Premier League's richest tighten grip after season of slow-burn stories | Barney Ronay

Jul 27, 2020

It was a campaign like no other but the wealthiest still came out on top and the ever-growing gap between the best and the rest is cause for concern

Well, we made it then. It was the worst of times. And either side of that, it was also the worst of times. Professional sport has never staged anything quite like the football season just past, 11 months of competition capped by that midsummer interlude where suddenly televised football became a contractual bind cranked out through gritted teeth to pay the bills, Premier League clubs going through the motions like a leather-thonged private dancer making eyes at the table of TV execs in hope of a second series.

Plague, death and economic collapse aside, from a sporting point of view the most remarkable part of the 2019-20 Premier League season was that it maintained a degree of uniform quality throughout. As ever the level of competition was decent, not bad, OK; a reliable advert for the homogenised global pop culture product that is elite level English football.

Tags: Coronavirus outbreak Football Premier League Sport