Why football's Yorkshire roots show Todd Boehly's All-Stars idea is likely to fail

Since that famous moment back in October 1857 when William Prest and Nathaniel Creswick set up Sheffield FC, football has gradually grown over the decades from a national pasttime into a global obsession.

Now awash with money at the highest level, the top English clubs are owned by businesspeople of varying repute from every corner of the world – all with their own ideas of how to shape the sport to their reputational and commercial advantage.

The latest big idea to revolutionise the sport has come from new Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly who wants football to take a leaf out of the book of its American counterparts and launch a Premier League North versus South All-Star match as a new money-spinning measure.

The Blues’ new co-controlling owner, who also owns shares of Los Angeles teams the Dodgers in Major League Baseball and the Lakers in the NBA, told a New York conference he has already floated the idea with Premier League counterparts.

“Ultimately I hope the Premier League takes a little bit of a lesson from American sports,” said Boehly. “And really starts to figure out, why don’t we do a tournament with the bottom four sports teams, why isn’t there an All-Star game?

“People are talking about more money for the pyramid, in the MLB All-Star game this year we made 200 million dollars from a Monday and a Tuesday.

“So we’re thinking we could do a North versus South All-Star game for the Premier League, for whatever the pyramid needed quite easily.”

Boehly was talking at the SALT thought leaders conference in New York.

When asked what his fellow football club owners think about the All-Star game idea, Boehly added: “Everyone likes the idea of more revenue for the league.

“I think there’s a real cultural aspect, I think evolution will come.”

The idea has provoked plenty of reaction, with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp less-than-impressed with the suggestion. He pointed out as well as the deep local rivalries that exist within football, there are also major scheduling concerns with such an idea.

“He doesn’t wait long. When he finds a date for that he can call me,” he added.

“In American sports these players have four-month breaks. Does he want to bring the Harlem Globetrotters as well?

“Maybe he can explain that. I’m not sure people want to see that – United players, Liverpool players, City players, Everton players all together. It is not the national team. Did he really say it?”

But the idea has also caught the interest of sports news channels and some fans speculating about which players would be selected for the relevant teams if the matches ever did get the go-ahead.

Analysis by Midnite Betting based on current Fantasy Football points (which scores players on the number of goals, assists and clean sheets they are directly involved with) has suggested that Leeds United's Rodrigo would be worth a place in the North team alongside the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Mohammed Salah, Marcus Rashford and Erling Haaland.

On the hypothetical Southern side, Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Martinelli and Ivan Toney are among those deemed worthy of a place.

Those to miss out based on current form include big names such as Harry Kane, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Cristiano Ronaldo.

While the Yorkshire-born England stars Harry Maguire, Kyle Walker, John Stones and Kalvin Phillips also appear to currently be unlikely to make a hypothetical All Star XI at the moment, at least if they do get up a call up they would not have the problem of divided loyalties in a North-South match.

All four of the quartet play for Northern clubs – Maguire at Manchester United and Walker, Stones and Phillips all at Manchester City.

It is unclear whether the All-Star game idea will ever come to fruition or whether it will filed away to gather dust with other proposals floated over the years.

Back in 2008, plans were proposed for an extra round of matches – a so-called ‘39th game’ to be played in the Premier League at neutral venues outside England.

But while some clubs were keen, it was largely met with derision from supporters and governing bodies. FIFA president Sepp Blatter hinted that it could affect England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup and the idea was shelved in May 2010.

More recently, Manchester United and Liverpool were the among the clubs leading a planned revolution of the Premier League, dubbed ‘Project Big Picture’ that would have cut the number of teams from 20 to 18 and scrapped the League Cup. The idea lasted less than a fortnight and was unanimously voted against in October 2020.

A few months later in April 2021, an even more controversial idea surfaced as Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal all agreed to join a newly created European Super League. The competition, that also saw the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Juventus sign up, was intended to replace the Champions League.

The idea sparked mass outrage and all six English teams withdrew less than 48 hours after the announcement was made amid big fan protests.

Football has changed a lot since Sheffield FC were soon involved shortly after their foundation in the world’s first derby against Hallam FC. But the joy of local bragging rights has remained down the generations – however much wealthy owners try to move the goalposts.