Michael Calvin on why the plan for a two-tier Premier League is morally bankrupt
Published 00:00 19/04/09 By By Michael Calvin
Surprise, surprise.
Given the chance, the men who shape modern football will take the money and run.
The plan for a two-tier Premier League is an insurance policy, pure and simple. It is morally bankrupt, and will rip the fabric of the national game to shreds.
But it would make commercial sense to those who regard survival as success.
It will please the TV paymasters and the politicians.
Phil Gartside's fingerprints are all over it. His club, Bolton, have an empty existence, playing functional football in an under-populated stadium.
The Big Four don't need Prem 2, but the rest of the Premier League will probably vote for it.
Celtic, Rangers and their rabid fans will walk over broken glass to be part of it.
Too bad if it threatens smaller clubs like Barnsley, Blackpool, Doncaster, Plymouth, Preston and Watford.
It is designed for the upwardly mobile, big-city teams with large catchment areas. The FA and the Football League will be marginalised.
The League and FA Cups will be an irrelevance.
Football will enter a new world, with a micro-climate of fear. Clubs will spend money they do not have to avoid the cut-off point.
They will be told that, apart from the Scottish refugees, the 36 clubs will be selected on merit.
But I don't trust the motives of the men making the promise.
Do you?
Answer: Eric Cantona for Leeds
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MICHAEL CALVIN ON WHY HE HOPES LIVERPOOL WIN THE TITLE - PAGE 54
