A radical plan to conclude the Premier League season in Australia serves to highlight the financial disparities between English and Scottish football.
The Sun reported over the weekend that England’s top-flight could be offered the chance to play out all 92 of its remaining fixtures in Perth in the coming months.
English agent, Gary Williams, is said to be behind the proposal and claims that Premier League clubs and Western Australian government officials are receptive to the idea.
Australia, in general, has been considerably less affected by the current health crisis than the UK, while Perth itself hasn’t recorded any new cases for five days [WA Today].
The isolated city has an outstanding climate and while its four sporting arenas are mainly used for Aussie Rules and cricket, they are all deemed viable for hosting football.
Respected pundits such as Gary Neville have already called for remaining fixtures to be played abroad [Sky Sports], and logistical problems with hosting games at neutral grounds in England are allegedly making the Perth plan increasingly possible.
The fact that such an audacious solution is even being discussed, gives an insight into the massive financial clout of the Premier League and the TV deals that fuel it.
The expense required to perform thousands of tests, to fly all 20 teams halfway across the world and to accommodate them for a significant period of time, will be enormous.
Such options are well beyond the realms of possibility for the Scottish football.
Its TV deal is dwarfed by the Premier League’s and while fans across the globe will scramble to see two mid-table English sides do battle, the same can’t be said for the Premiership.
It seems as though the SFA and SPFL response group has been far less proactive than the footballing authorities in England, Italy and Spain in terms of attempting to find a way to return to football.
Yet, as highlighted by SFA President Rod Petrie over the weekend [BBC Scotland], what’s possible south of the border is unthinkable here.
