Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy is reportedly keen for the Premier League to have fewer matches, thus reducing the number of teams in the league.
Tottenham suffered with an abysmal injury record last season, and their squad was unable to deal with the workload of the Premier League and European football.
The Tottenham chairman revealed during the club’s annual fan forum last September that he would like to see fewer games in the Premier League, but with higher quality.
It seems that he is keen for Tottenham to take on high-quality opposition instead of smaller teams with less quality.
Lesser workload on players
His points on the player workload echo the sentiments of the players’ union FIFPro as well.
The players’ union recently released a 12-point plan designed by medical and professional performance experts which would safeguard the players.
The proposal takes into account off-season breaks, blackout during season breaks, pre-season training, rest and recovery and workload restrictions on young players.
Daniel Levy wants fewer teams in the Premier League
Meanwhile, football finance and price of football podcast host Kieran Maguire has revealed that the Tottenham chairman would love a smaller Premier League with more quality teams.
Maguire believes that Levy would prefer more glamorous fixtures than taking on clubs like Bournemouth or Crystal Palace. It could end up making clubs more money.
He said on TBR: “They want a smaller Premier League because it increases the opportunities for pre and post-season tours. Spurs are a global brand and they don’t want to be wasting their time playing small clubs when there are more lucrative opportunities.
“We’re moving to an expanded Club World Cup and potentially an even bigger format in the Champions League, wherein rather than having four home and away matches, you could have six very easily.
“It’s all about yield per fan, per match. It’s not about who the opponents are. If the opponents are more glamorous then Bournemouth or Crystal Palace, that’s more money to be made as far as Daniel Levy is concerned.”
It will be interesting to see if the Premier League decides to head that way in future. Having an 18-team division would allow the players more rest, and it would also allow clubs to focus on quality fixtures.
With the expanded Club World Cup and a potentially bigger format in the Champions League in future, reducing the workload in the domestic league could be a welcome change.
