MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Seventy-two hours after their radical plans for major changes in English football became public, the American owners of Liverpool and Manchester United were given a blunt reminder on Wednesday of the simple reality of the very power structure they have sought to overturn.
"Project Big Picture" called for the biggest six clubs in the Premier League, along with three other long-term members, to be given"special voting rights" that would effectively put them in command of the world's most commercially successful league -- and leave the rest as second-class passengers.
The plan's backers appear to have badly miscalculated how public opinion and the government would react to their proposals but even as they lick their wounds, the indications are that they are ready to fight on. But if the big clubs are to get their way on their main issues of priority -- a smaller league with less games and more power and money for the"star attractions" - they will now realise they face a formidable opposition.
"Project Big Picture provides a new beginning which will revitalise the football pyramid at all levels. This new beginning will reinvigorate clubs in the lower leagues and the communities in which they are based," Parry enthused on Sunday after the details were leaked.
On Tuesday, the EFL put supportive club chairmen in front of the media and they expressed their enthusiasm for the plans, praised Parry's leadership and urged the Premier League's smaller clubs to think of the good of the game as a whole.
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