England's League Managers Association Chief Exec Richard Bevan has warned that "owners of a number of Premier League clubs are talking about trying to scrap promotion and relegation in order to safeguard their investments," according to Gibson & James of the GUARDIAN. Bevan said, "There are a number of overseas-owned clubs already talking about bringing about the avoidance of promotion and relegation in the Premier League. If we have four or five more new owners, that could happen." He added he understood talks had taken place among "American owners and some of the Asian owners as well." Bevan: "If I was an American owner and owned a football club, or if I was an Indian owner, I might be thinking that I would like to get rid of promotion and relegation because my shares would go up." Gibson notes that Aston Villa Owner Randy Lerner has "not been involved in any discussions of the sort described by Bevan and have no intention of any such involvement." League sources insisted that there "was little appetite for any move to end promotion and relegation," and the topic "has not been debated for two years" (GUARDIAN, 10/18). Bevan claimed that "several foreign owners are eager to introduce a franchise system similar to those in sports" in the U.S. In London, Tom Dart notes franchising helps to "protect profits and reduces the risk involved in running a club, but is the antithesis of football's traditional pyramid system" (LONDON TIMES, 10/18). In N.Y., Andrew Das notes it "would take the consent of 14 of the 20 teams" in the EPL to pass a rule change (NYTIMES.com, 10/18).
WON'T BE PART OF IT: EPL club Wigan Athletic Chair Dave Whelan insisted that he "would pull his team out of the Premier League if promotion and relegation was scrapped in the English top flight." Whelan: "It's the most stupid suggestion I've ever heard in my life. If it was to happen I would resign Wigan from the Premier League and go back and play in the Football League. ... It's a worrying thought that if we get 14 or 15 foreign owners (in the Premier League), they come up with some mad idea and it gets voted through. It would ruin and kill English football" (PA, 10/18). Blackburn co-Owner Venkatesh Rao said that the team is "'fully supportive' and 'committed' to the current format" of the EPL. The owners in a statement "denied claims that they would vote in favour of scrapping relegation from the Premier League" (SKYSPORTS.com, 10/18).
