Quintin Jardine's blog

When I started to watch football, the Scottish First Division had sixteen clubs. Top team members were expected to play thirty league games, six in the League Cup preliminary round, plus knockout ties through to the final and a minimum of one cup tie.

There were no European competitions; occasional mid week friendliest, but that was it. As for international competition, the home nations played each other once a year. World Cup qualifiers did happen but not many, and the European Cup was little more than a twinkle in the eye of Santiago Bernabeu.

How the world has changed, to the extent that elite footballers are now expected to up to sixty club matches a season. And the demand is growing. UEFA now runs three competitions and is making them bigger this year. At international level it has not only the European championship but a thing called the Nations League, giving Scotland yet another opportunity to be humped by its European neighbours. As for FIFA that has gone beyond avarice.

Little wonder that the top players are beginning to demand a say in the level of expectations that are being laid upon them. Expansion simply cannot go unchecked. If it doesn’t I foresee that one of two things will happen. Either agents will negotiate player contracts that stipulate the club competitions in which they will play … for example no more domestic cups … or the top teams will walk away and the heralded exclusive super league will become reality.

The top clubs would remove themselves from domestic football? As everything is about money, if the sponsors followed and the numbers stacked up, of course they would. Games would be streamed on Prime , Netflix etc. Match tickets would be relatively cheap, to ensure capacity crowd atmosphere. Frankly, I can’t wait.