Changes to English Football

[A_G]

English football’s powerbrokers are to begin talks on the biggest shake-up of the domestic game for a generation with significant changes to the FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Community Shield on the table.

The six leading figures in the Premier League, FA and EFL will meet in person for the first time on Friday to thrash out proposals from the top-flight clubs. As revealed by The Times, these include scrapping FA Cup replays, changing the Carabao Cup so that clubs in European competitions only field junior sides, and moving the Community Shield from its traditional position as the curtain-raiser to the season.

The demands are in return for the Premier League sharing more of its money with the lower leagues — the EFL wants an extra £300 million a year but the top-flight clubs have only agreed to about £160 million.

The shake-up has been put forward by the Premier League as part of what it calls “A New Deal For Football” that it hopes will reduce fixture congestion from 2024. It could lead to the biggest changes in the English game since the Premier League was launched 30 years ago.

The meeting will involve the new Premier League chairwoman Alison Brittain, who took over this week, with her counterparts at the FA, Debbie Hewitt, and the EFL, Rick Parry. Richard Masters, the Premier League chief executive, will be there along with his opposite numbers, Mark Bullingham at the FA, and the EFL’s Trevor Birch.

It will take place against the background of the government publishing a white paper in the next few weeks outlining its plans for a statutory independent regulator which would have the power to intervene on a financial settlement if the three bodies do not reach an agreement.

It is understood that the EFL would be open to changing the Carabao Cup — the options are for clubs in Europe to not take part at all or field under-21 sides — but only for what they deem is an acceptable financial settlement.

The FA Cup still has replays up to the fourth round but the “New Deal” proposes replays are scrapped from the third round onwards, when top-flight clubs join the competition.

The future of the Community Shield — the match between the Premier League champions and the FA Cup winners that takes place the Sunday before the first weekend of the Premier League season to raise money for charities and grassroots projects — is also on the table.

The bigger clubs believe the timing of it disrupts their pre-season build-up as well as lucrative overseas tours. Suggested alternatives include playing it as part of the opening weekend or mid-season, or for it to be in an international market such as the United States to promote the Premier League globally.

At least one club would like it to be an “All Stars” game, with each Premier League team providing a maximum of two players and playing against the top stars from other European leagues.

The Carabao would be infinitely more interesting if it was purely an u21 tournament

 

[Riou]

Praying nothing happens to my Shield, ngl... especially with that bullshit all star game getting mentioned...