English Premier League: Difference between revisions

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One of the richest and most prestigious [[Footy Leagues]] and sports events in the world! But first, a history lesson.

 

 

 

Then, into the mix came the dawn of satellite television, in the form of Sky TV (still the main British satellite broadcaster). [[Soccer Saturday|Sky's presence]] and the increasing quality of the English game meant that TV revenue from football skyrocketed from £6.3m in 1986 to over £40m in 1988. The biggest clubs in the top division felt they weren't getting a big enough slice of the cake, and that The Football League, who had been organising English football since 1888, weren't doing enough to help, so in the summer of 1991 they decided to break away and form their own league.

But sure enough, money started to flow into the Premier League clubs thanks to Sky's TV revenues, while the number of foreign players began to increase dramatically, particularly after 1995, when a test case at the European Court of Justice established that footballers were not exempt from European Law regarding free movement of labour and services: any EU-citizen footballer could play at any EU club with no restrictions, and any EU footballer could move to another club freely once his contract was up. The case - known as the Bosman Ruling after Belgian player Jean-Marc Bosman who took the case to court - had a massive effect on football throughout Europe, but particularly in England where the Premier League rapidly became the richest league.

 

 

There are problems, of course. The highest-placing teams get the most money, which is logical, but tends to mean that success is self-perpetuating and the so-called "Big Four" - Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea - dominate the top four positions in the league, which in turn means they all qualify for the [[UEFA Champions League|Champions League]] and accumulate even '''more''' money. At the other end of the table, smaller clubs promoted to the league usually struggle and are often relegated in their first season. The only way to break into the top four seems to be for a club to be bought by someone with a truly eye-watering amount of spare money to throw around - Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich b(r)ought Chelsea into the top four, while Sheikh Khaldoon al-Mubarak is currently engaged in trying to do the same for perennial underachievers Manchester City. In Europe they contend against the best teams in the Union of European Football Associations (potentially from as far away as Vladivostok) to win the most prestigious title in world club football. The Champions League winners also compete for the less prestigious title of World Club Champion. For clubs in positions five, six and sometimes seven (or alternatively, the League Cup and FA Cup winners if they do not already qualify for Europe), there is the '''Europa League''', which was the UEFA Cup until last season, less popular but still a good alternative for clubs.

 

 

Despite those problems there is no doubt that the current state of the Premier League showcases a remarkable turn around for football in England since the troubles of [[The Eighties]] and has helped move England back up to being one of the top footballing nations in the world. It is arguably back ahead of its cousin leagues in Spain and Italy in terms of the quality of football, certainly in terms of attendance and revenue and is now watched all around the world and particularly in the Far East. Now if only the national team could match the Premier League's success ...

* [[Always Someone Better]]: Almost every side has a "bogey team" that they just can't beat. The most spectacular example? Portsmouth have not beaten Chelsea in any competition for over ''60 years''.

* [[Badass]]: Each club has had at least one player who was considered a 'hard man', a physical player who had no shame in yelling at others or getting physical or getting plenty of red cards. This practice has been in decline with the controversy surrounding tough tackling lately but examples include:

** Manchester United had Roy Keane.

** Arsenal had Martin Keown.

* [[Bribe Backfire]]: Arsenal's George Graham, credited with returning them to glory in the late 80s was found out to have taken bribes to sign players, the fact those players didn't do well at all just makes it worse. He was fined and banned from the game for a year.

** Legendary Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar was found to have been involved with match-fixing scandals, that was rather messy too. Ironically he was actually declared to be innocent of the allegations in question, although the judge noted that this was due to the lack of any decisive proof that he was guilty. However, Grobbelaar then tried to sue several major tabloids for their reporting on the case -- not only did he fail miserably in this, the tabloids in question proceeded to drag his name through the mud by digging up every little bit of dirt on him that they could, and utterly destroyed what little reputation he had left.

** Crystal Palace. They've been promoted to the Premier League four times, and gotten instantly relegated on each occasion.

