English football’s civil war: The key battlegrounds explained

[ASFN Admin]

The 'Project Big Picture' plot exposed by the Daily Telegraph on Sunday sent shockwaves through English football and plunged some of its leading figures into civil war. Here are the key battlegrounds over the past week in a power struggle that shook the foundations of the pyramid: Liverpool and United v Rest of the Premier League What threatened to become all-out-war on Sunday was reduced to a walkover by Wednesday as Liverpool and United conceded their plans were, as rivals described, "dead in the water". Hopes of a box office bloodlust were put to bed by Monday. The other four members of the "Big Six" - Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City - refused to say whether they backed the plan. And while there was plenty of off-record briefing against the proposals amongst the other 14 clubs, only Aston Villa and Brighton went public with their concerns about the plans ahead of Wednesday's crunch meeting of the clubs. The shareholders' video call then effectively became a counselling session for a marriage blip. There was no presentation from Liverpool's chairman Tom Werner as had been expected. Instead there were opening remarks from the Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish, emphasising the need for solidarity. Denise Barrett-Baxendale, the Everton chief executive, Susan Whelan, the Leicester City chief executive, and Baroness Brady, the West Ham executive vice-chair, also spoke forcefully against the proposals. The chief line of defence from Ed Woodward, the Manchester United executive vice-chairman, was that PBP was simply a set of ideas that the clubs had been formulating in private. But it was far from a fight to keep the concept alive from United and Liverpool, who instead agreed to reject PBP and was no need to even vote on the matter. Premier League TV rights are likely to be edging below £1.4billion in the next domestic rights sell-off in months but as far as the clubs are concerned, it is far from the time to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.

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