If the Premiership League was a person then there is no doubt that it would be considered to be a serial solicitor. And when I say solicitor I don’t mean in the context of a lawyer but rather, in the context of a hooker.   

The announcement made yesterday that the Premiership intends to extend the season by one game to be scheduled for warm foreign climes starting in 2011, just reinforced the belief that when it comes to money nothing will stand between the Premiership and the possibility of collecting another pound note.

The Premiership proposal would have ten additional matches played on one day in January with the draw rigged to ensure that the top five teams do not play each other. The Premiership expects cities throughout the world to bid for the “privilege” of hosting these games that involve teams from what porn-king and reluctant Birmingham City owner David Gold calls the “the greatest league the world has ever known.”

The initial reasons put forward for intensely disliking the proposal – an unbalanced league, a rigged schedule, even greater fixture congestion – are all valid and in most situations would be grounds to mercilessly ridicule the poor sod that hatched the idea. However, none of these compelling arguments will stand in the way of the Premiership pushing forward with the scheme.

After all, what has fairness got to do with it when more money can be made? Particularly when you have a system that now needs an ever increasing amount of cash to feed a seemingly insatiable appetite. Any denomination, any source – no questions asked.

Of course, in support of the Premiership announcement we again read of the totally fictitious 1B people that watched the Arsenal vs. Manchester United league game at the end of 2006 - a number unjustifiable by logic and research but apparently quite reasonable to the fertile imagination of a Premiership P.R. hack.

What’s more we are told the NFL, NBA and NHL all do it so why not the Premiership? These leagues do it for a number of reasons – one of which is they are trying to sell sports that clearly the rest of the world could not give a toss about.

These foreign based match ups should be considered demeaning and a sign of weakness rather than one of strength. A case can also be made that the foreign audience does not actually have an appetite for the Premiership – their appetite stretches to perhaps five or six Premiership teams.

Despite the tone of the self serving announcements the fact that the Premiership intends to ensure that a top five team will be at each of the venues is a clear admission that they know that the core appeal of the Premiership is limited to the usual suspects.

As for the others - toss some money their way and make supportive comments about selling more Birmingham City jerseys to the folks in Miami and that should satisfy them. Rather like the way the Premiership has gone over the last decade. Who cares about winning when mediocrity can be so profitable? Danny Blanchflower called it the “Glory Game” for most it has become the “survival but still make gobs of money game.”

And so is this move inevitable? Probably not. Because no matter how self important the Premiership has become and no matter how insatiable its appetite for money, it is still a midget when set against Big Daddy – FIFA.

After the early headlines had grown stale late Thursday someone got around to asking FIFA what they thought of the proposal. Reuters reported a senior FIFA source as stating "The statutes of FIFA are quite clear, so from a first glance it would seem the Premier League will find it difficult to get their way."

Behind the bureaucrat-speak there are a number of powerful reasons why the Premiership’s idea to conquer the globe is in for a rough ride. First off it is difficult to come up with one national association – even the FA as will see later - who would or should be in favour of this proposal.

How many associations are going to willingly accept the Premiership juggernaut rolling into town, giving prominence to conflicting sponsors, taking attention away from the domestic league and then leaving a few days later with a suitcase of cash that wasn’t spend on supporting the local product?

Then you have sanctioning and jurisdictional issues regarding players, security, officials and a host of other logistical details. All could be overcome given the existence of goodwill on both sides. But how much goodwill can you expect when confronted by a modern day Robin Hood-in-reverse intent on taking from the footballing poor while further enriching pampered players and robber-baron owners?

Beyond possible “host” associations the other associations especially in Europe are not likely to embrace the proposal either. The mammoth income enjoyed by English Premiership clubs already threatens to tip the balance of power between the big five associations (an argument could be made that it already has) and any threat of additional income flowing the Premiership’s way would not be considered as a positive move by the likes of Italy, Spain, Germany, and France.

So these national associations are far more likely to campaign against the idea than sit on the sidelines even though they may initially make some glib semi-supportive noises – just in case.

The implementation date of 2011 is also interesting and should the Premiership eventually succeed and receive FIFA approval there is always the possibility that some residual resentment might surface when the twenty-four man FIFA Executive Committee vote later in 2011 to award the hosting rights to the 2018 World Cup. Is that really a risk worth taking for the Football Association?

But more important than any of these reasons is that if this idea goes ahead and is implemented then a massively important precedent will have been set. Initially it will mean that other leagues will be free the try the same thing with the possibility that patchwork schedules will become the norm rather than an original small exception.

However, far greater is the potential for such a move to be used to engineer a European league or ultimately a Global league. The G14 may have disbanded just a few short weeks ago but that does not mean that their power base and ideas have evaporated never to return.

UEFA and FIFA know that an Escape Committee could easily be reformed if the scent of more money is in the air and a precedent such as the Premiership is seeking is at hand. So in the end the Premiership can study and fine tune their proposal all they want but do not expect it to be given the green light by FIFA.

Sam Wallace thinks that England’s blame goes beyond  Steve McClaren.

Roddy Forsyth with a bit of a prelude to tonight’s (Monday)  BBC Panorama broadcast on the right to host the 2018 World Cup.

Andrew Jennings with more pre-Panorama stuff and yes Jack Warner’s personal bank account is mentioned.

For the conspiracy theorists – make sure you are sitting close to a grassy knoll when you read this.

Jeremy Wilson on a former Southampton and Wales hero Ron Davies.

The draw for the African Cup of Nations.

Tom English takes a look at Barcelona on the eve of their visit to Rangers.

Richard Starnes takes stock of the situation  at the Canadian Soccer Association – and perhaps opportunities.