Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville has hit back at new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly. The businessman made comments on Tuesday about Americanizing the Premier League by introducing an All-Star game and even suggested a playoff system to determine which teams are relegated from England’s top flight.
“Ultimately, I hope the Premier League takes a little bit of a lesson from American sports,” claimed Boehly. “MLB did their all-star game in L.A. this year. We made $200 million from a Monday and a Tuesday.”
Gary Neville: US investors represent danger to English soccer
Neville responded with a scathing assessment not only just on Boehly, but all American owners in the league.
“I keep saying it but the quicker we get the Regulator in the better,” Neville wrote on social media. “US investment into English football is a clear and present danger to the pyramid and fabric of the game. They just don’t get it and think differently. They also don’t stop till they get what they want!”
Earlier this year, the U.K. government made plans to introduce an independent regulator in the sport to help give the fans more of a voice. The Premier League disagreed on the necessity to use a regulator. Nevertheless, plans are slowly moving ahead. It remains to be seen if and when these regulators will be implemented, but they may apparently sanction clubs and even give out an ‘integrity test’ for prospective owners.
Deja vu for those following developments in England
Neville’s comments are reminiscent of how outspoken he was against the English clubs who tried to launch a Super League last year. The common thread between the idea of The Super League and Boehly’s ideas is a sense of greed.
While Boehly’s comments were foolish and odd, none of his suggestions have been applied to the league. One owner does not have the power to make drastic changes in the sport. Premier League fans would only have to worry about alterations if more club owners agreed to make the changes.
However, the fear among many (Neville included) is that foreign owners of Premier League clubs don’t understand the culture, history or tradition of English football. Boehly suggesting a north versus south all-star game is ridiculous, and it only shows how out of touch he is with English soccer. For instance, imagine a team of the north featuring Manchester United, Liverpool, Everton and Leeds United footballers, and what the reaction would be from supporters who were expected to support that team.
Boehly became the ninth American owner in the Premier League when he purchased Chelsea this summer. However, American owners of Leeds and West Ham currently do not have a majority stake in their clubs.
Photo credit: IMAGO / PA Images
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Bill Victor
September 15, 2022 at 3:03 pm
Russian Oligarchs, fine, petro states doing sports washing? No problem. As long as they care about the “fabric of the sport”…
Mercator
September 14, 2022 at 6:27 pm
Gary is clueless and again caught up in his anti American xenophobia. The biggest threat to the EPL has always been the dominance of man United. American owners solved that problem for the league oddly enough. The second biggest threat to the EPL is the dominance of state backed Man City, and again it’s been American owners at Liverpool who have kept city from running away with things. Chelsea is forced into a sale because their owner is literally under sanction by the British government…and who comes in to bail out one of the EPLs biggest clubs? Rich Americans of course. God forbid they express an option after spending 5 billion.
Gary wants the money, success and publicity American investors bring the EPL, but god forbid they speak about the game at all. Better to sell to a middle eastern dictator who will use the club and league to cover up gross human rights violations, but hey at least they didn’t suggest an all star game. You couldn’t make it up how clueless and hypocritical some of these people are. At least the Germans have the honor to accept that without outside money, BL won’t ever be the global league the PL is. They are fine with that trade off. But the English want it both ways, take the foreign money and turn the league into the top in the world…but don’t dare having different views on how things are run. Not how it works, the English made their decision 30 years ago when they formed the PL, and allowed owners like Roman and the Emiratis to buy clubs for questionable purposes with even more questionable funds.
Jack
September 16, 2022 at 12:36 pm
Bingo. If all the owners of clubs in Premier League were European only, the premier league wouldn’t be as big as its currently is today.
Gary Neville should park his anti-American xenophobic views out the door. He’s lucky he had a career at Man United during Sir Alex Ferguson reign as manager. Otherwise, he would be Mr. Irrelevant.
Michael F
September 16, 2022 at 1:56 pm
The issue is the US investors like Boehly feel they have to announce their opinion about doing things better the american way, only months after taking over a club as the new guy on the block.
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Again… Neville is simply doing what Klopp did- in protecting the rich long tradition and culture of english football. Amazing how knee jerk you folks are in not seeing this. They are providing an opinion, just like you are. Thwy are entitled to it, just like you are.
JC
September 19, 2022 at 9:37 am
As an American fan of European Football who lived in Europe (Belgium) for 3 years and has traveled extensivly in Europe I agree with your comments and also believe that Neville and Klopp are protecting the culture of the Sport. American inverstors, granted they bring big money to the leagues, do not understand the culture, tradition and passion of the European football fan. Its a way of life, an extension of their connection to their country and origins. With American investors its $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ and I find his, Boehly’s, claim of 200 million from 2 days of an All Star game a bit exagerated but of course a major example to promote having such a game. The EPL and European football leagues have numerous tournaments outside of their respective leagues. They really do not need another level of games just in the name of Greed.
