FA firmly against 39th step

Football Association: Idea is implausible

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The Premier League's proposal to take games abroad has been branded 'unsustainable' by the Football Association.

A board meeting was held on Thursday to discuss the possibility of hosting top-flight matches overseas from the 2010/11 season.

With the idea already receiving widespread criticism from all corners of the game, the members of football's governing body in England agreed that the idea would create too much disruption to fixtures and would have a negative impact on relations with other international associations.

It is understood that there was almost unanimous agreement that the hosting of a 39th game in a foreign city could not be supported.

Uncertainty

A statement read by FA chairman Lord Triesman said: "At the moment, we have not seen a sustainable plan to which we can agree.

"If the Premier League has things it wants to say about changes or new variants, well then they will come forward.

"But personally, I would prefer it happened sooner rather than later because I don't want this to drift on particularly as we are about to launch our World Cup bid (for 2018).

"In general I think uncertainty is not very helpful if it goes on for any length of time but that is a matter for them."