Perhaps a slightly dramatic title, but despite United's enjoyable progress, I can't remember finding the Premier League as poor. There is an incredible hype machine behind it, and a massively successful one. I want to clear up too, that I love the Premier League and it certainly has all the criteria to be the best league, or even forget comparing with other leagues - to become something really special. But for a variety of on and off field reasons, I've probably never been less interested - and this comes at a time when I'm enjoying United.
What's happening is incredible. You have a team who is now dominating the PL to the same extent PSG dominate Ligue 1. They are almost certain to win the CL too. This season, they have actually won the title in second gear, comfortably behind for much of the season with a calmness that they'd win the league almost making a mockery of it. This can't be argued against- some Arsenal fans aside, I think about 95% of others have considered the title City's pretty much since gameweek 1.
At the same time, there are over 100 charges out standing, and an investigation of a scale never seen before in English football. It is without question the biggest story in the sport in England, and any conversation about the ongoing season and so on, should be taking place in the shadow of this murky, terrible sportswashing tale - and yet other than when the story broke, it's basically never mentioned. Not by pundits, journalists, interviewers or even fans- no banners from opposing teams, no chants, nothing. This is symptomatic of a media industry around it with too much to lose- so the only real criticism comes from voices outside the sport who are easy to dismiss. I dont have my head in the sand about how the world works and obviously football is part of an imperfect world, but it's quite a feat to have made it so utterly soulless. The detachment between players and fans is staggering (see the Leeds players video earlier this month), there is an endless face of marketing at every glance from the clubs to the symbolic gestures, protests, badges you name it every other week - which may often be worthy causes, but none of it rings true. Everything feels like a robotic forced march.
On the football side, I've touched on the title. So what else is around the top? Dross like Spurs and an ageing Liverpool midfield scrapping it out for 5th while a United team in transition is looking comfortable in 4th. The emerging new team in the top is a Saudi backed club who have leapfrogged clubs like Brighton and Brentford through Saudi money- and they're only getting started.
Speaking of Brentford and Brighton, they've been real bright spots among other teams this season - but what comes next? Clubs like City and United will hoover up their talent, in many cases consigning players weve all enjoyed this season to the bench. This has always happened to an extent, top clubs want the best players and so be it, but it has never been so stark. You could go on and on and on listing players integral to smaller teams who became bit part subs, stockpiled at 'top' teams.
As for the bottom half, what a terrible collection of teams - battling with the absurd overspending of the PL and wage structures, to see clubs like Everton descend so much.
The officiating is absolutely awful- it doesn't warrant talking about.
Sky Sports and their ilk have disproportionate influence on narratives that surround the game and bring absolutely no vigour or integrity to the way they approach managers and players and talk to them or challenge them. Who remembers the famous Clough interview on some talk show, engaging in such a spirited, honest, chat and argument?
Clough is a good place to move on to characters- where I'll finish. The league is almost completely absent of them now. The sport has removed pretty much any room for the maverick or creative, with players now interchangeable as parts of incredibly efficient, but sleep-inducing machines of teams. It deeply misses guys like Cantona, Di Canio, Zola, Le Tissier - even the likes of Bergkamp, for all his incredible technical abilitiy and moments to suprise, would likely be reduced to an incredibly functional cog in today's game. It is inarguable the players like De Bruyne, Salah (who is a good example of a counter argument to my point), Haaland, Kane are incredible players who would have slotted in to any fine PL team of years gone by. But they are ferociously boring characters. That's not a criticism of them as people, they are the product of the game now. And this is before I go full old-man-yells-at-cloud and talk about the tattoos, hairstyles, jewellery,headphones and general behaviour of football players projecting themselves as wannabee hip-hop stars or Love Island failures.
It's grim, and I'm interested to know if anybody thinks it's all as bleak as I do. Personally, I don't see any way the league will ever return to what I grew up knowing it as, and feel it's only going to get worse and worse.
What's happening is incredible. You have a team who is now dominating the PL to the same extent PSG dominate Ligue 1. They are almost certain to win the CL too. This season, they have actually won the title in second gear, comfortably behind for much of the season with a calmness that they'd win the league almost making a mockery of it. This can't be argued against- some Arsenal fans aside, I think about 95% of others have considered the title City's pretty much since gameweek 1.
At the same time, there are over 100 charges out standing, and an investigation of a scale never seen before in English football. It is without question the biggest story in the sport in England, and any conversation about the ongoing season and so on, should be taking place in the shadow of this murky, terrible sportswashing tale - and yet other than when the story broke, it's basically never mentioned. Not by pundits, journalists, interviewers or even fans- no banners from opposing teams, no chants, nothing. This is symptomatic of a media industry around it with too much to lose- so the only real criticism comes from voices outside the sport who are easy to dismiss. I dont have my head in the sand about how the world works and obviously football is part of an imperfect world, but it's quite a feat to have made it so utterly soulless. The detachment between players and fans is staggering (see the Leeds players video earlier this month), there is an endless face of marketing at every glance from the clubs to the symbolic gestures, protests, badges you name it every other week - which may often be worthy causes, but none of it rings true. Everything feels like a robotic forced march.
On the football side, I've touched on the title. So what else is around the top? Dross like Spurs and an ageing Liverpool midfield scrapping it out for 5th while a United team in transition is looking comfortable in 4th. The emerging new team in the top is a Saudi backed club who have leapfrogged clubs like Brighton and Brentford through Saudi money- and they're only getting started.
Speaking of Brentford and Brighton, they've been real bright spots among other teams this season - but what comes next? Clubs like City and United will hoover up their talent, in many cases consigning players weve all enjoyed this season to the bench. This has always happened to an extent, top clubs want the best players and so be it, but it has never been so stark. You could go on and on and on listing players integral to smaller teams who became bit part subs, stockpiled at 'top' teams.
As for the bottom half, what a terrible collection of teams - battling with the absurd overspending of the PL and wage structures, to see clubs like Everton descend so much.
The officiating is absolutely awful- it doesn't warrant talking about.
Sky Sports and their ilk have disproportionate influence on narratives that surround the game and bring absolutely no vigour or integrity to the way they approach managers and players and talk to them or challenge them. Who remembers the famous Clough interview on some talk show, engaging in such a spirited, honest, chat and argument?
Clough is a good place to move on to characters- where I'll finish. The league is almost completely absent of them now. The sport has removed pretty much any room for the maverick or creative, with players now interchangeable as parts of incredibly efficient, but sleep-inducing machines of teams. It deeply misses guys like Cantona, Di Canio, Zola, Le Tissier - even the likes of Bergkamp, for all his incredible technical abilitiy and moments to suprise, would likely be reduced to an incredibly functional cog in today's game. It is inarguable the players like De Bruyne, Salah (who is a good example of a counter argument to my point), Haaland, Kane are incredible players who would have slotted in to any fine PL team of years gone by. But they are ferociously boring characters. That's not a criticism of them as people, they are the product of the game now. And this is before I go full old-man-yells-at-cloud and talk about the tattoos, hairstyles, jewellery,headphones and general behaviour of football players projecting themselves as wannabee hip-hop stars or Love Island failures.
It's grim, and I'm interested to know if anybody thinks it's all as bleak as I do. Personally, I don't see any way the league will ever return to what I grew up knowing it as, and feel it's only going to get worse and worse.
