The Club

Wonderfully executed. Such beautiful insights into the premier league for a premier league fan. Recommending for all the EPL fans to go and give this book a read.

This is a pleasant enough book to read, and the pages go by relatively easily, but its title is misleading. It is NOT the story of HOW the Premier League became the richest, most disruptive business in sport. It is, rather, just the story of WHAT HAPPENED in the Premier League since its formation in the early 1990s. Nonetheless, it is interesting to read about the stresses inherent in the Premier League of late, as the Big Six agitate in favour of an increasing share of the financial bounty, and the rest try to slow them down. I can't help but think, at the end of the book, that the Premier League's days may even be numbered, to be replaced by a pan-European super-league. For all the money sloshing around, for example, the PL seems to have had the dickens of a time finding anyone who wants to replace Richard Scudamore, and I've often wondered why of late.So I give this book the customary three stars that I like to award to books that don't do what they make out they are going to do in the title, even though it is a perfectly pleasant read, nonetheless.

The English Premier League, known universally simply as 'EPL' is both bane and bone to sport, especially in England. As the authors say, 'It had become an occupational hazard for Premier League fans that when they bought a jersey with a player's name on the back the $100 garment they had just splashed out for had a shorter shelf life than the latest iPhone'. How did football get to this? It will be so nostalgic when Jack Butland wears a plain green jersey in tribute to the late Stoke City goalkeeper, Gordon Banks in the match with Aston Villa on 2nd March.The book begins with humble beginnings of English clubs, and even big clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester United, were 'a loosely affiliated collection of working men full of amateur ideals...club directors abhor the idea of operating a team for profit'. Then in the 1970s, billboard advertising came around. Eventually, so did the Glazer family, Hicks & Gillet, and Abramovich. The authors show how Arsenal's example in thrift and the big stadium brought a flurry of change. Hitherto, even the big clubs were camped in out-of-date and cramped stadiums; what more the lesser clubs?In comes big money, and the stories and events that led to the breakaway Premier League is absorbing. The authors tell of the dreams and inspirations of clubs and managers in the new profit-centred football world - how Fulham dreams of becoming 'Manchester United of the South'. England has become a place for 'a billionaire with some cash to park abroad and a taste for the adulation of large crowds'.All this brings problems, not just money problems, of which the authors have a thing or two to say, but more importantly on the pitch. Recall player power that ousted you-know-which one? Now the same is threatening Sarri of Chelsea. The authors quote Arsene Wenger: Modern football has been defined by players searching for more and more freedom. And that coincides with more and more individualism... As soon as a guy's personal interests don't line up with the team's, he gets bored'.The book tells us why the big six find Leicester City's victory in 2016 unacceptable. They need to keep the money pot of 'golden tickets' to themselves. Thus we learn about the motives and reasons for acquiring players, including individual stories of players such as Paul Pogba, and Luis Suarez, and also of the big managers - how the wheel turn them and on them.Welcome to the Club.

My only quibble about the book is a throwaway comment about the pre-Sky t.v. money being shared equally between the 92 clubs, with Man Utd receiving the same as Macclesfield.A little bit of research would have found that Macclesfield didn't enter the Football league until 1997. I knew this, and I'd imagine a lot of other football fan's did too. But then again, football for many doesn't exist outside the Premier league.

I bought the book hoping for a background on the formation of the league but obviously this is not that. If you already have a background of knowledge of the league in the early years, this adds a little more background to stories you probably know. Enjoyed it, and will recommend to friends.

A very good read showing up the greed and underhand tactics employed by owners of a number Clubs within the Premiership. Secret meetings and plans to take control and ditch the rest. If you are a genuine football fan you will be angered by the destruction of the beautiful game.