I can’t say anything about the quality, but I am against players taking big paydays just to make more money, and I dislike leagues that resort to these cheap antics. It’s not a serious, competitive league if you are spending £300m on one player while the rest of their teammates most likely don’t get paid 1% of that.

Gary Neville says Premier League should stop Saudi Arabia transfers - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65956434

 

Well worth giving this a watch if you have a spare 5 minutes. 

Seems that players are realising the grass isn't always greener on the other side. It's obvious they were money motivated to move over there but the reasons given for why they wish to leave, as reports suggest, makes it even more obvious that they were blinded by the money being offered. 

It was never about "helping improve the league" it was always about the big sum of money offered. Now that they've had their share of big paydays they're upping and leaving. 

Totally agree @KB1862

The Saudi Nation have an infinite amount of dollars to throw around. They behave like a child with a new toy.

The concern for me is not just the Billions being put into paying players to go over there to Saudi, it's what the Oil rich Countries buying of Premier League clubs and the inexhaustible amounts of money these clubs have available is affecting our domestic game.

And what's happening in the Premier League affects clubs throughout the football pyramid, which I believe is changing football for the worse. Killing competition and & thus making the elite clubs even richer.

The Saudis always have a Plan B. I think they'll throw their support behind the Super League in Europe now. Having Real Madrid vs Barcelona in Riyadh is better than what they have now. 

I think you are right.  I hope that UEFA can prevent those clubs entering European competitions and players being eligible for national teams. The success of a European Superleague would depend upon if TV got behind it.  I am not sure how good long a league like that would remain interesting unless there was a turnover of clubs.  Mind you I can imagine the BBC getting behind it as they have been great supporters of top level football since it was invented back in 1992, 

@Dripsey3 & @Ohh Tommy Johnson  If there were to be a Super League they would probably follow the same model as the NFL in the States with no promotion or relegation. Could be two leagues with an end of season playoff system with one overall winner to make more money.

Just going a little of topic,

As far as today is concerned I would like to see, all those who qualify for European Competition in England ineligible to play in the FA Cup & League Cup the season afterward. This would be positive development for all the other clubs in the Football pyramid. In addition, I would limit team changes to no more than 4 players to the starting 11 in Cup matches, to stop the big clubs devaluing the competitions.

@Robbie That is an interesting approach... and with the limitless amounts of money could be made to survive.  Fans would certainly get behind it (they always do) and FOMO would mean the top clubs would jump.  I can see ManUre, Man City, Newcastle, Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs going.  I think Liverpool would have to jump too, or risk becoming irrelevant.  That would be enough for the TV companies to jump on board and the funding for the Premiership will dry up.  That could cause a massive problem to he remaining PL clubs and on down the pyramid.  At that point the only thing that could stop it would be parliamentary intervention or banning of those clubs and players from FIFA competitions - but LIV golf shows that is largely ineffective.

Agree @Ohh Tommy Johnson

There will be less money around the football pyramid as foreign owners may be less willing to fund Clubs remaining in the domestic leagues ,& TV revenues will go down, but funnily enough, I think it would make for more exciting competition in the Premier League if the big six go.

Would the Premier League try to make the competition a UK National Premier league to include clubs from Scotland & Northern Ireland such as Celtic, Rangers & Linfield?

As far as televising the matches are concerned, I think probably Sky Sports & Discovery Sports would be attracted to televise the Super League, that would leave BBC & ITV to bid for the Premier League, EFL & Cup Competitions.

@Robbie I think a UK league would fall foul of different FA jurisdictions.  I believe that Cardiff, Swansea, Newport and Wrexham have either special dispensation as they were in the set up before the Welsh League was set up, or they were required to resign from the Welsh FA and join the English FA.  When I lived in Newport, AFC Newport were required to play in England as they could neither train or play in Wales unless they joined the Welsh leagues.  They used to be called the Nomads for that reason.  I could see a UK cup competition being rather fun though.

A league without the big 6 or 7 would be a far more interesting competition.

I agree @Ohh Tommy Johnson that I don't think they'll be a UK wide league, the Scottish clubs wouldn't agree to it for a start.

I also agree that a Premier league in England without the big six would be far more interesting.

@Dripsey3 I think you're right, I have thought they'd probably do something like that. They seem to be dipping into pretty much everything. Boxing, Golf, WWE, Football (whether it be buying clubs or bringing big names to their domestic league). 

@Robbie You're bang on. These nations with limitless money looking to invest in clubs in England are the reason why there's becoming such a big divide with the "big" clubs and those looking to establish themselves in the Premier League. 

Part of me feels surprised that players have lasted this long while another part can't believe it's already starting to crumble. I don't get why these players can't just come out and say they took the paycheck because it was an opportunity to earn big bucks rather than claim things that were already known before they went over. They'd lose less credibility by doing so.