Ecclestone cool on proposal
14 Feb 2008 - 08:36:48
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has questioned the Premier League's proposal to introduce an 'international round' of fixtures involving all 20 clubs.
Ecclestone, now also a co-owner at ambitious Championship club QPR, doesn't believe the plan to play ten games involving all 20 teams in foreign locations 'is very good'.
Instead, the billionaire claims it would make more sense to stage a separate tournament which would be unrelated to the regular Premier League and involve only the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.
"The current idea the Premier League is putting forward isn't very good," he told the Daily Mirror.
"They probably wouldn't find it very easy to convince someone in Singapore to have Wigan playing somebody over there. I can't see a promoter going for that.
"But if somebody said to me today 'what would you do?' I'd have the top four clubs who are known worldwide and I'd want them playing six matches against each other in a mini-league.
"I'd run it completely separately and export it to whoever wanted to buy it. Nothing to do with anything. Not sharing the money with any of the rest of the league or anything like that.
"I would be very happy to enter into a contract with those four clubs to run in six events if I could put the events where I wanted to put them."