With apologies to John Buchan.

Fortunately, it looks like the Premier League's half-baked idea of playing a 39th round of games somewhere else on this planet other than in England is dead in the water. It was met pretty much universally by howls of derision with even Sir Alex Ferguson accusing the Premier League of having a complete lack of respect for the managers and players by not consulting with them in pursuit of its global expansion policy (read money).

Domestic football associations around the world, together with FIFA , UEFA and the Asian Football Confederation have all denounced the idea. I can't think of anyone willing to stick their head above the parapet and say it was a good idea... most likely because it wasn't.

For me, it just illustrates the crass arrogance of Richard Scudamore and his cronies at the Premier League, if not actually Premier League clubs themselves (or at least the “Big Four”), that they assume that the rest of the footballing world will be tripping over itself to pay big money to host the 39th round.

Quite apart from the fact that the proposed format itself tells me that those who devised it have no real knowledge of the game (or maybe respect for it) in that it would give a completely unbalanced and asymmetric competition, it betrays the fact that that there are those within the Premier League hierarchy who are prepared to consider doing anything to the Beautiful Game in pursuit of more and more money.

The universal rebuffs though I think most of us ordinary fans find amusing... Richard Scudamore has well and truly been put in his place. Even the Premier League's assumption that it could speak directly to FIFA illustrates the arrogance that's to be found within the walls of 30, Gloucester Place. Perhaps Mr Scudamore needs reminding that FIFA stands for the Federation of International Football Associations, ie, it deals directly with national football associations, not domestic leagues. There's a chain of command there that needs to be respected.

Ah! We're back to that word respect again, aren't we? ...and the lack of it.

The Premier League needs to remember its place... it's a domestic league, ie. confined to these shores. Personally, I don't have a problem with Derby County becoming better known around the world and being able to grow through wider sources of income but that surely is a matter for the club itself, as it is with any other club?

The Rams will be travelling to the USA this summer as part of pre-season training. That's because of GSE's involvement but it's been done before and in fact, the Rams have frequently played one or more pre-season games abroad. I see no problem with clubs playing in friendly tournaments abroad and that's the way forward for me. Maybe the Premier League should confine itself to selling TV rights and licensing merchandise if it wants to raise money?

But they say good things come from bad and maybe Richard Scudamore is feeling slightly chastened lately... it would be a good thing if he is, in my opinion. I doubt it'll be too long before he comes up with another money-making scheme though.

© Steve Tickle 2008
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