Newcastle United want Premier League cut to 18 teams amid £160m talks
Newcastle United and the so-called ‘Big Six’ want the Premier League cut down to 18 teams to accommodate more European matches, Football Insider has been told.
The Premier League is currently engaged in talks with the Football League and FA about a major shake-up to the structures of the English game.
The EFL wants a 25 per cent cut of the Premier League’s total revenue, with the top-flight angling for sweeping changes to the FA Cup, League Cup and Community Shield in exchange.
The EFL currently receives around 16 per cent of the Premier League’s central pot in solidarity payments, most of which is funnelled into parachute payments for recently-relegated teams.
A nine per cent increase would equate to an extra £300m per year for the EFL, who want to divert the money away from parachute payments to eliminate the cliff edge between the top two divisions.
Any changes would require the backing of at least 14 Premier League clubs, which means Newcastle would effectively have a power of veto if they side with the Big Six.
The urgency of the talks has intensified because of the impending introduction of an independent regulator for English football, which could have the power to impose a financial distribution model of its choosing.
Alex Fynn, who has previously been characterised as the ‘spiritual godfather of the Premier League’, worked on the top-flight’s original business plan in 1992.
The sports media consultant and author believes that a total re-think of the English league system is necessary to ensure sustainability at all levels of the game.
“The Big Six clubs, probably seven now with Newcastle, are agitating for the fact that they want to play more games in Europe,” he told Football Insider.
“Therefore, the Premier League needs to be cut down to at least 18 clubs. At the moment, there are seven against 13. Those 13 aren’t going to vote for a reduction in their home fixtures, so that’s one insoluble problem.
“FA Cup replays will probably be scrapped from the third round onwards. Then there has to be a redistribution of money so the smaller clubs aren’t penalised.
“If there were only 18 clubs in the Premier League, that would give them more opportunities for overseas tours. You could see the Community Shield being taken to the Middle East like the Spanish Super Cup has, for example.
“The EFL wants the Championship to be a more harmonious organisation on a financial basis., but the only way you can achieve that is by getting rid of parachute payments.
“The only way that is going to happen is if someone, perhaps an independent regulator, has the power and authority to look at the league system as a whole.
“Notice I haven’t used the word ‘pyramid’, and that’s because there isn’t one. It absolutely astonishes me when people say there is.
“What there is is a four-league ladder with huge, cavernous gaps between the top division and second division and another between the second division and the third.
“Football needs to recognise that it is its event-like nature that drives it. You have big events at the top, international events like Arsenal against Man United. What you then need is local events at the bottom.
“It’s ludicrous to make Carlisle play Plymouth. But nobody has the foresight to organise a restructuring. It needs a brave operator to step up and say we are going to reduce the number of fixtures.”
In other news, Chris Wood finalises Newcastle move to Nottingham Forest after PIF green light.