Premier League football managers: Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta, Southampton’s Ralph Hasenhuttl, and Burnley’s Sean Dyche have heaved a sigh of relief over the scrapped Project Big Picture which was initiated by Manchester United and Liverpool football club.
The Project Big Picture has been one of the most controversial pieces of publication in the past few days. The proposal wanted to restructure football in England by reducing the number of clubs in the Premier League from 20 to 18, reducing the number of clubs that will be promoted and relegated from three to two, scrap EFL Cup and community shield, and many other provisions.
On Wednesday, October 14, the 20 Premier League clubs met to discuss most of the issues the proposal raised and the clubs unanimously voted against the proposal. Before then, the English Football League (EFL) which would have benefited £250 million and 25 percent of broadcasting revenue if the project had succeeded, publicly declared support for it.
On Thursday, one of the Premier League football managers who have aired his opinion on the failed plan, Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta told the press that the Premier League is different from what it used to be 20 years ago. Hence, the stakeholders of the league need to “find a way that works for everybody.
“That can make this game sustainable and we can still evolve regarding the context we are in at the moment, which is important as well,” Mikel Arteta said.
“It’s different from what it was 20 years ago. We have to move. We have to share a vision to achieve that at the end of the day for the benefit of everyone.
“It’s very special the way the Premier League has conducted itself over the years, from playing in another league in Europe.”
“I think that is a massive strength. If we can maintain unity and sustain our way of doing things that is very valuable and the image we project to the outside world is really strong. I hope that we can maintain that.”
One controversial aspect of the Project Big Picture is the fact that it came with a clause that gave more power to the top 6 clubs – Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Tottenham.
Hence, the manager of Burnley Sean Dyche said the clubs didn’t need to create so much decision-making power for themselves if they care about the lower leagues.
“What seems to be the narrative is the top six having most of the decision-making power”, Sean Dyche said.
“If you are talking about looking after everyone in the lower leagues, in theory, to look after the Premier League, you share that power.
“So, therefore, in possible terms, they should say OK, we want to look after them but we are going to share that power across the league simply because everyone has earned the right to be in the Premier League. We deserve to be there, we’ve proved that it’s an ongoing challenge but we are there.
“So I think it’s fair that everyone should have a say and have agreed moments of who gets what for what reason. And if that can work in the bigger picture – obviously it hasn’t worked in this case – then I’m sure everyone will be willing to play their part.”
While Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl insisted that the Premier League would be boring if Project Big Picture stood and also insisted that he was not surprised that the plan was rejected.
“I am not surprised [about the rejection of the plans] because when you hear the rumors around the fans and everybody, you could feel immediately that there is no big support for this idea,” he said.
“I think it’s short thinking because maybe you get immediately a little bit more money or a better advantage for yourself.
“But in the end, it ends up in a league that maybe has one champion for the next nine years like in Germany or in Italy. For me, it’s boring, to be honest.
“What I like so much about the Premier League is that we have every two, three years a new champion. ‘A Leicester’ will never be possible with these changes.”
