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SHORTLISTED FOR TELEGRAPH FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019
A fascinating book, by two witty and meticulous sports writers Sunday Times
A jaunty journey through the past quarter of a century in English football The Times
Magnificent … Witty, pacy, thorough, this is a book hard to put down Daily Mail
Brilliant Independent
An excellent recap, with wonderful access and forensic detail on the Premier League’s rise to global alpha status… All told with an arch sense of humour The Guardian
How did English football – once known for its stale pies, bad book-keeping and hooligans – become a commercial powerhouse and the world’s premium popular entertainment?
This was a business empire built in only twenty-five years on ambition, experimentation and gambler’s luck. Lead by a motley cast of executives, Russian oligarchs, Arab Sheikhs, Asian Titans, American Tycoons, battle-hardened managers, ruthless agents and the Murdoch media – the Premier League has been carved up, rebranded and exported to phenomenal 185 countries. The United Nations only recognizes 193.
But the extraordinary profit of bringing England’s ageing industrial towns to a compulsive global attention has come at a cost. Today, as players are sold for hundreds of millions and clubs are valued in the billions, local fans are being priced out – and the clubs’ local identities are fading. The Premier League has become the classic business fable for our globalised world.
Drawing on dozens of exclusive and revelatory interviews from the Boardrooms – including Liverpool’s John W. Henry, Tottenham’s Daniel Levy, Martin Edwards and David Gill at Manchester United, Arsène Wenger and Stan Kroenke at Arsenal, Manchester City’s sporting director Txiki Begiristain, and executives at Chelsea, West Ham, Leicester City and Aston Villa – this is the definitive bustand boom account of how the Premier League product took over the world.
A fascinating book, by two witty and meticulous sports writers Sunday Times
A jaunty journey through the past quarter of a century in English football The Times
Magnificent … Witty, pacy, thorough, this is a book hard to put down Daily Mail
Brilliant Independent
An excellent recap, with wonderful access and forensic detail on the Premier League’s rise to global alpha status… All told with an arch sense of humour The Guardian
How did English football – once known for its stale pies, bad book-keeping and hooligans – become a commercial powerhouse and the world’s premium popular entertainment?
This was a business empire built in only twenty-five years on ambition, experimentation and gambler’s luck. Lead by a motley cast of executives, Russian oligarchs, Arab Sheikhs, Asian Titans, American Tycoons, battle-hardened managers, ruthless agents and the Murdoch media – the Premier League has been carved up, rebranded and exported to phenomenal 185 countries. The United Nations only recognizes 193.
But the extraordinary profit of bringing England’s ageing industrial towns to a compulsive global attention has come at a cost. Today, as players are sold for hundreds of millions and clubs are valued in the billions, local fans are being priced out – and the clubs’ local identities are fading. The Premier League has become the classic business fable for our globalised world.
Drawing on dozens of exclusive and revelatory interviews from the Boardrooms – including Liverpool’s John W. Henry, Tottenham’s Daniel Levy, Martin Edwards and David Gill at Manchester United, Arsène Wenger and Stan Kroenke at Arsenal, Manchester City’s sporting director Txiki Begiristain, and executives at Chelsea, West Ham, Leicester City and Aston Villa – this is the definitive bustand boom account of how the Premier League product took over the world.
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Reviews
The transformation of the English Premier League, from the muddy pitches, primitive tactics, and unglamorous pub culture of its early days to the coveted, lavish, global colossus we now know and love is a rollicking tale. Robinson and Clegg delight in every detail of that evolution from backwater to behemoth, spinning a narrative that is part Great Expectations, part Game of Thrones, in equal measure
A fascinating and necessary investigation into the forces that led to the creation of the Premier League. Meticulous in its research
Clegg and Robinson are expert storytellers in unspooling the narrative of one of Britain's most successful exports, illustrating the creative tensions between owners that made it possible. The work is at once thorough but also readable and entertaining, with protagonists presented as real live characters, rather than faceless suits: a testament to their reporting and writing skills
Richly detailed, remarkably told . . . Clegg and Robinson provide unparalleled access to the people who make the league go
Astute ... forensic and impeccably sourced
A fascinating book, by two witty and meticulous sports writers
A vivid portrait ... but also a candid account of the league's imperialist present and likely future ... it's quite an achievement
A jaunty journey through the past quarter of a century in English football
A remarkable and astonishing transformation ... detailed with panache
The most fascinating book ever written about the Premier League
Brilliant
Magnificent ... Witty, pacy, thorough, this is a book hard to put down
A tale told with much verve and some wit by two experienced sports journalists ... Revelatory
captures the Premier League's startling and continuing evolution...Robinson and Clegg specialise in access...the scene setting is lively
Magnificent . . . a fine job they have done explaining how English football went from moribund national embarrassment to globe-bestriding colossus. Witty, pacy, thorough, this is a book hard to put down.
Informative and regularly entertains
A shrewd and colourful account of the Premier League's business history
A brilliant book on the business history of the Premier League