The Premiership - Alive and Kicking

When the FA, with help from Sky Sports launched the Premier league back in 1992 the football environment in England was subject to a revolution. Out went Elton Welsby, The Match, Saint and Greavsie and their jacquard jumpers, in came Richard Keys's hairy hands, Andy Gray's Boot Room, Monday night football and Simple Minds' Alive and Kicking theme music blasting out at premier league grounds across the country.

Fast forward 16 years and whilst the clubs may have an unfamiliar look about them as Hull City take their place in the elite for the first time in their history and unfashionable Stoke are in the top flight for the first time in over 20 years, the Premiership as it is now called will have a familiar story.

For both new clubs, along with the Albion, the dream that was realised at the back end of last season is now set to become a living breathing experience, complete with trips to Old Trafford, Anfield, the JJB Stadium and the Emirates. But what is the Premiership these days? People refer to the big four, but in reality there are only two teams that can win the league in May next year - Man United and Chelsea. For the rest it is about desperately trying to get to the next level. Arsenal and Liverpool are trying to make the title race competitive, Everton, Spurs, Villa and Blackburn will start out pushing for a Champions League place. Then you have the likes of Man City, Newcastle, Pompey, West Ham and Middlesbrough setting their targets on UEFA cup qualification. Bolton, Fulham, Sunderland, Wigan will be happy with mid table mediocrity whilst West Brom, Hull and Stoke will be happy just to stay in the Premiership.

The riches on offer through the Premiership are so large these days that the gulf in revenues between the top teams is ever growing. There have been calls to try to level the playing field but Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon insists clubs outside the Premier League's big four must "get their houses in order" for them to compete. Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal have filled the competition's top four places in each of the past three seasons and ideas to try to level the playing field, including placing a limit on the number of foreign players, have been suggested but Kenyon does not agree, saying "Other teams in England should be knocking on our door; teams like Tottenham, Newcastle, Villa, Everton.

"It's more about them getting their houses in order rather than us coming down to their level. If you look across Europe, other major leagues are dominated by one, two or three teams, so it's too easy to say this is a Premier League issue. What's important is the way we distribute our TV revenues, which is very equitable." Kenyon is right in that Spain has Barca and Real Madrid, but he neglects to point out that in the last 4 years the Champions league has seen Spanish representation from Villareal, Seville, Athletico Madrid and Valencia. Germany's undisputed big boys are Bayern Munich, but Germany have been represented at Europe's top table in recent years by Schalke, Werder Bremen and Stuttgart. Bayern Munich did not even qualify for last year's tournament.

Fans want a competitive league, every year there will be divisions within a league as the league sorts itself out and the contenders are separated from the pretenders. What fans do not want is the same teams running away with it year on year. Only the English Premier league (and the Scottish Premier League for that matter - what is it with Premier leagues??) seem to do this.

Kenyon also points out that a greater share of TV revenues should be applied to clubs. A quick glance at the Sky Sports schedules for August and September this year shows that in the three Premiership games shown on Sky on the opening weekend, Arsenal, Man Utd and Chelsea are all featured. Across the first two months of the season, 11 out of 16 live games feature at least one of the big 4. Add to that the 6 Champions League games that are to be shown and you can start to see the discrepancy in broadcasting that appears. Having said that, is there a market for Fulham vs. Sunderland in Beijing?

Last season the 20 top-flight teams received a massive £758 million in prize money, compared to 2006/07's £464 million. They also spent £522 million in the transfer market chasing success for 2006/07. This figure is odds-on to be eclipsed this year.

Manchester United were (unsurprisingly) the greatest beneficiaries, receiving more than £49 million in prize money, a sum made up of the £13.4 million paid to each club as the equal share of domestic TV payments, just over £12 million from appearing live, and a further £14.4 million merit payment for topping the division. In addition, all clubs were given £9.3 million for overseas TV. Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool each received more than £45 million while even Derby County and Birmingham City, who were relegated, got £29 million.

The overall merit money, paid in segments of £720,321 per place, went up from £486,563 per position while the equal share of domestic TV rose more than 50 per cent. As well as the total figure of £758 million, a further £125 million was paid in parachute payments to relegated clubs, charities and projects for good causes at home and abroad. This amount is equivalent to the Premier League's turnover 10 seasons ago. These facts suggest that whoever is to be relegated will walk away with a cool £30million next May to help them compete in the Championship. According to the PKF Football Survey released today, 11% of Championship clubs have described their financial position as a 'grave concern' to the point where they were 'on the verge of administration.' Perhaps in these days of boom and bust football clubs, there is an argument that the more prudent clubs should "yoyo" between the Premiership and the Championship so they are never burdened by colossal wage bills that they have no certain way of paying.

That way, if they go up, they get the £30m, then retain the squad that got them promoted. This would ensure that they did not squander the £30m. Then should they face relegation, the club would get the parachute money and then come back up. If any of their players were proven to be of Premiership quality they could offload them during the transfer window, bank the money and retain their solvency. It might not be sporting and it might not be what the FA wanted when they created the Premier League back in 1992, but it could be what it becomes if clubs are to remain, in Simple Minds’ words, Alive and Kicking.

As ever, I would welcome your feedback lads
Bunk

Sources: Daily Telegraph, UEFA.com, skyports.com, waccoe.com