Project Big Picture is the name given to a proposal devised by Liverpool and Manchester United but, crucially, approved by the Football League in which big clubs would get control over the running of the top flight in return for redistributing greater funding down the football pyramid.
The EFL chairman, Rick Parry, has publicly endorsed what he calls “a great idea” – one that would involve Football League clubs taking 25% of future Premier League deals and the end of parachute payments. These changes would be accompanied by further reforms shrinking the Premier League to 18 places, ending the Carabao Cup and giving the nine longest-serving top-flight clubs preferential votes.
The Premier League was excoriating in its criticism of the plan and of Parry, the division’s first chief executive. With 14 of the 20 top-flight clubs unaware of Project Big Picture before it was leaked to the Daily Telegraph, the league said the plan could have “a damaging impact on the whole game” and called for it to be discussed via “the proper channels”. Publicly the league expressed “disappointment” with Parry’s public involvement in the plan – behind the scenes it is incensed with the action of the EFL chairman.continue reading