Mark Lawrenson: Extra overseas game is an unworkable scheme

Feb 12 2008 by Richard Williamson, Liverpool Daily Post

IT IS little wonder football supporters have given a resounding thumbs down to the idea of taking Premier League matches around the world.

The idea has so many flaws it is an obvious non-starter.

Fans have been quick to perceive the suggestion as another example of trying to squeeze too much money out of the game.

There is no doubt the Premier League has a fantastic product.

And there seems little doubt that someone sitting behind an office desk has wondered how they can get that bit more out of what they can offer. And if you are one of the clubs with limited potential to cash in, the prospect of adding a few million to the back balance by jetting off to the Far East, for example, must be tempting.

There are few avenues to explore at home. Ticket prices are already at the kind of levels that would make many supporters baulk at further increases while the TV deals which rake in so many millions are already in place.

The answer, it is being argued, is to take the game further afield.

Only, that in trying to do so they run the risk of damaging the very product that serves them so well.

To add an extra game to the league programme – and to pair teams by using a seeded draw – reduces the title race to something of a lottery with the hopes of some teams, whether chasing a place in Europe or seeking to avoid relegation, resting on which other club they have to face three times in a season. It is simply unworkable.

English teams already have a packed enough schedule – with games in a number of domestic competitions, not to mention any European forays, so why would they need to travel thousands of miles around the world for one extra game?

For the vast majority of fans, it would be simply a step too far to make the Premier League a product to be past round the globe.

Mark Lawrenson was talking to RICHARD WILLIAMSON