Admit it - we all like a good moan every now and again. Whether it’s about the traffic, the weather or how much of a prat Ashley Cole is. Sometimes we’re justified in having a whinge, other times maybe not. However - now is the time that EVERY supporter of a Premier League club must make his / her voice heard. What the bloody hell are the Premier League doing even to think of playing matches 3 – 5,000 miles away? I had a feeling it was coming after last year’s NFL match at Wembley which was organised by? Stanley Kroenke.

I wrote an article for The Gooner magazine after the Wembley jamboree but it never made print as nobody thought that this was a serious option. How wrong I was. The band of billionaires that have bought in to English clubs have now decided that they aren’t fleecing us for enough money so they want to export an unspecified amount of league games to US cities from 2011 onwards.

Peter Scudamore, Premier League chief exec said "I think it's an idea whose time has come. It's an exciting prospect. It's an extra game, it's is not taking anybody's game away, and it includes all 20 clubs which is very important. All 20 clubs will benefit and there is a huge element of solidarity about it”.

Roughly translated that means “We all earn an incredible amount of money from the Premier League but it’s quite simply not enough old chap. Ticket and refreshment prices might be sky high but we want more. We might say that the needs of supporters is a priority but we don’t really give a toss, just so long as you keep buying those tickets”.

We must let them know that this is a total non-starter. The waters might be tested with Bolton vs Blackburn (the only way those two cloggers will ever see a big crowd) but the ultimate aim will be to get Arsenal, Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool in front of a US audience. Just imagine when a crucial match in the title run-in is selected for the American market; jet lagged players travelling thousands of miles, loads of commercial appearances and a crowd full of obese Americans who think football is called soccer.

A whole season’s struggle, endeavour and thousands of our hard earned pounds resting on the lottery of two matches in Los Angeles or New York. And have they even considered how much it will cost us to get to these matches? Or how many Americans will also want the tickets that we should have first option on?

Whilst the benefits to all those on the Premier League payroll are blindingly obvious, I can’t think of one single benefit to supporters – not one! We have to voice our opinion on this now or it will be too late. We shouldn’t underestimate how much of a collective voice we’ve got so let’s use it.

Do you really want the Premier League title potentially decided by something as ridiculous (not to mention greedy) as this?

Occasional Gooner contributor Vic Crescit agrees with Mark. Here's his two bob's worth (that's ten pence worth to younger Gooners - Ed):

Mark Halfpenny is quite right. So is our own beloved Ian Wright, so voiciferous against this money-grubbing idea, "It's all about money", he says. Too bloody right it is!

Let's all go back to the reason the Premier League was ALLEGEDLY created by the top clubs backed by the FA. The PL came into being in 1992/3. One of its founding principles was to REDUCE the top league to eighteen teams to benefit the England national team. Since then the PL has increased its membership back up to twenty-two (thanks for that Master Bates), then dropped it back down to twenty. It has conveniently forgotten that the original idea was to drop the league down to eighteen, like most other major leagues in Europe. The reason that hasn't happened is simple - money.

FIFA's statutes clearly require the permission of the "host" nations if the PL is to go ahead with this loopy idea. FIFA statute 77.3 says, "Members and their clubs may not play on the territory of another Member without the latter’s approval." I'm struggling to see why the Chinese Football Association, United States Soccer Federation, Football Federation Australia or the Japan Football Association would approve such games at a time when they're all trying to develop their own professional leagues (Chinese Super League, Major League Soccer, the A-League and the J-League respectively). Er, well, I can actually, filthy lucre - as ever.

Let's not get carried away with any Premier League propaganda about taking the game to the "peepul". The chances of the average punter being able to afford a ticket is VERY small, at least in China. The company promoting Real Madrid's tour to the Far East in July 2005 tried to charge between 600 yuan (around £41) and 180 yuan (£12) for tickets for their friendly against Chinese Super League club Beijing Guoan. Doesn't sound bad compared to prices here at the Grove and elsewhere in the PL does it? It does if you're Chinese and live in Beijing, and your monthly wage is around 1,200 yuan (£82). Yes, you've got it, more than two weeks' wages for a good seat, over half a week's wages for a cheap seat - for a friendly. The only good news to come out of this story was the touts all took a bath. The crowd was about half the 70,000 capacity of the Workers' Stadium in Beijing and the touts were having to unload at between a sixth and a twelth of face value. Poor dears. I feel for them. Not.

