This is a PR disaster for the club. It won't have any much, if any, support from fans and ultimately, without the fans it won't work.
The proposals ignore the essentially most exciting part of football: promotion, relegation and winning trophies. An invitation only league with no relegation goes against every single tenet of why league football is exciting. It's astonishing that they've not considered this. It shows that this isn't about sporting excellence, it's about money. It's about making more money than they currently can do and making so much money that it's almost impossible for "old PL" players to turn down.
This is bringing to a head the process which started with the PL. Prior to the PL, most clubs were run by well-meaning local men. Clubs that were once rooted and anchored in their local towns and cities became commodities that could be bought, sold and traded across the world. We've seen it perfectly how Swales, a local lad done well, has ended up being replaced by a disgraced ex-PM of Thailand and eventually by the Sheikh.
After the PL, the influx of money started to distort the game and when teams found they could raise significant amounts of money on the markets. I agree with Gary Neville that money in sport isn't a bad thing as such, but it's getting to be too much of a part of it. Let's be absolutely honest, it's absolutely impossible for anyone to break into the top 4 and stay there without a vast amount of money. It's been designed this way. Once you're in the CL every year, the money you get is vast and it allows you to effectively take a "free player" from outside the top 4.
Of course, the Sheikh has run the club immaculately and his investment has not only benefitted City fans but everyone in Manchester who's seen east Manchester regenerated. However, it also raises an important point: is a football club just the same as a company or is it something different - a cultural artefact.
I think we have lost sight of the fact that football clubs are not businesses. They are cultural artefacts handed down to us to treasure and pass on to our descendants.
Quite simply, the proposals are the fact that the people who own the clubs want even more money. They want to grab not just a national market but a European or international market. They are taking Manchester City out of Manchester and making it almost a franchise that is Manchester in name only. This is the same for United and Liverpool etc as well. Football clubs are not, primarily businesses, they are as important to countries as cathedrals, civic buildings, music, the NHS and BBC etc. They are based in the working people of this country. It's about time we realised this and I hope these dreadful proposals help to make people think about what a football club is.
I sincerely hope the club has a long, hard think about how the proposals have been received. I hope they realise it's a mistake.
