Will we see a Premier League team retain the title in the next 10 years?

 

The question is something which needs to be asked as I do not believe the topic is ever really discussed to its full potential? Why is it so difficult to retain the league title the following year after winning it in England.

If you are in your mid 20s or older you will have been blessed with growing up watching some amazing teams in the past such as Manchester United and Chelsea who were able to retain the league the following year after winning the league;  mounting a successful defence of their title.
It baffles me that in the premier league era we have only two teams we can associate with defending the league title since its coronation in 1992. So I ask the questions below and please give your opinions on other potential side effects to winning the league.

THE DESIRE TO WIN A LEAGUE TITLE SUPERCEEDS A NEED TO DEFEND IT?

While success is one thing, sustained success is something else completely. Whether that band ‘lost their hunger’ after their first taste of table-topping glory remains unconfirmed, but it’s certainly the default diagnosis for title-winning team.

Now Leicester are a sidenote to this due to the fairytale like story in which surrounds their title winning season; however for a team like Manchester City it has to be questioned why they falter so poorly in the title defending season. The mentality has to be questioned as to why a team with such depth and arguably the best squad in the league can not defend a title the year after. Is it bad eggs within the squad causing negative sideshow distractions off the field (ala balotelli) or is it the constant pressure of being the champions and not chasing something.

ENGLAND HAS THE MOST COMPETITIVE LEAGUE IN THE WORLD? 

We often have conversations with our friends as to which league is the best. Often the answer will be a straight shoot out between La Liga and the premier league. La Liga you would often argue in favour due to the excitement of seeing the worlds best players weekly like Ronaldo or Messi turning out for Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively. With the Premier League you would suggest that league has a more competitive edge with anyone of the ‘top 6’ now having a reasonable chance of winning the league (only three teams will challenge realistically in Spain, England it’s a much bigger story).

The Premier League has by far the smallest gap between teams who finish first and third, and the smallest gap between first and sixth However around Europe, France’s Ligue 1 has the smallest gap between the team at the top and the team in the highest spot of the relegation zone (i.e. 18th in England, France, Italy and Spain but 16th in Germany).

Teams in second and third are more closely matched in England than anywhere else except France, while English sides in third and fourth are more closely matched.

The stats give a good indication as to how teams take a lot of points from each other throughout the season which makes England such a competitive landscape to compete in, which in turn suggests how difficult it is to defend a title.

DOES TV MONEY PLAY A BIG PART IN THE COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE OF THE LEAGUE?

The Premier League earned a record £5.1 billion TV deal in 2015 for the 2016-2019 seasons, a figure that has led some to ask whether this money should be more evenly distributed across all football leagues, and whether in fact big money is bad news for the beautiful game.

Now when you look at the Spanish leagues teams like Barcelona and Real Madrid are able to negotiate their own TV deals which allows them to manage their income independently with TV networks. This is something that La Liga seem to be more then willingly to let happen to keep their top teams happy.

Unfortunately with this in mind the league loses its competitive edge as their income superceeds a team like Getafe for example who will not see a nice pot shared out from TV money.
In England we see the TV deal shared out across the league as a level playing field. Last seasons bottom club earned more through the TV deal then previous winners of the premier league earned for finishing first. Already this summer you have seen Everton pay out £30million for the young goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, Newcastle United who have just been promoted back to the premier league are hoping to spend £20 million plus on players and Huddersfield who currently sit on a transfer record expenditure of £1.75 million are hoping to pay big in signing a £17.5 million rated striker from abroad.

Now the TV deal not only gives teams a financial injection to sign the best players, it also gives them an incentive to stay in the league. This is why you see clubs like Huddersfield spend so much because they know the financial rewards are there so they will spend more (as they know other teams will around them).

Bringing this in to the topic in question, if you have teams from 20th upwards willing to spend £50 million on their squad in the summer; the defending title holders will be presented with a new challenge from everybody around them. It’s a constant needs to adapt and strength a team which is already the best in the country on paper because everybody else around you is throwing money to chase a title not defend it.

