Should the size of the PL be reduced?

[Mike Oxsaw]

As the season rolls on, and with the reintroduction of European football for the bigger clubs, should the PL be reduced to 18 (or even 16) clubs () in order to free up space for the games (many of) the more successful clubs are required to play?

[WHU(Exeter)]

Grumps, you've got to blame Dynamo Kiev for all that. They got into too many later stages for UEFA's liking and that was the end of the European Cup.

[ragingbull]

No because it's the survival of the fittest.....in a bigger league we only just survive.

[only1billybonds]

"Dressed as Casper"

Tea spitting ensued, very good Grump.

[Grumpster]

Problem isn't the prem, it's eufa and every other cսnt using football purely as a cash cow and flogging it to death with a mental amount of games in other competitions.

Haven't never watched a CL game as to me a system purely set up to have the exact same teams in the last 8 every year is fucking boring. And maybe call it another name as the majority of teams in it haven't been champions of anything the previous season or for 50 years.

European comps used to be brilliant back in the day when a classic knock out and not the snooze fest seeded leagues.

Saw recently that the Italian cup semi finals were held in Saudi or some other place like that. Talk about fuck your own fans over signing off on that shit, were about 17 people in the stands and they all went dressed as casper.
 

[WHU(Exeter)]

It should be reduced to one.

Even then we'd still probably miss out on a technicality.

[twoleftfeet]

I wouldn't reduce it but I would get rid of Spurs and Everton and replace them with Millwall and Leyton Orient.

[Manuel]

I think the super league would have been good. Let the 'big 6' go. Take the tourists with them. Then go back to the old 4 divisions for an old skool football league. Don't televise abroad so the tourists don't know about it. Bring the terraces back. Ban mobile phones from the stadium. And anyone over the age 16 has to wear a flat cap or they won't get in.

Wils = Northern Sold.

[the coming of gary]

Bring back the Watney Cup !

2 x clubs from each division
.

[,]

No because if the league reduces to say eighteen clubs then we would have to finish no lower than fifteenth to stay safe ( that is if the three up three down practice remains ).

[,]

No.

[F 129 Row66]

I think the super league would have been good. Let the 'big 6' go. Take the tourists with them. Then go back to the old 4 divisions for an old skool football league. Don't televise abroad so the tourists don't know about it. Bring the terraces back. Ban mobile phones from the stadium. And anyone over the age 16 has to wear a flat cap or they won't get in.

Can I bring my rattle?

[BillyJenningsBoots]

Only if it means relegating Spurs!

[wils]

I think the super league would have been good. Let the 'big 6' go. Take the tourists with them. Then go back to the old 4 divisions for an old skool football league. Don't televise abroad so the tourists don't know about it. Bring the terraces back. Ban mobile phones from the stadium. And anyone over the age 16 has to wear a flat cap or they won't get in.

[F 129 Row66]

Lets reduce it to 8 clubs and the big 5 of ManUtd, City, Arsenal Chelsea and the bin dippers  can be in it every year for ever and can play each other many times a year. They will also represent England in all European matches. The other three clubs would be relegated regardless of where they finish and another three come in depending on how rich they are from the next tier. Then there would be no need for corrupt officials, as being at the big table is already sorted.

[Mad Dog]

Fuck them.

Reducing permier league juat keeps the big boys rich and fucks over the other smaller clubs and especially the lower leagues.

I genuinely think we should have let the super league happen and banned them from ever returning.  And then banned any of their players from international competitions. We would have got over it quickly

[RBshorty]

Yank ownership loves this idea. Fuck it. Let’s have the top sides break away and form their own league. And take 90% of the money with them. All the Dude Bro’s in the marketing department will love you.

[Lee Trundle]

Nothing needs to change about the league.  There's a reason why it's the greatest league in the world, so keep things the way they are.

No more teams.  No less teams, No Christmas break.  But bring back the Easter games.

[Sydney_Iron]

 

To be fair I think it was a perfectly valid goal.

 

 

[Pub Bigot]

I’m all for a Super League where the ‘Big 6’ go and play in an elite members only league and them removed from our domestic leagues. The issues, the government will force them to stay. 

[only1billybonds]

"Also, the other side of the conversation is that the players would not be willing to sacrifice money with reduced games."


Then the players should be told to fuck off and get a job in Asda. Of course the prem shouldnt be cut, the game is far bigger than the 'big or successful clubs.

[Ladysmith]

of course this ⬇ won't happen because we're in clown world, as you saw on monday night. they (the leagues) can't even supply impartial officials

a league so fucking dodgy that they're still letting man city spend over £150m since the turn of the year despite the cunts still not answering to any of the charges against them

To be fair I think it was a perfectly valid goal.

[Pi Alpha Nu]

No the Premier League should stay the same. The Champions, Europa and Conference Leagues should be a knockout competition from the start with no seeding so if Liverpool draw Real Madrid in the first round tough shit.

[Sir Alf]

The size of the league not a problem imo but the inequality within it is.  Need to remove the size of the advantage the rich 5 or 6 have due to their ability to spend based on revenues.  Revenues not determined by attendance only which was the historic driver of ability to buy and attract players.  

PSR is helping a bit to equalise spending power of the other 14 clubs but still protects the richer 6 more than it should imo. 

West Ham’s only way to get in amongst that group is follow a Brighton style recruitment strategy which might be shaping up now with Potter and Macaulay but also to sort the stadium out and get naming rights and events etc to generate more revenue. 

[Gank]

Of course it shouldn’t. At only 20 teams, it’s already the smallest division in the country. The price to pay for success is more matches.

If more matches is a problem then there are two really easy solutions to that - don’t apply to one of the competitions outside of the league (nobody is obliged to enter the FA Cup) or use your additional wealth to have a deeper squad. The rules already allow for two completely different teams registered plus more subs as well as unlimited use of young players who don’t need to be registered. If you spink all your money on a marquee signing leaving you either short in numbers or without quality in depth, then that’s on you - same as if your young players aren’t up to scratch.

Personally, I don’t think there are too many matches anyway - in the Championship you have 24 teams so 46 league games instead of 38 plus the league cup, plus the FA Cup. That’s an extra 8 games over every Premier Division team who aren’t in Europe and before this season, 8 games would win you those European trophies (and make you even more financially strong to address the earlier solutions in prize money).

So no, your idea is baseless, of course we shouldn’t make it smaller, there is absolutely no justification whatsoever to do so.

[Sydney_Iron]

 Not in favour at all, the PL is the best league in the world, why change a winning formula? Also makes it accessible to smaller and unfashionable clubs, reducing to 18 sees that less probable, to 16 next to impossible, would just be the same old sides yo-yo between divisions, us amongst them

European game should be straight knock out, be far more exciting than this current malarkey that’s even more boring than the previous mini league version, big clubs would never have it anyway, it’s all about revenue, exposure, advertising and TV from these games so the chance of a shock early elimination or drawing another big club early on would not be palatable to big clubs, never mind it adds excitement to the fan and each game has to be taken seriously.