** Wigan themselves may be considered a [[Butt Monkey]]. Despite the fact that they are rarely in danger of being relegated, in most seasons they're usually one of the league leaders in having the most goals allowed. And that's not even mentioning how they always seem to suffer some of the most one-sided and embarrassing losses; their 9-1 defeat against Tottenham ties the record for the most goals allowed in a league match and 8-0 defeat against Chelsea are some of the most notable ones.

* [[Cheaters Never Prosper]]: Inverted, every year there will always be one player diving in the penalty area or a Referee making a stupid [[Too Dumb to Live]] decision. Cue the calls for video refereeing yet nothing is ever really done to change anything.

** However, it is difficult for cheaters to not prosper in the Premier League since all teams have cheated to some extent at some point.

* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: Rare, but they happen, like Manchester United vs Ipswich (9-0) and Tottenham vs Wigan (9-1). In fact, Chelsea are starting to become accomplished curbstompers, with four of games either side of the [[The World Cup|2010 summer break]] ending like this, against Stoke (7-0), Wigan (8-0), West Brom the following season (6-0), and Wigan again (6-0 again).

** On August 28, 2011, the teams of Manchester achieved back to back curbstomps against Northern London sides, with Manchester City crushing Tottenham 5-1 and Manchester United embarassing Arsenal in an 8-2 shitstomping.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: By getting Blackpool promoted into the Premier League, Ian Holloway can be added here.

* [[Determinator]]: Whether you like him or not, you cannot deny that John Terry does not give up under any circumstances.

* [[Diabolus Ex Machina]]: On the last day of the 05/06 season. Arsenal needed a win in their last game at Highbury to ensure Champions League qualification for the next season at the expense of fierce local rivals Tottenham, who were one point ahead and needed to win as well. On the morning of the game Tottenham come down big witha mass bout of food poisoning; attempts to get the game postponed were unsuccessful as the Premier League chief was a friend of Arsenal chairman David Dein and while Arsenal cruised to a 4-2 victory, Tottenham lost and failed to qualify. The latter's fans have never forgotten this. Cue tons of jokes about Wenger being Tottenham's chef the night before.

* [[Drill Sergeant Nasty]]: Sir Alex Ferguson, whose habit of shouting at players from a range of inches has earned the nickname "the hairdryer treatment".

* [[Epic Fail]]: Massimo Taibi's entire Manchester United career; he played in two Premier League matches, the first of which featured the aforementioned incident where he allowed a shot by Matt Le Tissier to squeeze through his legs, allowing Southampton to snatch a 1-1 draw. The second match was a 5-0 defeat by Chelsea, which still stands as United's worst-ever Premier League result -- and bear in mind that this was during the 1999-2000 season, in which they won the Premier League by what remains the biggest margin in English football history. For some reason, Taibi never played again for United after the Chelsea match.

** Derby County's 2007/08 season, in which they earned a grand total of one win and 11 points from 38 games. Sunderland had two seasons that were almost as bad, getting just 19 points in the 2002/03 season and then somehow doing even worse in the 2005/06 season and getting 15 points. (Portsmouth also finished on 19 points in the 2009/10 season, but their record looked worse than it actually was due to a points deduction for their financial problems)

** Arsenal have been stuck in this since the 05/06 season, they usually start brightly or make a challenge for the title only for something to happen such as Eduardo's broken leg or the 2011 League Cup defeat which takes the wind out of their sails and causes them to collapse. This is not helped by Wenger himself, who has constantly touted the squad as having [[Blatant Lies|great mental strength]], [[Berserk Button|blaming everyone but the players when things go wrong]], [[Money, Dear Boy|refusing to invest in experienced players]] to assist what is arguably a talented young side and lately claiming that that finishing in 2nd place for the next 20 years is akin to winning titles. Although it is true that dozens of other clubs would love to be in their position, the constant squandering of great opportunities and an arrogant manager has caused several Arsenal fans to demand his sacking or at least admit that he needs to change.

* [[George Jetson Job Security]]: The position of Newcastle manager is turning into this.

* [[Grumpy Old Man]]: The managers usually; Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger spring to mind.

