Blatter wants reduced Premiership

[Achtung]

Fifa wants Premiership cut

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has held informal talks which could see the Premiership reduced to 18 teams and FA Cup replays being scrapped.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/3522091.stm


Not sure if I like that idea. It goes on to say that he wants leagues to ideally be at 16 teams. I think its annoying that domestic top tier leagues keep getting smaller and smaller. What chance to the smaller teams have at a little glory? He's obviously just trying to raise the prominence of the international game, and not doing a very good job at it either.

[Pazarius]

Blatter's reasoning in this is flawed.

He says that the top clubs can play 60 games a season, which is too much and so the premiership should have less games, I.e. less teams.

But as it's only the top clubs who have this problem, why reduce the number of games for all of them? Logically you should be trying to reduce the number of extra games the top teams play, or reduce the international commitments of the top players in those clubs.

At present the clubs at the bottom of the premiership can play as little as 40 games a season. If Blatter has his way, the premiership will eventually have 16 teams (his stated goal) and the smaller clubs could play as little as 32 games a season.

What has Blatter got against fans of unfashionable clubs being able to see their team play once in a while?

And of course, Blatter is also trying to reintroduce the world club championship. The hypocrisy of the man is astonishing.

[bkn0528]

Originally posted by Pazarius
And of course, Blatter is also trying to reintroduce the world club championship. The hypocrisy of the man is astonishing.

Couldn't agree more. The man is completely motivated by self-interest.

[sendorange]

Sam Allardyce on Blatter:

http://www.football365.com/news/premiership_news/story_102235.shtml

"Sepp Blatter? Who is he?" Allardyce said on Sky Sports News. It astounds me somebody like him is the head of football.

"I never have liked him and never will do.

"I don't think the man knows how the game is run. He thinks he knows better than us in the Premiership but I don't think he's in touch with reality."
This is all about Blatter's drive to diminish club football so he can pack more FIFA events into the calendar. It's all about the money, and the cover of wanting to do it for the benefit of the players is fraudulent. Less games = less money for all but the top stars.

[BillyManutd]

I disagree with the idea of cutting the Premiership. But in a footballer's perspective it would be a great idea especially for those who play in bigger clubs because to play 60 games is very tiring.

[Boro_lad]

here's and idea. Have less teams in europe. That would reduce the number of games. BUT WE COULDNT HAVE THAT THE CORPERATE FANS WOULD DISAGREE. Lets be honest fifa on cater for the corperate fans, they couldnt give a ******** about the real fans. If it were up to them you wouldnt be allowed in the ground without a suit and a 300 pound ticket. And heaven forbid and chanting!

[Coach_McGuirk]

"Blatter wants reduced Premiership"

People want ice water in Hell, too, but it ain't gonna' happen!

[Intermission]

I hope the FA re-introduce 22 teams just so Sepp can get all red faced. It'd be hilarious.

Intermission

[sinner78]

Blatter says alot of things about the premiership.
He even said the old firm would be allowed to join the premiership .He isnt very clued up about premiership affairs.

[michaec]

After A couple of fairly good decisionos by FIFA this week (not extending half-time, limiting the number of subs in international friendlies, getting rid of gold and silver goals), Blatter has to go and ruin it by shooting his big mouth off. The Premiership is fine as it is with 20 teams. The big clubs use their whole squads in the league cup, so that's not a problem. A lot of other countries have two-legged cup competitions, so the odd FA Cup replay can't be a problem. It's just crap. And I hope whoever wins the European Cup sends a second-string out to Japan to contest the ridiculous World Club Championship. He's an idiot.

[Lewin9]

I think Blatter should keep his nose out of English football. Any ideas he has are usually for his own benefit. In one breath he wants to cut the Premiership fixture list, the next he wants to introduce the World Club Championship !! Obviously money orientated plans from FIFA.

Deano.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EnglishFootball/

[Motterman]

Headline: Blatter wants reduced Premiership

Response: Premiership wants reduced Blatter

[Alan_V]

What Blatter wants is to have control. It's the "Blatter Control" initiative.

He's politicing for fewer Prem games so that he has a better chance of support for his Club championship.

