The death of competition

[hawkeye]

My concern is about the integrity of the sport, at the highest level it is getting closer to WWF, everybody knows it is fixed but people are happy to go along with it.

[5ft811st2 Durham]

I'm not saying the accepting of odd crumbs of comfort is a concious decision I have made but observing that despite my distaste for the oligarchy at the top of the game I still get an immense amount of enjoyment out of it, even in a truly crap season like this. If I didn't I wouldn't have the level of interest that I have. The sight of Man U parading the championship trophy, and god forbid the European Cup again, really makes me sick but I'm still willing to go through it all again next season knowing the same will probably happen. I'm sure many people are similar which is probably why, as you say, the revolution won't happen. Which is a shame.
Incidentally, when you talk about revolution what do you have in mind? This isn't a criticism but a genuine interest in what you think might make things better. Personally I think we've gone too far down this particular road for a change to a more American, collectivist (there's 2 words you don't often see together) style of league. The game of football has been rampantly capitalist for over a century and I don't see how it can be changed now. Which is also a shame.

What I mean is that there needs to be a consensus as to the insidious developments over the last 20 years or so that has resulted in the death of competition that we are talking about and then a desire to take on those with a vested  interest in maintaining the status quo.

I would like to see  an end to prize money based on league position, fair distribution of TV money throughout the leagues, capping the amount of money that clubs can be given by so called sponsors, subs bench reduced from 7 to 3 in the league , and 2 for domestic cup matches, and Champions League representation reduced to  a maximum of 2 clubs per country per season.     

[Comrade Blitz]

I'd like to see the top Division reduced to 18 teams and the remaining divisions reduced to 20 each.

With apologies to Romantics, but the Top Division also does not need small clubs or small grounds - so introduce a minimum capacity of 25K as well.

Get rid of the League Cup as well.

[Nev]

I'd like to see the top Division reduced to 18 teams and the remaining divisions reduced to 20 each.

With apologies to Romantics, but the Top Division also does not need small clubs or small grounds - so introduce a minimum capacity of 25K as well.

Get rid of the League Cup as well.

I was under the impression that football was a meritocracy, if you start excluding clubs on grounds other than their ability to win games you may as well fix the whole shebang to favour the most popular clubs.

[TimTheVillain]

The Man City factor can't be ignored.

Seemingly the only way to break the Man Ure / Chelseaopoly is to buy your way in - thus not relying on Sky at all.

Hope the English game doesn't get too soul-less.

Hope the wages / turnover rule works.

[ktvillan]

If we don't look like winning the league well then that's been true for almost every season I've been supporting them.

In the past though, no matter how crap you were, there was always the possibility that almost any club could win the league if they got their act together and/or found the next Shankly or Clough.  Even in our third division days, winning the league never seemed an impossible dream, just fairly remote.  It seemed much further away, even unreachable, after three consecutive 6th places.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Manchester Utd break £60m mark in Premier League TV and prize money• Manchester United earn new record of £60.4m from TV rights• Earnings gap between top and bottom clubs lowest in Europe

 
Manchester United have become the first club to top the £60m mark in earnings from Premier League prize money and TV cash.

United earned £60.4m as the new record overseas TV deals saw top-flight clubs bring in up to £7m more than last season.

Blackpool were the lowest earners of the Premier League but still made £39.1m, while Chelsea earned £57.7m, Manchester City £55.5m and Arsenal £56.2m.

The figures released by the Premier League also show that it has the smallest difference in earnings between the champions and the bottom club in terms of ratio of any major league in Europe.

England's top club earned 1.54 times as much as the bottom in TV money – down from 1.66 last season. In Spain, where TV rights are negotiated on a club-by-club basis, Real Madrid and Barcelona earn 12.5 times more than the smallest clubs in La Liga.

The Premier League chief executive, Richard Scudamore, said: "We believe that our income distribution mechanism, the most equitable of Europe's major football leagues, rewards sporting success while also guaranteeing a significant amount to each club in order that they can plan from one season to the next.

"Many have commented on the competitive nature of this season's Barclays Premier League. The clubs deserve huge credit for putting on a fantastic competition. We believe the way we distribute broadcast income plays a part in allowing each club to compete at the highest level."

The Premier League distributes TV rights money based partly on performance, partly via equal shares of TV income, and partly on the number of times a club's matches are screened live on domestic television.

This season, each club received £13.8m as the equal share of domestic TV rights and £17.9m as the equal share of overseas TV rights.

On top of that, every place in the Premier League table is worth £756,000 – West Ham received that amount and Manchester United £15.1m.

Facility fees of £582,000 are paid to a club every time they play in a live TV match – with a minimum income of £5.82m even if a club has been involved in fewer than 10 live games.

The Premier League also pay out £15m each in parachute payments to previously relegated clubs Hull City, Burnley, Portsmouth and Middlesbrough. The three relegated clubs this season will receive the same amount.

Scudamore is just spinning the numbers by comparing to other European leagues. Just because ours isn't as bad, it doesn't make it right. I'd love to see a detailed breakdown of how the money was distributed by club.

[Bad English]

Ten different clubs have won the French Championship since 1992-3. Ten different clubs have also won the "Coupe de France" (and teams such as Sedan, Calais and Amiens have been in the final).

There is something of a perceived"quality" issue when it comes to the French Ligue 1, but at least people have a chance of seeing their team win something.

[Salsa Party Animal]

I can't see a good future for the game as it is too competitive at the top and no chance for team below top 5. Could there be a new Nottingham Forest under new Brian Clough win the league like they did in 1980. I don't think it is possible.

I do think the game quality is not good enough these days. I think Money make it harder for lower team to compete as the big clubs squad will be lot stronger than it was 20 years ago. 

[Hillbilly]

The American (and Aussie Rules) systems only work because they are effectly closed shops with franchising, no promotion/relegation and geographically limited leagues. I can't see how they could be applied to English football without introducing franchises, no promotion/relegation and isolating the English leagues.