Prem to become 2 divisions of 18 inc Celtic & Rangers?

[ukfootballfan101]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8006934.stm

League to discuss two-tier plan

Celtic and Rangers could play Old Firm matches in the English league
A plan to increase the Premier League to two divisions including Celtic and Rangers is to be discussed by club chairmen on Thursday.

The two divisions would each contain 18 teams, freeing more weekends for international preparation and games.

And clubs who at the moment face a huge drop in income after relegation to the Championship would lose less money.

Bolton chairman Phil Gartside has put the scheme together and will present it to his Premier League counterparts.

In theory, the addition of the Old Firm should provide a stiffer test for Scotland's top two clubs and also generate more enthusiasm from broadcasters and fans.

That would make up some of the money each club would lose if the Premier League is expanded from 20 to 36 clubs.

At the moment, teams relegated to the Championship are given £11.5m a year for two years for lost television income if they drop out of the top flight and are not promoted back into it.

Gartside's plan, which will need the approval of 14 out of 20 Premier League chairmen, would offer more financial stability to teams in the lower half of the Premier League, who would then be able to plan for the future with greater certainty.

However, there are a substantial number of obstacles. Uefa, the European governing body, has consistently said that teams will not be allowed to play in leagues outside their own country.

In addition, both Glasgow giants would inevitably find it harder to qualify for the Champions League.

The Football Association, their Scottish counterparts and the Football League would all have to give their approval as well.

Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal are likely to be against the plan as it would affect their income. Others such as Aston Villa, Tottenham and Everton, who may consider it unlikely they would ever drop out of a 20-team Premier League, may also have misgivings.

Mid-table clubs might also struggle to cope with a drop in television money as the cash is spread more widely.

A Premier League spokesman said: "We haven't seen any proposal and therefore are unable to comment."

[-V-]

No chance of happening. It would only suit the agenda of relegation threatened teams like Bolton who are making the proposal

[Elvoz]

no chance of this happening

[Neil Young]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...em/8006934.stm

League to discuss two-tier plan

Celtic and Rangers could play Old Firm matches in the English league
A plan to increase the Premier League to two divisions including Celtic and Rangers is to be discussed by club chairmen on Thursday.

The two divisions would each contain 18 teams, freeing more weekends for international preparation and games.

And clubs who at the moment face a huge drop in income after relegation to the Championship would lose less money.

Bolton chairman Phil Gartside has put the scheme together and will present it to his Premier League counterparts.

In theory, the addition of the Old Firm should provide a stiffer test for Scotland's top two clubs and also generate more enthusiasm from broadcasters and fans.

That would make up some of the money each club would lose if the Premier League is expanded from 20 to 36 clubs.

At the moment, teams relegated to the Championship are given £11.5m a year for two years for lost television income if they drop out of the top flight and are not promoted back into it.

Gartside's plan, which will need the approval of 14 out of 20 Premier League chairmen, would offer more financial stability to teams in the lower half of the Premier League, who would then be able to plan for the future with greater certainty.

However, there are a substantial number of obstacles. Uefa, the European governing body, has consistently said that teams will not be allowed to play in leagues outside their own country.

In addition, both Glasgow giants would inevitably find it harder to qualify for the Champions League.

The Football Association, their Scottish counterparts and the Football League would all have to give their approval as well.

Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal are likely to be against the plan as it would affect their income. Others such as Aston Villa, Tottenham and Everton, who may consider it unlikely they would ever drop out of a 20-team Premier League, may also have misgivings.

Mid-table clubs might also struggle to cope with a drop in television money as the cash is spread more widely.

A Premier League spokesman said: "We haven't seen any proposal and therefore are unable to comment."

That smacks of Brownian statistics fiddling. Is it saying they would lose less money when dropping down a division because they'd have made less money when in the top flight?

[Roboklopp]

Pathetic. Didnt he try to come up with summat similar before? What a joke.

[Kenneth]

Talking from a General Football point of view, this is so stupid The second PL division would become as irrelevant as the championship in no time and it would just be an another division outside the top flight. Piss off Bolton, why should you have stability.

[BobTheCharmer]

no chance of this happening

there's more chance of this coming off than the famous 39th game proposal.

[Kenneth]

There's an argument for reducing the number of teams in the PL by a couple. Let's propose that and see how Bolton feel.

[Shaggy]

Gartside is a ****ing piss-taker.

[Neil Young]

there's more chance of this coming off than the famous 39th game proposal.

Thank f*ck.

I can see something like this happening sooner or later. The big teams want fewer games (probably so they can play more European games), the Premier League wants more power and money (which they'd get by controlling the top two divisions in British football), the broadcasters want the Old Firm in (because it would increase their advertising revenues)...

I mean, does anyone honestly believe any of them give a flying f*ck what the fans want?

[ukfootballfan101]

I think it could mean an increase in money rather than a decrease. They would expand the collective selling of TV rights but with Celtic and Rangers have huge domestic and overseas fanbases it would make the league more attractive to TV companies.

Sky would reduce how much they pay for Scottish and championship rights and transfer that cash into a prem bid. The current TV deals bring in around £450m per season, if you add a further 14 strongly supported domestic teams and Celtic and Rangers the TV deals could bring in much more money.

You would then say have a 65/35 split between Prem One and Prem Two.

Plus we would have 4 less league games a season to play.

I think Celtic and Rangers would have to start in division 2 and I think it would take 5+ years for them to become a challange for champions league places.

[ukfootballfan101]

Thank f*ck.

I can see something like this happening sooner or later. The big teams want fewer games (probably so they can play more European games), the Premier League wants more power and money (which they'd get by controlling the top two divisions in British football), the broadcasters want the Old Firm in (because it would increase their advertising revenues)...

I mean, does anyone honestly believe any of them give a flying f*ck what the fans want?

Would you not want to play celtic and rangers twice a season? I think those games would (eventually) be as big as playing Arsenal and Chelsea, maybe not quite as big as playing Everton and man u, but they would be up there..

[Kenneth]

Would you not want to play celtic and rangers twice a season? I think those games would (eventually) be as big as playing Arsenal and Chelsea, maybe not quite as big as playing Everton and man u, but they would be up there..

Not really.

Why would people watch the second tier of the PL more than the Championship? The top division is where the interest is. You can rebadge the second leage like calling it the Championship, or PL2 or whatever, it will still be largely ignored.

[Roboklopp]

Would you not want to play celtic and rangers twice a season? I think those games would (eventually) be as big as playing Arsenal and Chelsea, maybe not quite as big as playing Everton and man u, but they would be up there..

No, really not bothered.

[Neil Young]

Would you not want to play celtic and rangers twice a season? I think those games would (eventually) be as big as playing Arsenal and Chelsea, maybe not quite as big as playing Everton and man u, but they would be up there..

Nope. I'm a traditionalist really. For one thing the frenzy whipped up by Sky would be difficult to stomach.

Also I've been in Glasgow of an evening and the level of casual sectarian/tribal violence was shocking and pathetic. I can live without that.

Thinking about it though I'm surprised more politicians haven't come out in favour of it yet. For Labour and Tory alike it can only help sell, albeit in a small way, the Union in Scotland. Didn't Caborn say he supported the idea when he was Sports Minister?