Alternative to 39th game mooted
Premier League clubs are to be presented with a watered-down alternative to the controversial '39th step' at their summer meeting on Thursday.
A proposal for a Premier League-branded pre-season tournament that would be played by member clubs overseas will be presented to chairmen at their summer meeting in Leicester tomorrow and Friday.
It looks likely the original idea for each club to play a 39th league match in a foreign country will be abandoned in favour of a less controversial option.
Unlike the 39th step, the alternative games would not be viewed as competitive fixtures but would still offer foreign fans the chance to watch live matches involving the likes of Manchester United taking on their Premier League opponents.
The league already have positive experiences from the Barclays Asia Trophy where a crowd of 40,000 in Hong Kong last July watched Portsmouth beat Liverpool on penalties.
It is believed the latest proposal would be to extend these branded friendly competitions to other hotspots of Premier League interest, such as the Middle East, South Africa and the USA.
An alternative format would provoke less opposition from member clubs such as Manchester United and Liverpool, who were against the 39th step - not to mention FIFA, UEFA and the FA.
The original 'international round' will still be on the agenda as a possibility at one end of the range of alternatives, but that looks increasingly unlikely to be pursued.
One senior Premier League insider told PA Sport: "Either the international round will be kept alive in a different way - and that looks most likely - or the clubs will kill it off completely."
The Premier League clubs are also set to outlaw third-party ownership of players to avoid future controversies such as the Carlos Tevez saga.
In future clubs will have to buy out all third-party owners so that they own the players completely. |
發表於 2008-6-5 12:20 AM
| 