Top Clubs Consider Overseas Games

[kopite]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/e...rem/7232390.stm

The English Premier League is considering playing some matches overseas, BBC Sport has learned.

At a meeting in London on Thursday, all 20 clubs agreed to explore a proposal to extend the season to 39 games.

Those 10 extra games would be played at venues around the world, with cities bidding for the right to stage them.

It is understood the additional fixtures could be determined by a draw but that the top-five teams could be seeded to avoid playing each other.

It is unlikely that any decision will be taken before the Premier League's annual summer meeting in June.

Should the proposal get the go-ahead, cities in Asia, Middle East and North America are likely to show a strong interest in hosting the extra games.

BBC Sport believes there would be five venues, with two games - on a Saturday and Sunday - taking place at each one.

what ever happened to the game i loved

[mrbojangles]

As April's fools day come early this year or what

[spot]

Ridiculous.

Managers and players are always complaining about too many games as it is.

The quest for more and more money is getting out of hand!

[kopite]

As April's fools day come early this year or what

maybe this not next year or the year after that, but it will happen if the fans dont unite.

domestic american football games being played in london?

with so many clubs owned by foreign owners who no doubt would push this move its becoming a reality.

http://z12.invisionfree.com/StandUpSitDown...?showtopic=2714

[spot]

Some geezer from the FA was just on 5 live, saying something about English football being a global game, and we 'have to move fast in case another sport gobbles us up'...

<deleted> he talking about?

We need to get rid of the greedy FA and greedy owners from the game.

And start getting a grip!

[chavy]

I think it will come no doubt. The TV cash cow will run out one day.

[mrtoad]

Some geezer from the FA was just on 5 live, saying something about English football being a global game, and we 'have to move fast in case another sport gobbles us up'...

<deleted> he talking about?

We need to get rid of the greedy FA and greedy owners from the game.

And start getting a grip!

Totally agree. What a total crock of shit. So we may end up with Man Utd v Liverpool being played in Singapore. <deleted>, it's a joke.

However, if w3e get a game in BKK, I suppose I'd be pretty handy, as it's not often that there's much quality football played here.

[kopite]

Some geezer from the FA was just on 5 live, saying something about English football being a global game, and we 'have to move fast in case another sport gobbles us up'...

<deleted> he talking about?

We need to get rid of the greedy FA and greedy owners from the game.

And start getting a grip!

Totally agree. What a total crock of shit. So we may end up with Man Utd v Liverpool being played in Singapore. <deleted>, it's a joke.

However, if w3e get a game in BKK, I suppose I'd be pretty handy, as it's not often that there's much quality football played here.

hmm. not ok in singapore but in bkk in would be fine? i get where your coming from Mr Toad as i would love to watch the red men play here. but that should never be in a competitive domestic game.

pre-season friendlies fair enough.

not saying you agree with it like but its easy to lose the point here.

[kopite]

English Football --- born in the 19th Century as the beautiful culture and expression of the working class, taken all over the world by Englishmen, died in 2008 as the vehicle to 'increase the brand value' of corporate sponsors

+++++

Idea promises windfall for clubs and sponsors

Barclays Premier League clubs could share as much as £100 million from playing a round of fixtures overseas on the back of the sale of the extra television rights to British and international broadcasters. The decision is also expected to please sponsors of the clubs and the league, increasing numbers of whom are multinational companies desperate to reach a global audience.

Introducing the fixtures in the 2010-11 season will mean that the overseas games will be held at a time when the next set of television rights is up for negotiation. At present, Sky and Setanta pay an average of £4.1 million a game to show 138 fixtures a season - and there is little doubt that the extra games will be televised.

However, there are several reasons to expect that the league will make more than that. Premier League officials said the ten extra games will “almost certainly” have to be sold separately – and because the number of games on offer is small, the BBC and ITV, long priced out of the market for the entire season, could submit competitive bids.

There is also a fast-growing international market. Paul Zwillenberg, a media specialist with OC&C, the strategy consultant, said: “It’s a brilliant move commercially because of the importance so many international broadcasters attach to Premier League games.”

