Premier League bail out for EFL

It was the EFL and FA who wanted that though, the Under 23 teams in the CheckaTrade.  I don't recall ever seeing anyone from the PL begging to be allowed into it.

Greg Dyke and his farce of an FA commission, that had the likes of Rio Ferdinand and other ex-professionals so far removed from the game, decided that in the wake of the ever failing national side, the best way to address it was to make sure Everton Under 23's played in front of 373 people at Accrington's ground.  

It was a knee-jerk reaction to previous years and decades of bad coaching, poor infrastructure, a lack of direction and philosophy in the English game.  What they failed to realise was that the aforementioned issues had already been addressed, within their own bloody organisation, but would naturally take a bit of time to bear any fruit.

Shaun Harvey, as the head of the EFL, lapped it up and saw it as the perfect opportunity to shimmy himself into position for his next job either at the FA or the Premier League and ran with it.  

The biggest problem wasn't the fierce opposition from the clubs and supporters (sadly the amount of EFL money chucked at it negated that threat), it was the fact that no-one in the Premier League gave a excrement.  It's not the job of the Premier League to develop players for England.  Their interest is that of their members.  The members are solely focused on achieving as much success as possible and in some cases generating as much money as possible.  Shoe horning Under 23 teams into the league pyramid will do nothing to aid either of those objectives.

It works in other countries because of how their leagues are set-up.  Spain for example has nowhere near the standard that we have at our level.  If the likes of Real Madrid or Barcelona loaned a player out to a fourth tier club it would be akin to Manchester United loaning players out to Cleethorpes Town.  

Each year the EFL send an invite out to Academy Clubs.  This is the first season that Liverpool and Manchester United have bothered to accept.  They (as the Premier League) didn't ask for it and they don't appear to have a real appetite for it either.

Don't get me wrong, the Premier League are absolute shits and they'll milk this bail-out to completely suit their needs.  But it won't be to force Under 23 teams into the pyramid or start League 3.  It'll be something, at least in their eyes, much bigger.

The Mirror today on "conditions"

Any potential bail out offer would have to be voted on by Premier League clubs and it must be stressed that the conditions are the view of some clubs rather than all but there are some influential voices insisting they must get guarantees before any proposal is agreed.

A source at a Championship club said it was effectively Premier League teams trying to turn the top flight into a “closed shop” with the threat of relegation removed.

Relegation became a huge issue when the Premier League was suspended last season with clubs railing against it but now discussions on what happens in the event of curtailment are back on the agenda - and the threat could be removed.

They also believe the Prem clubs want to impose a strict wage cap at Championship level so it would be harder for clubs to break into the elite.

This, in my opinion, is far bigger than shoehorning Under 23 sides into the football pyramid.

You can almost see it happening now:

• First muting of cancelling relegation in the event of a curtailed season, 'cos y'know it's not really fair to do it on PPG
  
• Oh, actually we don't want to do relegation this year because y'know it's not really fair to do it when some teams have had to cram 3 games into a week.  Oh, go on.  We did give you those crumbs remember.
  
• Thinking about it, none of our members really want to run the risk of relegation and ummm, errr in the interest of the national game it's probably best if the annual strugglers like West Ham can feel comfortable that they can blood youngsters in the Premier League without worrying about relegation...So, errr yeah.  No more relegation/promotion. But don't forget those crumbs we gave you.
  
• Hi, hope you're well....collectively we've decided that it's not really fair that advancement into our league is always closed off but in the absence of a dedicated league system like the one that you've got, we thought it made sense if we invited selected clubs based on some strict criteria.  In no way is it reflective of the size of the fanbase and potential TV draw but we thought it might be nice if Sunderland, Cardiff, Sheffield Wednesday and Whichever 'sleeping giant' is currently outside the top flight wanted to join us.  Relegation?  Oh, did you forget those crumbs again?
  

Give it a few years...

• Actually, we've got a problem in that the bigger teams in our league are now hopping off to join a European Super League so our TV power is significantly less than it was before....any chance we can come back?
  

intercourse 'em.  Absolutely intercourse 'em.

Quoted from diehardmariner

This, in my opinion, is far bigger than shoehorning Under 23 sides into the football pyramid.

You can almost see it happening now:

• First muting of cancelling relegation in the event of a curtailed season, 'cos y'know it's not really fair to do it on PPG
  
• Oh, actually we don't want to do relegation this year because y'know it's not really fair to do it when some teams have had to cram 3 games into a week.  Oh, go on.  We did give you those crumbs remember.
  
• Thinking about it, none of our members really want to run the risk of relegation and ummm, errr in the interest of the national game it's probably best if the annual strugglers like West Ham can feel comfortable that they can blood youngsters in the Premier League without worrying about relegation...So, errr yeah.  No more relegation/promotion. But don't forget those crumbs we gave you.
  