The same story is likely to be true of any games played in Thailand or Vietnam. Punters in places like Australia, Japan and the USA might have the money to copper up what the PL is likely to want to charge (we do seem to keep on coming back to money don't we, but this is what this is all about) but is the average Japanese, Australian or American Gooner gonna get his or hands on the tickets? Doubt it.

Let's unpack this a bit. The draw is made for the overseas round. We're in the top five at the time of the draw so we can't get (probably) Liverpool, Chelsea, Man Utd or Everton. We can get Spurs (assuming Juande hasn't worked his magic by then). Or Villa. Or Toon. We get sent to, say, Melbourne. United come up with, say, Derby County. They get sent to, say, Miami. United have easier opposition and a ten hour flight with a five hour time difference. We have a 24 hour flight each way and a ten hour time difference to contend with. Daytime temperatures in Miami in January are around 23-24% degrees with high humidity. The game is likely to be played in the middle of the day (the hottest time) to suit UK television audiences. We play in the Victorian summer when temperatures can go as high as 35-40 degrees (just ask any cricketer who has played in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground how hot and humid it can get). We end up losing the League by two points, having got a point in Melbourne while United get three in Miami. This is fair? As a sportsman I'd have to say it would be unfair if it turned out the other way around.

The whole idea is a) barmy b) designed to do nothing but make money b) bad for both our club, the British national teams (I know many Gooners don't give a monkey's about national team football but I'm one of those who does. Anyway remember how Radio Rental we all went when France went down to Australia to play a friendly in the middle of the season) and c) the game in the "host" countries. Now PL chief executive Richard Scudamore has said that teams will have no midweek games either side of the "overseas" weekend round. The FA Cup Third Round takes place on the first weekend in January. Replays would be in midweek after the third weekend in January. The FA Cup Fourth Round usually takes place on the on the last weekend in January. Something is going to have to give if PL teams are to be guaranteed no midweek games either side of the "overseas" round of games. The already over-long season will have to either be lengthened by a week or another round of midweek games slotted into the domestic programme. It will mean us, the fans, having to take even more time off work (a lot of Gooners don't live close to the ground. I used to be one of them. I live just round the corner now, but what if we're away? Another half day's holiday. Thanks).

And talking of money the PL clubs really need more? Good grief, we're already rolling in it! The new broadcasting deal brings in close to £1.8 BILLION over this and the next two seasons. I think we'll all get by. I heard the chairman of Derby County on the radio today. He said that many fans would love to take in these games as part of their annual holidays and that the League would be trying to keep the cost of flights and hotels down. Yeah, right. Just like you and all the other PL clubs (including I'm afraid to say, Arsenal) have done such a bang-up job keeping ticket prices down, despite the television billions. This bloke clearly thinks we're all mugs. In case he hasn't noticed these fixtures will take place during school holidays. It's one thing schlepping away to somewhere in Europe for a few days sans the family but the other side of the Atlantic or the World? I don't think so. And what do you think airlines and hotels will do when the demand suddenly increases? Drop their prices? Do me a favour, mate. Stop peeing in our ear and trying to tell us it's raining. We might be one-eyed when it comes to football but we're not stupid.

I for one am mad as hell about this and I'm just not gonna take it anymore! I've already written to Peter Hill-Wood and Keith Edelman. I'd welcome ideas about how we can all stand up and say "NO" to this. I've also emailed AISA to say that, as a member, I'd like the organisation to stand up to this lunacy. The Football Supporters' Federation has a poll on this issue going on its website here

TIME TO TAKE A STAND. THIS LUNACY HAS GONE FAR ENOUGH!!!!

Ed’s note – you can also vote in our online referendum on this issue. Just return to our homepage and vote in the box in the right hand column