Those rights have been escalating in value – and are worth £625 million over the present three-year period, or just over £560,000 a game, because broadcasters overseas gain the right to show 370 live games a season. They are not prevented from showing matches at 3pm on a Saturday.

The increasing globalisation of a league in which players from many nationalities are represented also plays into sponsors’ hands. Barclays, which pays nearly £22 million a season to sponsor the top flight, said yesterday that it “welcomed the decision” because it met the bank’s desire to “increase our global reach as a brand”.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle3330581.ece

Martin Samuels on the money

+++++

Dedicated fan is second class as Richard Scudamore hands out his tickets to ride

When the meeting at the Churchill Hotel had concluded and the various executives had left, no doubt dreaming of all the lovely global lolly that would soon be flowing through the game, to reappear as a pool of vomit at the end of a night of romance with Ashley Cole, or as a Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Roadster that the twentysomething owner is banned from driving, one question was left hanging in the air.

What if the Spanish and Italian leagues look at what English football is planning to do to the most sacred concepts of the domestic game, the tenet of the level playing field, of loyalty to the supporters, of the symmetrical league as the true arbiter of the best team, suppose they look at the way the Premier League is prepared to abandon these principles for a sack of cash and just laugh and laugh and laugh.

There is no rush to beat English football to Sydney in January 2011, no attempt to follow Manchester United or Bolton Wanderers to Bangkok, instead the representatives of the leagues of the leading football nations in Europe – the ones that win the odd World Cup – exchange smirks and then begin giggling. Their shoulders gradually shake until they dissolve helpless into guffaws and howls, legs kicking in convulsive spasms. Can you believe what they have done, they gasp, between rapid breaths. They have turned their competition into a silly little circus.

What type of league is decided by an odd number of matches anyway? What type of league is hawked to the highest bidder, or left at the mercy of a random draw? What type of league risks alienating people that will be there for it week in, week out, whose investment is total, to flutter its eyelashes at a part-time fan whose loyalty will never be tested over a wet weekend away to West Bromwich Albion? Still, at least the local supporter now knows what matters to the Premier League. Not him, apparently. Not so much.

To be fair to Richard Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, if this country ever needs a man to front up an unpalatable idea – a foreign war fought at vast cost on an entirely specious basis, for instance – he is the man for the job. The Government missed a trick by not getting him in over Iraq. “Yeah, Rich, there’s no weapons. No, no weapons at all, mate. Nothing. No, it gets worse. All the stuff he has got – it turns out we sold it to him. I know, he’s even got the receipts. That’s where you come in, mate. Could you talk it up? I don’t know, some old guff about strategy and integrity, I suppose. You know what to say. If you can get Wigan Athletic to Kuala Lumpur, anything’s possible.”

So yesterday Scudamore sat before an audience that was sceptical to say the least and played an absolute blinder. He presented the move as a logical response to globalisation, claimed it was not the thin end of the wedge, pledged there would be no expansion of the international round – as the proposal has been tagged – in the next ten years, insisted it would not affect the fairness of the competition, he even promised that the most loyal fans would not be left stranded, as if the prospect of a match on the other side of the planet is affordable to a supporter who has already followed his team home and away throughout England and Europe.

There were moments when it was possible to believe him. He said the Premier League would only go where it was welcome and, challenged on potential hosts that are not so tolerant – Israeli passport-holders such as Yossi Benayoun would be banned from entering some Middle Eastern states, for instance – he immediately excluded those nations from the bidding.

It was a tough room. A lesser performer would have been skewered. Instead, Scudamore remained unruffled, persuasive, diplomatic. The chap from Sky News asked why the move could not be put to a vote of the fans. The Premier League PR man began to panic at this mention of the disenfranchised but Scudamore, at his side, remained calm. The chief executive patiently explained that, if the fans were allowed to vote on everything, kick-off times would have remained at 3pm on Saturday afternoon for all matches and then where would a certain television station be? Touché.