• Hi, hope you're well....collectively we've decided that it's not really fair that advancement into our league is always closed off but in the absence of a dedicated league system like the one that you've got, we thought it made sense if we invited selected clubs based on some strict criteria.  In no way is it reflective of the size of the fanbase and potential TV draw but we thought it might be nice if Sunderland, Cardiff, Sheffield Wednesday and Whichever 'sleeping giant' is currently outside the top flight wanted to join us.  Relegation?  Oh, did you forget those crumbs again?
  

Give it a few years...

• Actually, we've got a problem in that the bigger teams in our league are now hopping off to join a European Super League so our TV power is significantly less than it was before....any chance we can come back?
  

intercourse 'em.  Absolutely intercourse 'em.

Agreed. I thought they would want something for their money, probably centred around second teams, but this is even worse than I thought.

I see David Ross is involved in the discussions. Don't know if that is a good or bad thing.

What they are also saying is why should they bail out teams like Exeter when they are due 4mill from Watkins sale.  In a way I get that.  They then said they don't want to punish teams who have tried to do wage cuts like what we did with covid in contracts.  The article was on BBC website.

Quoted from ginnywings

Agreed. I thought they would want something for their money, probably centred around second teams, but this is even worse than I thought.

I see David Ross is involved in the discussions. Don't know if that is a good or bad thing.

I definitely think it's more direct and a hell of a lot more selfish.

I suppose the definition of worse depends on how you're looking at it.  For a club like Town, with realistically little to no chance of ever finding themselves in a position of getting promoted to the Premier League, I can't imagine it'll have any direct impact at all.

What we may see over time is less of this dribble down of money from the Premier League to 'help' the Football League clubs.  But in return if they cut this off, it's the perfect opportunity to push back and remove them from cup competitions.  I'm sure the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City etc. won't be that bothered about not featuring in the League Cup but the FA Cup is a different matter, it still holds significance for a lot of fans.  Both competitions also hold European places, which become more important as that Top 4/6 becomes a Top 8/10.

My absolute belief is that within 5/6 years City, United, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool and Chelsea will be in a European Super League.  UEFA is dying a slow and painful death.  They can try to remain relevant with their extended European formats but they're done for.  The Man City ruling this summer highlighted that they have no real power and the clubs lord it over them.  

Once this league is established there will then be an appetite for a second tier.  For those clubs with huge TV audiences but perhaps not at the level of Bayern, Liverpool et al.  The likes of Rangers, Celtic, Everton, Leeds...  Of course they'll all go running over because it's more money and the TV market will have dried up, Burnley V Wolves isn't a big drawer in any corner of the globe so no market will pay top whack for it.  

The Football League itself has an opportunity here to reinvent itself as the competition in this country.  Unfortunately I doubt they'll take it as they're too busy shimmying up to the Premier League.  But it has to stop being reliant on crumbs from the top, overspending to reach the top flight and on parachute payments for clubs that overspend unsuccessfully to stay in the top flight.  Very, very strict governance is needed from the Football League in the next few years...I'll not hold my breath on it happening.

I would not be as pessimistic as some posters.

Take away promotion / relegation from any division and what is the point? Fans won't watch and eventually the revenues fall and the game disintegrates. Watching Aston Villa v West Ham on an endless loop with nothing to play for would soon lose its appeal.

There are too many giants (thankfully) not residing in the Premier League so you can imagine the uproar if any door back to the promised land was slammed shut.

And just to give you an example of how utterly useless the EFL are...

https://www.theguardian.com/fo.....chelsea-fourth-round

Leyton Orient do the morally right and safe thing, they accept the offer from Spurs to give their squad testing and subsequently cancel the game.  Yet they're punished by getting booted out of the competition.

West Ham on the other hand, players and manager test positive.  They play the competition (against a side that rejected the offer to have free testing) and put everyone at further risk.

Absolute jokes.  Forget them having the opportunity to reinvent themselves, this lot couldn't wipe their own bottom without asking the big boys if it was ok to do so.

In about 30 years time there will be relegation from the Prem League.  All the clubs below them will have ceased to exist.  Prem clubs will not want to be relegated to an amateur Sunday league.

The Prem should be careful what they wish for.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

I would not be as pessimistic as some posters.

Take away promotion / relegation from any division and what is the point? Fans won't watch and eventually the revenues fall and the game disintegrates. Watching Aston Villa v West Ham on an endless loop with nothing to play for would soon lose its appeal.

There are too many giants (thankfully) not residing in the Premier League so you can imagine the uproar if any door back to the promised land was slammed shut.

You could see them arguing for 2 relegation places though, and we can't criticise too much as that's what our division has!