(Long post, but i’ve been thinking about how this could work for a while. I’d be against it, but bear with me…)
League Cups should be discontinued, or at least made into an U23 tournaments for Super League clubs. This might actually be a good thing, as much as it’s driven by the wont of the elite clubs. It would mean, in England for example, they could stop fucking about with the JPT, and it should mean a wider variation of winners.
Premier domestic cups, like the FA Cup, i expect, might involve fewer replays. What they should do is offer any club from a lower level the choice of a home or an away draw, so those in financial need can choose to travel and forefeit home advantage for gate receipts. No extra time, straight to pens. Again, as much as i’m against it we could end up with a more competitive competition here.
All international friendlies to be scrapped, except perhaps for a six-week window before major finals. The Nations League has been a rare positive so far.
Do think we’ll quickly see the move towards 18-team top flights and 20-team divisions from level two downwards. Clubs do play too many games, especially beyond the Premier League, but of course many rely on the income those extra games generate.
A 16-team Super League, assuming it would have a four-team group stage then knockouts would be eleven games for finalists. It would more than likely eventually become a 30-game league, but probably down the line. Those games are going to take place on weekends, not weekdays, you imagine.
So hypothetically, Chelsea, for example, would have 34 Premier League games, up to 11 Super League games, up to 6 FA Cup games, then their U23 could have up to six League Cup ties, so 46-51 senior games in total, less than now.
A non-Super League club, say Watford, would have 34 League games, up to 6 FA Cup games, and up to 6 (senior) League Cup games, so 36-46 games in total, less than now.
We’d almost certainly have to have more midweek league cards. Course, the broadcasters are unlikely to use much common sense, but what if they did? What if we could have more local fixtures midweek, and long-trip domestic games and Super League games on weekends? Say, for example, bar huge derbies where policing might be an issue, regional games were played on Wednesdays, say, Everton v United, or Palace v Arsenal.
Don’t get me wrong, i think the greed of the big clubs here and abroad is abhorrent. I’d fire the lot of them into the fucking moon, and FIFA, UEFA and the Premier League are all rotten are are unlikely to ever get much right and don’t really care for the wider game, but at the same time football fans generally are being short-sighted, they always are. Festive scheduling’s a great example. The arguments for a winter break are conclusive, but curmudgeony simpletons smugly dismiss it with their arms folded every year.
Don’t think people are seeing the bigger picture. Yes, a small cartel of clubs are barging everyone else out of the way, but the positives of that might outweigh the negatives if by allowing it we can improve the competitiveness or life of several other competitions, and perhaps most importantly, secure improved funding for clubs at and below Football League level. Big ifs, admittedly.
I raised these ideas with a couple of mates recently and they dismissed them out of hand, but one supports a club whose league parachute payments have completely borked, and the other whinges about his Premier League club getting 3-0’d by the squids every other week. Football’s broke. Rather than just “Not for me, Clive”-ing everything away we should at least consider the possible disadvantages and benefits properly and whether the greed of the suits and big clubs might give everyone else leverage to address issues. They’re going to do it anyway.