Yet there is a reason the mention of supporters brought a shiver. Scudamore knew he would be in for a rough ride, but if the room was high on cynicism, it was low on season ticket-holders. The real anger would be bubbling up from the fans, those who were now realising that no percentage of their pay cheque will ever be enough for football’s new aristocracy, and no well-rehearsed speech was going to placate them. Many will only see this as a further act of rejection from a league that is already distancing itself from reality. Sure enough, the early reaction has been overwhelmingly negative. Scudamore’s arguments are slick, but they do not bear analysis.

He said the league would not lose integrity because the extra game was only a variable like facing a team with nothing to play for on the last day – as West Ham United did last year, avoiding relegation with a win against a Manchester United side already crowned champions. He said the international draw that will ultimately pair teams up – first versus eleventh, and so on down the league, is an early suggestion – is only a twist of fate, such as getting a home tie in the FA Cup.

He misses the point, which is that any cup has a random factor, which is why the league is regarded as the true competition of worth. And a soft final game is something over which the Premier League has no control – here the league has factored in its weakness, the chance that the whole season could be affected by a fluke of a fixture, taking place on the other side of the world, for a bounty. It gives the elite clubs an advantage before a ball has been kicked.

For two weeks in January, English football is now on sale to the highest bidder. One can only hope the mayor of Kabul is thinking big right now; or the mayor of Baghdad.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle3330697.ece

[Jockstar]

Money! Thats all it is.

[fletchsmile]

...

There is no rush to beat English football to Sydney in January 2011, no attempt to follow Manchester United or Bolton Wanderers to Bangkok, ...

I know at least 3 people who'd love to watch Bolton beat ManU 1-0 again, especially if it was in Bangkok. As for rushing... I guess they've never seen my 18 month old daughter when she wants something...

It's an innovative idea. There are a lot of fans worldwide who would love the opportunity to watch a real Premier League match live in their country. After all we live in a global world.

No doubt people will recall Bolton's famous victory in the "Whatever can't remember the name, let's just play a few games in Thailand, call it Asia and pretend it means something, while playing half the reserve team with unlimited subsitutions Cup" played here in Thailand a couple of years back. Bolton of course came out victors over Everton, Man City and Thailand in this prestigious competition. But even as a Bolton fan I found it a bit meaningless. A Premiership match which actually counted for something would be different.

It needs a lot more thought than that tho'. A 39th match? Can't see them making it fair and meaningful, without upsetting the balance, and taking away from the current set up.

How about sticking with 38 games and have each side play one home and one away match in a different country?

What I really wouldn't want to see is heading in the direction of 12 super teams playing each other 3 times, with one game being overseas. If that's on the cards, you might as well go to Scotland and watch Rangers and Celtic in that country's mini foreign league

Anyway I think they're limiting themselves. Why stop at countries? Surely they could host the odd match on the moon with the technology these days. Not sure what you'd do for pies at half time though. Imagine Bolton beating ManU again on the Red Planet. It would be difficult to pick out Fergie's red face among the camouflage tho'. I can just picture him launching those boots off into space after a half time tantrum in the dressing room

Edited February 8, 2008 by fletchsmile

[mrtoad]

Some geezer from the FA was just on 5 live, saying something about English football being a global game, and we 'have to move fast in case another sport gobbles us up'...

<deleted> he talking about?

We need to get rid of the greedy FA and greedy owners from the game.

And start getting a grip!

Totally agree. What a total crock of shit. So we may end up with Man Utd v Liverpool being played in Singapore. <deleted>, it's a joke.

However, if w3e get a game in BKK, I suppose I'd be pretty handy, as it's not often that there's much quality football played here.

hmm. not ok in singapore but in bkk in would be fine? i get where your coming from Mr Toad as i would love to watch the red men play here. but that should never be in a competitive domestic game.

pre-season friendlies fair enough.

not saying you agree with it like but its easy to lose the point here.

Yeah, Kopite, whilst I think it is totally a bad idea which is driven by greed, if, and it's a big if at the moment they were playing in either S'pore or Bangkok I would probably go. I don't agree with it one little bit though, and hope it doesn't happen, but ......

[redrus]

Total lunacy....!

Harry [the prophet] Redknapp already predicted this, he says something like 'we'll be playing one game in England and the rest overseas. We'll be like a league of The Harlem Globetrotters.....!!!!!'

