Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has said the Premier League won’t be reducing it’s size from a 20 team league to an 18 team system, Sky Sports reports.
The idea came when a proposal called ‘Project Big Picture’ was designed last year which was set to change the voting structure of the Premier League, funding models for the English Football League and Football Association and a potential reduction of the Premier League from 20 to 18 teams.
Speaking at the Business of Football summit Masters said: “We have been a 20-team league and have been since 1995. That is the favoured model across Europe, apart from the Bundesliga. They have an 18-club league and a different model to ours.
“The English football calendar is jam-packed with excellent exciting football. It’s something you come to along the journey. At the moment and for the foreseeable future, the Premier League is a 20-club competition.”
When the proposal was made it was met with a mixed reaction and one person who spoke out about it was former Republic of Ireland international Jon Walters.
Walters slammed the proposals made in Project Big Picture saying it would only benefit those “at the top of the pyramid”.
The two biggest advocates of the proposal are Liverpool and Manchester United who would like to see the Premier League cut to 18 teams.
Walters, who won 54 Ireland caps, believes it is designed to benefit only the elite clubs and that the promised funds are only there to take attention away from this.
He tweeted: “Two clubs run the Premier League behind the scenes and this proposal will give others a seat at that table.
“There is a long list of demands that the Premier League teams have always wanted and to help the EFL they will be asking for them all!
“These will include B teams in the EFL, less PL fixtures which will lead to more Champions League fixtures, international PL matches will be on the table – and they will throw in things to get fans on board, e.g capped ticket prices, but this should already happen.”
Walters added: “This will permanently change football in this country, and it will only benefit the top of the pyramid.
“It will make it impossible for anyone to get anywhere near them, killing off any future competition and the hopes of all fans at any other club apart from the elite.
“The timing of this couldn’t be more perfect as it deflects the headlines away from the horrendous £15 pay-per-view announced last week.”
Walters made 233 Premier League appearances during his career, with the vast majority of those during his spell at Stoke City between 2010 and 2017.