Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville has joined forces with a group to call for independent regulation of the game
Friday 16 October 2020 15:46, UK
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes Project Big Picture was formed with the right intentions and has provoked a debate which will prove beneficial for the structure of English football.
The controversial proposals, devised by Liverpool with the support of Manchester United, was rejected by their fellow Premier League clubs on Wednesday.
Project Big Picture would have provided increased funding of English Football League [EFL] clubs but also given the Premier League's big six the power to make decisions in the top tier of English football.
Despite criticism aimed towards both Liverpool and Manchester United for a perceived attempt at a power grab, Klopp insists the plans have provided an ideal starting point for future change to be agreed on.
"A lot of times in life there has to be a crisis - not necessarily a virus but a crisis - to start talking and this time I am really happy that people now talk about it," Klopp said.
"It's not like I was involved, but I can say all the people I know who were involved are concerned about football. Yes, about Liverpool as well, but about football in general, that was their intention.
"There are things we can improve and I really think if you always have to improve them now before you see the real problems in the future - that is what these people tried to do.
"I think when the process keeps on going and people are talking about it then it is very positive."
After Project Big Picture was voted down the EFL turned down a £50m rescue package from the Premier League for League One and Two clubs after they deemed it inadequate and insisted Championship clubs should form part of any rescue deal.
Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville has criticised the game for its inability to govern itself and distribute money fairly as he joined forces with a group to call for independent regulation of the game.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says Manchester United have a duty to "protect the football pyramid" amid calls for a reform of English football.
"It's a definite that we, as one of the bigger clubs, have a responsibility to protect the football pyramid or smaller clubs," Solskjaer said.
"I think we've seen lately the effect this pandemic has had on many smaller clubs.
"For me, the fans - that's the key thing for me, that we want to get the fans back in the stadiums, which will help the other clubs.
"I'm just very glad that we're looking into (it) and we're trying to help, and the talks have started. And let's make the powers that be decide how we're going to do that."
Mikel Arteta thinks the Premier League has an obligation to protect lower-league clubs as he reacted to the rejection of Project Big Picture.
"It was a very clear statement from the Premier League on what is going to happen," the Arsenal manager said.
"We all have to review the context and how we can help each other and make football more sustainable.
"It has to be agreed by everybody and yesterday's statement was very clear regarding that.
"It's very special the way the Premier League has conducted over the years compared to other leagues in Europe. That's a massive strength. If we can maintain that unity and sustain our way of doing things that's very valuable and the image we project to the outside world is really, really strong."
Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl believes Project Big Picture would have made the Premier League "boring" and prevented a repeat of Leicester's shock 2016 title triumph.
The Austrian feels the plans were short-sighted and would have detracted from the entertainment and unpredictability of English football.
He also feared they threatened to severely limit the number of potential champions, referencing Bayern Munich's domination of the Bundesliga and Juventus' stranglehold on Serie A, as well as the thrilling 2015-16 season when Claudio Ranieri's Foxes defied odds of 5,000-1 to finish top.
"I am not really surprised [about the rejection of the plans] because when you hear the rumours around the fans and everybody, you could feel immediately that there is not a big support for this idea," he said.
"I think it's short thinking because maybe you get immediately a little bit more money or a better advantage for yourself.
"But in the end it ends up in a league that maybe has one champion for the next nine years like in Germany or in Italy. For me, it's boring, to be honest.
"What I like so much about the Premier League is that we have every two, three years a new champion. 'A Leicester' will never be possible with these changes.
"I am very happy that they have seen it is better to stick with what we have done here so far in England because it's not a coincidence that it is the most famous and the most popular league in the world.
"The reason why the Premier League is so famous is because it's the most competitive in the world - a 7-2 result from (Aston) Villa against Liverpool is what makes this league so interesting. This is what nobody wants to miss."