:D

redrus

[spot]

It's just a bad idea full stop.

Football to me is beyond globalisation and profiteering.

Growing up in Huyton wearing my Liverpool colours, and my uncle taking me to games (my dad was a Blue) is still a massive memory to me. Football has been one constant in my life. It's always been there whatever I've been doing, or wherever I've been. Good or bad times.

I've got no problem at all with having fans around the world, and welcome them, but my club is Liverpool football club - and belongs to Liverpool. Doesn't belong to the players, managers, owners, agents and certainly doesn't belong to the FA!

I'm all for progress and life moves on, market forces etc, but Football doesn't need it, and doesn't need to go on any further money spinning adventures to survive. It's got enough money as it is. If the FA need more income for the game, how about capping ridiculous player/manager wages and reforming itself as voluntary body. Get some real football supporters in to run the FA, instead of highly paid accountants and marketing managers who probably prefer rugby or cricket anyway.

Football clubs exist for, and because of the supporters...that's it - not as money making corporate entities.

Why does the FA need more money - why do football clubs need more money? It's like an endless race to get more and more and bigger and bigger! What's the fuc_k*n point? Where's it going? Agents, dodgy managers and greedy players have all contributed to all this. And now the carpetbaggers have moved in: owners with either a political agenda or pure profit in mind have moved in on football and are using it's popularity for their own satisfaction. Some owners bought clubs just because they were bored of playing nintendo and wanted the real thing. What did the FA do? Nothing!

FIFA is as bad - they could easily stop all this madness, and get some real football back... but like the FA they are a bunch of corrupt suits who again are only interested in clawing free luxury travel, top class hookers and vast mountains of dosh! That Blatter geezer is a lunatic anyway.

I've got no objection to teams playing tournaments anywhere the the world, but this new idea is just a cynical attempt to rake in more money for the sake of it...

I never thought I'd say this, but football is beginning to mean less to me these days.

[scousemouse]

I've just finished watching tiger first edition with John Dykes and Richard Keys and after listening to Keys' points about the games abroad it doesn't seem a bad idea.

The game played abroad will be a 39th premiership match and will have no bearing on the points accumulated in the season.

I'm sure it wont hurt the players too much to play 1 more game for the club considering how much money they get paid. And seen as premiership football is shown live on t.v in over 150 countries in the world whats wrong with taking the game live for real to a few of them countries and their supporters .

[mrtoad]

It's just a bad idea full stop.

Football to me is beyond globalisation and profiteering.

Growing up in Huyton wearing my Liverpool colours, and my uncle taking me to games (my dad was a Blue) is still a massive memory to me. Football has been one constant in my life. It's always been there whatever I've been doing, or wherever I've been. Good or bad times.

I've got no problem at all with having fans around the world, and welcome them, but my club is Liverpool football club - and belongs to Liverpool. Doesn't belong to the players, managers, owners, agents and certainly doesn't belong to the FA!

I'm all for progress and life moves on, market forces etc, but Football doesn't need it, and doesn't need to go on any further money spinning adventures to survive. It's got enough money as it is. If the FA need more income for the game, how about capping ridiculous player/manager wages and reforming itself as voluntary body. Get some real football supporters in to run the FA, instead of highly paid accountants and marketing managers who probably prefer rugby or cricket anyway.

Football clubs exist for, and because of the supporters...that's it - not as money making corporate entities.

Why does the FA need more money - why do football clubs need more money? It's like an endless race to get more and more and bigger and bigger! What's the fuc_k*n point? Where's it going? Agents, dodgy managers and greedy players have all contributed to all this. And now the carpetbaggers have moved in: owners with either a political agenda or pure profit in mind have moved in on football and are using it's popularity for their own satisfaction. Some owners bought clubs just because they were bored of playing nintendo and wanted the real thing. What did the FA do? Nothing!

FIFA is as bad - they could easily stop all this madness, and get some real football back... but like the FA they are a bunch of corrupt suits who again are only interested in clawing free luxury travel, top class hookers and vast mountains of dosh! That Blatter geezer is a lunatic anyway.

