The 39th Game

[PeterWithesShin]

ticket boycotts, walls of silence in the stands.

So small heath fans have been protesting stuff for the last 139 years?

[rob_bridge]

ticket boycotts, walls of silence in the stands.

So small heath fans have been protesting stuff for the last 139 years?

The Neanderthal Great Unwashed are very good at not turning up to support their team.

[Dave]

Opening 3 home games in Brisbane, Buenos Aires and Baku.

I don't think the people of Buenos Aires would give two shits about Premier League teams coming to play there.

[cdbearsfan]

Depends what number plate they had on the team coach.

[Ads]

If we play a game in Sydney, I know a good pub up in The Rocks that we could go to. I'm not sure if will be rammed full of Villa or not though.

[The Laughing Policeman]

If Scudamore and his cronies get their way on this and it proves to be a financial success, which after all is the only way it will be measured. I'm convinced the PL could go the way of Formula One. Where Cities around the world will bid to host matches and whoever puts the most money forward gets the 'top' games and so on down the scale so that Hull v Stoke would probably be won by a village in Kazakhstan.
There could come a time where the majority of games are played abroad and we might get the crumbs, where a game just wouldn't be financially viable abroad , so we could end up with games at home against the likes of Stoke, Palace etc.

[Villa in Denmark]

Actually, I've been thinking for a while that F1 was the best analogy of what football has become.

Only the 2 or 3 teams with the best financing ever stand a chance of winning.
Once you're on the gravy train, only massive incompetence can get you kicked off.
Even if you get kicked off, everyone will still look at you as a top organisation (odd that both Liverpool and Ferrari are associated with red.)
Everyone else in the league are just there to fill spaces in the TV coverage, and essentially act as feeder teams when they either unearth a talent, or by taking the next big thing on loan.
Both sports have an odious little scrote that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing at the head of their organisations.
The overarching administration is rank with corruption, which remains the elephant in the room for everyone within spitting distance of the top.

I'm sure that there are several more you can add to the list.

[Comrade Blitz]

Call me a cynic, but fan protests about this bollocks will only strengthen Scudamore et al's views that the Premier League deserves a different/new/more appreciative audience.

[cdbearsfan]

I'm not sure it will work anyway in terms of boosting support abroad.

Hold a game in Japan? Great, you've just pissed off your audience in South Korea. Host a match in the UAE? You've annoyed Qatar. And so on...

Just let Man U play all their home games abroad, nineteen games, nineteen different countries. They can keep League Cup games in Cornwall and FA Cup games in London to keep their traditional support happy.

[ChicagoLion]

Because the whole point of professional sport is about how much money can be made, you can be absolutely sure that the Internationalisation of Club Football will continue.
It could be via a Super League and or playing games where there are consumers and money to be made.
Scudamore and his mates are more concerned that another league or sport will get ahead of them and in their words see the need to "expand the franchise"

[Pete3206]

Meanwhile, the Germans look after their clubs, their home grown players and their fans, then clean up in European club and international football. 

[tomd2103]

I'm not sure it will work anyway in terms of boosting support abroad.

Hold a game in Japan? Great, you've just pissed off your audience in South Korea. Host a match in the UAE? You've annoyed Qatar. And so on...

Just let Man U play all their home games abroad, nineteen games, nineteen different countries. They can keep League Cup games in Cornwall and FA Cup games in London to keep their traditional support happy.

You forgot Small Heath.