Liverpool chairman Tom Werner has shared a ‘crazy’ idea that might not go down well with fans (Image: Getty)
Liverpool chairman Tom Werner claims he is ‘determined’ to have Premier League matches played in New York and other major foreign cities. Werner has suggested a controversial plan that would see a round of matches played all around the globe in America, South America and Asia.
English fans have routinely expressed condemnation for similar proposals. In 2008, a plan to have a 39th Premier League game played abroad was reportedly backed by some top-flight chairmen but the idea never came to fruition.
Werner admits that although his proposition is ‘crazy’, he imagines a Premier League weekend where matches take place in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Rio, Riyadh and New York across a matter of hours.
“I’m determined one day to have a Premier League game be played in New York City,” Werner told the Financial Times.
“I even have the sort of crazy idea that there would be a day where we play one game in Tokyo, one game a few hours later in Los Angeles, one game a few hours later in Rio, one game a few hours later in Riyadh and make it sort of a day where football, where the Premier League, is celebrated.”
The controversial idea is not even shared within the Liverpool boardroom. Owner John W. Henry said in the same interview that the plan was “not something that I advocate or am particularly interested in”.
In 2021, Henry was forced to apologise after Liverpool were one of six Premier League clubs to sign up to – and subsequently withdraw from – the European Super League.
Soon after the six pulled out of the proposal, Henry told supporters who had protested: “I want to apologise to all the fans and supporters of Liverpool Football Club for the disruption I caused over the past 48 hours.
Liverpool owner John W. Henry has disassociated himself from Tom Werner’s idea (Image: Getty)
“It goes without saying but should be said that the project put forward was never going to stand without the support of the fans. No one ever thought differently in England. Over these 48 hours you were very clear that it would not stand. We heard you. I heard you.”
Jon Miller, a leading executive at US-based Premier League rights holder NBC Sports, told The Athletic in April that matches played abroad is an idea he would “love to see” and that he would “continue to push” for it to happen.
There are currently no plans for Premier League matches to be played in other countries.
Source: https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1908658/Liverpool-Tom-Werner-Premier-League