I've got no objection to teams playing tournaments anywhere the the world, but this new idea is just a cynical attempt to rake in more money for the sake of it...

I never thought I'd say this, but football is beginning to mean less to me these days.

Thanks Spot, I think you have summed it very well, regardless of what you say. As regards the Dykes statement, yes I underestand, but my concern is that it is the prelude to what many of us all fear.

[kopite]

It's just a bad idea full stop.

Football to me is beyond globalisation and profiteering.

Growing up in Huyton wearing my Liverpool colours, and my uncle taking me to games (my dad was a Blue) is still a massive memory to me. Football has been one constant in my life. It's always been there whatever I've been doing, or wherever I've been. Good or bad times.

I've got no problem at all with having fans around the world, and welcome them, but my club is Liverpool football club - and belongs to Liverpool. Doesn't belong to the players, managers, owners, agents and certainly doesn't belong to the FA!

I'm all for progress and life moves on, market forces etc, but Football doesn't need it, and doesn't need to go on any further money spinning adventures to survive. It's got enough money as it is. If the FA need more income for the game, how about capping ridiculous player/manager wages and reforming itself as voluntary body. Get some real football supporters in to run the FA, instead of highly paid accountants and marketing managers who probably prefer rugby or cricket anyway.

Football clubs exist for, and because of the supporters...that's it - not as money making corporate entities.

Why does the FA need more money - why do football clubs need more money? It's like an endless race to get more and more and bigger and bigger! What's the fuc_k*n point? Where's it going? Agents, dodgy managers and greedy players have all contributed to all this. And now the carpetbaggers have moved in: owners with either a political agenda or pure profit in mind have moved in on football and are using it's popularity for their own satisfaction. Some owners bought clubs just because they were bored of playing nintendo and wanted the real thing. What did the FA do? Nothing!

FIFA is as bad - they could easily stop all this madness, and get some real football back... but like the FA they are a bunch of corrupt suits who again are only interested in clawing free luxury travel, top class hookers and vast mountains of dosh! That Blatter geezer is a lunatic anyway.

I've got no objection to teams playing tournaments anywhere the the world, but this new idea is just a cynical attempt to rake in more money for the sake of it...

I never thought I'd say this, but football is beginning to mean less to me these days.

nail on head.

the working class man/boy is now priced out of the game. for one thing you need a credit or debit card just to buy a ticket. whatever happened to paying on the door. remember them days. getting into the kop a few hours before kick off in fear of there being a lock out.

no more windows sales. only for obscure league cup games and the odd fa cup match. fan cards. liver world. what the f*** is liver world all about. oirish and norweigians all over the place.

the common man has no place in football anymore. how can the younger generation get and afford tickets?

and the atmosphere has gone from nearly every ground. all down to the younger lads not being able to get tickets.

the coffin is nearly nailed down shut. nearly!!!

[redrus]

It's just a bad idea full stop.

Football to me is beyond globalisation and profiteering.

Growing up in Huyton wearing my Liverpool colours, and my uncle taking me to games (my dad was a Blue) is still a massive memory to me. Football has been one constant in my life. It's always been there whatever I've been doing, or wherever I've been. Good or bad times.

I've got no problem at all with having fans around the world, and welcome them, but my club is Liverpool football club - and belongs to Liverpool. Doesn't belong to the players, managers, owners, agents and certainly doesn't belong to the FA!

I'm all for progress and life moves on, market forces etc, but Football doesn't need it, and doesn't need to go on any further money spinning adventures to survive. It's got enough money as it is. If the FA need more income for the game, how about capping ridiculous player/manager wages and reforming itself as voluntary body. Get some real football supporters in to run the FA, instead of highly paid accountants and marketing managers who probably prefer rugby or cricket anyway.

Football clubs exist for, and because of the supporters...that's it - not as money making corporate entities.

Why does the FA need more money - why do football clubs need more money? It's like an endless race to get more and more and bigger and bigger! What's the fuc_k*n point? Where's it going? Agents, dodgy managers and greedy players have all contributed to all this. And now the carpetbaggers have moved in: owners with either a political agenda or pure profit in mind have moved in on football and are using it's popularity for their own satisfaction. Some owners bought clubs just because they were bored of playing nintendo and wanted the real thing. What did the FA do? Nothing!

