Why Barcelona bullies must not win their latest battle

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell wants a 16-team Premier League

The current Barcelona side is widely recognised as one of the best teams of all-time.

But for all the class they show on the pitch, some of their actions off it leave a lot to be desired.

The signing of Cesc Fabregas was just one example of this, as Barca players lined up on the club's official website for the best part of three years saying how much they wanted the Spaniard in their team.

Club directors and president Sandro Rosell publicly mocked Arsenal's valuation of the player before eventually securing the signing in the summer.

Just today he turned his nose up at Tottenham's valuation of Gareth Bale, ignoring the fact that a player is worth as much as his club decides.

Now Rosell has took it upon himself to demand the Premier League is cut to 16 teams and suggest Champions League fixtures should be played on weekends.

If teams, leagues and indeed UEFA refuse to cave in, Barcelona and other top European clubs could form a breakaway European league, according to Rosell.

This is just the latest arrogant, bully-boy tactics used by Barcelona, who seem to think because they have the best team they have the right to change the face of football and do what they like.

Hopefully, UEFA will stand tall on this and refuse to budge, as one team cannot be allowed to effectively run the game.

The Champions League is a worldwide phenomenon but doesn't need changing

In the same sense as one player is not bigger than a club, one club is not bigger than an association. Barcelona must not be allowed to have their own way.

The Champions League is a fantastic competition with worldwide appeal, but switching games to weekends would be ridiculous and risk upsetting the traditions of the game.

Club owners and presidents have attempted to erode this far too often in recent months, with suggestions of summer leagues, no relegations, renaming of stadiums and so on, so a line has to be drawn now.

Rosell's standpoint is yet another example of the rich attempting to get richer and leaving the poorer clubs behind, but a move like this could kill clubs.

What would happen to the Football League if the Premier League was reduced to 16 teams?

With four less teams in the top flight, would the Championship's size have to be increased? Would teams have to play 50 league games a season? Or would four clubs have to drop out of the league to make way for those falling from the top flight, risking financial ruin and creating a domino effect down the pyramid?

The Premier League is great as it is now, with 20 teams. Reducing that by four would devalue the competition and make it much less exciting.

The 38 league games a season model works here and does not need changing, so associations and clubs must not roll over and allow Barcelona to tickle their bellies.

UEFA president Michel Platini is sure to have been unimpressed by Rosell's comments

We all know the faults with UEFA and FIFA but most fans would rather have them governing the game than a selection of top clubs looking after their own interests.

The European Club Association have made a number of threats in recent years and hold far too much influence.

About the only decent suggestion Rosell, the ECA's vice-president, made at a conference in Doha was to cut the number of international friendlies.

England's double-header against Spain and Sweden this week may have produced two wins, but one game would have been more than enough.

International friendlies will have to stay in some form as tactics and individuals need to be experimented with, but there is no need to have two of them in a week in the middle of the season.

The interest simply isn't there, from players, clubs or fans.

The attendance for yesterday's game at Wembley against Sweden - under 50,000 - proved that.

So reducing the number of international friendlies is not a bad idea.

But Barcelona's idea to cut league sizes, play Champions League games on Saturdays and generally increase their own wealth smacks of greed, arrogance and self-preservation.

Off the pitch, Barcelona are just as ugly as they are beautiful on it.