The lure of the Premier League and UEFA Champions League

The Premier League is the most competitive and exciting football league in the world. The league is so well marketed that many soccer fans automatically expect England to do well in major tournaments but they suffer from the same heartbreak.

There are many reasons for England’s failure at the international level but one of the most prominent is the live scores 24 Premier League. This league is rightly branded as the highest revenue earner for football clubs in England.

Due to the huge amount of money made by televised league games, the clubs involved have lured the world’s best players to come and play in England. Many football stadiums have been developed so that they can accommodate large numbers of fans.

Many clubs in England have developed a habit of spending more money than they earn as they expect to recoup the money spent in the near future. Some clubs buy players they feel can improve their chances of staying in the Premier League. This is mainly because playing in the lower leagues is not as profitable as the Premier League.

Charlton Athletic, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City and Bradford City have all suffered Premiership relegation but a closer look at Leeds United will make it clear why English clubs will do anything to stay in the Premier League.  Leeds United reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League where they were knocked out by Valencia. After three years, they were relegated from the Livescore 24 Premier League. They continued to struggle, mainly due to some poor financial decisions under chairman Peter Ridsdale; This forced them to sell their squads, training facilities, and even their grounds. 

While the bottom clubs spend to avoid relegation, the top clubs spend to improve their chances of qualifying for the Champions League which offers better prize money than the Premiership. These two situations create demands for immediate success for English clubs at both ends of the table. As a result, most clubs will buy proven and tested foreign players at the expense of developing young and talented English players. This means local English players coming through the ranks will have little chance to prove their worth. In the long run, the FA will have very few players available for selection at the national team level because too greedy club owners don’t give them enough opportunities to learn the trade.

As if this allure were not enough, clubs jealously guard their players considering international games as a disadvantage as they fear their players will return injured, tired, or dejected if they lose while on international duty.

The physical nature of the Premiership is good and entertaining but it doesn’t properly prepare English players for international football where you come up against opponents with superior technical skills. UEFA Champions League experience is highly valuable as it gives players the chance to test their footballing skills against technically superior teams like Barcelona and Bayern Munich. The problem for England here is that very few English players ply their trade at Europe’s top clubs that often participate in the UEFA Champions League.