“Mr Nobody” and the player who ate nine meals are featured in ‘The Premier’, a history of the first 30 years of the Premier League, reviewed by Eric Brown.
BY ERIC BROWN
In the early 1990s, one of my jobs as a sports agency reporter was to doorstep a whole host of meetings involving football’s glitterati.
These included Liverpool director Noel White, Everton’s Philip Carter, David Dein of Arsenal, Manchester United chairman Martin Edwards and Tottenham’s Irving Scholar.
These five powerful men met in October 1990 at a dinner hosted by media executive Greg Dyke to set the ball rolling on forming a Premier League.
Dyke was keen to promote a deal whereby the five clubs involved sold their television rights directly to terrestrial commercial channel ITV rather than continuing in a package deal with 87 other clubs.
Television had become an increasing influence on football. In 1986, a two-year television deal was worth £6.3m. By 1988, a four-year deal was worth £44m divided across clubs in all four Football League divisions.
Unfortunately for ITV, their offers of £205m and then £262m were outbid by Rupert Murdoch’s satellite service Sky Television and the Premier League was founded on 20 February 1992 with the new 20-team league starting in August that year.
In ‘The Premier: Big Business and Great Football’, author Jimmy Burns has produced a powerful history to celebrate the Premier League’s first 30 years.
He examines the big incidents and the even bigger personalities which illuminated the PL in its formative years. From the great goalscorers like Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney to the imperious managers like Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola.
Then there’s Gazza and Eric Cantona who became a quiz question by winning titles with different clubs in successive years. Quite apart from his notorious kung-fu kick.
TV cash transformed English football. The days when the local butcher, baker or candlestick maker owned clubs were numbered. Foreign businessmen suddenly sensed opportunity, Chelsea went Russian while Saudi Arabian and American interests swooped along with those from Asia.
The amount of money swishing around in the Premier League pot soon attracted top overseas players. Thierry Henry, Denis Bergkapmp, Jurgen Klinsmann, Gianfranco Zola and Gianluca Vialli were just some of the overseas stars who took PL silver. This undoubtedly raised playing levels but it soon became apparent that the influx of foreigners was affecting opportunities for home-bred players and, some claimed, weakening the England side.
Chelsea often led the way by selecting teams that contained no Englishmen at all. Russian oligarch owner Roman Abramovich didn’t care. His spell at the club brought in 19 trophies before it ended ignominiously in a ban when his pal Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
Arsenal fans would also argue the foreign influence updated England’s rather old-fashioned approach to football. When the club decided to appoint Frenchman Arsene Wenger their manager in 1996 the universal reaction was “who?”
Indeed, the Daily Mirror headlined their piece “Mr Nobody.” Wenger’s modest playing background was soon forgotten as trophies found their way to Highbury courtesy of Ian Wright’s goals and the manager’s encyclopaedic knowledge of European players.
Wenger quickly got to grips with player diet. Out went the traditional pre-training breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausages, black pudding, baked beans etc. Steak, fish and chips and Coca-Cola were on the pre-match menu when Wenger arrived. Not for long.
Also banned was the mealtime challenge to discover which player could eat most. It is said this title is still held by defender Steve Bould, with nine meals. Then there was the drinking culture which Wenger tackled, even if not entirely successfully.
These and other developments under the Premier League banner are discussed in detail by an author who has produced a gem of a history which will appeal to followers of any top-flight club in the League’s first 30 years.
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