Premier League clubs flying in miles for friendlies ridicule bosses’ whining about the fixture list and show cash is key
Whine about too many games is a race certainty for next season.
But before the Prem bosses start whining, they might need to take a look at the real killer schedule, which they ALREADY signed up for.
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Only the 64 games in 15 countries within 26 days.
Top teams criss-cross the world more than SIX times – flying an incredible 170,000 miles in the process.
Before a serious ball was kicked.
Do players end up exhausted? Too many matches? A health hazard?
Absolutely . . . 100 percent.
But the reality is that this season’s summer-friendly calendar shows once again that money is at stake for club bosses.
A chance to sell the club name and more importantly the club shirts and other merchandise.
In the US yes. But also Asia and Australia as well as one or the other trip to Europe.
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Once you’re in the prem, promotion means getting out there to spread your commercial wings.
And if that means dragging your players halfway across the world and back again for a series of dead-end games that mean nothing, then so be it.
Of the 20 top clubs returning to the training ground in preparation for the next ten months of rigorous exertion, no fewer than 15 – three-quarters of them – have signed up for long-distance travel.
No one will fly further than Tottenham, who start with a day in the air to make their way to Perth in Western Australia where they meet West Ham.
That’s ahead of a six hour trip to Thailand, a hop to Singapore and then another 14 hours back to London.
Given that Spurs have no European football to look forward to, it might be nice to put all that nonsense behind for the season before it actually gets underway.
But Tottenham’s nearly 20,000-mile journey isn’t too much of an anomaly – and should give new manager Ange Postecoglou plenty of time to get to know his players.
The Prem teams will play games together in Australia, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Singapore and the USA.
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This also applies to the games in the immediate vicinity in Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain, Norway, the Netherlands, Scotland, Ireland and on English soil.
Unsurprisingly, Manchester United will be the busiest.
Erik ten Hag has agreed to a schedule of seven games over 25 days, covering just 15,000 miles.
United first play Leeds in Oslo, then head to Edinburgh before flying across the Atlantic to meet Arsenal at New York’s Red Bull Arena – likely to host the 2026 World Cup final.
But this is just the beginning. United have a squad big enough to play twice in 24 hours, with one side meeting Hollywood favourites
Wrexham in San Diego, California, with the other playing Real Madrid the next day in the Texas city of Houston.
They then all meet up in Las Vegas – what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas – before flying home and then flying across the Irish Sea to play Athletic Bilbao in Dublin.
For Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp and Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola, the only area where they occasionally agree is the game plan.
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But can they really complain when the Merseysiders have gleefully signed up for a trip to Germany and then Singapore while the champions travel to Japan and South Korea ahead of their Community Shield Wembley meeting with Arsenal?
Six of the clubs even play in the Prem’s ‘Summer Series’, with Aston Villa, Brentford, Brighton, Chelsea, Fulham and Newcastle rotating between five cities on America’s east coast.
Games at the home stadiums of NFL teams Washington Commanders, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons as well as MLS team Orlando City’s Exploria Stadium mean many short flights.
And while teams use buses to travel between training bases and playing fields in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey, what about all the environmental issues?
When it comes to carbon offsetting, the Prem clubs need to plant an entire forest. A very big one.
But wear and tear could be the bigger concern for players.
It looks like a lot of travel – and ensures that any complaints from management fall on deaf ears.