If ever there was an occasion for requiring proof that the footballing authorities and club owners were certifiably insane, yesterday would give the Prosecution cast iron evidence of this. Regular readers will need no reminding of the distain in which I hold the ‘powers that be’. ‘Scraping the bottom of the barrel’ is an English colloquialism to describe a nadir; the FA Premier League Board have not plummeted to that depth. They have smashed through the bottom of this barrel and are still travelling downwards through the myriad layers of Hell at a rapid rate of knots.

To suggest that the Premier League requires an additional game for each club at the season’s end is not even laughable; it ought to be the work of a fantasist, published in a trash novel or the opinion column of an irrational webmaster seeking to drive numbers to their site by the deployment of a sensationalist headline. Sadly, it is the sound of money talking louder than commonsense.

The decision to allow West Ham to remain in the top flight was the first proof, if any were needed, that integrity in English football is at an all time low, if it ever existed since the inception of the Premier League. A competition whose foundations are laid in a base of greed has not one shred of moral integrity to stand on. The base fear of how the footballing landscape would be changed by foreign ownership never truly encompassed the irrationality of such a move. Even when it was first mooted a couple of months ago about playing a normal game abroad, an assumption was made that not even the EPL would be that stupid. Well, it has been proven that they are; the turkeys have truly voted for Christmas.

This action though is a logical extension of the successful marketing of the English game yet it is designed to destroy the notion of a domestic league. The international flavour of the game has brought it to a level of excitement on the pitch that could not have been achieved through the talent of the indigenous players; they are not good enough as proven by the national team. The Premier League is the most popular in the world in terms of attention, which is not denied or contradicted. However, is this step that will kill that?

The argument needs to be broken into two parts, both of which have solutions. Firstly, why an additional game? There is no rationality in this. The objective is to play everyone home and away, it has a natural fairness about it and has made the league what it is today. An additional element added to that destroys it. The League title will rarely, if ever, be decided on the last day of the season which is what this is trying to invoke. Only three times in the last two decades can I recall the final day deciding a title, when Arsenal, Blackburn and Manchester United emerged victorious. Relegation is an altogether different matter, last season being a good example of this. However, how would Wigan or West Ham in particular feel if they had got their points then to subsequently be beaten in the last game in Dubai against Watford or someone of that ilk? How would we as Arsenal fans have felt if fourth place had been lost two seasons ago on the Miami killing fields?

The idea is out of step with the league simply because of the differing standards of the teams. Even if the EPL introduces a scheme whereby the 1st place plays 20th, 2nd plays 19th, etc, there is still an inherent unfairness to it all. Form goes out of the window in a one-off match; one good performance can rescue a team when thirty-eight games suggest that they are no better than a competitor is.

There are other solutions to their desire to improve revenues but all our equally flawed, for example playing two matches against the same opposition without increasing the number of games leaves a level playing field. To work, to allow acclimatisation for the players the number of clubs in the division would have to be reduced, an action that will not happen. An EPL Cup with the winners getting the Carling Cup place in Europe might be more acceptable to the top flight but unacceptable to the Football League.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this all is the inability of supporters to stop it happening. The petitions should still be signed but the action required to make them effective will not be taken. We might be outraged but I can guarantee that there will not be any cohesive action to reinforce the strength of feeling. If there is a genuine desire to stop this happening, a co-ordinating body needs to arrange for one weekend of the remainder of the season to be fan-free. No-one should attend a match; hit the clubs owners in the only manner that they understand – money. Remove one week’s revenue and even Arsenal feel the pinch. But it will not happen for the clubs understand that not everyone will feel strongly enough about it to forgo their fix. We matter less and less on matchday’s with the vast broadcasting and ancillary revenues. Also, the relationship is heavily weighted in one party’s favour – that of the clubs. They know that every thousand who do not attend there are probably another seven hundred to take their places. Hardly a concern for clubs which can operate on stadia being two thirds full on a regular basis.

In these circumstances, the saviours may well be those upon whom we heap scorn on a regular basis; FIFA and UEFA. No doubt the EPL took soundings from them and the FA before this announcement but it is truly a case of ‘buyer beware’. Sepp Blatter is a formidable football politician and one word in an ally’s ear could start a ball rolling that the English clubs are powerless to stop. The fear for the rulemakers will be that the clubs will gain too much financial clout over the coming years because if this experiment is allowed to continue, the Spaniards and Italians will certainly follow suit, meaning that the three biggest leagues in the money stakes will be in cahoots. That almost certainly will lead to demands for more power over national associations. Blatter will be aware of this and will not allow it to happen.

The second ally to the supporter are the players and managers unions. Individually there are few managers whose objections will be truly listened to by the Board. One is Wenger and I am actually struggling for any others; Ferguson will be listened to and then ignored as will Benitez. A co-incidence that they have foreign owners? I think not. The Unions are a different matter. If the PFA and LMA feel so strongly about this, then they should ballot for strike action to have the matter quashed at birth. They will not for they benefit financially from such an arrangement.

The overriding feeling that I have of this is one of despair. I do not deny those who live abroad the wish to see Arsenal in action but the manner of this scheme leaves me cold about football’s rulers, not that they ever gave me a warm, cuddly feeling.

My wish would be that the Arsenal Board comes out in a strong condemnation of this idea. As of yet, the only item on the website is to reproduce the EPL Press Release. I would strongly urge you all to contact the club to condemn this move. Maybe, just maybe, we are not as weak collectively as I think. More importantly, if one big club comes out against it, others will reconsider their positions.

‘til Tomorrow.