The Sun Newspaper

WELL, we can all see the Big Picture now.
For all the pungent guff which surrounds them, we can see the deep cynicism at the heart of Liverpool Football Club, under the ownership of John W Henry’s Fenway Sports Group.

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Forget ‘Big Picture’, it’s become a horror movie starring John W Henry and Joel Glazer

And we can see the willingness of Manchester United — under the shambling, grasping Glazer family — to act as lap dogs to their supposedly bitter rivals at Anfield.
Project Big Picture, authored by Liverpool’s American bankrollers, supported by United, and peddled by their useful idiot, former Liverpool chief executive and current EFL chief Rick Parry, is an extraordinary piece of work.
It is a scheme of naked greed, unconvincingly dressed up as charity, and concocted with the supreme arrogance of people who take the rest of English football for fools.

We have all heard the idea that Liverpool FC are not just a football club but some sort of spiritual and political movement, a force for the common good.

And we have all seen the club’s  misty-eyed ‘This Means More’ marketing campaign.
Well, after the revelation of Project Big Picture, we certainly know that this means more power and wealth for Liverpool and their new best friends at United.
This is the same Liverpool ownership, presiding over one of the wealthiest football clubs on the planet, who announced they would apply for government furlough cash to pay staff after lockdown in the spring — only to be forced into a U-turn out of sheer embarrassment.
FSG’s plan would see the Premier League reduced to 18 clubs, the League Cup scrapped and — crucially — future voting powers concentrated in the hands of the ‘Big Six’ — in return for a much-needed bailout of the crisis-hit EFL.

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Remarkably, the plan would also see clubs being able to receive back-dated rebates on building work.
This means Liverpool’s potential allies Tottenham could claw back £125million against their new stadium, with the Reds able to trouser £30m for Anfield’s new Main Stand.
And the ‘Big Six’ would have the ability to vote through vastly increased shares of Premier League TV revenues.
No wonder the current Premier League chief executive Richard  Masters, no patsy for the ‘Big Six’, countered with a strongly-worded condemnation of the plan concocted by Liverpool and United.
The proposals also include the idea that the ‘Big Six’ would be able to replace the league’s chief executive with somebody more amenable.
Ooh, and who might that be? Perhaps former Premier League chief executive, Merseyside’s very own man of the people Parry — who now claims that democracy in the top flight is an outdated idea.
What makes this story so fascinating is not that it will happen. It won’t. There is no way two-thirds of Premier League clubs will vote as turkeys for tinsel time.
And it’s not that we didn’t know the ‘Big Six’ have been plotting for years to grab greater TV revenues, as well as space in the fixture list to compete in an expanded, roped-off Champions League or European Super League.

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What’s interesting is the spotlight this shines on the motives of FSG and the Glazers — these modern-day Robin Hoods, stealing from the  reasonably rich to give to the poor — while giving far, far more to their filthy-rich selves in the long term.
Covid is a depressing and worrying worldwide crisis for most of us.
But for venture capitalists, like those who own Liverpool and United, it represents a wonderful business opportunity.
This attempted power grab has been in the offing for some time.
But it seems particularly rich that it should come to light so soon after the Anfield club were hammered 7-2 by Aston Villa, one of the clubs  Liverpool’s owners are attempting to stitch up in the name of charity.
Villa won the summer transfer window, recruiting superbly after  a hard-earned promotion and a successful survival.
Leicester went down a similar route five years earlier, as you might remember. It was probably the most remarkable and joyous achievement in football history.

Chelsea were the top spenders in the Premier League this summer
But Liverpool and United don’t want a repeat.
The rest of the ‘Big Six’ were apparently unaware of this plan until the story broke on Sunday.
Manchester City — whose chief executive Ferran Soriano wants to use Covid to bastardise the Football League with B teams — are hardly an innocent party.
But they will hate the ‘Big Picture’ idea of introducing Uefa-grade Financial Fair Play regulations.
Spurs would clearly benefit greatly from the stadium rebate plan, while Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke is cut from the same cloth as those  running Liverpool and United.
Chelsea, it seems, are against the project. And when a money-making scheme is too toxic for Roman Abramovich, Liverpool and United might start wondering whether they have misread the room.
The Premier League’s unique selling point, which makes it a global phenomenon, is its competitiveness.

Unlike any other major league, England’s top flight has had five  different champions in eight years.
And the elite are given better games far more often than elsewhere.
Project Big Stitch-Up would stop all of that.
Because Liverpool and United do not want domestic rivals, they want cannon fodder to tune them up for regular fixtures with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
If Liverpool, United and their potential allies are so keen to support the English football pyramid — as they would be if they understood the strengths of the game in this country — then why not bail out the EFL without back-stabbing clubs who have ambitions of gatecrashing their elite?
Yet FSG and the Glazers are not as charitable as all that.
This is a ham-fisted attempt at emotional blackmail, emanating from Liverpool — the club of sentimental old tosh, trite slogans and self- proclaimed ownership of the moral high ground.
We can all see the Big Picture now, though, and we can see right through them.

