Foreign owners 'want end to Premier League relegation'

[Albumen]

Those aren't the rules though, it's only a prem chairman vote, if there was one.

I know but the rules are an arse!

 

[The Large One]

The first that would happen is that the clubs who know they have no chance of winning the Premier League would just bring a cheap bunch of donkeys to play for them - they could even pick Graeme Smith - saving the club a fortune in wages, knowing that all they have to do is turn up to get their TV dosh.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

You can only assume the only thing stopping the likes of Bolton/Wigan voting for it is that they know they would be slaughtered and accused of killing the game. .

Wrong. Phil Gartside is the most vocal proponent of such as idea, around.

I've long since detested the man, for this very reason, and pray every year that Bolton come unstuck.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Whelan at Wigan is been an advocate of no relegation, has been for years I think.

I've never once heard such a suggestion being attributed to Whelan, who has always seemed a decent chairman and general footal man, to me. I be very saddened if this were true. (I don't think it is).

Now there's a thing - Wigan Athletic. I'm probably just picking on them, but...

To me, they're the closest there is (after MK Dons) to being a franchise club. Just 33 years in the league, effectively bought their way into the Premiership with a fanbase to match the mighty Rochdale's, play in front of hardly anyone IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE, a stop-off point for a number of footballing mercenaries, not the biggest club in Greater Manchester - not even the biggest club in Wigan. They even applied to join the Scottish Second Division once.

Given their relative lack of history, what right does anyone from that club have to make such an awful claim?

I don't think they ever have.

But, more generally - Wigan are actually a great advert for promotion to / relegation from the Prem. If WIGAN can get there, and survive, surely ANYONE can.

 

[piersa]

total conjecture

 

[bhaexpress]

I don't mind them doing away with Premier League relegation just as long as they wait until we get there to do it. Truth be told this is a bit like the way the TV companies in the US try to influence and control their domestic sport. For example, following several Superbowls that were effectively done and dusted by haltime there was a strong move to try to force the winning team to be no more than two touch downs ahead at the half.

This bolis down to the PLCs of Premier Teams not wanting to lose money, I hope the FA tell them where to go but knowing the FA they'll have their heads too far up their arses to see what's going on here.

 

[Spider]

Disagree.

Skys money ultimately comes from us, the fans. We pay a premium for it because its a good product, an exciting product (I know not all will agree, but the sheer amount of cash flooding in from subscriptions is proof enough).

If you remove relegation from the equation, then at a stroke you have killed it as a competiton. And if its not a competition then I'm not interested, and my subscription would be duley cancelled. The battle against relegation, if anything, is MORE exciting than whats going on at the other end, but if one of the teams has nothing to play for all season long, then it immediately ceases to be a spectacle.

Do you think Sky would believe the removal of relegation would result in more or fewer subscribers ? I can only speak for myself, but if that is ever introduced, then thats the end of my subscription. And I suspect I probably wouldn't be alone.

You wouldn't. However, England is quickly moving towards a more American way of thinking whereby people are simply interested in watching the top teams in any contest, and hopefully between each other. It doesn't matter whether or not there's much riding on it, all that matters is that they can see some top players, and pretend to be excited in the same title race every season.

In fact, i'd say that type of fan is pretty much in the majority now, especially when you consider that 90% of fans of the biggest clubs have exactly that attitude.

 

[Gritt23]

Great idea, look at all those US sports that have no relegation & no'one around the World watching or playing them...don't they see their income will fall with future lower TV deals

I don't know about Baseball and the NBA, but certainly in the case of the NFL there are a lot of factors that exist to try and "level the playing field" and it works. There is no practical way you could introduce a "draft" to the EPL every summer, with the weakest teams getting first pick of new players coming through. meanwhile, the likes of Man Utd won't agree to an even spread of income, with salary caps, and floors.

Without relegation in the EPL, teams at the top will just get fatter and the teams at the bottom will just bank the money and barely care, as they can't get relegated, and can't challenge at the top, so why bother. It wouldn't take very long for that to affect attendances outside of the top 4-6 teams.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

it's an awful idea for so many reasons, the best chance of it being vaguely successful would be to follow the american route of small conferences and then play-offs, with a grand final because a 20 team league with no relegation would leave about 10 clubs with absolutely nothing to play for all season

and how would they decide who was in it? a closed shop premier mega league with the likes of wigan but not leeds?! or would they just do away with proper clubs and go down the franchise route?

 

[Titanic]

I doubt Wigan would be invited to be members of this League anyway... I rather suspect Leeds and a few others would be offered a place way before Wigan.

 

[Tooting Gull]

The US sport comparison doesn't work though, does it?

The 'closed shop' in the NFL works because they have a draft system which gives last year's least successful teams first pick of the new players coming through. So the league remains competitive.

A closed shop without this dash of socialism would surely be doomed to declining interest as it becomes ever less competitive, as several posters on here have said.

The draft isn't anything to do with 'no relegation' though, is it? It is intended to level the playing field and ensure the winners/big clubs don't always also attract the next lot of top young players, and different teams get in the play-offs. It is looking up, not down, in its bid to help competition.

The principle of no relegation, for some reason, is just accepted over there.

 

[Simon Morgan]

I'd be mooting this idea if my club's manager was Steve Kean.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Of course, it would be TRES amusing if the likes of Wigan, Bolton and Blackburn voted it in, then got binned in favour of Leeds, West Ham and Leicester.

 

[bhaexpress]

The NFL has a salary cap which is a partial factor. Rugby League here has a salary cap too which has also been partially successful. Put it another way, how many current Man City players would have signed for them had the club had a salary cap ? The same could be said of Chelsea a few seasons ago.

 

[Tooting Gull]

Can you imagine the binfest over who was in and who was out? 'But we were in it for 30 years...and they only just came up...'

 

[The Large One]

But, more generally - Wigan are actually a great advert for promotion to / relegation from the Prem. If WIGAN can get there, and survive, surely ANYONE can.

Provided you have a sugar daddy like Dave Whelan.

Or Tony Bloom.

For me, the last 'great advert' was Bradford City.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

The NFL has a salary cap which is a partial factor. Rugby League here has a salary cap too which has also been partially successful. Put it another way, how many current Man City players would have signed for them had the club had a salary cap ? The same could be said of Chelsea a few seasons ago.

the premier league would NEVER go for a salary cap unless all the major leagues around the world did it, as all the top players would just move abroad

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Provided you have a sugar daddy like Dave Whelan.

Or Tony Bloom.

For me, the last 'great advert' was Bradford City.

Norwich?

Hull?

Swansea?

 

[Tooting Gull]

Provided you have a sugar daddy like Dave Whelan.

Or Tony Bloom.

For me, the last 'great advert' was Bradford City.

Burnley?

 

[The Large One]

Norwich?

Hull?

Swansea?

I thought your point was going up and staying up.