February 24, 2008	Sunday	Safar 16, 1429

LONDON, Feb 23: One of England soccer’s most respected officials Arsene Wenger fears Premier League plans to play a round of fixtures in cities across the world have been killed off by the negative response to the proposals.

Wenger was one of the few leading figures in the game not to completely reject the scheme when it was mooted by Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore earlier this month.

Football’s major governing bodies, FIFA and UEFA, both expressed their contempt for the idea, while the English Football Association claimed it was unsustainable in its current form.

Now the Arsenal manager concedes the attempt to add a 39th set of matches in cities like Tokyo, Sydney or Bangkok is unlikely to get off the ground.

“The idea looks to be dead, maybe because the idea came out in a brutal way and maybe the PR was not done before,” Wenger said. If you don’t give yourself time to prepare people for new ideas, sometimes it gets a lot of resistance and reluctance from the start.

“Now it looks to be an idea which is in a very difficult position. I was open-minded but as well I will not cry if it doesn’t happen.

“It looks difficult to resurrect now because UEFA, FIFA and the FA have come out against it. It is a big stream to swim against now.” — AFP