By Albatross
May 12 2005

The Premier League issued a statement today that contains plenty of criticism of the FA - and talks about the "lack of trust" at many levels of the game. Sadly for them, not many people outside it trust the Premiership either.... The Premier League and what might be loosely termed "The Rest" at least agree that the FA needs some radical reform, but where the disagreements are likely to be is on what those reforms are and the overall direction the FA takes in the future. The Premier League have expressed their views - but there will be plenty of people taking some of what they say with a pinch of salt.

The statement - the Premier League's initial input into Lord Burns attempt to suggest how the FA should be structured after recent turmoils - talks a good game at least, making some of the right noises. They want the England Team to be a success; they want the FA Cup and League Cup to do well; they see the professional game and the recreational game as two sides of the same coin. In fact, having ploughed through all nine pages of it, it's not hard to find plenty of things to agree with. It is pretty critical of the FA and it's organisational structure - but then the Premier League are hardly the only people to be doing that.

The problem really lies with the fact that other interested parties - the Football League, County Associations, fans of clubs outside the top division all the way down to park footballers - may well have deep misgivings about what the Premier League would like to achieve. Unfortunately for the Premiership, they have good reason; after all, from the very start the Premier League has been about money, and its members are unlikely to like any proposals that could allow the FA to derail even a small part of the gravy train.

The suspicion is that essentially the Premier League wants to have a bigger say in how the FA operates - and that they would not necessarily be interested in the health of the game as a whole. While that may not be entirely fair, the formation of the Premier League and it's subsequent actions do not inspire confidence.

The Premier League after all was formed through the desire of an elite group of clubs to increase income - not necessarily for football as a whole, but for themselves. Yes there may be more money than ever in the English game - but the vast majority of that goes through the Premier League and a very small proportion seems to filter down into the lower divisions. They keep more of the TV revenue, get more of the coverage, and if they sign a player it seems much more likely to be an established international from overseas rather than an up-and-coming player from outside the top division. The result is that while the top clubs enjoy the feast, teams outside the elite are getting into financial trouble on a monthly basis; and the elite just don't seem interested.

Several of those involved in those clubs also don't help the case of the Premier by showing disdain for the plight of those outside the top flight. Whether it's coming from the mouths of senior figures at Newcastle or Man United (as has happened from both in the past), or from elsewhere, the implication seems to be that we should all basically be subservient to the needs of the clubs at the top of the game. The statement issued today doesn't say that - but when it comes down to it the Premier League is there to protect it's members, and the individual clubs are hardly going to say that things will benefit by taking money away from them. Even if that does mean everyone below Division 1 going part time.

The fact that the Premier League regards itself as a highly successful league is also revealing. Success is now to be measured it seems purely in terms of how much income can be generated. Certainly it doesn't seem to be in terms of what happens on the pitch; the National Side has yet to match the achievements of Italia 90 since the formation of the Premier League; and Continental Success for our club sides is of a level that suggests our top club competition is in fact more on a par with the likes of Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands, and lagging some way behind Spain and Italy.

Since the formation of the Premier League, we have won precisely one European Cup, one UEFA Cup and two Cup-Winners Cups - a competition that no longer exists. Our four trophies don't stack up too well alongside Italy (10 trophies) or Spain (six). We've won the premier competition just once - and that was six years ago. Compare that to the period prior to Heysel; English clubs from the presumably by Premier League standards less successful Football League won eleven trophies (only one a Cup-Winners Cup), with our domination of the primary competition so complete that we won it seven times in eight years with three different clubs.

The belief exists that what the Premier League wants is not what is best for Football, but what is best for the business of Top Level Football. Whether that's the case or not, an awful lot of people will be hoping that Lord Burns doesn't take the same view.