FIFA is as bad - they could easily stop all this madness, and get some real football back... but like the FA they are a bunch of corrupt suits who again are only interested in clawing free luxury travel, top class hookers and vast mountains of dosh! That Blatter geezer is a lunatic anyway.

I've got no objection to teams playing tournaments anywhere the the world, but this new idea is just a cynical attempt to rake in more money for the sake of it...

I never thought I'd say this, but football is beginning to mean less to me these days.

nail on head.

the working class man/boy is now priced out of the game. for one thing you need a credit or debit card just to buy a ticket. whatever happened to paying on the door. remember them days. getting into the kop a few hours before kick off in fear of there being a lock out.

no more windows sales. only for obscure league cup games and the odd fa cup match. fan cards. liver world. what the f*** is liver world all about. oirish and norweigians all over the place.

the common man has no place in football anymore. how can the younger generation get and afford tickets?

and the atmosphere has gone from nearly every ground. all down to the younger lads not being able to get tickets.

the coffin is nearly nailed down shut. nearly!!!

Afraid, sadly I have to agree with you.

Not sadly cos its you, cos its true....!

redrus

[percy2]

If that's the way the Premier League want it let them have it.

Let the government start promoting the Championship.

No more government help in building stadiums for for Premier League teams.

No more promotion or relegation to/from the Championship.

Cheers

[kopite]

I've just finished watching tiger first edition with John Dykes and Richard Keys and after listening to Keys' points about the games abroad it doesn't seem a bad idea.

The game played abroad will be a 39th premiership match and will have no bearing on the points accumulated in the season.

I'm sure it wont hurt the players too much to play 1 more game for the club considering how much money they get paid. And seen as premiership football is shown live on t.v in over 150 countries in the world whats wrong with taking the game live for real to a few of them countries and their supporters .

they work for sky mate of course they will back it.

what about the young lads back in liverpool, manchester and london. let them see a game first

[mrbojangles]

Afraid, sadly I have to agree with you.

Not sadly cos its you, cos its true....! :D

redrus

Red, will United automatically take the cost of the ticket out of your bank, like they do with all cup matches. Even though the game will be in say China or Aus

[redrus]

Afraid, sadly I have to agree with you.

Not sadly cos its you, cos its true....! :D

redrus

Red, will United automatically take the cost of the ticket out of your bank, like they do with all cup matches. Even though the game will be in say China or Aus

Shheeeeite, I never thought of that.........!

redrus

[kopite]

Afraid, sadly I have to agree with you.

Not sadly cos its you, cos its true....!

redrus

Red, will United automatically take the cost of the ticket out of your bank, like they do with all cup matches. Even though the game will be in say China or Aus

thing is, that isnt so funny (allthough i sniggered) it will probaly be the case one day in the future.

home season ticket

away season ticket

CL season ticket

and the exhibition season ticket

[chavy]

I've just finished watching tiger first edition with John Dykes and Richard Keys and after listening to Keys' points about the games abroad it doesn't seem a bad idea.

The game played abroad will be a 39th premiership match and will have no bearing on the points accumulated in the season.

I'm sure it wont hurt the players too much to play 1 more game for the club considering how much money they get paid. And seen as premiership football is shown live on t.v in over 150 countries in the world whats wrong with taking the game live for real to a few of them countries and their supporters .

This is how I understood it to be SM. An extra fixture with the top 5 - 6 teams seeded so they wouldnt play each other at the same location. In reality an exhibition match...right ????????

[MSingh]

The problem i would have with it wou;d be the seeding of the top 5 Teams so they don't have to play each other in the 39th game, that simply would not be fair especially as it has an affect on the League Table..

Aside form that, i think it would be great & also people, the Premiership lost its soul long before this in my opinion, anyway.

