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Today almost all football fans agree that the most spectacular league in the world is there Premier League. The football English represents the sublimation of football: a true concentration of technique, aggression, physicality and passion that allow him to look at the other tournaments from top to bottom. There Premier League it is much more than a football tournament: it is a business which generates wealth and continues to make millions of fans fall in love, without neglecting traditions. One could compare the Premier League toNBA in some ways. However, the English championship as we know it is not very old: it was born in 1992, under the pretext of creating a Superalloy futuristic and, after thirty years, the founding fathers can say that they have succeeded. These days, when it comes to Superalloy you think about real Madrid, Barcelona And Juventuswith all the controversy of the new idea Champions League by Florentino Perez and Andrea Lambs. Thirty years ago, provided with substantial differences, English football took this path.
Premier League: what binds the hooligans of the ’80s with the World Cup in Italy ’90
In the 1980s, English football was a rough sport, in every sense. The technical level was on average low and the games of the champions often took a back seat. England’s national sport was increasingly dominated by tackle and rather ugly fouls, which certainly did not favor the spectacle. Furthermore, before, after and during the matches there were often clashes between bands of fans, who went to the stadiums with the only deplorable purpose of hurting the players. supporters opponents. Football and stadiums became less and less family-friendly and the business connected to football it suffered drastically. After the victory ai World Cup in 1966 the English public fond of football numbered about 30 million people, twenty years later only seventeen million. The phenomenon of hooligans had a considerable specific weight in this collapse and the highest representatives of the English clubs they began to fear and suffer the consequences of this crisis.
There world Cup held in Italy in 1990 represented a turning point. Despite theEngland was eliminated from the Germany in the semifinals on penalties, a spark broke out in public opinion that brought football closer to ordinary people. As many as 25 million Brits followed with trepidation the selection led by technical commissioner Bobby Robson and on the pitch by players of the caliber of Paul Gascoigne. Several British entrepreneurs understood that, with an efficient organization such as that put in place by Italy in the 1990 World Cup, it could have made a difference. In England, since 1888 the national championship was the First Division and the English Football Association had as many as 92 clubs under his control, split between First Division and minor leagues. However, the problems of English football were important, so much so that the The Sun wrote at the turn of the 80s and 90s: “Football is an unhealthy sport, attended by unhealthy people in unhealthy stadiums”.
Probably this, coupled with the fact that the business overseas football was collapsing, prompting the owners of the then most prominent five clubs to take action. Liverpool, Everton, Arsenal, Tottenham And Manchester United they decided to create a League of 22 English teams (extracted from the 92) in their own right, to better divide the advertising and television revenues. Every club he had time to reinvent himself and heal his problems. This caused controversy, but the Football Association formally remained at the helm of this new entity, even if the control he exercised over the 22 club secessionists was inferior: thus was born the Premier League. There Premier upset the balance that had existed for over a century.
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The birth of satellite TV gave the newborn an assist Premier League and a forward-looking media entrepreneur, sir. Rupert Murdocklaunched a new television station: he was the first to believe in the media expansion of Premier League. Thus was born SKY: a revolutionary broadcaster that promised itself as a pioneer of information of the highest level. At first SKY it was weak, but there Premier League became a gold mine, especially for the benefit of Manchester United from Ferguson and gods club founders. The original agreement stipulated that those who were most successful received the most cash prizes. The new broadcaster signed a multi-million dollar check to secure the rights to the Premier League. The presidents of the English clubs they pocketed a lot of money and among the common people there was skepticism: it was thought that the Premier League and its samples had become something only for the benefit of elite.
Premier League for doing business: entertainment as a link between fun and money
The new television was immediately impactful and it was understood that the English football movement was taking a gamble, starting this journey. The 1992/1993 season was the first of the new championship. Murdock he wanted to entice the public to experience something different. Footballers became gods star nationwide, anticipating it status of the current Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, to name only the examples of soccer player-marketing man more sensational and known. The most beloved sport of the English, a spectacle in which the match was the pinnacle. SKY put the public at the center and above all tied football and marketing.