I throw this question out to you, we live in a world in which you see the title defended year on out by juventus, benfica, Celtic to name a few … which team will be the first in England to throw a marker down by successfully defending a league title three years in a row and how long will it be until it happens.

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Lionel Messi is not leaving Barcelona and will retire at Barcelona!

Now we have had confirmation from the man himself after a comprehensive victory for Barcelona against Atletico Madrid (3-0) in which it can be argued that the front three finally clicked. Regardless of the confirmation the media are going bat crap crazy buying into a belief that Lionel Messi may be on the verge of leaving Barcelona for a super-sized fee too either Chelsea or Manchester City. Now even after Lionel Messi confirmed he will not join either club, the rumours still persist. Jose Mourinho even via a televised interview stated that “every club would be interested in signing Lionel Messi, however the finances behind any potential move would be implausible.”

There you have it media for yourselves….any potential move would be implausible due to the financial costs of such a move. Rob Wilson of Sheffield Hallam University investigated the financial implications of a move for Lionel Messi would have on clubs across the world; and it was found to be that only Real Madrid and Manchester United could make such a move for the four-time Ballon D’or Winner. Real Madrid are without a shadow of doubt the biggest rivals to Barcelona so that can be considered case closed and Manchester United have more pressing issues in  the form of defence. Even though both teams could afford the sum in question; the salary costs for the star player would definitely put them in trouble with the FFP (Financial Fair Play) with his contract easily reaching at least 20 million euros per calendar year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30727554

Breaking down the transfer fee into structured payments over an agreed amount of time would definitely make it easier for other teams, such as PSG, Manchester City and Chelsea to get involved however if you go back to when Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United for Real Madrid it was demanded that the £80 million fee was upfront. Barcelona are in no position in which they need to sell and the player has stated that he wants to stay at the club so for the strength of me I can not understand why these rumours are still alive…..until it clicked!

If you’re a fan of the computer games such as football manager, you can dictate the realms of reality and make the impossible…possible. You can use an editor tool to make for example Watford Football Club (you’re welcome Gary) have a positive sum of up to £2 billion and the financial ability to attain any football player desired to them. Using this football game you can see the breaking headlines of Watford have acquired Lionel Messi for a fee of £200 million!!! Football Manager and to a degree even the Playstation/Xbox series FIFA can let you lose a sense of reality and make the unthinkable happen. For me, the media are using tactics similar to the editor tool in football manager to try and force it through because they want to use an editor tool to see something unimaginable actually happen.

Until the player publicly comes out and states that he wants to leave Barcelona then the case should be considered closed. The media just cannot let it rest even going to the point of twisting Lionel Messi’s words at a press conference designed to believe us into thinking he may leave the Catalan club at the end of the season. Messi stated “I am not sure If I will go back to Newells Old Boys one day. I am not sure where I will be next year. I have always said I will end my career at Barcelona but as Cristiano said, only God knows the future. Things in football can change in football overnight.”

Basically there, Lionel Messi is using the old I don’t know what tomorrow will bring which is fair enough as you don’t know what will happen. He does not know if he will wake up in the morning and for all you know Barcelona may feel if this was to go on too long with the rumours and poor form that they may decide to sell him (highly unlikely but the player is thinking in the eyes of the club). Something he does state in that quote is that he has always said that he will end his career at Barcelona and I fully believe if the decision is in his own hands Lionel Messi will retire at Barcelona and go down as one of the best players of all time (one of because for me the best player of all time is and will be considered Cristiano Ronaldo).

So there it is, in my opinion this is just another Bale to Manchester United or a Ronaldo to Manchester United… its unrealistic fantasy that the papers want to keep alive so they can sell papers and keep the name of their respective companies relevant. I’d love to know your opinion on the matter and you can share in the poll below and let me know if you think the Barcelona Legend with 259 league goals in 290 league games is gonna stay true to his word that he will retire at Barcelona or we may see him arrive on these shores sooner rather than later?

Hope you’ve enjoyed the read and if you would like to get in touch or potentially be interested in me writing for you please leave your details in the contact form below.

Until next time keep growing a beard (and start if you have not!)

Matt

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