Football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes that the Football Association will now step in after Tottenham’s and Newacstle’s decision to play a post-season friendly in Australia just days after the end of the campaign.
It was announced back in March that Tottenham would take on the Magpies at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground in a post-season friendly on May 22, just three days after the two clubs end their Premier League campaigns.
The decision to force the two sets of players to make a 21,000-mile round trip immediately after a long and demanding season has raised some eyebrows.
Even England boss Gareth Southgate has expressed his displeasure at the announcement, admitting that he is concerned about the likes of James Maddison making that trip just weeks ahead of the Euros (Daily Mail).
A little over a week ago, The Times revealed that the FA could react by banning clubs from staging post-season friendlies after the Professional Footballers’ Association expressed their concerns about the demands that are being put on players.
Tottenham and Newcastle vs The FA
Maguire believes that we will see a legal battle unfold between the FA and the Premier League clubs about the matter.
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He told Football Insider: “We’ve seen Spurs and Newcastle hastily arrange a friendly match in Australia after the end of the season. It does look as if there will now be a battle between clubs and the Football Association.
“We also have to take into consideration player welfare. There are far too many owners who just see football players as cash cows to be milked and milked as often as they can. And it’s good to see the FA standing up for the rights of players who otherwise are being overused.”
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We could well see the FA make rules preventing clubs from playing post-season friendlies as more and more clubs will arrange these sorts of matches over the coming years, given how important the additional revenue has become in the PSR era.
However, even if the FA were to bring in the expected regulation, it would likely only be in place from next season and would not prevent Tottenham and Newcastle from playing at the MCG later this month.
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