London (AFP)

The Premier League officially rejected Wednesday, "unanimously" the project "Big Picture" which provided for an in-depth reform of English football, but it can no longer do without a long postponed reflection on burning issues.

The Telegraph scoop, which unveiled the main lines of Project Big Picture (PBP) on Sunday, shook English football in the midst of an international truce.

The American owners of Liverpool, Fenway Group, had started several months ago - well before the Covid-19 pandemic - to draw the contours of a disruption of current operations.

Joined by the Glazers, owners, also Americans, of Manchester United, they had also convinced, in all discretion, the boss of the English Football League (EFL), Rick Parry, former president of the Reds and the Premier League, before to start testing the waters with other powerful clubs.

Some proposals were in tune with the times, such as the passage from 20 to 18 clubs in the elite with 2 automatic relegations in Championship (D2) and a play-off tournament for the 16th, as well as the elimination of the Coupe de la Ligue and the Community Shield which opens the season.

But the PBP went much further, comprising drastic and controversial measures, particularly in terms of governance.

- Power at the "Big 6" -

Once at 18, the "one club, one vote" principle would have been abandoned.

Only nine clubs, the "Big 6" plus three others, probably the oldest in the Premier League, would have had the right to vote and a qualified majority of only 6 votes would have been enough to pass measures which today require the approval of 14 out of 20 clubs.

It all looked like a way to prepare for a move to a closed league and a reform of the Champions League, still in the pipeline, which would see more matches to be played for the big clubs.

To pass the pill and ensure support at the bottom of the pyramid of English football, the promoters had dangled the rapid payment of 250 million pounds (275 million EUR) and a new sharing of television rights negotiated jointly, including 25% would have gone to the three lower divisions.

A new architecture which would not necessarily have given more money to small clubs.

But, on the verge of financial breakdown due to the closed doors in the stadiums which deprives them of their main source of income, a majority of them seemed ready to sign.

Criticized by a broad front ranging from the Premier League itself to the government, including supporters' associations, this project seemed stillborn.

- A test balloon -

Its abandonment as it stands on Wednesday is therefore anything but a surprise, even if one should not be fooled by the "unanimity" of the vote against.

Even more than the content, which could have served as a basis for negotiation, it was the method that shocked.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson had even denounced "behind-the-scenes maneuvers which undermine confidence in the governance of football".

This test balloon sent at the time when English football as a whole was most fragile, will not however remain in vain perhaps.

Unable to remain inactive any longer in the face of the urgent situation of small clubs, the Premier League will release £ 50m (EUR 55m) in grants and zero-interest loans for League One and Two clubs for " let no club go bankrupt ".

The Premier League has above all promised to "work together as a collective of 20 teams on a strategic plan for the future structures and financing of English football", by "consulting all parties" and in "an open and transparent process", said the organizer of the championship.

The structure of the competitions, the calendar, the governance and the financial strength of the clubs will all be on the table.

It remains to be seen what will remain of a PBP that is still moving.

© 2020 AFP