Premier League ‘in talks’ with major broadcaster to play 39th game in USA 16 years after controversial plot first failed

WHEN Manchester United got lucky in their FA Cup semi-final, Antony’s first instinct was to goad heartbroken opponents Coventry. To rub their noses in the dirt.

Antony seems to be a vile individual but this isn’t really about Antony. Because Antony is merely a symptom of the hideous sickness within England’s top flight.

There is so much wrong.

After our elite clubs persuaded the FA to completely scrap Cup replays — which gave us Ronnie Radford and Ricky Villa and Ryan Giggs — without due recompense or reasoning with the rest of English football.

The previous day, after his Manchester City side had defeated Chelsea in the other FA Cup semi-final, Pep Guardiola whinged about the fixture scheduling of TV companies who effectively pay much of his £20m salary.

Up at Wolves, Guardiola’s friend and rival Mikel Arteta was playing the same sad song about fixture congestion, despite his Arsenal side having played two fewer games this season than Coventry — who don’t have £50m squad players to rotate with.

Chelsea, oh Chelsea. The one-time plaything of a Russian oligarch now owned by financially incontinent venture capitalists who have piddled £1billion on a squad of players who fight like weasels in a sack about who should bask in the personal glory of scoring the penalty that puts them 5-0 up against Everton.

Read Dave Kidd’s full column as he takes aim at Nottingham Forest, Fulham’s ticket prices, the 39th game, VAR and much more…

NOW we know Jurgen Klopp’s final major trophy haul at Liverpool — one Champions League, one Premier League, one FA Cup, two League Cups and (if you must) a World Club Cup.

But where does his reign stand among the greatest of the Premier League era?

In black-and-white terms, Klopp is way behind Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola, the only two men to have won multiple Premier Leagues and a Champions League at the same club.

Those two sit alongside Brian Clough, Bob Paisley and Sir Matt Busby as the undoubted all-time managerial greats of the English game.

But Klopp ranks in the next tier down — with Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho (the Chelsea version), Bill Shankly and Don Revie.

These were all men with the strength of character to transform their clubs in their own image and enjoy success but who did not win as much as they might have done.

Had Klopp managed to keep his intentions under wraps and ended up with another title, perhaps even a treble or quadruple, he’d have edged himself up into that highest echelon with Ferguson, Guardiola, Clough, Paisley and Busby.

But deciding the timing and the manner of your exit is one of the toughest calls for any manager or sportsman.

Klopp got it wrong.

Read Dave Kidd’s take on Klopp’s demise in full here.

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