Richard Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, has ruled out moving fixtures to give clubs more time to prepare for Champions League games.
José Mourinho and Arsène Wenger have complained that the prospects for England’s elite clubs are harmed in Europe by the league’s refusal to help them. They have lobbied for fixture amendments in the run-up to Champions League matches.
Mourinho and Wenger argue that other leagues are more sympathetic to their clubs who need time to prepare for European competition and the results are being seen on the pitch. No English side progressed beyond the Champions League last 16 last season and only Chelsea made the semi-finals the year before that. But the Premier League will not budge, even though it is worried England will lose a Champions League spot if the decline continues.
“Yes, there is a concern,” Scudamore said. “One on a practical basis, as if we keep declining it’s bad for our coefficient and we’ll lose one of our Champions League places. We have to be careful. It’s a concern but it’s difficult to see what we can do about it centrally as the clubs are trying hard enough to win.
“From 2016-17 we are playing some games on Friday nights but we won’t move individual fixtures as you can’t do it for everybody. Champions League teams play on a Tuesday and a Wednesday so you can’t move matches just to suit one team. It completely ruins everything you do.
“The entire fixture calendar in the UK is predicated upon clubs having a three-day gap, so you can’t bring games forward to a Friday. Maybe because there’s normally something going on the previous Wednesday. We’ve looked at it but it’s practically impossible to do anything.”
It has been argued that the competitive nature of the English top flight takes too much out of players, whereas their European counterparts mostly face relatively easy matches in their domestic leagues. Scudamore, however, disagrees. “[That is not the case] in the Champions League but it’s slightly different in the Europa League, I think. The clubs that are in the Champions League are big enough and have squads geared to play that midweek-weekend cycle. It’s a different issue when a team like Stoke or Everton, who don’t have vast squads, suddenly have to cope with playing in the Europa League and the Premier League.”
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