I'm sick of reading comments about what a great job Richard Scudamore has done as Chief Executive of the Premier League. He's presided over and led the period in which greed has dominated the Premier League and to hell with the Football League the rest. Under his leadership the rich became richer at the expense of the rest, encouraged foreign investment (ownership) with inadequate 'fit and proper' tests resulting in owners who put the very future of the clubs they purchased at risk by spending way beyond their means - a gamble to get to the big money. He's allowed competition to be massively imbalanced through parachute payments designed purely to enable those dropping out of the cartel to get back in quickly. And he's overseen an environment in which governance is so lacking that numerous of those same clubs have got into trouble without any protection, risk management or even challenge from the FA - Villa being the latest. He's driven through decisions determined solely on the basis of benefit to Premier League clubs and at the expense of the rest of the pyramid (compensation fees rather than transfer fees for young players, Premier League U23's in the FL Trophy etc) and forced them through by threatening to cut payments to the FL if they're not voted in. He's overseen the period in which fans connection to their club has become more distant than ever before, in which tickets prices have grown so much that in many instances local working class fans, the traditional beating heart of the game, can no longer afford to watch their team play. And ensured that the money from broadcasting rights means that clubs don't really care because their income is so great that it doesn't matter. He's encouraged clubs to buy foreign superstars who have fundamentally changed the culture and style of our game and have restricted the opportunities to British born players - thereby reducing the pool of players eligible to play for our national team(s) and stunting success at international level. Ironically, on the same day he announced his departure it also emerged that: - the big six are now demanding an even bigger share of broadcasting revenue. They now want to create a closed shop for the top six. Something that appears unnecessary anyway - other than Leicester and Everton aren't Manchester City / Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham the only club to achieve a top six place in the last few years? Will there greed ever stop? - TV access to Premier League football becomes ever more expensive and more complex. Amazon will now pump even more money in, showing 20 matches a season. To get access to all the matches broadcast a fan would now need at least 3 subscriptions, costing just short of £600 per year. Good for fans my arse! If the measure of his success is the wealth of the Premier League in general and the few top clubs in particular then he's done a brilliant job. If it's the overall health, development and progress of football in general in the UK then he's been a f***ing disaster.......
