End Relegation? Don't Think So

The BBC reports that some Premier League owners are making noises about ending the practice of relegation and promotion:

Several foreign-owned Premier League clubs want to scrap relegation, according to League Managers Association (LMA) chief Richard Bevan.

Bevan fears that if more clubs are sold to foreign investors they may have enough votes to force changes.

But the Premier League said relegation and promotion were part of its rules and added to the league's strength.

Bevan hopes that a parliamentary inquiry into football governance would also help prevent the proposal.

"We're very keen that the report is successful in helping the Football Association introduce a licensing programme for clubs," he said.

"Because there are a number of overseas-owned clubs already talking about bringing about the avoidance of promotion and relegation in the Premier League.

"If we have four or five more new owners, that could happen."

I'm not sure what to make of this, and neither apaprently does Bevan or anyone else:

The Premier League clubs have not formally discussed any such move since Bolton chairman Phil Gartside proposed his two-tiered structure two years ago, an idea which was soon dismissed.

However, Bevan still believes it is a possibility, arguing any new owner of a Premier League club would not need to be foreign for them to see there would be money to be made from scrapping relegation.

"It doesn't really matter if you're from overseas or not, does it?" he said. "It doesn't matter whether you're from Birmingham or you're from Burma."

A Premier League spokesman said that they did not recognise LMA chief executive Bevan's claims, which come a week after the government demanded changes to the way that football is run.

Change appears to be coming to European football, and everyone is trying to position themselves for the unknown. But ending relegation and promotion seems far-fetched by any criteria.