Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)

Big Six coup was motivated by greed.. so let’s now see the colour of their money in the shape of MONSTER FINES

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FOR any punishment to fit the crime, English football needs to hit billionair­e owners who plotted their Super League breakaway in a language they know best.

The so-called Big Six were motivated by money when they planned their coup, so let’s see the colour of their money in the shape of monster fines.

Everyone has a view on how the plotters should be punished.

My view is that eye-watering fines, which could be reinvested in our national game’s infrastruc­ture, would ensure some good comes out of a turbulent episode.

If they coughed up, say, £100million each, that would be £600m towards saving the pyramid.

And if you think £100m is too steep, let’s not make the mistake of delivering a slap on the wrist or pretending oligarchs, sheikhs and multi-billionair­e businessme­n can’t afford it.

Why money and not points deductions or expulsion from competitio­ns?

Well, that money would replenish areas of the game hardest-hit by the pandemic crisis, whether that’s 3G pitches at grassroots level or saving clubs on the brink of financial ruin. Parts of the game a Super League might have left to wither and die.

Dozens of communitie­s would benefit, and smaller clubs who face extinction because of the Covid shutdown could be reprieved.

Clubs and leagues below the Premier League have rightly complained in the past that not enough of the game’s income filters down the pyramid.

Here is an opportunit­y partly to redress the balance.

If points deduction is the answer, how many points is enough? If you docked Liverpool and Manchester City 20 points each, they might still be strong enough to challenge for the title.

But if you deducted 20 points from Arsenal, based on this season they would be left in a relegation battle.

The Premier League, whose authority was so badly undermined by the plot, would be weighted too heavily and in too many directions.

Relegation? Expulsion from competitio­ns? I don’t think that would work – not least because competitio­n, and the integrity of leagues based on merit, was the very thing everyone was seeking to protect from an elite closed shop where there was no promotion or relegation.

And why expel clubs like Manchester United from competitio­ns where they are the biggest draw?

That will only hurt clubs outside the Big Six, who generate an estimated 30 percent of game’s turnover between them.

I am also not in favour of any reprisals which would affect the academy system at big clubs.

United, for example, have a proud history of producing home-grown talent.

But what will happen to kids in their youth developmen­t system if the pathway to firstteam football is blocked because the club have been banished from the Premier League, the FA Cup or the League Cup?

From the outset, it was likely that a Super League would be a game-changer – and a very damaging one – for academies, so let’s not ‘hurt’ them with any punishment­s which effectivel­y close off young players’ avenues to first-team football.

It’s been a bewilderin­g week. I felt sorry for the managers and players who were thrown under a bus by owners who went into hiding until the backlash forced them into apologies.

Jurgen Klopp played a blinder after Liverpool’s 1-1 draw at Leeds when he looked ready to combust.

When he is finished as a football manager, he deserves a job in the diplomatic corps.

And unless I’ve been missing something, we already have a Super League for European clubs where the last-16 or quarter-finalists invariably feature the usual suspects.

It’s called the Champions League – and the cream always rises to the top.

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