[AndyMead]

1) Blatter isn't the only high profile soccer figure at FIFA, UEFA, and even *gasp* the FA that feels this way - but go ahead and keep making your attacks personal.

2) The EPL isn't the only first division league in UEFA being pressured/asked to reduce the number of teams to 16, but then generalizing the pronouncement would impinge on your sense of persecution, so nevermind.

3) This "issue" has been on the doorstep of the EPL for at least five or six years, but I guess it's so much more outrageous to pretend that it's surfaced during's Sepp's current trip to England.

[sendorange]

Originally posted by AndyMead
1) Blatter isn't the only high profile soccer figure at FIFA, UEFA, and even *gasp* the FA that feels this way - but go ahead and keep making your attacks personal.
Blatter made these comments as the head of FIFA and deserves to be called on them for his hypocrisy. The fact that he specifically made them again during his 'big' tour justifies shooting them down here and now.

His actions in increasing the pressure on top footballers with one hand, while on the other hand calling on everybody else, big and small, to reduce their share of games, regardless of their desires or circumstances, is laughable. The main people calling specifically for league numbers and domestic competitions to be cut, and those two things alone, are Blatter and the selfish elite. Why? To allow for more attention and time for their glossy elite international competitions, the ones where him and his cronies make the most money and only a fraction of the footballing world will ever be involved.

No-one here said that the Premiership was the only one being asked to reduce the number of the teams. But as this is the Premiership forum of course people are going to look at it from a Premiership perspective. Is that too difficult for you to understand?

[billyireland]

Originally posted by AndyMead
2) The EPL isn't the only first division league in UEFA being pressured/asked to reduce the number of teams to 16, but then generalizing the pronouncement would impinge on your sense of persecution, so nevermind. Then why has Serie A recently changed from 18 to 20 teams (or else it is next season)?

[bkn0528]

Originally posted by AndyMead
1) Blatter isn't the only high profile soccer figure at FIFA, UEFA, and even *gasp* the FA that feels this way - but go ahead and keep making your attacks personal.

2) The EPL isn't the only first division league in UEFA being pressured/asked to reduce the number of teams to 16, but then generalizing the pronouncement would impinge on your sense of persecution, so nevermind.

3) This "issue" has been on the doorstep of the EPL for at least five or six years, but I guess it's so much more outrageous to pretend that it's surfaced during's Sepp's current trip to England.

My God, someone is defending Sepp Blatter??!! What's next? Society is crumbling.

[Bizzo]

Originally posted by AndyMead
1) Blatter isn't the only high profile soccer figure at FIFA, UEFA, and even *gasp* the FA that feels this way - but go ahead and keep making your attacks personal.

2) The EPL isn't the only first division league in UEFA being pressured/asked to reduce the number of teams to 16, but then generalizing the pronouncement would impinge on your sense of persecution, so nevermind.

3) This "issue" has been on the doorstep of the EPL for at least five or six years, but I guess it's so much more outrageous to pretend that it's surfaced during's Sepp's current trip to England.

1. The FA has never proposed this. The big clubs that control the Premier League might like it but that is only so there will be 2 fewer teams to split the money with.

2. This is the Premiership board so we might as well stick to commenting on the Premiership.

3. Since Blatter reiterated this position while on a visit to Enlgand & brought it back into the public's mind it seems to make sense to comment on it.

Obviously, like all of Blatter's opinions, reducing the Premiership is a way of trying to gain more power for FIFA. Everybody with any sense realizes that there are much more sensible ways of reducing the number of games. League play in is the cornerstone that European football is built on. All of the other competitions should fit around their schedule. Not the other way around.

[RichardL]

Originally posted by sendorange
It's all about the money, and the cover of wanting to do it for the benefit of the players is fraudulent. Less games = less money for all but the top stars.
I wouldn't be so sure. The odds of any player agreeing to a pay cut just because they are playing less games, and therefore doing less work, are roughly nil. I remember our own John Salako a few years back on ITV's Sport in Question proposing that if players played 25% less games a season they'd be fresher, only for Ken Bates to ask him if he'd be prepared to take a 25% cut in salary. Cue silence from John.

[bkn0528]

ultimately though, fewer teams in the league would mean fewer matches on television, so even the big clubs would lose eventually, even if not as much as the smaller clubs.