Id like to see how it is going to pan out properly before I make my final opinion, but it dont seem that bad an idea to me, if other countrys love our game so much then let them have their game each season! They say any money generated will be split equally between the 20 clubs and if thats the case then fair enough!

They should simply play the Community Shield game abroad each season.

Perhaps another option would be for major cities around the world to bid for the rights to host matches. For example: In January 2010 we could play three games in a different country, in total 30 games will be played abroad in the league.

Five host cities could buy the rights to host a game, each city has 4 teams allocated to it and a total of three games are played.

The downfall of this is of course that loyal supporters will lose out on a maximum of three home games.

I think it’s a triumph of corporate capitalism over tradition - and I don’t like it, in case anyone’s not picking up on the cynicism.

Some will say it’s a good move because of the additional money in the kitty. Fair enough - but to me it’s a further devaluing of the oldest league in the world in a blatant gesture of consumerism. And, with apologies to those who don’t give a shit, what about the carbon footprint of transporting clubs (and fans) all over the world ten times over every year? We’re saturated with european fixtures already.

I posted on here a month or so ago about how football was being run for the media and not the fans.
This is just another money making scam and is another slap in the face for the match going public.
As for Parry. The prick is a media freeloader, i just wish he would keep his mouth shut about Everton.
If anyone deserves to be a Kopite it’s him.

Been watching sky news all day and all these managers have been coming out with their views and how it should be done.
They all mention the players and managers should be asked but sod all about the people who matter most, the fans.
There is absolutely no chance in these proposals for it to be done fair.
Apparently the shite will be one of the five seeded teams, so basically its going to be the top teams playing against the lesser teams infront of 50,000 screaming asian mancs or kopites, very fair I must say.
The big question is where will this all end ?

I don’t really like slating fellow Evertonians but that Mike Parry is an absolute tit. I can’t listen to that radio station because of him.

I can only see there being showcase games held in different countries between the Premier League teams at the end of the season, not counting towards the league itself. Th backlash to this idea is already too great.

At the end of the day, the only games that are going to attract any decent interest abroad are those involving one of the ’Sky 4’ teams. Therefore, why not for example let Liverpool and Chelsea not play each other in England, but instead play each other twice abroad. Also, Man U and Arsenal could play each other twice abroad and not in England. This way, neither of them have an advantage over each other as they would both have missed out on one home and one away game. They could share all the money between them (just like they always do), and it means all teams would still have played just 38 games and played each other twice. It also spares the embarassment of Jonny foreigner having to sit through Derby v Bolton in Cape Town.

Boro v Fuiham in Johanneburg could be a cracker !

Its not just our CEO and chairman supporting this idea so dont keep just slating them as if they are the only ones. This though will only benifit 2 clubs Manure and the shower from across the park, they have the middle and far east sewn up, imagine getting drawn against one of them in Bankok or Dubi, we would be out numberd 70000 to 1 in fans, Man U have been at it for years remember they fucked the f.a. cup round off to go on some tour of Hong Kong. Its about them two greedy bastards and we just folow to make the numbers up.

’Where will it all end?’ Paul asks. The Guardian’s David Conn provides a few thoughts today about ’global brands’, sponsors and owners. Particularly American owners. Their investment in "franchises" over there involves no threat of relegation (and resultant loss of income) as there is no such thing in their various baseball etc leagues. You buy into the league to make money on your investment and and you don’t lose that opportunity just because you have a bad season and lose your place. An entirely different tradition - or business model if you prefer.

That’s one direction we might be heading.

The thing is, these games aren’t for any England-based fan, which is the whole point! The idea would be to get in a load of locals from wherever the fixture was and get them on the merchandise bandwagon.

To me it seems like English fans are like people who moan about having to travel far to get to a party, when in actual fact they haven’t realised yet that they’re not even invited!

i’m sorry but i dont give a fuck about foriegn fans wanting to watch premier league clubs, why dont they support their own local clubs...like i am.

