02 Jul 2020 10:19:46
A question for Ed002 if you are about.

With Wigan's future looking increasingly uncertain (the administrators seem pretty bleak in what they have been saying) do you think this is just the start.

It's reported there could upto 10-15 others about to go the same way.

I know you don't have a crystal ball but what do you think the immediate / medium future for the football league looks like. A second season without fans (or a large part of it) looks fairy catastrophic.

{Ed002's Note - Sadly many sides are entering a difficult time Wassa - where it will be difficult to find buyers for lower-profile clubs.

It is a reflection of how many sides operate in a hand-to-mouth scenario. I have thought and explained on here for many years that football needs to decide what sort of restructuring is required. Putting aside any "breakaway" or counter proposal, my fears have always been the vast number of professional clubs there are in England well below the Premier League. I hold a reasonably strong view in terms of the need to restructure football in Europe in any case. Previously I have said that the eventual "breakaway pan-European league" would force the restructuring of many of the national leagues, possibly resulting in a British league with perhaps only a couple of professional tiers and then regionalised amateur leagues below that. Now we have a situation that will change the financial paradigm and may make clubs and authorities look at the situation with lower tier sides regardless.

Financially I do not see that so many professional sides can be sustained within the sport which, like it or not, will see more and more money going in to the highest levels of the game. Governments will ensure that grassroots sport get funding but everything in the middle (Southern, Northern, Conference, Division 2, Scottish Divisions 1-3, League of Wales will not get the funding needed to continue on any sort of professional basis. For me, clubs should already recognise this and put their efforts in to getting their finances in order to see if they can make it to a British professional league that will need to flourish without perhaps six sides that have eventually gone down the pan-European route - and have gone for good (it would be two or perhaps three initially) or even separation from the Premier League and Championship.

Clubs like Accrington Stanley will need to carry on as amateurs or face extinction (yet again) like Bury. Recently Hartlepool and Wigan have been struggling - again they need to adapt. The mighty Third Lanark have started their long journey back to the top - it can be done. These are all proud clubs with a history.

The game has changed significantly and will continue to do so whether the supporters of certain clubs like it or not. Football at the highest level is big business and attracts the sponsorship it does because the sponsors wish to tap in to the disposable income of the fans and ride the back of the advertising that flows naturally from the success some clubs achieve. Long gone are the days of the cloth-capped, hobnailed-booted, chimney sweep making his way, rattle in hand, to cheer on his team at Anfield on a Saturday afternoon. I have explained that there will be changes, probably within the next 8 to 10 years, which will force the restructuring of all of the leagues in Europe and likely do away with the likes of UEFA. You will have the opportunity to see the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus and the other major European sides play in week-on-week regular competition at The Emirates, St James Park, Stamford Bridge or wherever. Fans of the sides who take the plunge will have the opportunity to visit cities such as Milan, Barcelona, Munich, etc. every couple of weeks to watch their team play. If you want to don your cloth cap, have a pint of wallop with your chums before going off to the local match through the grim, wet and cobbled streets of the Northwest of England where there is smog, dead & dying pit ponies laying on the street and only chips and fried curry to eat., perhaps one of the sides from the suburbs will have survived so the Liverpool and Everton supporters can go and watch them?

This will be a case of getting with the game. I will try to referred to this as the "Post Apocalyptic Zombie Scenario" from now on.}

02 Jul 2020 13:10:30
Hi Ed 2 great reply. Who would be the initial 2 or 3 who would go down the pan european route and who would be end 6? I'd guess at Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea at start then Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs but that is a guess.

{Ed002's Note - The initial group would be 16 of the 21 clubs involved in the "elite" discussions as it stands right now. Two clubs have made it clear they would not compete in a breakaway and three others have reservations that have not changed for a few years. There are three English sides involved right now but I am not going to get in to the detail.}

02 Jul 2020 14:55:39
Cheers Ed.

Really appreciate the response.

In terms of restructuring I just can't see the FA or the football league pulling the trigger before the Pan-European League makes that a necessity. Even though I agree with you it's looked unsustainable for a long time.

I can see it almost being a position of we just carry on for now and whoever drops away due to the finances just does.

If the FA have any real involvement in the decision, based on their past performance, I don't think they have it in them to make the bold decisions.

{Ed002's Note - The FA should not stand by and watch as clubs go down the pan.}

02 Jul 2020 16:43:28
Do you think the amount of youth/ reserve players at the bigger clubs disposal has a part to play too?

As in if there were restrictions to the amount of players a team can have on their books and loan out etc, then you may get some of the younger talents lower down the leagues meaning they would become saleable assets and provide cash injection.

I may well be taking a far to simplistic view of things but it is something I've always thought could have an impact.

{Ed002's Note - There is no limit of the number of players a club may have on their books and that won't change.}

02 Jul 2020 16:54:41
its just as ED002 predicted, i expect more and more lower league clubs to go bust, in years to come the F. A cup will shrink in terms of how many clubs get to play in it, simply because those clubs won't exist anymore.
Something has to change to safeguard the future of the game but sadly i don't think it will.
A truly awful situation for the football fans of these affected clubs.