SEAN Dyche has urged Premier League clubs to resist plans to change the way international TV rights are distributed, with the Clarets chief fearing the move could make it even harder for smaller sides to compete.

A Premier League meeting tomorrow will discuss plans, believed to have been instigated by the top six clubs in the division, to end the current system where money from international TV rights sales is split equally between all 20 clubs.

Instead the new system could see 35 per cent of the money handed out according to where clubs finish in the league, a proposal which Dyche believes will just make the richest clubs even richer.

“Do I think it should be an even split? Yes, just for the reasons of competition,” the Turf Moor chief said.

“We know it’s an imbalanced competition anyway, if you make it even more imbalanced, and money rules the competitive element of top level football, so if someone is getting even more, and someone gets even less, it’s going to distort it.

“We all love to see the real super powers of world football going head to head, but I still think English and British fans love to see the smaller clubs and middle clubs over a season.

“I’m not saying every week, but I think they like that. Loads of people come up to me and say ‘it’s brilliant to see what you’re doing at Burnley’, and that’s fans of clubs like Man City and Man Utd.

“I think to keep it as level as you can is a better way of doing it. There has to be that competitive element. We all know the finance has become massive for some clubs and less so for others, but if you add more fuel to the top it’s going to entice more players because of the size of the club and contracts.”

Premier League clubs have always shared the money brought in from overseas TV rights equally, a proposal agreed when the league was formed in 1992 when the international rights brought in only a small account.

But as the league has grown so has the cash coming in from overseas broadcasters, with the deal for 2016 to 2019 worth around £3billion, on top of the £5.1billion for domestic TV rights, a third of which is divided equally, with the rest based on league position and how many teams are shown live on TV.

The level of competitiveness between all 20 Premier League clubs has often been a unique selling point for the top flight, especially compared to Spain where Barcelona and Real Madrid were, until recently, able to negotiate their own TV deals.

“And nobody can touch them,” Dyche said of Spain’s big two. “You can’t change history, those two have always been super powers, Atletico push them close, I think it’s amazing what he (Diego Simeone) does there, and the players.

“Historically Real and Barca have always been massive. In the English game there’s been a few giants that have had their moments struggling, look at Man City, but that’s the competitiveness of English football, it can happen.

“I don’t get the impression fans just want to watch four or six clubs fight it out every season. Although that happens somewhat, you still get things like Leicester, and I think fans love that every now and again.”