[fletchsmile]

Maybe the world needs to become Bolton supporters. At the Reeebok it's about more than money. (Well it has to be really as we don't have any ) Check out the following link for a real town club, with values...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...p;#entry1808315

Wanderers Turn Down TV Deal for Madrid Game

Posted on: Fri 08 Feb 2008

[kopite]

PM backs fans on global proposal

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called on the Premier League to listen to the views of the fans before moving ahead with plans to introduce overseas games.

Mr Brown also believes that the money earned from the foreign matches should be used to keep ticket prices down.

"Fans have to come first and you have to listen to their views on this," he told Radio 5 Live's Eamonn Holmes in an interview to be broadcast on Saturday.

"It's important to recognise that the money has to go back into the game."

All 20 Premier League clubs have agreed to explore a proposal to extend the season to 39 games from 2011, with the extra round of fixtures being played in five host cities.

The proposal has created a heated reaction, with many supporters unhappy with the plans, although Sunderland boss Roy Keane and Newcastle counterpart Kevin Keegan are among those to have given their support.

And Brown believes that a commitment to plough the extra money back into the English game would be one way of winning over the fans.

"I have just come back from China and India and the support for the Premier League and people watching matches there is just incredible," he added.

"Now if that is money that is going back into football, and if that is helping keep the price of tickets down in England, and if that means that more fans get more opportunities of going to matches as a result of that at a cheaper price, then that would be something that I think people would want to take into account.

"There is no doubt about the worldwide interest in the Premier League. There is no doubt that that's good for football because it gets more money into the game in England.

"There is no doubt that the English Premier League has taken over from the Spanish and Italian as being probably the one that people would want to watch the most and therefore you have to get the best players into the league.

"So let's hear what the fans say on this."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/e...rem/7235912.stm

[kopite]

Global revelation angers Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson has condemned the Premier League after claiming he was not consulted before it revealed plans to stage some matches across the world.

All 20 clubs agreed to explore a proposal to extend the English season by one game to 39 games from 2010-11.

"They should have been enquiring and having discussions with managers and players before they come out with all this stuff and make an issue of it.

"They can't keep their mouth shut down there," said the Old Trafford boss.

"What disappoints me is Manchester United chief executive David Gill said 'keep this quiet, we're discussing it' and then it's in the papers.

"These issues should be discussed internally by clubs before they come to this position we are now in but until I speak to David Gill again I have nothing more to say about it."

Fifa has confirmed it will examine the Premier League's proposals at its executive committee meeting on 14 March.

Sunderland boss Roy Keane and his Newcastle counterpart Kevin Keegan were the highest-profile managers to throw their weight backing behind the Premier League plans, with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger broadly in favour of the idea.

"I'm not against an innovative attitude if it respects the competitive side of our league, if it respects the fans and promotes the quality of our Premier League," Wenger told the BBC.

And Keane also told the BBC: "It's great. Change is good but that depends who you are playing in that extra game. If it's one of the top four, I might argue."

"It will give everybody in the world a chance to see it in areas where they don't get a chance to see football like that," said Keegan.

Keane added: "The Premier League has been brilliant and Richard Scudamore (Premier League chief executive) spoke brilliantly last night. They are looking at the proposals and do everything properly.

"It's three years away and I think we should all be trying to be positive about it."

Former Football Association executive director David Davies revealed his fears of player burn-out to the BBC.

"It's more football when our fixture list is already more cluttered than anywhere else," Davies told BBC Radio 5 Live.

Those 10 extra games would be played at five different venues, with cities bidding for the right to stage them.

The extra games are expected to net the clubs in the region of an extra £5m each.

MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis said there is "a thirst for Premier League games" in the USA and around the world.

"If this were to happen it's something that we would be involved in," he said.

"We are the premier promoter of international soccer in North America and clearly we would like to get involved."

When Manchester United played a testimonial in Saudi Arabia in January they reportedly earned about £1m for the 6,000-mile round-trip.

Davies added: "I would much prefer a winter break, if we want our teams to win. The problem is we neither win at international level nor do we win the big club competitions with any degree of regularity at all."

"I'm not surprised about the proposal or the reaction to it for a league so popular around the world and full of players from all around the planet to want to exploit that position is entirely predictable.

