He's only been here five minutes and already Chelsea's new owner, American Todd Boehly, is being widely mocked on social media for his bizarre comments on how the English game should be run.
“Ultimately I hope the Premier League takes a little bit of a lesson from American sports, and really starts to figure out, why don’t we do a tournament with the bottom four sports teams, why isn’t there an All-Star game?" Said Boehly, who should probably have waited at least a few months before suggesting sweeping changes to the biggest league in world football.
The Blues’ new co-controlling owner, who also owns shares of Los Angeles MLB team the Dodgers and the Lakers in the NBA, claims to have already floated the idea with other Premier League owners. Boehly backed up his ideas with the potential financial benefits for an All-Star game.
“People are talking about more money for the pyramid," he said. "In the MLB All-Star game this year we made 200m dollars from a Monday and a Tuesday. So we’re thinking we could do a North versus South All-Star game for the Premier League, for whatever the pyramid needed quite easily.”
As well as fans, Premier League managers have been quick to scoff at the ideas, with Jurgen Klopp asking if Boehly "wants to bring the Harlem Globetrotters as well?"
It's an idea that many will find horrible but, as we all know, that hasn't stopped decision makers from changing things in the past. So let's just imagine the All-Star game did happen. How would it work and who would be included?
How would a Premier League All-Star game work?
Boehly specifically suggested a "North versus South" fixture, which we presume would mean the 10 most-northerly sides taking on the 10 most-southerly (as opposed to some arbitrary line being drawn down the middle of the country somewhere).
That would mean the northern team could choose players from the following clubs: Man City, Man Utd, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Wolves, Everton, Aston Villa, Forest and Leicester.
The southerns would have these teams to select from: Arsenal, Tottenham, Brighton, Chelsea, Brentford, Fulham, Saints, Bmouth, Palace and West Ham.
Who would be selected?
With Manchester City and Liverpool the two best teams in the country, and both being located in the north, it is likely any manager with half a brain would just merge the two into an unstoppable Megatron of footballing destruction. Kevin De Bruyne playing behind Mo Salah, Darwin Nunez and Erling Haaland... good heavens!
So let's, for arguments sake, assume that both sides would need to choose a more-rounded XI, made up from a mixture of clubs. The below example shows two XIs we've put together, on the basis that a maximum of two players per club can be chosen.
🔵 North vs. South 🔴Here are our chosen XIs, with a maximum of two players per club – who wins? 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hcCAuHwLBjSeptember 14, 2022
