I’ll not get into the whole “German football is turd” debate, that’s hyperbolic and disrespectful. It’s true that at the very top it lacks competitiveness. What I will get into is the competitiveness of the premier league. For all the discussion of it being dominated by oil money, and there’s no doubt Man City are the dominant team, the PL is still a league that is ultra competitive and doesn’t just reward the money bags clubs.
We’ve had Leicester win it in the last decade. In fact in the last decade we’ve had United (just!), City, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Leicester win it. That’s 5 different clubs. Currently we have Arsenal sitting top, City - an oil club - second (probably favourites though), United - a legacy giant - in third. Then vying for fourth you’ve got newbie oil club Newcastle, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Brighton. Brighton being a model of smart data driven, cost effective, performance. Liverpool, who won a title two years ago, have been successful by (a) spending a lot but within their own generated means, and (b) smart data driven recruitment, sitting in 8th. Chelsea, who’ve spent a fortune, sitting in 11th (two of the historical big 4).
Every league is predictable in some sense. The teams with the most resources generally do better than the teams with less. But within that paradigm, the PL, due to its fairly equitable division of wealth from TV rights etc, is incredibly competitive.
The competitiveness of the league, the quality that’s there from top to almost bottom, makes the league harder than any other domestic competition in the world. Bayern, the Spanish duo etc, still have the luxury of resting key players in the league, so they are fresh for European competitions. That’s something English clubs just can’t do anymore. A top four team Can easily lose to a midtable or relegation team if they rest key starters, with a regularity and predictability that isn’t seen elsewhere. And it’s a symptom of “smaller” PL clubs not only having the resources to be able to hang onto their best players, but also attract players from much larger clubs in Europe.
It’s the strength and weakness of the league. It’s what makes the PL so competitive but also what takes away a vital competitive edge in Europe. You can’t have it both ways.
The PL product is the envy of the world, and rightly so. It’s fast paced, it’s entertaining and it’s high quality. People point to “higher quality” games in Spain for example, but the games are played at such a slower pace, of course there are less mistakes and forced errors. That doesn’t make it higher quality.
The danger of the PL, is that we as clubs and fans might disappear up our own arses championing the brilliance of the league.