Report: Hammers left out of secret talks PL talks

The Premier League chairman and chief executive are reported to have held what amounts to a secret meeting with the big six clubs to discuss the fallout from publication of the Project Big Picture proposals.

Neither West Ham or any other of the 13 remaining PL clubs was invited to the meeting which effectively would see the top six gaining  control over the running of the top-flight league in return for redistributing greater funding down the football pyramid.

David Conn reveals in the Guardian that the meeting – held by the chairman, Gary Hoffman, and the chief executive, Richard Masters, with senior representatives of Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs –was held on Tuesday 13 October, two days after the plans were published in the Telegraph and a day before a scheduled meeting of all Premier League clubs.

West Ham and other clubs are furious that the meeting was held without them, and that they were not told about it before or afterwards.

That has added to growing anger among the 14, not only over the development of Project Big Picture without their knowledge, but at not being kept informed by Hoffman and Masters.

The Premier League confirmed Hoffman had not told the 14 clubs he had a copy of Project Big Picture proposals, nor that he had emailed the big six in positive terms on 8th October, before the leak.

When the proposals were published on 11th October, the Premier League did not make clear that it had known about the process at all, or that Hoffman had a copy and had responded positively to the big six.

In a statement, the Premier League said it had “seen media reports” about the plans, and condemned them, saying “a number of the individual proposals … could have a damaging impact on the whole game”.

Claret and Hugh says: These are disgraceful antics by the top six clubs together with the Premier League chairman and CEO and they should apologise immediately. West Ham and the other 13 clubs excluded from the secret talks are equal owners of the Premier League and they have been betrayed. Each Premier League club owns one share and therefore has equal voting rights. It will come as no surprise that the big six want to change that arrangement by giving the top clubs more say and voting rights, they want to reduce the number of clubs to eighteen but also have a veto over potential takeovers. Effectively thee top six clubs would be able to stop takeovers by uber-rich billionaires that threatened their dominance in the Premier League. The top six and Premier League executives have been caught in an attempted coup and they have been found out.