I read with waning interest a story yesterday about Wesley Sneijder leaving the door ajar, again, to a move to Manchester United. "Someday baby, who knows maybe" was very much the theme, as indeed it has been all summer. God I can't wait for the football season to re-start, just so that all these boring rumours can be put to bed, at least until December.
Anyhow, what struck me other than another footballer showing deft touch in giving non-committal quotes (do they get trained in that? Oh, they do!) was where the quotes had emanated from. Beijing, to be precise. Sneijder and his Internazionale colleagues are in the Chinese capital to play great rivals AC Milan in the Italian Super Cup.
What a great idea, I thought. What a great way to sell your league abroad, with possibly the most hotly contested match in your league (perhaps in all of Europe) being played in front of a potentially massive new fan base.
And so I thought, why not get England's equivalent, the Community Shield, on the road to play in front of new crowds?
Manchester United have recently returned from a pre-season tour of North America having acclimatised, worked on their fitness, oh and racked up nearly £10 million in appearance fees during the course of their trip. United took on the cream of the MLS, as well as Barcelona, beating the European Champions 2-1 (Wembley is now forgotten lads!)
Playing Stateside in the summer is certainly a good way of getting fit for the upcoming season, playing in 40 degree heat at times will improve players stamina for sure, and playing Barca no less is as stern a footballing test as you can get, even if it was a below par side, but I sense a golden opportunity here for the Premier League to sell their product, in much the same way their Italian counterparts have done.
Aston Villa, Blackburn and Chelsea have all been involved in a Premier League Tournament in Asia recently; the PL brand clearly travels well. What would be better than the English games big curtain-raiser taking place in similar climes to new and potentially lucrative new audiences?
This Sunday the Community Shield takes place between Manchester United and rivals City at Wembley. The game will sell out and no doubt be a reasonably good game given the local rivalries. Everyone wants to win a cup, and it always bodes well to get a new season off to a winning start, but does that game have to be over here?
The Premier League has discussed at length overseas matches involving English teams. They have mentioned the possibility of a 39th league game being played abroad, or an end of season play off to decide either Champions League or relegation places, neither of which sit well with fans because they would require fundamental changes to the way our league is decided at present.
The Community Shield is a stand-alone match between the cream of the English game; a showpiece. Playing it on foreign soil might upset the local fans that would normally, loyally, trudge up (or down) to Wembley, but it wouldn't effect the rest of the season whilst also satisfying the leagues obvious desire to raise the Premier Leagues profile in other parts of the world. It could be played in a different continent every year; it would also be a potential money spinner for the various FIFA constituencies around the world that are so un-trusting of English FA - there's nothing like a little hard cash to smooth relations.
It's still a dramatic change, I get that. Home fans love the Community Shield and want to go and support their team. There is also the fact that it satisfies sponsors and pays money back to the Wembley development fund, but the Premier League is global now, and rather than playing a 39th game, or an end-of-season play-off abroad, I reckon putting the Community Shield on tour might be a pretty good compromise.
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