Joe Cole has shared his disgust over the controversial Project Big Picture plans spearheaded by Manchester United and Liverpool this month
The former Liverpool and Chelsea forward had his opinion on the groundbreaking proposals, which would have radically reshaped the face of English football.
Project Big Picture proposals were examined and rejected by the Premier League and FA but before then England big wigs Manchester United and Liverpool were favouring its implementation.
One of the main purpose of the Project Big Picture was to allow only 18 English clubs to participate in the Premier League while top two teams from the Championship gets promotion to the Premier League but after a play-off with the 16th-placed Premier League club. [ Want to know more about the Project Big Picture ?].
And Cole, who believes the plans were simply elite teams attempting to assert more influence over the pyramid, insisted that the meaning of the sport to the average supporter has been woefully 'underestimated' making such plans.
He told BT Sport: "My initial reaction was anger. You have to separate Liverpool and Manchester United, who they are. what they are to the fans, to the business behind them.
"Because the business behind them does what big businesses do, conserve their profit and make sure shareholders happy. They've seen an opportunity, football is in a bad place like the rest of society because of situation we're going through.
"They're trying to make a power grab so they can conserve their asset. This is a long term plan for them, opportunistic."
"What they've done wrong is underestimated what football means for the normal people."