Can the Premier League beat Brexit?

This is about power in English football, and the Premier League, having accrued so much of it for so long, simply does not want to be told what to do when it comes to free movement of players, says Jack Pitt-Brooke

Sunday 09 December 2018 11:08 GMT
Comments
In 2016 the British electorate took a look at the openness Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore celebrated, and decided to close it up instead
In 2016 the British electorate took a look at the openness Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore celebrated, and decided to close it up instead

Richard Scudamore saw the crunch coming from miles off. Three days before the Brexit referendum, back in June 2016, the Premier League chief executive warned that a win for Leave would be utterly at odds with his competition and what it stands for.

“We travel the world being welcomed because of the fact that we are open for business, open for discussion, and open for cooperation,” Scudamore said. “There is an openness about the Premier League, which I think would be completely incongruous if we were to take the opposite position.”

But later that week 17.4m of the British electorate did take the opposite position. And two and a half years on, that incongruity Scudamore warned of is about to crash straight into the Premier League.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in