Remember the days when you needed 40 points to stay in the Premier League? No, I don’t either.
People still say it, though. Managers and players still talk about reaching that magical staging post that assures them of another season in the land where the money grows.
But it’s a myth. Nobody needs 40 points any more. Only once in the last 17 seasons — back in 2011 — has the team finishing fourth bottom required that number. The average is actually 35 points these days and often it’s even less.
So of all the self-serving drivel proposed by Liverpool and Manchester United as part of their vainglorious Project Big Picture, reducing the Premier League to 18 teams was not the worst idea.