The Football League
The late 1980s marked a low point for English football. Stadiums were crumbling, supporters endured poor facilities, hooliganism was rife, and English clubs were banned from European competition, after Liverpool's involvement in the 1985 European Cup Final
In moves to regenerate income, major English clubs began to transform into business ventures, applying commercial principles to club administration to maximise revenue. In October 1983, Tottenham Hotspur became the first football club in the world to float on the London Stock Exchange, prompting many other clubs to follow suit.
And so began the transformation.
In addition to the new commercial revenue streams, the major clubs demanded that television companies should pay more for their coverage of football matches, as revenue from television grew in importance.
The Football League received £6.3 million for a two-year broadcast agreement in 1986. This movement in finance led to the top clubs seeking to increase their power and revenue, resulting in the clubs in Division One threatening to break away from the Football League.
A threat that saw them manage to increase their voting power {of how money in the game is controlled] and gain a more favourable financial arrangement, taking a 50% share of all television and sponsorship income. £3.15 million to division one, £3.15 million to the other three divisions per year.
By 1988, a new broadcasting deal was being negotiated with the Independent Television company; ITV, which promised a price rise to £12 million a year over four years [£44 million in total].
These negotiations were conducted under the heavy threat of ten clubs leaving to form a "super league", but, they were eventually persuaded to stay, with the leading clubs taking 75% of the revenue generated. £9 million to division one, £3 million to the other three divisions per year.
Those same negotiations also convinced the bigger clubs that in order to receive enough votes to create a 'cash cow league', they would need to take the whole of the First Division with them, instead of forming a smaller "super league".
By the beginning of the 1990s, the big clubs again considered breaking away, especially now that they had to fund the cost of stadium upgrade as proposed by the Taylor Report. A report born out of Liverpool's involvement in the 1989 FA Cup semi-final.
In 1990, the then managing director of London Weekend Television, Greg Dyke, met with the representatives of the "big five" football clubs in England (Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and Woolwich) to discuss a breakaway from The Football League.
The five clubs agreed with the suggestion and decided to press ahead with it and in June 1991, The FA released a report 'Blueprint for the Future of Football', that supported the plan for such a league, with FA the ultimate authority that would oversee the its creation. The FA would come to rue this discussion.
The Premier League
At the close of the 1990–1991 season, a proposal was tabled for the establishment of a new league that would bring more money into the game overall. The Founder Members Agreement, signed on 17 July 1991 by the game's top-flight clubs, established the basic principles for setting up the FA Premier League.
The newly formed top division would have commercial independence from The Football Association and the Football League, giving the FA Premier League licence to negotiate its own broadcast and sponsorship agreements. The argument given at the time was that the extra income would allow English clubs to compete with teams across Europe.
This proposed meant the break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions; the Premier League would operate with a single division and the Football League with three.
In 1992, the Premier League era began, composing of 22 clubs.
Luton Town, Notts County, and West Ham United were the three teams relegated from the old First Division at the end of the 1991–92 season, and did not take part in the inaugural Premier League season.
The Premier League is a success in terms of what the founder members strived to achieve; it is now the most-watched sports league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion people.
In 2019, Tottenham Hotspur recorded a world record profit of £113 million pounds. A concern facing the sport was that this money is being taken out of the game and distributed to an incredibly small percentage of the game's population.
Premier League Clubs were apportioned central payment revenues of £2.4 billion in 2016–17. £343 million was given to the remaining English Football League clubs across the three leagues. As of 16/17, the average Premier League team received £41 million while the average Football League Championship club received £2 million per year.
£41 million for 20 clubs or, £820 million, less than half of the total revenue goes to the clubs participating in the league. Again, the concern amounts fans is; 'where does this money go?' Fans pay astronomical fees in comparison, to watch their team (£2,755 per year is the most expensive season ticket in English football - £47 is the most expensive 'lowest priced' single match ticket)
After nearly 30 years since it's conception and realisation, the league has attracted some of the wealthiest people on the planet that 'invest' in the game.
The Super European League
Introduced in 1955 as the Coupe des Clubs Champions Européens (French for European Champion Clubs' Cup), and commonly known as the European Cup, it was initially a straight knockout tournament open only to the champions of Europe's domestic leagues, with its winner reckoned as the European club champion.
The competition took on its current name [The Champions League] in 1992. It has since been expanded, and while most of Europe's national leagues can still only enter their champion, the strongest leagues {England France, Germany, Italy, Spain] now provide up to four teams.