I feel I should add, my post above is not in support of the scheme, but I feel that is the truth of the matter

I agree with david conners - and no offence is meant to any of our foreign fans - but why dont you all just support your own fucking leagues instead of all these mercedes driving round bangkok with beckhams head on - seems to me there are a lot of sad bastards out there - and lots of other bastards who wanna take their monies!

Its obviously going to be a game even the most hardened supporter will not be able to attend, and it purely a money spinning exercise. But if it's going to generate another 5mill+ per year, could it be worth it?

It is being proposed that each team will play 1 more game each season, so another 3 points being available, this could be massive come the end of the season, at both ends of the table. It looks like it is going to be a seeded draw, so surely this will be good for the blues? I have read that it will be drawn so the top 5 times cant play each other, surely if we can achieve 4th/5th in the prem this season, then we must be included in that, and who knows, even the redshite mite miss out. This could mean a relatively easy game each season, so 3 more points plus extra cash, if this is the case, I'll be happy to go with the plans. Might even plan some hols around it, a sunny American hol in January?! You agree?

I had an interesting chat this morning with an old friend who spent many years at the helm of a top Premier club (not Everton!) He told me that the idea of introducing a global dimension to our top league has been pushed to the top of the agenda by the Big Four as an alternative to their unsuccessful demands for a winter break to take their teams on luctative world tours.

My man, who was not, himself, adverse to filling his club's coffers by any means available, sees the experiment as a pilot "doomed to succeed" and one which will eventually see each club playing four games a season in foreign lands each January.

He suspects that all this extra league activity will lead to the eventual demise of the Carling and FA Cups as more and more revenue accrues to the Prem. Another triumph for the Sky 4?

This is just one more step along the same path top flight football has been taking since the ’Big 5’ and the FA stitched up the Football League and created the breakaway Premiership.

That ’innovation’ was sold to fans as neccessary to reduce the top flight to 18 clubs (thereby reducing fixture congestion) and raise the standard of English players - all for the benefit of the English national team. In reality it was about those at the top of the tree keeping a larger slice of TV income and gate money.

Then we had more and more games moved to accommodate the whims of the broadcast rights holders. This was to bring in extra revenue so English teams could compete on transfer fees & wages with Sanish and Italian clubs. Again, this would allegedly benefit English players and therefore the national team. What happened? The richest clubs got richer still and the gap widened.

The European Cup had to be expanded to allow teams from lesser leagues more participation and more chances to play money making games against the big boys, but then the TV money got divvied up so that we now have a situation where United, Liverpool or Arsenal (or any of the G14 clubs) could go out at the group stage and probably still get more TV revenue from the CL than we would if we won the thing.

Every ’innovation’ in football over the last 15 years has ended up with a smaller and smaller group of ’elite’ clubs getting an ever larger slice of the revenue pie.

This latest idea will be no different - why seed the top 5 clubs in these games? Apparently because cities will pay less to host them if they’re not going to get a big name club. Perfect excuse for the big name clubs to demand the largest slice of the money - "they’re only paying that much because we’re top of the bill, therefore we should get most of the money".

I don’t want to sound like a grumpy old git (I’m only 33 ffs!), but the fact is I started going the match when it was possible for a Derby County, Nottingham Forest, Ipswich Town or whoever to go from the mid 2nd Division to regularly challenging for the league in less than a decade...on good coaching and smart transfer buys. Now I can’t see it happening in under 30 years without an Abramovich or similar.

The bottom line is the bottom line and our competitions are getting less and less competitive with every ’innovation’ and revenue expansion.

Unfortunately I can’t see that changing until things become so one-sided and predictable that there’s no longer any thrill or excitement - either for the winners or the losers. In the end no amount of Sky hype will be able to sell such a predictable product, and something will have to give.

I don’t know whether to accept this proposal (or something similar) is inevitable and hope we can get it over with and pick up the pieces, or to pray for some kind of miracle ’road to damascus’ moment for the suits in charge...either that or a time machine!

That tit wenger was all for it , he stated that only 10% of a clubs loyal fans get access to watch them, what a fucking insult to hardcore gunners fans to seriously think johnnie foriegner and his 50,000 other thai fans are in the same category as these match going go
unners , who through thick and thin travel everywhere through the years.