DISQUS

kkfla737 · 1 year ago

Good post Gaffer.

I see more and more die-hard fans turning towards the Championship and even some foreign leagues (i've spoken on-line to a few Brits who follow MLS now not because of Becks but because of the salary cap and competitive balance)if this were to happen. A blatant cash grab that threatens the whole league system in England IMHO.

Dan · 1 year ago

I think your second bullet point is inevitable; lower league sport, any sport, will never attract global interest to even a fraction of a degree of the top flight. That said, I have seen the odd Championship game and even lower teams in FA Cup action on FSC & Setanta... the same can't be said of the Spanish, Italian or French lower league clubs.

Your first and third points are variations on the same theme and while I suspect you're correct to a degree, I wonder whether the fans you mention are in the majority or not? What we're talking about is a club playing 18 instead of 19 home games. OK, so my club goes overseas for 1 game and raises the profile and revenue for the club... you'd have to be pretty small-minded to think that's a bad thing, no? And maybe, just maybe, with only 18 home games to sell seats for we'll see less empty seats in the stadiums.

Michael · 1 year ago

The problem with a lot of English soccer fans and even fans of other leagues across Europe is they haven't moved into the 21st century. They still think today's game is the same as when they were growing up, when the atmosphere at games was electric and it was all about the fans.

Today's game isn't even a game, it's a business. Fans seem to be blissfully ignorant to this and are trying to resist change even though they have no control over it. If the Premier League wants to go overseas to make more money and raise its profile by attracting a new fan base, they'll do it in a heartbeat, with or without the approval of an individual club's fans.

European soccer fans need to get with the times and accept that the game is no longer about what' s best for them, it's about making money. By comparison, American sporting fans have understood this concept for years now and have found a way to deal with it.

EPL isn't the only league in t · 1 year ago

Kartik, you are a little shit to continue to post here and to also compliment the gaffer whose unprofessional behavior towards Soccer America and Paul Kennedy should deem this website off limits to anyone trying to be taken seriously. You have your own show with the 2Gs. Certainly Graham and Gary wouldn't condone you posting on a site that rips the most widely circulated soccer magazine in the nation, would they?

wanderer_abroad · 1 year ago

It would be sad day when the Premiership plays abroad. I could never sanction such a thing. I disagree that we should accept the fact that the game is a business now rather than a sport. We shouldn't be promoting such ideas because where would your loyalties lie, with some fat suit who wont be there in 5 years, or with clubs that have been around longer than our grandfathers? Not only would playing be detrimenatal to the integrety of the clubs, but also to all sport. I, for one, would never forgive the directors who would plan to do this, and I'm sure many others wouldn't either.

BTW 'EPL isn't the only league in the world' this is a free forum and everyone has a right to post what they want, free from being attacked and slandered. F@ck off back to where you came from and stop infesting this site with you crap. Kartik is a respectable fan and so is the Gaffer. Please can we just leave all this rubbish about the Houllier interview alone now and move on.

EPL isn't the only league in t · 1 year ago

The issue here isn't whether Kartik is a respectable fan. It is whether he is a hypocrite or not. A few weeks ago he and Dave Denholm had a great show firing us all up about EuroSnobbery, which was best exemplified by the Gaffers post. Actually that wasn't Euro snobbery it was Brit snobbery. When you're a Brit the way France develops its players is secondary to what goes on at NewCastle.

Secondly, Gaffer's post was insulting and really smacked of an absolute lack of respect for a publication which is considered by many the mothers milk, the bible of soccer in this country.

But I digress. My point is that Kartik passes himself off as the leader of the American Soccer movement and waves the flag all over the web and on his show but then like a hypocrtical little shit is sitting here defending the Gaffer and continuing to post here on other issues. I loved his show and loved his work until I saw this. Now I realize he's just an egotistical hypocrite.

wanderer_abroad · 1 year ago

How can you call Kartik a hypocrite? He DISAGREED with Gaffers opinions. I apoligize if I may have sounded harsh, I had a bit of a 'rush of blood to the head' moment in my previous post, but I still stand by my comments. Also, EPLTalk is about more than just the Gaffer. Kartik has a right to continue to comment on other topics, and I fail to see how that go's against the interest of American soccer. I'm guessing then that you wouldn't come to a Premiership match if one came to America, because you obviously hate everything English and Premiership.

kkfla737 · 1 year ago

Thanks Wanderer Abroad. Their are two distinct groups in American Football- the eurosnob and the any everything european/the latino snob. I'm in neither camp so get attacked by both!

CFTV · 1 year ago

I like the idea of playing the Prem both in America and Asia. Schedule 2 weeks during the season one week where 10 games are played in America and another week later in the season in Asia where 10 games are to be played. The way I would set it up is that the team that finishes in 1st and 2nd play one game in America and one game in Asia against each other. Teams that finished 3rd and 4th would play one game in America and one game in Asia against each other. Till you got down to the 17th place team facing the team that won the Coca Cola Champion and the 2 other teams from the Coca Cola League playing each other with a game in Asia/America. Sure it would suck for fans as they will miss out on the teams that finished a spot above them or below them but it would distribute the talent somewhat evenly if you take into account the year befores table.

I would only do something like this every 2 to 4 seasons in years where there isn't a World Cup and a European Championship. The Brits have to realize that they have a global sports property that is bigger than the island the league is played on. Bringing competitive games to markets like America and especially Asia where the chance for growth is HUGE for the league and the game itself especially as TV properties.

Of course this idea will go over like a fart in church with the fans that support the clubs not taking kindly to foreigners taking even more of the game away from them. They will still have at least 18 home league games a year and would it kill them to share 1 home game every couple of seasons with the rest of the world?

Cutie Pie · 1 year ago

Once more the beautiful game I have grown up with has been more and more succumbed to greed.
If the fixtures are held in January. What will happen to the African Nations Cup.
2. How can a team play somebody three times
3. If people from Thailand or other prospective venues want to see it why don't they go visit the home stadiums in Enfland in the flesh.
4. The EPL is not the best league in the world probably the so called best marketed league
5. Why weren't the fans, players and managers consulted