It's time the PL woke up...

When Chelsea won the league in 1955, they didn't bother competing in the European Cup the following season. The Football Association were against it you see. Not our thing; a continental affair; probably not up to the standards of the world's best league, anyway.

So when Didier Deschamps joined Chelsea in 1999, he came at a time when the club were just about to embark on their first ever season competing in the Europe's premier competition, by then re-branded as the Champions League.

It was a landmark achievement and, given the history, well overdue. As Deschamps was interviewed on arrival in London, it was explained to him this was Chelsea's first season in the Champions League. So far, so good.

He issued a few platitudes about the historic nature of embarking on a quest for this trophy. Then it was explained to him that they had in fact qualified previously but declined to take part.

There was a pause. The translator was asked to repeat the question. Deschamps' brow furrowed. He asked for another translation, as though the last wouldn't do. He looked quizzical, his brain not computing what he was being told.

Further details were added, such as the fact that the FA forbade them. By now he was completely lost. He clearly had no comprehension of the peculiar arrogance and insularity that our football authorities can demonstrate.

The interview moved on but Deschamps must have been thinking: 'What are they talking about? Why would anyone decline to compete in the European Cup?' Doubtless he would have thought he had misheard, misunderstood or the translator was having an off day. It was one those moments when it dawns on you just how others see us.

Welcome to England, Didier. Home of the greatest league in the world. Always has been. Was in 1955 and is still so in 2016. No-one does it better. Anyone in England will tell you. Yes, we'll deign to compete in European competitions these days. But take them seriously? Leave that to the continental Europeans.

Manchester City kicked off at 4.30pm on Sunday. It's a small point but an important one. They have a Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu on Wednesday. Real Madrid played on Saturday. And at 4pm, which by Spanish standards is nice and early. Of course they did. Because La Liga arranged the fixtures to maximise their recovery time.

But the Premier League? No can do. TV contracts to fulfil, you see. And to be fair, if your corporation had just shelled out the best part of £8billion for the right to show Premier League football, you wouldn't want the league then telling you when and where you might show the games. Certainly not if you had already agreed the scheduling when you signed the TV deals.

So don't go away with the idea that this is all Sky Sports' or BT's fault. Nor need you blame Manchester City for complaining about it when they signed the TV deal. They are beholden to that agreed contract, so it is right they can't wriggle out of it now.

But what ought to happen is that when the next TV deal is negotiated for the seasons from 2019-2022, provision should be made for fixture flexibility, so that teams competing in the Champions League have extra time to recover.

So if you're playing on a Tuesday, you never play later than 12.45pm on a Saturday. (Remember, for the new TV deal agreed for 2016-19, there are Friday nights slots and assuming they work, they could be used to help Champions League teams).

And if you're playing in the Champions League semi-final, representing the Premier League, you should pretty much play when you want, or at least no later than 3pm on a Saturday.

Here's the problem, though. That kind of flexibility would mean the TV deal was worth a little less. Maybe £7.9billion in today's terms, rather than £8billion. And all those pennies add up, don't you know?

The terms of each TV deal are agreed by the 20 Premier League as a whole. And to change anything in the Premier League you need a two thirds majority.

Usually only six clubs are thinking about the Champions League; the rest just want to get the most cash they can. And so the chances of getting 14 clubs to vote through a change are nigh on impossible.

Yet if the so-called smaller clubs are resistant to such a change, they should be named and shamed. For one thing, in the post-Leicester City era, the poverty of their vision should be exposed. At least five or six clubs previously considered unfashionable in the Premier League should now be thinking: 'This could be our problem in the next few years and so, as a collective, we will support this.'

In fact Leicester have hopefully changed the entire paradigm of Premier League participation. It should no longer be acceptable for clubs to blunder along in the Premier League picking up the cash and smugly congratulate themselves on finishing 14th. Clearly not everyone can qualify for Europe but every club ought to be thinking about how they can make that leap.

And, even if they can't get their heads round that vision, then if the so-called smaller clubs cannot see that the Premier League's repeated failures in the Champions League in the last few years carries with it the risk of devaluing their product, then they really are short-sighted dunderheads with sawdust for brains.

Of course, the Premier League's failures in Europe are much more than just a scheduling issue. And this alone won't solve their problems.

Yet until they address the issue, they stand accused as being as myopic and idiotic as the FA, circa 1955. And truly, there is no greater insult. Ask Didier Deschamps.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3570826/It-s-time-Premier-League-woke-changed-Champions-League-Manchester-City-scheduling-help.html

It's a very interesting article and makes some very good points.

Granted, it's hard to see how teams playing for mid table mediocrity to secure their pay day would vote for a change if it meant taking a hit in the wallet and I suspect the FA wouldn't want to take a cut in money either, so maybe they should point out to these TV companies that more teams doing well in Europe is more advertising dollars in their pocket from the UK, so it's actually in their best interests to shift games around.

I suspect this might be what Friday is for.  I'll bet that teams in the CL have their games on Friday nights in future.  Except us, because we clearly don't deserve any assistance, like Sunday at 4PM for a PL game.  Or a cup tie two days before a CL game.  I bet if we were loserpool or the rags, they'd let us play on Saturday morning...

Exactly.