"Fans have got to be aware that the game has changed and the game is a global game, so there has to be a balance.

"To be fair, they are not taking a home game out of the current programme and shifting it to Bangkok. The intention is to have an extra game - an extra round of matches."

Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor expressed concern that the plans would put more pressure on top-flight players.

"I can't see it being very helpful, in a very crowded fixture programme, to introduce one more game," he told BBC Sport.

"It's trying to get a quart into a pint pot, it's driven commercially. From the business side of things it will look good but you have to remember that this is a sporting business and you are dealing with human beings.

"This will increase the injury problems of the top-flight players. It is going to the well too many times and it is treating players as commodities.

"If you encourage caution then you are considered to be out of date but that is not always the case.

"Change is not always for the better, change can sometimes affect the very strength of the roots that have caused you to be the most popular game in the world," added Taylor.

The BBC's 606 website has been inundated with posts, with the majority of the 4,800 comments so far critical of the proposals and some calling for fans to unite against the proposals.

The Football Supporters' Federation has launched its 'No to game 39' poll to fight the Premier League's plans.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/e...rem/7234304.stm

[Zodiac]

Let me add my opinion that this proposal re overseas games is a load of rubbish and is merely another example of these greedy people who care nothing about football trying to further exploit the game.

Only have to look at some of the people who own football clubs, like these Americans,who are only interested in their grasping money motives.

And just to take another example, see how this nonsence about calling the second division, "The Championship" etc is just another

way to fool the public as a mean to try to get more cash.

Viewing games recently on UBC it is quite obviously to me that with a few exceptions the premiership is grossly over hyped and over rated as the quality of the majority of matches is generally low and boring.

Many people like media pundits, etc etc are self serving like the footballers and owners who are all taking from the game unlike the real supporters who put money into it.

Surely its' past time that these real supporters, as thankfully they are doing, started to mobilise themselves?

Edited February 11, 2008 by Zodiac

[scousemouse]

Without the Asian audience I doubt this idea will ever get of the ground ............ good \ bad thing ?? :

Asia against Premier League plan

The Asian Football Confederation has become the latest national body to distance itself from Premier League plans to play league matches overseas.

Asia was thought to have been one of the leading contenders to stage the controversial 39th round of games.

But AFC president Mohamed bin Hammam said: "It's not a good idea to organise domestic leagues in other territories.

"My recommendation would be to reject initiatives of this nature." US chiefs also expressed reluctance to the idea.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/p...am=1&bbwm=1

Given the already fervent interest in English football in parts of Asia, officials there are concerned that matches played there would have a damaging effect on the development of their own game.

"I support matches organised between AFC and other confederations which benefit the development of our clubs here in Asia," said Bin Hammam.

"But at the present time, I can't see the wisdom in the proposed plans and we would urge the AFC member associations to protect their own national leagues and clubs within their territories."

Uefa president Michel Platini has termed the Premier League's proposals "comical," while on Monday, senior officials in the hierarchy of football in the US hinted they were unlikely to accept them.

"We'll be guided by Fifa on this matter but, if it's not in line with its rules, then we won't sanction it," US Soccer chief Sunil Gulati told BBC Sport.

The Premier League's proposal to have an extra round of games has aroused widespread criticism, but chief executive Richard Scudamore has remained defiant, insisting that the extension would have a positive rather than negative effect of the sport.

"Clearly, there are a lot of hurdles to overcome," he told the BBC.

"We've seen how sport is globalising, we compete in the entertainment industry.

"This is a solidarity move where all 20 clubs want to do it. It benefits all of them and it's far better we all do it rather than allow single clubs to."

Gulati, the president of the US Soccer Federation, said he had read about the proposals but that his federation had yet to be approached by the Premier League.

"We had a similar proposal 10 years ago when a team playing in Los Angeles wanted to play in the Mexican league," he said.

"We didn't let that happen and Concacaf (the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) said no.

"We understand it's a global sport but it's about nurturing the home game.

"If Fifa said 'OK, it's up to the relevant FA's,' then we would look at the Premier League proposal. "But there are also some issues that we've got which would cause us to be very hesitant."