Graham Taylor has urged the FA to end its silence over the globalisation of the Premier League and to stand up to Richard Scudamore. The former England manager believes this is the perfect opportunity for the FA to show strong leadership and, in the knowledge that there is widespread backing from supporters who are opposed to the idea of a 39th top-flight game being staged abroad from 2011, start reminding the Premier League who should be running the game.
Taylor labelled the proposals as “crazy” and “ludicrous” and suggested that introducing the international round would not only add to the fixture congestion that undermines the England team’s prospects but could ultimately lead to the franchising of Premier League clubs. “The FA is the governing body of football in this country,” Taylor said. “Act like one.”
While Scudamore, the chief executive of the Premier League, shocked football on Thursday by prematurely announcing plans to take the Premier League to far-flung outposts, just in time to coincide with the next TV deal, Brian Barwick, his counterpart at the FA, has kept his own counsel.
Taylor was the England manager when the FA ceded power to the elite clubs by introducing the Premier League. He argues that an opportunity was lost at that stage to protect the national team by playing fewer top-flight games, and that now the FA has an opportunity to retrieve some power, as the Premier League needs the governing body’s acquiescence to consider taking games abroad.
“This is a great opportunity for the Football Association,” Taylor, speaking at the promotion of the Grass Roots Football Live exhibition, which will be staged at the NEC from the end of May, said. “In 1992, the Premier League was formed only because the FA backed it. The FA were browbeaten to keeping it to 22 clubs when the idea was for 18 clubs. If the FA had had the courage of their convictions then, this wouldn’t have arisen.
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“The Premier League could not get the 39th game in without the FA’s permission. I’m not suggesting to the FA, just to get their own back, to reject the idea. I’m saying if the FA feel it is not for the good of the game, they should come out and say. But that isn’t going to happen because they are frightened of the clubs. The clubs have the power.”
The Premier League and the FA have clashed over matters such as authority over academies, where clubs reject the governing body’s attempts to standardise good practice in order to develop better young players. Taylor implied that the FA could, for once, set the agenda now that “the 39th game” will necessarily be up for discussion.
If not, Taylor believes that, taken to its extreme, the Premier League could vote to increase the number of fixtures played abroad and ultimately clubs could move away from their homes, if they see that they could attract regular 100,000 crowds overseas.