The EPL Circus Abroad

[Deleted]

Richard Scudamore needs a serious talking to. An absolute bonkers idea which needs nipping in the bud.

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7232390.stm

I suggest the FL cuts them off, reclaims itself as the First and top Division and pulls out of the FA Cup. Do they expect the other 72 teams to stop for them whilst they go on some jolly?

For example what happens if Man United are due to play a cup replay at Preston but Man United are playing in Dubai on the Sunday because the time difference and travelling want the Replay moving back a day or a week......

Will the likes of Rio De Janiero want to see the delights of Derby's Kenny Miller?
What happens if two teams are in a relegation battle and it comes down to a game in the pouring rain of American's winter whilst one team has to sweat it out in Sydney, Australia.
What happens if the teams draw out a derby? And you going to kill off one of the last marks of footballing passion by playing in the game in Cape Town.

Total lunacy!

[Deleted]

harry said:

Richard Scudamore needs a serious talking to. An absolute bonkers idea which needs nipping in the bud.

But if there are squillions of pounds involved you know it wont be nipped in the bud .

[Deleted]

paulco said:

harry said:

Richard Scudamore needs a serious talking to. An absolute bonkers idea which needs nipping in the bud.

But if there are squillions of pounds involved you know it wont be nipped in the bud .

I just hope there is enough people with common sense who just quit the PL. But no doubt the middle class day trippers will still support these cash cows.

[marron]

Very bad idea and too many negatives to even start mentioning why.

Sign the petition against it - www.petitiononline.com/Rocky7/petition.html

[Deleted]

I reckon it is a dead cert to go ahead.Thing with all these things is the worry if you don't do it someone else will and you will have missed the boat.They won't want to see the Spaniards or Italians corner the market.They are all competing against each other to have their brand seen as the market leader in Asia

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harry said:

Richard Scudamore needs a serious talking to. An absolute bonkers idea which needs nipping in the bud.

Aside from the logistical and fixture issues, I don't think it's the worst idea ever. North American sports have started to play league fixtures in other countries, so why not the Premiership.

The main issue will be the need for teams to play one extra team three times instead of only home-and-away, but there's already an inherent assymetry in the way fixtures are compiled anyway so it's hardly a real issue.

harry said:

I suggest the FL cuts them off

Well I've long thought the top Premiership sides should go off and play in a European league of their own, where they can blow as much cash as they like without bankrupting everyone else.

harry said:

For example what happens if Man United are due to play a cup replay at Preston but Man United are playing in Dubai on the Sunday because the time difference and travelling want the Replay moving back a day or a week......

I think the time of the FA Cup, at least for the top sides, is rapidly drawing to a close.

harry said:

And you going to kill off one of the last marks of footballing passion by playing in the game in Cape Town.

I think the point is that it would be additional game, not replacing the traditional home-and-away fixtures.

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wibblemuis said:

I think the point is that it would be additional game, not replacing the traditional home-and-away fixtures.

Eh ? You've lost me now ( not hard i know ) . Do you mean they'll just be glorified friendly matches then if they're additional matches .

[admin]

paulco said:

wibblemuis said:

I think the point is that it would be additional game, not replacing the traditional home-and-away fixtures.

Eh ? You've lost me now ( not hard i know ) . Do you mean they'll just be glorified friendly matches then if they're additional matches .

More or less.
As I understand it, the Premier League season would be expanded to 39 fixtures, with each team playing an additional fixture overseas - or perhaps among the heathens, if Glasgow stumps up the readies. The top five clubs would be "seeded" so they wouldn't meet each other. The points secured would count towards the league table.

[Deleted]

admin said:

More or less.
As I understand it, the Premier League season would be expanded to 39 fixtures, with each team playing an additional fixture overseas - or perhaps among the heathens, if Glasgow stumps up the readies. The top five clubs would be "seeded" so they wouldn't meet each other. The points secured would count towards the league table.

Now come on - why would Glasgow be interested in second rate rubbish when we have the SPL to entertain us every weekend . ;D

[Deleted]

So who gets to play that seasons whipping boys 3 times, ala, Derby if it was this season.

It works in American football because they don't play every team twice a season anyway, but in our league it can't ever work.

If utd or Chelski etc were involved in all 4 competition,s they,d be moaning about fixture congestion.

Complete money making bollox.

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ctylr007 said:

It works in American football because they don't play every team twice a season anyway, but in our league it can't ever work.

It doesn't really 'work' in the NFL. It's simply a tradition in American football to have unbalanced schedules due to the short season. That's basically why you have playoffs (and bowl games in college football) to sort-out the imbalances of the regular season.

Since the NFL expanded to 32 teams, teams in each division play a more balanced schedule than they used to, but there are still two games scheduled based on finishing positions the previous seasons - higher placed teams playing higher placed teams.

I'm sure the Premiership could come-up with some sort of seeding system to make the fixtures in the extra round reasonably fair, and one round out of 39 is hardly going to make that much difference over a 9.5-month season.

ctylr007 said:

If utd or Chelski etc were involved in all 4 competition,s they,d be moaning about fixture congestion.

That's the bottom line though. The teams whine about too many matches when it comes to the FA Cup or whatever, and then want to play an extra round of league matches when it suits them.

[Deleted]

Aye even the biggest and greediest jump on the bandwagon . Didn't the Mancs swan off to Saudia Arabia the other week there .

[Deleted]

penalty shootouts were brought into the fa cup because of big teams moaning about too many fixtures. They don't even enter the early rounds of the league cup anymore. The home internationals were abandoned because the English wanted more money. Its all about screwing more fans for more money.

For the league to remain creditable you ALL have to play the same teams the same amount of times , END OFF.

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ctylr007 said:

For the league to remain creditable you ALL have to play the same teams the same amount of times , END OFF.

So is it any fairer if a team's first game of the season is against Derby, when they're at full strength, yet have to play Chelsea the last game of the season after injuries and fatigue have taken their toll? Or vice-versa, and that's not taking into account fixtures that fall during or after transfer windows when teams can be strengthened (or weakened).

Although a home-and-away season might seem 'fair', there is invariably a degree of unfairness due to the vagaries of the fixture lists.

The Scottish Premier League has a totally daft system of organising its fixtures, yet were Celtic any less worthy champions last season because of it (although Paulco may disagree ).

[admin]

paulco said:

Aye even the biggest and greediest jump on the bandwagon . Didn't the Mancs swan off to Saudia Arabia the other week there .

Yet, curiously, Alex the red-nosed heathen is complaining about not being consulted about this overseas plan. I don't see why he'd be consulted, except that he sees himself as the most important person in world football.