Home and Away | As Leicester prepare to bust through the glass ceiling, can the moneyed elite still buy their way to the top?
The riches of the Premier League have long been eyed with suspicion and derision, but clubs outside the traditional ‘big four’ are signalling a turn in the tide
Long has been the complaint that the English Premier League’s elite clubs spend their way to the top, rendering the competition, as Kevin Keegan put it, “one of the most boring but great leagues in the world”.
Leicester’s challenge is indeed distinguished by the achievement of hitherto unremarkable players binding together as a powerful unit
Season after season, supporters have been paying through the nose to watch predictable outcomes, a widening wealth gap, a league within a league.
Since its founding 23 years ago, 47 teams have played in the Premier League yet only five have won it. The “Big Four” – Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City – appeared to have their names engraved on the title trophy in perpetuity, interrupted only once by a foray by Blackburn in 1995.
However, in recent seasons and especially during this campaign, there have been signs of a new dawn, a refreshingly tight competition with multiple contestants vying for the top prizes; the small taking on the big, mid-table mediocrity brazenly challenging the establishment and knocking on Europe’s door.
The pots of money and gluttony over the past quarter of a century have been necessary – vital, even – for the league to succeed and get to this point: an era in which all the clubs have a big enough slice of the revenue pie to compete in a much fairer way.
TV deals have netted the Premier League more than £5 billion over the next three seasons – a 70 per cent increase on the current deal – with each club receiving up to £120 million per season. Next season’s winners will take home a cash prize of around £150 million, the team at the bottom will earn about £100 million – all that before a ticket or replica shirt is sold and before a sponsorship deal is done.