It seems that Manchester United, Liverpool and Rick Parry may have bitten off more than they can chew as far as ‘Project Big Picture’ goes.
With news leaking over the weekend as to the proposals to revamp the English game, it hasn’t taken long for some clubs to push back on them.
The proposals have been put together by Liverpool owner John Henry and United co-chairman Joel Glazer, with the support of Parry.
The ‘Project Big Picture’ proposals
- The Premier League cut from 20 to 18 clubs, with the Championship, League One and League Two each retaining 24 teams.
- The bottom two teams in the Premier League relegated automatically with the 16th-placed team joining the Championship play-offs.
- The League Cup and Community Shield abolished.
- Parachute payments scrapped.
- A £250m rescue fund made immediately available to the EFL & 25% of all future TV deals
- £100m paid to the FA to make up for lost revenue.
- Nine clubs given ‘special voting rights’ on certain issues, based on their extended runs in the Premier League.
However, as BBC Sport note, a West Ham insider told BBC Sport that they are “very much against” it, and it’s highly likely they won’t be the only ones either.
Such clandestine meetings and drawing up of plans seems very amateurish and can only mean that the whole project is surely doomed to failure even before it’s got off of the ground.