t it?

Well,it would be if that was their plan. But of course it isn’t. Not at all. The football calendar will still be every bit as crammed full of matches as it ever was-because part of the great plan is to fill the gaps with more and more European matches,a highly lucrative source of income for the teams at the top of the pile. So of course it comes as little surprise that the two clubs who are jointly behind this proposal are indeed members of the elite,the clubs with most to gain. They don’t give a XXXX for the two did teams who are dropping out of the league completely,and they certainly don’t care for the future of the two clubs condemned to the EFL Championship instead of getting a shot at the filthy lucre up for grabs in the EPL.

At the moment,only Liverpool and Manchester United have put their names to this proposal. And they should hang their heads in shame for doing so. But others will be quick to sign up to it,you can be assured of that. There are football clubs the length and breadth of the country who are looking at business plans and wondering how to survive until the fans can make their reappearance,clubs in The EPL who can only dream of European income,and teams in the lower leagues that can only dream of the EPL. But of course,that will not be of any concern to the giants,even those who have been in those lower leagues in my lifetime. And that’s nearly all of them,bar Arsenal,Liverpool and Everton.

This isn’t a blueprint for the future of the game,don’t be fooled for one minute. They don’t care about the future of the game. Their only concern is to preserve the closed shop that they operate in,and in fact to make it even less inclusive than it is now. It is about getting and keeping as much of the crock of gold as possible for themselves. And there’s the thing-it’s not that they have subverted The Beautiful Game because of a crock of gold. It’s taking a further step away from everything that football fans love about the game,and driven entirely by greed.

Above article by BMCUWP. Still a few days of the international break for you all to send us an article. Mail it to MAHE