Why Ayre’s TV proposal can’t happen
A drab 1-1 draw with the champions was thoroughly eclipsed by the Trotters’ vibrant 3-1 win at arguably the league’s least fashionable club, Wigan. Is it too much to hope that a lesson has been learned somewhere? Probably.
In Ayre’s defence, he moved to clarify his remarks last Friday, assuring supporters that he had no plans to negotiate overseas TV deals independently, as they do in Spain, he just wanted to say that the existing equal share was unpalatable to the more marketable clubs. That’s a slightly more understandable stance but it must not be allowed to happen. The wealth gap is too wide already. Widening it further to suit Liverpool is hardly a solution.
Those fans who asked how else English clubs were expected to keep up with Barcelona and Real Madrid missed a very important point. No-one else cares. Supporters of the 72 teams outside the Premier League are not going to give two hoots about Chelsea’s forthcoming clash with Genk and when widely-supported clubs like Aston Villa and Newcastle can’t even keep up with the elite, you’re unlikely to find their followers cheering Arsenal along in Marseille.
Most fans just want to watch competitive football and believe that their team might, one day, have a chance of winning something.
The irony of Ayre’s scheme is that it relies upon the sale of competitivity, the very asset that makes the league so sellable in the first place. Bolton may not have glamour, Stoke may not quicken the pulse and Wigan may only have their bountiful pies to fall back upon, but a sport intent on weakening them further holds no interest for me.
Without those teams, we will be consigned to ‘super leagues’, and the grim prospect of watching Liverpool and Manchester United play each other over and over and over again until the end of time.
After Saturday’s snorefest, that really is a rather terrifying prospect.
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