Read also: Premier League: Manchester United disaster, Arsenal and Manchester City in an avalanche
As in the United States, the sporting event is within a show in which everything generates commercial inducements. Thus was born the Monday Night: a big match of the championship to be played on Monday evening. For example, polls showed that women watched football more on Monday evenings than on Sunday afternoons. In this way and with the show in the middle of the field, the Premier League it had a growing audience. The entertainment was continuous, as was the relationship of the fans, just like in the challenges of theNBA. Some did not like this commercial drift of the Premier League, but overall it worked. Football was no longer an unhealthy sport, but a spectacle that intrigued everyone. In the family, in pubs and in the newspapers there was only talk of football and Murdock he exploited everything in an ingenious way.
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Manchester United presents itself as the perfect underdog: Sir Alex Ferguson is under pressure
Before the birth of the Premier Leaguethe Manchester United had been short of English league titles since 1967. The fans were starting to lose patience and the coach Sir Alex Ferguson he was under pressure. Six seasons earlier, the Scotsman had earned a respectable résumé at the helm of theAberdeenbut ai Red Devils he had failed to win. Since the Manchester United turned out to be one of the club founders of Premier League, success was even more desired. In those times, like today, the Manchester United it turned out to be a fallen noble. However, her expectations were disappointed: in the first game in the history of the Premier League the Manchester United was defeated 2-1 on the field of Sheffield. Brian Deane scored a brace: the first goal came with the complicity of a rash exit from Peter Schmeichel, while the second from the disk. Mark’s network was of no use Hughesif not to make the passive less bitter.
Ferguson he immediately understood that there was a need for a gunner who could remove chestnuts from the fire when needed. The first name in the list of Sir Alex it was Alan’s Shearer, bomber of the Southampton. He was a total modern center forward, but he was literally bombarded with other offers. However the conversation between Ferguson And Shearer did not give the desired results and the center forward ended at Blackburn Roversa little club of a semi-unknown town. The same Ferguson he told a documentary for the BBC that he didn’t like the conversation with Sheareras the attacker cornered the Manchester Unitedshifting the discussion entirely to an economic perspective.
From the minor leagues Ferguson caught Dion Dublin: striker of excellent perspective of the Cambridge. The boy was asserting himself, but shortly after an injury cost him a double fracture in his leg and ankle and United continued to suffer from scoring abstinence. After the first 10 days, i Red Devils they only had six goals to their credit. But then luck smiled at the Manchester United. The Leeds United offered to Manchester United Eric Cantona: French talent with a difficult character, in open contrast with management and technical staff. The Frenchman felt restrained and was unable to make the most of it. Between him and Ferguson instead there was immediately a great relationship. Cantona showed his talent and started scoring author goals, shaking up the Manchester United.
A few days from the end i Red Devils they were close to the top of the Premier League. Six rounds to go Cantona and companions challenged him Sheffield in the field and theAston Villa in the standings. The genius of Cantona he showed himself in all his talent, but it was United did not score and it Sheffield he found the advantage on a penalty spot with John Sheridan, in the final minutes. At the sunset of the game i Red Devils overturned the result, with a daring double from Steve Bruce. The United he then conquered the first Premier Leaguethus entering history.
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Jack Walker: the man who brought Blackburn to the Premier League table
For everyone it was unthinkable that Blackburnone town of Lancashire of industrial origin, could become famous for football. In truth the Blackburn Rovers it was a second-tier team, with a small stadium and a budget reduced. Everything changed with Jack Walker: the twenty-fourth richest man in England became the owner of the club. Walker the rivals didn’t like it inside Premier League because i club founders understood that he was an entrepreneur who could put a spoke in the wheel. Walker he had sold the family business, which specializes in steel, for a whopping 300 million pounds. He was considered a rough, money-laden upstart and now he wanted to win there Premier League.
Expectations around Alan Shearer they were adequate for the sum spent on the player, a whopping three million pounds. The tag offormer center forward of Southampton it cost the Blackburn and perceived a rather high salary. The 21-year-old did not betray his expectations and scored a volley of goals, including one in his debut againstArsenal. At Blackburn he left there Shaerer-mania. In the Boxing Day in 1992 there was a real sporting catastrophe: Shearer he broke his cruciate ligament, his season was over and his career was in jeopardy. His injury prevented the Blackburn to struggle with Villans And Red Devils for the title. Walker however he did not give up and vowed to try again to win the title.