AFC Fylde boss Jim Bentley on the shamed European Super League rebels: 'They dragged our game through the dirt'

The Coasters boss accepts football must evolve but says any change must be in the sport's best interests.

And he insists that was never the case with the proposed breakaway.

Bentley told The Gazette: "It's disgusting and I can only echo everything that everyone else has said: It's just about money and greed.

"It would have massive implications and I'm 100 per cent against it. The game has to evolve and I'm all for things changing for the better but this would have a massive effect on all the money distributed down.

"When I was at Morecambe, as a League Two club we relied on the solidarity money from the Premier League and it filters down to non-league too. This messes up the whole pyramid."

As a proud Liverpudlian, Bentley is steeped in the game's traditions which he feels have been betrayed by the threatened breakaway.

He added: "I'm disappointed with the clubs that signed up and the manner in which they did it. The Premier League has made them very, very rich and they have been so underhand. These clubs have sat around the table with the other Premier League clubs knowing that behind the scenes they have been coming together to plan this. It stinks.

"Communities have an interest in the history of their clubs. Growing up in Liverpool I know what that means. It's a religion there.

"But here we have people who have only been in the game for a few seasons flashing loads of money around, getting richer and richer, and dragging the game through the dirt."

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