Premier League bail out for EFL

Quoted from Poojah

If we accept a closed shop at the top level we don’t save the football league, we merely put it on palliative care.

Or is it an opportunity to cut away the cancer of the modern game?

I'm an absolute purist.  If I had my way it would all be one league system in this country, all under one ruling body.  The Champions go into the Champions Cup and the winners of the cups go into the Cup Winners Cups.  That's it.  It's silly having half your top flight playing in European competition.

But I'm also a realist in that those at the highest echelons of the English game are so far removed from our level now that I think it's harmful to the likes of Town to be under that same (very loose) umbrella.  

At no point do I think it will happen because the EFL are clinging on for dear life to the big boys, but I would (Keegan style) love it if they and the FA had the balls to turn round and say 'right, intercourse off then.  This is the English league system now and we'll reform it accordingly'.   Take the TV money out of it, take the commercial aspects out of it.  I personally think our game would be a lot better off in the long run without the noose around the neck that is the Premier League and their greed.

No help  - no hope

The PL is holding out for an agreement on signing foreign youngsters post brexit. They want dispensation to keep signing 18-21 year olds from abroad. The EFL is naturally enough against this because post brexit the EFL and National League clubs will have a better chance of making some cash from transfer fees.

Pure blackmail by the PL.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

The PL is holding out for an agreement on signing foreign youngsters post brexit. They want dispensation to keep signing 18-21 year olds from abroad. The EFL is naturally enough against this because post brexit the EFL and National League clubs will have a better chance of making some cash from transfer fees.

Pure blackmail by the PL.

The premier league want to sign the best players to maintain their status as the best league in the world and have the biggest income as a result. I don't really see the problem, there's hardly any british players in that league anyway.

Quoted from pen penfras

The premier league want to sign the best players to maintain their status as the best league in the world and have the biggest income as a result. I don't really see the problem, there's hardly any british players in that league anyway.

The problem is partly that the PL will not agree to helping the EFL clubs without dispensation to sign foreign 18-21 year olds. Maybe those signings are one reason why there are so few British players in the PL but the main issue here is the long term ongoing support for the EFL clubs in the form of transfer fees.

I’m of the mind that the PL should help out a bit but it shouldn’t be fully on their shoulders. It wouldn’t have to be either if the government made the logical move and allowed fans back in, they’re just too bone idle to make it work.

So all these right wing politicians who keep banging on about protecting ‘our’ culture, what exactly are they doing to protect the national sport, major employer and community hub? Naff all!

Bo Jo could cut out the middle man and go straight to the broadcasters.

Even they’d get it that serving up the same 20 teams in a non relegation closed shop would get a bit boring mid/long term.

I don’t think this is about getting fans back. It is about the PL using the situation to get something it has always wanted - even greater cut off between its finances and admin from the rest of the English game. It is part of the internationalising of the PL as a product. This is from today’s Times.


The Premier League, however, wants a global free market from 18 upwards, claiming it is at a disadvantage because it can no longer compete with the leading European clubs in the pursuit of 16 and 17-year-olds. It does not want any criteria, such as international caps, transfer fees or wages that govern the existing GBE system.

The concern, of course, is that the Premier League clubs would then be able to flood their academies with lots of 18-21 year olds rather than develop English players or buy from the EFL.

In January Rick Parry, the EFL chairman, said that Brexit changes should mean more opportunities for young English players at clubs in the Championship, League One and League Two.

“Football is gradually waking up to the fact that new rules will apply, not least in terms of the Fifa rules with under-18s. That’s going to be a major change, work permits for European players,” Parry said.

“The positive for the EFL is we can offer a pathway for young English players, we are well placed for that be it through an extension of the loan system or whatever it might be. It is a positive opportunity for us.”

A Premier League spokesperson and the FA declined to comment.