The threat of an enhanced top tier of English football has been mooted in and off for years. The talk was always rather sketchy and there was never any real substance to the suggestion that the big boys would somehow breakaway in some form.
Now we have a global pandemic on our hands and unless I’ve missed something in all the endless updates from 10 Downing Street, there is no immediate solution on the horizon. Premier League football has, like the rest of us mortals, suffered catastrophic losses. At Spurs, the absence of a conventional match day is costing ENIC an estimated £3million per unattended game.
According to Dave Fraser for The Sun, by trimming the top flight down to 18 sides and re-jigging the money pyramid, life for the big boys will become cushier than ever, and one of the spin-offs for Tottenham will be a £125M rebate towards the stadium build costs.
In broader moves, the League Cup would be binned, and way tickets knocked down to £20 across the board.
After last week’s announcement confirming that we are now entering an age of Pay Per View games, feigning surprise or distaste to these steps isn’t going to achieve anything.
All I ask as the ladder gets pulled up, and the cry of “I’m alright, Jack!” is heard, that we finally can put to bed this fraudulent bunkum of a ‘Football Family’ and acknowledge that nobody cares about anyone else. I can cope with unchecked greed, just not it being poorly disguised.