Would a 39th Premier League game make the league more exciting?

Poll

Would you add another game to the Premier League fixture list?

Disgraced Premier League chief Richard Scudamore is still hanging onto his bizarre dream of introducing a 39th game to the Premier League.

Scudamore wants the extra game to be played abroad, his reason is probably to help boost the profile of the Premier League, and could be seen as particularly lucrative now as La Liga continues to attract the créme-de-la-créme of world footballers.

Would a 39th game make the Premier League more exciting and therefore attract more global interest, more money, and more great players? Or is it a desperately poor idea from a man out of touch?

simply no.

no.

i like the idea of a play off tournament though.

Reply 3

LaughingKitsune

I thought this idea was dead and buried. Why tamper with something that works perfectly fine?

Reply 4

Numberwang

Original post by LaughingKitsune

I thought this idea was dead and buried. Why tamper with something that works perfectly fine?

Because Scudamore has to be seen to be doing something, anything.

Reply 5

Malevolent

Nope. Season is long enough as it is and how would you go about adding one extra game? Teams will complain say if City got QPR as their extra game and Chelsea got Arsenal. Just wouldn't work and idea should be trashed.

Reply 6

sr90

Volunteer Team

This is back in the news again? I'm against it for so many reasons.

- How would the fixtures be determined? Imagine if Chelsea & Manchester City went into this final game neck and neck in the race for the title. Now let's say City had to go to Anfield, whereas Chelsea had to play Hull at home. There would be uproar. Apply the same theory to teams fighting relegation/aiming for top four.

- No atmosphere. Anfield had a good atmosphere towards the end of last season because Liverpool fans thought they'd win the league. You really think it would be the same somewhere full of tourists like Kuala Lumpar? People would be too busy taking photos of Gerrard on their iPad.

- Fixtures involving the top 6 would be popular, but somehow I doubt the people of Beijing or Michigan are going to flock to watch something like Swansea vs Stoke or West Brom vs Burnley.

- The Premier League is already the most popular and lucrative league in the world. It doesn't need its profile boosting.

Reply 7

Jack93o

no, but I'm in favour of a play off to decide the title of two teams are tied on points

Reply 8

cBay

Original post by barneystin

no.

i like the idea of a play off tournament though.

play-off for what? European football?

I had this idea a couple years ago;

- Split the PL into two leagues of 16. Play each other twice obviously (30 games). 3 teams promoted/relegated between them.
- At the end, the top 8 teams play each other once more (7 more games) in the "Elite Championship" to compete for European spots. Teams start on a certain number of points depending on final league position (1st = 15 pts, 2nd = 12, 3rd = 10, 4th = 8, ... , 8th = 0 pts).
- The remaining 24 teams are split into 4 groups of 6 based on geographical location (i.e. the London Championship, Southern Championship, Midlands Championship and Northern Championship) where they play each team in their group once (5 games). The winner of each Regional Championship goes into the Regions Cup.
- Regions Cup is just two semi's and a final at neutral venues. The League Cup is scrapped with this being its direct replacement (taking it's history and past winners). As it occurs after the main season is finished, teams would probably take it more seriously (especially as they'll be playing local rivals in the Regional Championships).
- Football League is split into 3 divisions of 20 each. (My original idea was 6 divisions of 10, with promotions/relegations after each quarter of the season but that's way too complicated for me to be bothered to explain right now).
- Johnstone's Paint Trophy would include all 60 FL teams and could be expanded into a Champions League-style format to make up for the loss of games (due to less teams in the leagues and the League Cup being scrapped).

PL teams would have 1 less league game and no League Cup games, therefore a week-long Christmas break could be introduced, with another weeks break between the end of the normal season in March and the beginning of the Elite/Regional Championships.

In this format I suppose one or more round of games in the Elite Championship could be played abroad. But I don't think it should be. Keep domestic football domestic, and just use pre-season to go abroad.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 9

LostGear

Original post by sr90

Imagine if Chelsea & Manchester City went into this final game neck and neck in the race for the title. Now let's say City had to go to Anfield, whereas Chelsea had to play Hull at home. There would be uproar. Apply the same theory to teams fighting relegation/aiming for top four.

I can't see how the uproar is justified....