THE PREMIER LEAGUE AT 30

History was made on September 8, 1888. That was the date of the very first league football match. But history, it seems, has been rewritten. Now the revered date of reference is August15, 1992: the kick-off of the Premier League – a brave new football world generated by a financial and technological revolution through which English football leads the way once more.

Back in the late 19th century British adventurers took association football to a sporting world in which the pupils would become the masters. Now football has come home and the English Premier League is the world’s number one, and by a very long way. Its worldwide television revenues and audiences dwarf the pull of Spain, Germany and Italy. The modern, post-Bosman era of open transfer markets has enabled the Premier League to suck all the greatest talent from its rivals and keep them subservient.

This translates into even greater popularity, even greater financial power and extends the gap between the Premier League and the rest. critics feared a destruction of the ethos of the game with its all-important competitive balance, feared the death of the romance of the