By Andrew Warshaw in London
April 6 – English football can never embrace a winter break unless FIFA and UEFA do something about fixture congestion, the Premier League claimed today.
Appearing before a Parliamentary inquiry into football governance, Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore refuted suggestions that the England national team was suffering because of too many games at club level.
“We have to look to our friends at UEFA and FIFA,” said Scudamore.
“UEFA used to have 13 match days, now they want 21.
“FIFA used to have nine or 10 international dates, now it is averaging 12, somebody has to give something up.
“If we had 18 teams [instead of 20] it would mean going from 380 events to 306 and there is no way we would do that in terms of public interest and fan interest.
“We would advocate some kind of winter break but it’s just so hard.
“Plus, there is no body of evidence that says that a winter break would lead to success.”
Both Scudamore and Premier League chairman Sir Dave Richards were grilled by a number of Parliamentarians on the levels of debt in English football, estimated two and half years ago by former FA chairman Lord Triesman at £3 billion ($5 billion).
UEFA’s new financial fair play rules come into effect in three years’ time, with accounting starting from next season, but Scudamore said there was a downside.
Agreeing with the concept of clubs breaking even rather than spending beyond their means, he cautioned: “There are some doubts about what it will achieve.
“It may lock in the natural order where those clubs with extremely large revenues are the ones who can have big expenses.
“That would stop the local businessman-made-good investing in his local team.
“Is it so wrong that a club with benefactor funds should try to get into the next echelon?”
The fraught relationship between the Premier League and the Football Association has been well chronicled and Richards upped the ante by stating how badly he had been hurt by accusations of bullying by Triesman at a previous parliamentary hearing in February.
Richards has frequently been accused of blocking reform but said he was “really hurt” by such claims.
“I have never bullied anybody, it is a fair and democratic vote.
“To think the Premier League chairman could block nine others is ridiculous.”
Turning to the question of parachute payments – £48 million ($77 million) paid to relegated clubs over four years – Scudamore rejected the claim that this was unfair in terms of competition and the reason why there were so many so-called yo-yo clubs.
“If you want promoted clubs to compete, then you also have to protect them and give them a softer landing,” he said.
“If you look at the relegated clubs last season, you cannot say they have a huge competitive advantage over the others.”
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