Michael F
September 19, 2022 at 12:05 pm
@JC. I appreciate your perspective of one who has spent time in the country that took in the culture and thus has a weighted opinion on this subject.
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I just don’t understand how Boehly’s take was actually insightful to anyone that follows this game and i found Boehly’s timing as a brand new owner was a show of disrespect to the culture he was just introduced to.
Mercator
September 19, 2022 at 4:54 pm
Mate I have lived in Belgium for years as well and its ridiculous to suggest something like an All-Star game goes against “European Football” culture. Belgium basically has a playoff – its obvious it fits perfectly fine with Belgian football culture and yet if an American suggested it you would no doubt be one of the Americans saying how it is against “European Football” culture. The only sacrosanct thing is relegation (and not moving teams from city to city for money like US owners constantly do or threaten to do). Everything else in American sports is probably done somewhere in Europe, and in fact European sports are more “American” in terms of advertising and letting the rich run the league than in the US. Even all star games are just glorified charity matches which they DO in Europe, just often not involving active players (but some do, I saw Ronaldinho and co playing with Vinicius earlier in the summer, forget what charity event it was). A lot of you actually have no idea what constitutes “European Football” culture and just parrot the same xenophobic non-sense you hear from the English. I don’t agree with the All-Star game because of scheduling concerns, but nothing about it goes against “European Football” culture other than an American suggesting the idea. If he called it the charity cup instead of an all-star game people like Neville would be much less triggered.
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I agree $200 million is wildly optimistic and I doubt an all-star game would generate a quarter of that amount for the lower leagues. But its not greed from Bohley – he WANTS to get money to the lower leagues, no Chelsea, because that is what will build the value of the league and all the clubs in it, including Chelsea. The greed comes from most owners, like FSG, who refuse to share current revenues down the pyramid. Clop has nothing to say about this though because for all his grandstanding, he is a company man and knows who signs his paychecks and won’t say a bad word about them unless it affects Liverpool’s chances at silverware. The moralizing (protecting the game, protecting the “culture) is absurd.
Roberto
September 19, 2022 at 5:29 pm
I would just clarify a little it is the football and baseball teams that move*. I would not doubt the raiders own their own moving vans. They barely get unpacked before they hit the road, again.
* The old NASL moved a lot, the MLS has had just one team move SJ to Houston. They did lose two teams around 2010.
Mercator
September 19, 2022 at 8:37 pm
The NHL has moved 13 teams over its 100 year history. The NBA has also moved 13 teams in 32 separate relocations. It’s a thing in American sports, every league does it, and its easily the most insulting and absurd – its the difference between a club and a franchise and I would say is the primary cultural difference. This goes hand in hand with promotion and relegation though – the only reason teams move in the US is because the leagues are fixed sizes with no movement through lower divisions. This is also why college football is the closest thing you see in the US to a “European Football” culture – the teams never move, it would be ridiculous to suggest they should, and they represent something much more than sports to most fans.
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Nothing else is really that sacrosanct and Bohley is right there are a few things that European Football and the EPL could learn from US sports. The NFL is available OTA in local markets, you just need an antenna to see your local team play. In England? It’s a non-insignificant portion of the average monthly wage to be able to reliable watch the local club – if you can do so at all! I think a certain number of EPL games in England should be only opened to bidding by the public broadcasters, it’s ridiculous you need Sky or BT to watch the EPL in England where it is far more expensive than almost anywhere else in the world. Most other European countries do have the local teams on public broadcasters, but then again most other top leagues did not break away from the national football federation to make more money. You won’t hear a word about this from Gary though because he makes loads of money on Sky.
Michael F
September 20, 2022 at 8:43 am
@Mercator I can respect your opinion on this as you surely feel strongly about it. That said, it is just an opinion. It is not a statement of fact. The same as the the opinions running contrary to yours. And the fact that Gary Neville was a former player and manager tells me he has some weight to provide an opinion or make a response to Boehly’s suggestions. To say Neville is clueless is indeed (as you would say) absurd. But again, I can respect your opinion for what it is… an opinion.
MarkB
September 14, 2022 at 5:16 pm
Although I agree with some of what GNev is trying to say, I also think he’s just making a blanket generalization. I don’t recall anyone other than Boehly suggesting relegation playoffs or an AllStar game. If he’s so keen on that, why didn’t he just buy an MLS franchise?
rkujay
September 14, 2022 at 2:38 pm
Why didn’t the new Chelsea owner wait just a few seconds before spouting his opinion?
Chris
September 14, 2022 at 12:30 pm
Although I agree with Mr. Neville in general(as a Liverpool supporter I don’t believe I just said that), the ever increasingly greedy Premier League does approve all these investors. Apparently, all one has to do is flash the cash and the EPL is rolling out the red carpet for you. The EPL is just as complicit as foreign investors are.