Signing players past their peak is one of the mistakes made by a debt-ridden club who fear a relegation they cannot affordIt will be of no consolation to Everton fans to reflect that their plight is, looked at in a certain light, an indicator of the health of English football. Or at least is a healthy aspect of English football. Everton were one of the Big Five who led the breakaway to set up the Premier League in 1992. In the previous decade they had won two league titles, the FA Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup. They are still the fourth-most successful team in English top-flight football (level with Manchester City on nine league titles but with more second-place...
Whatever you think of Manchester City’s wealth or Newcastle’s or PSG’s owners, football’s regulatory framework has never been fit for purposeIn 2008 Speedo introduced the LZR Racer, a body-length swimsuit lined with stiff polyurethane plastic panels that dramatically reduced drag in the water. Essentially it turned the swimmer into a smooth aerodynamic tube, trapping little pockets of air to improve buoyancy. The technology was introduced in time for the Beijing Olympics, where 23 world records were set by swimmers wearing the LZR.The impact on the sport was cataclysmic. Athletes who enjoyed the benefits of the new “super suit” described the sensation as like flying. Those who had signed deals with other manufacturers were faced with the choice of breaking their...
Why is it only the big six – aside from Liverpool – who have all-time top scorers who played in the past decade?Last Sunday, amid the gleeful chaos of the 7-0 win over Manchester United, Mohamed Salah became Liverpool’s leading scorer in the Premier League. There is always a slight caution about such statistics – football didn’t begin in 1992, you know – but three decades on the Premier League serves as a useful shorthand for the modern era. But what is perhaps more striking is that Salah is not Liverpool’s all‑time leading scorer. That record still belongs to Ian Rush and that makes Liverpool unique among the big six clubs.Arsenal’s leading all-time scorer is Thierry Henry. Chelsea’s is Frank...
The current position is unsustainable with foreign states buying clubs and taking a seat of power in the national game“It’s a fund.” There was something captivating about watching Tracey Crouch MP say these words in front of a parliamentary committee in December 2021; like the moment, six episodes in, when you realise – oh yes, of course – that your favourite character is actually a robot replicant too.Crouch was responding to the suggestion during a discussion of the fan-led review of professional men’s football that Newcastle United’s ownership is in effect an arm of the Saudi Arabian government. And it was an impressive moment in other ways, evidence of the smartness, the excellent optics, of getting someone relatable and unaffected...
La Liga president’s battle to rein in spending is on soft ground because England’s top flight is still on a firm financial footingThere is a telling moment in Apple TV+’s punchy new documentary, Super League: the War for Football, in which the head of La Liga, Javier Tebas, gives a withering assessment of those who seek to control the modern game. “You have to keep up the fight,” he growls. “Money is not everything. Far from it. The rich don’t have the same ethical standards. There’s lots of liars and fakes. Betrayals happen all the time. Loyalty is practically nonexistent. I’ve never trusted anyone.”Tebas has a lawyer’s mind and a pugilist’s love of a ruck. It is a healthy combination,...