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The 39th step: one saga and game too many

Sepp Blatter has for once hit the nail on the head.

This may be the only time during his reign as president of football’s world governing body Fifa that I have actually agreed with the man, because finally, after all of his previous perverse ideas have been laughed off, he has come out with sensible comments about the Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore’s ideas about a 39th Premier League game.

Blatter has expressed his concern at the plans that they “do not take into consideration the fans of the clubs and it gives the impression that they just want to go on tour to make some money”. The man has never talked so much sense before.

There are three key reasons why Richard Scudamore’s plans should never be considered. Firstly, no-one wants it to happen. Most of the major countries which the idea would be aimed at have so far rejected the idea. And the one country for a fact that have welcomed the decision, Qatar, have included a stipulation, that any game to be hosted in their country would only be allowed if it involved one of the big four teams.

The second major reason is that you are taking the game away from the people who fund it. The Premier League is only in existence in its form because of the ridiculously high levels of investment that the core group of fans lovingly pour into their club. To take a Premier League game away from the core of the game is downright wrong.

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The main problem with the idea is that it creates an unfair league system. A league competition is based on giving everyone equal opportunities during the season. 19 games at home, 19 away. Everyone plays each other twice, and at the end of the season, there can be no quarrels’, that the team that finishes top is the best team, and likewise, the team that finishes 18th, has been the 18th best team in that league. To bring in an extra game, would make it simply unfair.

The game may be selected randomly, but when careers depend on relegation or survival, is it fair that one team plays Reading three times, whilst its closest competitor plays Manchester United three times? No disrespect meant to Reading, but the team that plays them three times has a clear competitive advantage over the team that has to face Alex Fergusons side on three occasions.

I will not be the first to write my disapproval at the idea from Scudamore, and I feel that the Premier League has been left a bit red faced by the whole situation. The idea to globalise the game on the one hand could be seen as a positive step for the future of the game. However there are ways and means, and this plan is not only disrespectful to the core fans who support the league, but as I have described, it also unbalances’ the basis of the League Format which has stood for hundreds of years.

Scudamore would have been much better off taking his proposals to the football and the worlds governing bodies before making the plans public. Had he done so, despite the support of the leagues chairman, (who lets face it, were never going to go against the ideas as the whole plan simply helps to line their pockets) then he would have received private disapproval of the ideas, from the majority of influential parties, and so would have gone back to the drawing board.

Through this entire saga, I have heard one good suggestion in support of the idea of globalisation. The Community Shield. This is seen as the curtain raiser to the season, and yet it is my opinion that it would be no great loss if it wasn’t seen at Wembley Stadium. Year on Year, this game could be played all around the globe, one year in Australia, the next South Africa, and the next Asia. I feel it would be welcomed by the so far disapproving countries because it does not take anything away from their own domestic leagues.

It is a competitive game, which is guaranteed, to have at least one of the big three in. And usually it is the two biggest teams. There would also be no disruption to schedules like a mid season away trip would cause.

This is the best suggestion I have heard so far. It does not disrupt or unbalance our domestic league, I doubt the supporters would be too upset at losing the game, and despite it only being one game a year, it meets the requirements in that it is competitive, and that it involves the big teams. And whilst it might only be once a year, why are we craving to please everyone else rather than sorting out our own house first of all.

Maybe Scudamore should consider that question, because it is apparent from his initial plans that he has shown complete disregard for not only the competitive balance that a League system brings with it, but also a complete disregard for the very source of what makes this league the best in the world, that being the fans.

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Should the Community Shield be played abroad?
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