Premier League

Insideworldfootball

A revolution devours its own as history teaches us. Arsene Wenger, known as the Professor, should know that. But he seems to be oblivious to the fact that having been the greatest agent of change in English football he cannot stand still and needs to evolve if he is to move forward and not fall victim to his own revolution.

That Wenger has been the greatest revolutionary in British football cannot be doubted. This is all the more remarkable because English football, before Wenger, was intensely insular. So insular indeed that when the directors of Manchester United considered appointing Alex Ferguson as their manager their main worry was that no manager brought up in Scottish football had succeeded in England. Matt Busby and Bill Shankly were Scots but they had had a through grounding in English football. In contrast Jock Stein, perhaps one of the greatest managers these isles have produced and Ferguson’s mentor, failed to make it in England.

Read more >

The Independent

by Simon Redfern

This examination of the Premier League’s birth 20 years ago and its subsequent flourishing begins in Singapore, where Liverpool are on a lucrative pre-season tour. That, and the fact it is published by an imprint dedicated to Asian business affairs, are eloquent evidence of the global interest English football’s top flight now inspires.

Less satisfactory for many English supporters is the increasing foreign ownership of clubs and the declining number of home-grown players detailed here. The appendix reveals – a favourite word of the author – that Arsenal’s 30-man squad in the League’s first season comprised 24 England-qualified players and six foreigners, of which two were Scottish and one Irish. Their figures for this season are six and 34 respectively. Read more

Insideworldfootball.com

Those who forget the past, said the great American savant George Santayana, are condemned to repeat it. Football in 2013 runs the same risk. This is because many of the administrators who run the game seem to have forgotten the past. Or perhaps they never cared for the past despite their many references to it in public utterances.

This explains why 2013 will be for the world’s favourite game a question of dealing with issues many thought had long been settled.

Take race.

Read more >

BBC Asian Network

Discussion and debate on the big issues affecting British Asians. In this episode, presenter Nihal discusses the Premier League and Game Changer with Mihir Bose.

Click here to listen to the full programme. (Note: The section with Mihir begins at 1:12:00. )

The programme will be only available to listen again for 6 days

talkSPORT

Former Everton favourite Peter Reid sits in for Andy Gray alongside Richard Keys interview the biggest names in sport. Peter discusses the current football scandal and the history of the Premier League and Mihir’s new book Game Changer.

Click here to listen to the full programme (Note: click on the tab ‘1100 – 1130′. The section with Mihir starts at 20:30)