No sooner had Manchester City lifted the Premier League trophy again than people were bemoaning England’s top flight becoming a boring monopoly.
It has even been suggested we are turning into the Scottish league. How can such a ridiculous and frankly unfair argument even be given oxygen?
Ok, we’ve got one side playing such an elite brand of football that it’s raising the bar for everybody else but there is so much more to the Premier League than who comes out on top.
Arsenal were millimetres away from City and proved it by taking four points off their title rivals. It came down to tiny margins. They will undoubtedly look back with regret on that period over Christmas that saw them lose back to back games against Fulham and West Ham and the defeat at home to Aston Villa in the run in but that is what marks the Premier League out from so many other leagues around Europe – and certainly Scotland!
Those kind of results don’t happen in a one-tier league. Celtic took 10 points off Rangers and won the title because there’s no one else north of the border capable of making a challenge. That’s not the case here.
As soon as Manchester City became Premier League champions, people were complaining that England’s top flight has become boring
There have been suggestions that we are turning into the Scottish league, an argument that does not even deserve oxygen
Rod Stewart took a broadside at me for bemoaning the lack of quality in Scottish football
There is this view that the English league sneers at other leagues but I think that’s unfair. The fact is the Scottish league – despite the inane mutterings of the Highgate-born crooner Rod Stewart who took a broadside at me for opining on the lack of quality in Scottish football – doesn’t have a broadcast deal of any substance, does not produce great Scottish players like it used to and there are no other challengers to Celtic and Rangers, who aren’t as good as they used to be either.
With their current squads they’d probably struggle to survive in the Championship. That’s not sneering, just an accurate summation of where Scottish football is. The only reason people think the Premier League looks down on others is because it dominates the economic landscape of domestic football, with everyone else a pale imitation of what we have.
Beyond the title race – which went down to the final day by the way – over the course of the season, how many teams were battling for a top four spot? How many were competing for the other European slots and how many were fighting against relegation?
So I don’t understand how can anyone claim that we’re watching an uninteresting league that is being diminished by one side currently dominating. Now I wouldn’t bet against City making it five in a row but then again, I wouldn’t bet against Arsenal winning it either, while Liverpool should not be discounted as they re-generate under Arne Slot. There’s already so much to look forward to next season.
Ange Postecoglou believes there are opportunities for Tottenham to be successful and will push them on. Manchester United will be an interesting watch as they pivot on the back of Jim Ratcliffe and will surely make more of an impact. Chelsea look like they have finally got their engines going even if parting company with Mauricio Pochettino may arrest that progress. What’s the next step for Villa? What’s going to happen to Newcastle? Can Crystal Palace kick on under Oliver Glasner?
How will Brighton adjust to losing, in my opinion, the divisive Roberto De Zerbi?
Now go back and tell me the Premier League is boring and monopolised and challenging to watch. Now tell me it’s dull and worrying because one team have won it four times in a row. Come on, all of things are fascinatingly intriguing and it’s ridiculous to argue otherwise.
I’m not trying to defend the Premier League because there is a lot about it that could be better and things that certainly need addressing but this idea that it’s turning in to a one team league is nonsense. Put that Manchester City team in any league and you’d get the same result. Throughout the season pretty much every game had something on it. How can anyone not say that this is a league with intrigue, jeopardy, engagement and quality and challenge at every turn?
There are a number of questions to be answered going into next season, such as how Brighton will cope with losing Roberto De Zerbi
Ange Postecoglou (left), meanwhile, believes he can help Tottenham kick on, while Manchester United will surely make more of an impact
City are exuding a quality that is making everyone raise their game. Can the might of Pep Guardiola’s team be overcome? Well it nearly was so I don’t look into that abyss and worry we have a monopoly. I’m not sure either where the little myth came from that broadcasters are going to lose interest. This idea that if one team dominates the league it damages the whole product is a load of rubbish.
As City raised the bar, the quality and expectation we’re seeing has also been raised. Some of the players performing at the highest level are finally worthy of the ridiculous sums of money they’re being paid because their standards are so high. You’re watching art now. Whatever you want from sport, it’s all there in the Premier League.
Everyone is fighting for everything in the Premier League and that is more compelling than worrying about a team who have become so brilliant – however they’ve become so brilliant and whatever fruit of a poisoned tree that perhaps that brilliance has come from.
As Bayer Leverkusen have proved in Germany this season, that irrespective of who has what when and why, if you do it right, you can get it right. And I think Arsenal can get it right.
They could and perhaps should have won the title for the last two seasons so there’s no reason why they can’t get themselves over the line next time.
All this negativity about the Premier League is simply people looking to pull at a thread. No one really wants one team to be winning it all the time but that’s football. The Premier League has been going for 32 years and in 26 of them the title was won by United, City or Chelsea, so it’s monopolised anyway!
So let’s not create false narratives and turn ourselves into a self-fulfilling prophecy of negativity. Let’s not talk down something that is remarkable – the biggest and most economically powerful league in the world in which everybody wants to invest. We have jeopardy and intrigue from the first whistle to the last. Let’s celebrate that rather than give in to the doom-mongers.
Ultimately, we will wait and see if any team can overcome the might of Pep Guardiola (rigth)
I believe that Arsenal can get it right next season, like Bayer Leverkusen have in Germany this term
Poch out early
I’m surprised and not surprised in equal measure by Mauricio Pochettino’s departure from Chelsea.
I made the observation earlier this season that I didn’t think Pochettino would lead Chelsea to the promised land and now I’ve been proven right but I didn’t think they would take him out so early.
I often rail against segments of the media about this notion that managers somehow should now be recruiting their own players. ‘It’s not my team’ is the old football mantra we hear so much from managers but there is also a flipside to that which is ‘Are you a good coach?’. If you are, then coach.
There is a narrative that has been spun about Pochettino that he wanted overriding control but that’s a little puzzling. Chelsea coveted him so much so I’m assuming he must have been pretty clear what he expected from them at the start and it must have been clear what was agreed. And then we heard rumblings all through the year that he’d not been involved in transfers and it wasn’t his team. Something doesn’t quite add up there.
But I don’t think his exit will derail Chelsea after their promising run of form towards the end of the season. The players will benefit from the experience and only improve from here. They were unlucky to lose the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool and should have beaten Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final – and qualified for Europe. So Chelsea’s season has not quite been the car crash many have suggested it was.
I don’t think Pochettino has particularly covered himself in glory at Stamford Bridge but neither do I think he has discredited himself. It will be interesting to see where he surfaces next but Manchester United could have an managerial vacancy soon…
Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea exit surprised me and didn’t surprise me at the same time
I didn’t think he would take them to the promised land, but I don’t think his exit will derail the Blues next season
Built to win the Euros
I was heartily encouraged by the England squad Gareth Southgate selected this week for the European Championship.
This is a squad built to win the Euros, not one steeped in loyalty. Southgate made brave, forthright decisions that don’t have popularity at their centre but winning at the centre, well done Gareth.
Marcus Rashford was the headline omission but leaving him out was a very good decision. Here’s a bit of reality for you Marcus, you simply haven’t been good enough to warrant selection.
Gareth Southgate’s England training squad, including the exclusion of Marcus Rashford, was encouraging
It is fantastic to see four Crystal Palace players involved, including Marc Guehi (left) and Eberechi Eze (right)
Credit to Palace
It is fantastic to see four Crystal Palace players in the England squad. I don’t know if they will all survive the cull when final squad is named but the fact they’re in the provisional squad is a credit to the club’s recruitment people like Dougie Freedman.
It also means it won’t be so easy for clubs to poach and pinch Palace’s best players. It’s great for the club.
