No relegation would be suicide for the English game

When League Managers Association Chief Executive, Richard Bevan, claimed certain foreign owners of Premiership teams had muted the possibility of scrapping relegation he opened a major can of worms where the lid was severly slammed shut on the idea. Every now and then a proposal to change our game surfaces but most often comes to nothing. You have to wonder why Mr Bevan even mentioned it at all. Either he was so concerned about the prospect that he wished to out it and nip it in the bud before it developed further between those involved, or has been advised to plant the seed of the idea into the public domain, thereby making such a move easier when it comes to plan.

I think most football fans would be against the idea of a model based on Rugby League where franchises are offered at the top table for 3 years at a time. There are simply too many big clubs outside the Premiership at the moment that cannot be ignored. Alex Ferguson made reference to there being at least 8 teams in the Championship with great history. I would suggest that nearly every team in the football league (with the exception of MK Dons of course) has 'great history' and to take away the carrot of Premier League football, however remote that possibility might be, would as Dave Whelan puts it "kill the game".

To his credit Whelan came out straight away on the offensive;
"It's the most stupid suggestion I've ever heard in my life," Whelan said on TalkSport Radio. "If it was to happen I would resign Wigan from the Premier League and go back and play in the Football League."
"It's a worrying thought that if we get 14 or 15 foreign owners, they come up with some mad idea and it gets voted through. It would ruin and kill English football." I think it is to his great credit that he vociferously adopts this stance. In a way it is easy for Ferguson to dismiss the idea, after all, no one in their wildest dreams could ever see Manchester United in a position where they could be relegated, but Wigan are down there every year.

The day after Premier League Chief Peter Scudamore came out to dismiss the claims as 'nonsensical'. In any event were such a move to be made there would have to be at least 3 or 4 years notice, and that would be sure to create a crazy round of impetuous buying as clubs like Derby, Leeds and Forest desperately tried to get into the elite before the door slammed shut.

Apart from that, in many seasons the main focus at the end has more often than not been about the relegation scrap rather than who wins the league or who (yawn) get's the European places. It's a major factor in the popularity of the league, and to get rid of it would sound the death knell not just for clubs outside the Premier League, but those in it as well. Who is going to go and watch Wigan vs Norwich if those two are bottom of the league but safe? It simply cannot work in my opinion.

Rooney 3 Game Ban is Absolutely Outrageous

Wayne Rooney learned his fate today from the UEFA overlords, a quite unbelievable 3 game ban for his petulant kick out in the Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro. Quite how UEFA have come to this decision is anybody's guess, but it smacks of retribution towards England and the FA for what was nothing more than a kick out we have seen hundreds of times before from other players, none of which I can ever remember receiving a staggering 3 match ban. The ban means that Rooney will miss ALL of England's Euro 2012 group games. Cynics have claimed that will mean he misses the tournament altogether such is the low expectation of success for the England team.

Montenegro defender Miodrag Dzudovic certainly made a 7 course banquet out of the incident. Quite what players like Ron Harris, Jack Charlton and Franny Lee make of this debacle is anyone's guess, but has the game really gone so soft that action of this kind merits a 3 match ban? Times certainly have changed, particularly in the last 10 years. If proof were needed witness this challenge by Roy Keane on Neil Pointon back in 1994 and watch Pointon's reaction to a challenge which if Rooney's is worth 3 games then Keane's could have been 10!!