The exit of Chelsea from the Champions League, and the poor prospects of Arsenal and Manchester City, provides another peg on which critics of the Premier League can hang one of their eloquent denunciations. West Ham’s income is poised to pass that of Inter Milan, but still Premier League teams under perform on the European stage.
David Conn and writers like him have a case to make, but sometimes I think they miss the point of the Premier League. It is as much about creating a televised entertainment spectacle for global consumption as it is about football.
The exit of Chelsea from the Champions League, and the poor prospects of Arsenal and Manchester City, provides another peg on which critics of the Premier League can hang one of their eloquent denunciations. West Ham’s income is poised to pass that of Inter Milan, but still Premier League teams under perform on the European stage.
David Conn and writers like him have a case to make, but sometimes I think they miss the point of the Premier League. It is as much about creating a televised entertainment spectacle for global consumption as it is about football.
Many traditional fans, and most fans are very conservative about the game, dislike this. Some aspects of the spectacle like simulation, feigning injury and surrounding the referee are unsavoury to say the least.
Nevertheless, fans keep on watching. Where I live the local council has banned satellite discs, but I shall be watching tonight on Match of the Day even though I do not support a Premiership team.
The record of English teams in the Champions League has deteriorated. Between 2003-4 and 2008-9, 16 out of 24 or two-thirds of English entrants reached at least the quarter finals. This total included seven losing semi-finalists, four runners up and two winners.
Barring a miracle for Arsenal or City, the past six seasons will have seen one third of English entrants reach the quarter finals (eight out of 24). There was one winner, one runner up and one losing semi-finalist. Ten fell at the first knockout stage and six fell at the group stage.
What is evident is that the Premier League is a more intense competition today than it was between 2003 and 2009. Then the ‘big four’ were so far ahead as to be almost in a league of their own. This year ‘upstarts’ like Southampton have dared to challenge them, although their recent goal drought means that they are probably heading for the deserts of the Europa League.
Oliver Kay in The Times sums up some of the problems well: ‘regression caused by poor extravagant recruitment, widespread complacency and declining standards of defensive and tactical discipline in a league that seems to be becoming anarchic and energy sapping by the week.’
Unfortunately, having lots of money at one’s disposal does not mean that it is necessarily spent wisely, often the opposite. Some top clubs need to get a tighter grip on themselves in all sorts of ways, but the phenomenon of the super star manager does not help.