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HE has been waiting for almost a year now, Mauricio Pochettino.
The middle of November will mark the anniversary of the Argentine’s sacking by Tottenham.

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Mauricio Pochettino remains the No1 candidate to take charge at either Manchester club nearly a year after his Spurs exitCredit: Reuters

And 12 months of inactivity is a long time for such a workaholic, football-obsessive.
We are not quite into Alan Curbishley territory yet, where he becomes an 11-2 shot for every Premier League vacancy, without ever taking another managerial job.
For now, Pochettino remains the king across the water for every major club contemplating a change in the dugout.

A 48-year-old, who has never lifted a major trophy as a manager, yet whose work in establishing  Tottenham as Champions League regulars, marks him out as a rarity.

A boss capable of turning good players into greats and transforming a club without massive spending.
Pochettino is playing it cute,  keeping his head down at his family homes in north London and  Barcelona, shunning TV punditry and saying little on the record.
And with the restrictions of behind-closed-doors football, it is impossible for Pochettino to join the old vulture culture of out-of-work bosses turning up at a match where a manager appears to be a dead man walking.
So he waits. That’s what he does. Tick follows tock follows tick follows tock. With perhaps the occasional scan of Rightmove to check out high-end properties in the Manchester commuter belt.

Because after the collapse of  the Saudi takeover of Newcastle, which was certainly of interest to Pochettino, Manchester is still his most likely destination.
Pochettino has been a future United boss for years now, ever since he and his assistant Jesus Perez had a long Mayfair lunch with Sir Alex Ferguson during the dying days of Louis van Gaal’s  tenure in 2016.
Whenever Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign has veered wildly from a long unbeaten streak into a severe slump, Pochettino has been regarded as the heir apparent.
Yet the intrigue comes from City where Pep Guardiola is increasingly tired and tetchy, in the final year of his  contract, with many believing his appetite for the job is waning.
Both Manchester clubs finished last season with European defeats which failed to lift their overall campaigns above mediocrity.
And all three Premier League matches played in Manchester this term have ended in heavy and humiliating home defeats.
Now, United do not want to sack Solskjaer  — the Glazers’ man, Ed Woodward, is almost painfully keen for the Norwegian to succeed, despite his lack of previous top-level credentials and his failure to reach a cup final or challenge for the title.
And City’s management team, all personal chums of Guardiola, certainly don’t want to see the back of their man.

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Pochettino has long been tipped to replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Old TraffordCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Even though four successive failed Champions League campaigns would have threatened the future of any other manager at an elite club.
Whenever Guardiola does leave — and that will always be the Catalan’s own choice — Pochettino is clearly a prime candidate.
Having made such a  promising start at such a grand club as Arsenal, Guardiola’s No 2 Mikel Arteta is unlikely to jump ship.
While it would be costly and difficult to pursue him or any other manager in  top-level employment.
Hiring Pochettino, meanwhile, comes without strife or  compensation. His spell of gardening leave expired in June. The lawns are spruce, the roses pruned.
As Pochettino has stated, in a rare interview since his Spurs exit, choosing the right job is never easy.
When the call comes, how to  evaluate whether the time is right, whether a better opportunity may  be on the horizon, whether a club  is genuinely willing to offer you enough power and resources to succeed.
Even if City and United both continue to struggle, it is highly  unlikely Guardiola and Solskjaer will vacate the stage at the same time.

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Guardiola has been linked with a City exit next summer and Poch would surely love to take charge at the EtihadCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Yet surreptitious calls, via agents  or intermediaries, would doubtless  be made by United if City had a managerial vacancy or vice versa.
If City came calling, Pochettino would be tempted. Who wouldn’t when resources are so vast and  talent so rich?
Winning the Champions League remains an unconquered frontier for City, too.
But the challenge said to excite Pochettino most is the idea of restoring United to the glories of his old lunching partner Ferguson.
The chance to rebuild a great club, not just fine-tune a team,  with a proper modern managerial structure. Perhaps hiring his old chum Paul Mitchell — lately of Spurs and RB Leipzig and now at Monaco — as a proper director of football.
A couple of the right signings, rather than big-name showbiz recruits, and the nurturing of young talent, through the hard graft and dedication he advocates, and United could prove Pochettino’s dream job.
It sure beats a final mow of  the lawn before winter sets in and perhaps a call to catch up with old Curbs, before Countdown starts.
But until the call comes,  Pochettino will keep schtum and wait. That’s what he does.

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