On 8 June 2006, UEFA requested that all major European leagues, including Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga, be reduced to 18 teams by the start of the 2007–08 season. An idea based around 'freeing up space in the football calendar to allow for games outside of domestic competition'.
No changes were made for the start of the 07/08 campaign by any of Europe's major leagues, a move seen by many as a victory for domestic heritage.
19 April 2021, Champions League plans for a revamped tournament were agreed, without objection, and are due to come into effect during the 2024/25 season.
An increase of teams participating and a remodelling of the competition was voted for by the UEFA commity.
The new format will see 36 clubs qualifying for an expanded 'first phase', where all clubs will play against 10 opponents of varying strengths.
This will result in a league table, with the top eight qualifying for the knockout phase and the next 16 going into a play-off for the remaining eight slots.
The new format has been criticised by fans' groups, not least because two of the additional four slots will be allocated on the basis of past performance, to the clubs with the highest Uefa co-efficient that did not qualify for the Champions League automatically - but did qualify for another European competition.
The criticism around this format is that it would strip away the basis of qualification being around league position, or merit, as a team could qualify for the Champions League despite finishing lower in the table than a team in the same league that missed out.
April 2021, Woolwich, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham agreed to join a new European Super League.
Under the proposals, this new league campaign would start in August each year, with midweek fixtures, and the clubs would be split into two groups of 10 to form 2 league tables, playing each other home and away.
The European Super League was criticised because the format would strip away the basis of qualification being around league position, or merit, as there would be no chance for the founding clubs failing to qualify every year.
The late 1980s marked a low point for English football. Stadiums were crumbling, supporters endured poor facilities, hooliganism was rife, and English clubs were banned from European competition, after Liverpool's involvement in the 1985 European Cup Final
In moves to regenerate income, major English clubs began to transform into business ventures, applying commercial principles to club administration to maximise revenue. In October 1983, Tottenham Hotspur became the first football club in the world to float on the London Stock Exchange, prompting many other clubs to follow suit.
And so began the transformation.
In addition to the new commercial revenue streams, the major clubs demanded that television companies should pay more for their coverage of football matches, as revenue from television grew in importance.
The Football League received £6.3 million for a two-year broadcast agreement in 1986. This movement in finance led to the top clubs seeking to increase their power and revenue, resulting in the clubs in Division One threatening to break away from the Football League.
A threat that saw them manage to increase their voting power {of how money in the game is controlled] and gain a more favourable financial arrangement, taking a 50% share of all television and sponsorship income. £3.15 million to division one, £3.15 million to the other three divisions per year.
By 1988, a new broadcasting deal was being negotiated with the Independent Television company; ITV, which promised a price rise to £12 million a year over four years [£44 million in total].
These negotiations were conducted under the heavy threat of ten clubs leaving to form a "super league", but, they were eventually persuaded to stay, with the leading clubs taking 75% of the revenue generated. £9 million to division one, £3 million to the other three divisions per year.
Those same negotiations also convinced the bigger clubs that in order to receive enough votes to create a 'cash cow league', they would need to take the whole of the First Division with them, instead of forming a smaller "super league".
By the beginning of the 1990s, the big clubs again considered breaking away, especially now that they had to fund the cost of stadium upgrade as proposed by the Taylor Report. A report born out of Liverpool's involvement in the 1989 FA Cup semi-final.
In 1990, the then managing director of London Weekend Television, Greg Dyke, met with the representatives of the "big five" football clubs in England (Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and Woolwich) to discuss a breakaway from The Football League.
The five clubs agreed with the suggestion and decided to press ahead with it and in June 1991, The FA released a report 'Blueprint for the Future of Football', that supported the plan for such a league, with FA the ultimate authority that would oversee the its creation. The FA would come to rue this discussion.
The Premier League
At the close of the 1990–1991 season, a proposal was tabled for the establishment of a new league that would bring more money into the game overall. The Founder Members Agreement, signed on 17 July 1991 by the game's top-flight clubs, established the basic principles for setting up the FA Premier League.
The newly formed top division would have commercial independence from The Football Association and the Football League, giving the FA Premier League licence to negotiate its own broadcast and sponsorship agreements. The argument given at the time was that the extra income would allow English clubs to compete with teams across Europe.
This proposed meant the break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions; the Premier League would operate with a single division and the Football League with three.