** The above two are also examples of a [[Long Runner]]. Ferguson has been in charge of Manchester United since 1986 for example!

** Paul Scholes retired from the Manchester United team at the end of the 2010/2011 season, taking a coaching job at the club. Come January 2012, and Scholes has returned to the United team & looks like he didn't retire to begin with.

** Thierry Henry also returned briefly to Arsenal to maintain match fitness ahead of the new MLS season, while coming on as a substitute in all of his appearances he still scored three times, showing he had lost none of the class he had during his first spell. Sol Campbell and Jens Lehmann had also returned briefly in prior seasons to some acclaim.

* [[Miracle Rally]]: Teams have been known to overturn two-goal deficits to grab draws or even victories. Manchester United overturned a three-goal deficit to win 5-3 against Tottenham in 2001, and recently Newcastle pulled back from ''four goals down''-with twenty minutes to go-to draw 4-4 against Arsenal. West Ham came back from 3 down agaisnt West Bromwich Albion in the 2010/11 season.

** Arsenal beating Chelsea 5-3 at Stamford Bridge counts. Losing at half time 2-1 they scored twice early on in the second half to make it 3-2. Only for Chelsea to equalize thanks to a stunning Mata goal with 10 minutes to go. Only for van Persie to pop up to score twice inside 5 minutes to result in a second miracle rally! Considering most people had written Arsenal off due to a weakened team and after that 8-2 defeat to Man Utd, it was a sign that they had managed to develop a side capable of pushing for a top spot in the table. Highlights included that Mata goal, Terry falling over and gifting van Persie his second and Walcott falling over surrounded by 4 Chelsea players, then getting up and running through them to score.

* [[Team Spirit]]: Averted when one player has a falling out with his team or manager and tells all in a tabloid. the fallout can be immense. At the time of writing, the most recent spectacular example is of John Terry and Wayne Bridge, former Chelsea team-mates still playing together in the England team. It emerged that Terry had had an affair with Bridge's ex-girlfriend. Terry was demoted from England captain, while Bridge declined to play for England at all...

** Hell, ''the entire league'' with the exception of one team supported Bridge after this came out. The one team that didn't, was Chelsea - the side John Terry is captain of.

*** Caused some additional interest as Chelsea were supposed to play Manchester City shortly after the affair was leaked. This caused people to wonder if Bridge would offer the customary handshake to Terry once the teams came out onto the pitch. He moved his hand out of the way instead, nobody disputed this decision.

** Other examples include David Beckham getting a boot thrown at his face by Alex Ferguson after a falling out in 2003. He needed stitches above his eye.

*** This trope also appeared to extend to Liverpool themselves, suffering criticism for defending Suarez despite him admitting what he did. When the two teams met again Suarez refused Evra's offer to shake his hand ''despite'' saying he would before the game! Evra himself also appeared to try and wind up Suarez after the game. Dalgish's comments after the game resulted in both of them having to apologize the day after. Which appears to have finally settled the issue.

* [[Who Needs Overtime]]: Injury time, and occasionally a team will score a goal to salvage a win or a point. Manchester United seem to do this often, so much that it's now got a reputation as Fergie Time. Arsenal are running them close though.

*** With four matches to go in the season, United were leading the league with their rivals Manchester City five points behind. Then they played Everton and were up 4-2 with ten minutes to go when Everton scored twice to claim a 4-4 draw. This, followed by a City victory when they met United in their next match, allowed City to tie them in points (leading in goal difference) until the final day of the season.

*** On said final day, after 90 minutes, City were down 2-1 to Queen's Park Rangers (who at that time were on the brink of relegation) but had five minutes of stoppage time still to play, while United were leading Sunderland 1-0 and had three minutes of stoppage time. City equalised two minutes into injury time, and mere seconds after the final whistle blew at United's match, City scored ''again'' to win 3-2 and earn their first championship since 1968.

 

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[[Category:Useful Notes/Britain]]

[[Category:Sporting Event]]

[[Category:The Beautiful Game]]

[[Category:English Premier League]]