West Ham became the first club on Sunday to express its opinion on the revolution in English football proposed by Liverpool and Manchester United: the 'hammer' entity declared that it is against it. West Ham is, along with Everton and Southampton, being the oldest one of the clubs to which the plan would grant a special status, along with the 'Big Six'.
A West Ham source told BBC Sport that they are “very much against” the project. The clubs in fact still do not know the points of the proposal officially, and that is why they are in shock, always according to the aforementioned medium. The Premier League itself is against it.
West Ham believe that, with the reduction of the Premier from 20 to 18 games, they will lose two home games, which will hurt their finances. Instead it will benefit the 'Big Six', who will have more dates to play lucrative preseason friendlies.
The source of the club ‘hammer’ indicated that “the greats are using Covid-19 to have more power, more benefits for themselves”.
Liverpool and Manchester United intend to reform English competitions from top to bottom to modernize them. From the outset, they propose a Premier League with 18 teams. The League Cup would be abolished in its current format and the Community Shield would be eliminated.
Apart from various economic measures to alleviate the effects of Covid-19, Liverpool and United propose that the approval of new rules should be with the votes of both clubs, plus Manchester City, Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, West Ham and Southampton. Now the measures are approved if 14 Premier clubs vote in favor.
Although an official date is not being considered, it is speculated that the revolution could be introduced from the 2022-2023 season. Liverpool and United hope the other majors will back their plans. Rick Parry, president of the EFL (English Football League), has expressed his support to discuss such measures. The Premier said that these changes would have “a detrimental impact” on football.