In 1992, the Premier League era began, composing of 22 clubs.
Luton Town, Notts County, and West Ham United were the three teams relegated from the old First Division at the end of the 1991–92 season, and did not take part in the inaugural Premier League season.
The Premier League is a success in terms of what the founder members strived to achieve; it is now the most-watched sports league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion people.
In 2019, Tottenham Hotspur recorded a world record profit of £113 million pounds. A concern facing the sport was that this money is being taken out of the game and distributed to an incredibly small percentage of the game's population.
Premier League Clubs were apportioned central payment revenues of £2.4 billion in 2016–17. £343 million was given to the remaining English Football League clubs across the three leagues. As of 16/17, the average Premier League team received £41 million while the average Football League Championship club received £2 million per year.
£41 million for 20 clubs or, £820 million, less than half of the total revenue goes to the clubs participating in the league. Again, the concern amounts fans is; 'where does this money go?' Fans pay astronomical fees in comparison, to watch their team (£2,755 per year is the most expensive season ticket in English football - £47 is the most expensive 'lowest priced' single match ticket)
After nearly 30 years since it's conception and realisation, the league has attracted some of the wealthiest people on the planet that 'invest' in the game.
| Club | Majority Shareholder / Owner |
| Woolwich | Stan Kroenke - United States |
| Aston Villa | Nassef Sawiris - Egypt Wes Edens - United States |
| Brighton | Tony Bloom - England |
| Burnley | Alan Pace - United States |
| Chelsea | Roman Abramovich - Russia |
| Crystal Palace | Josh Harris - United States David Blitzer - United States |
| Everton | Farhad Moshiri - Iran |
| Fulham | Shahid Khan - Pakistan |
| Leeds | Andrea Radrizzani _ Italy |
| Leicester | Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha - Thiland |
| Liverpool | John Henry - United States |
| Man City | Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan - United Arab Emirates |
| Man Utd | Malcolm Glazer - United States |
| Newcastle | Mike Ashley - England |
| Sheff Utd | Abdullah bin Musa'ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud - Saudi Arabia |
| Southampton | Gao Jisheng - China |
| Tottenham Hotspur | Joe Lewis - England |
| West Brom | Lai Guochuan - China |
| West Ham | David Sullivan - England David Gold - England |
| Wolves | Chen Qiyu - China Xu Xiaoliang - China |
The Super European League
Introduced in 1955 as the Coupe des Clubs Champions Européens (French for European Champion Clubs' Cup), and commonly known as the European Cup, it was initially a straight knockout tournament open only to the champions of Europe's domestic leagues, with its winner reckoned as the European club champion.
The competition took on its current name [The Champions League] in 1992. It has since been expanded, and while most of Europe's national leagues can still only enter their champion, the strongest leagues {England France, Germany, Italy, Spain] now provide up to four teams.
On 8 June 2006, UEFA requested that all major European leagues, including Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga, be reduced to 18 teams by the start of the 2007–08 season. An idea based around 'freeing up space in the football calendar to allow for games outside of domestic competition'.
No changes were made for the start of the 07/08 campaign by any of Europe's major leagues, a move seen by many as a victory for domestic heritage.
19 April 2021, Champions League plans for a revamped tournament were agreed, without objection, and are due to come into effect during the 2024/25 season.
An increase of teams participating and a remodelling of the competition was voted for by the UEFA commity.
The new format will see 36 clubs qualifying for an expanded 'first phase', where all clubs will play against 10 opponents of varying strengths.
This will result in a league table, with the top eight qualifying for the knockout phase and the next 16 going into a play-off for the remaining eight slots.
The new format has been criticised by fans' groups, not least because two of the additional four slots will be allocated on the basis of past performance, to the clubs with the highest Uefa co-efficient that did not qualify for the Champions League automatically - but did qualify for another European competition.
The criticism around this format is that it would strip away the basis of qualification being around league position, or merit, as a team could qualify for the Champions League despite finishing lower in the table than a team in the same league that missed out.
April 2021, Woolwich, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham agreed to join a new European Super League.
Under the proposals, this new league campaign would start in August each year, with midweek fixtures, and the clubs would be split into two groups of 10 to form 2 league tables, playing each other home and away.
The European Super League was criticised because the format would strip away the basis of qualification being around league position, or merit, as there would be no chance for the founding clubs failing to qualify every year.
