The English Premier League has long been considered the best footballing (soccer) league in the world. Many argue that, historically, the style of football and quality of players across the league have made it the most exciting league to watch. To add, Premier League supporters point to the prestige and notoriety of its’ top clubs: Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, and, as of the last decade, Manchester City. However, over the past few years, the league has quietly suffered a now-apparent decline, attributable to financial imbalances, an increasing emphasis on statistics and set pieces, and the controversy surrounding VAR, among many factors.
Lopsided financial structure
A chart listing club wage bills, next to 2024-25 league finish.
Football operates under a financial structure where there is no limit on how much a club can spend, there is no luxury tax, and there is no salary cap. This unique model is not found in almost any other sporting league in the world. This model means that there is no pot of cash divided equally across the league. Instead, clubs are funded through the investment of their owners, meaning that the richer your owner, the more money your club can spend. This model makes the sport unique, but it has also created a sport where the rich will almost always finish at the top, while clubs with less money are doomed to relegation to lower leagues.
Why is this such a big deal?
In the NFL, teams go through phases: they compete, and eventually they must rebuild. This cycle makes the standings interesting from year to year and gives fans of struggling organizations something to hope for. In the Premier League, fans of “poorer” clubs have nothing to be hopeful about, because the rich will outspend them – the rich can offer bigger contracts and bigger transfer fees to buy superstars. Clubs with less money are stuck in a perpetual state of mediocrity because they cannot outbid wealthier clubs for quality players.
Fact: In the past 20 years, only 5 different clubs have won a league title. Of those five, four are considered among the richest clubs in the world: Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool; the one outlier is Leicester City, whose betting odds were listed at 5000 to 1 (0.02%) at the beginning of their title-winning season.
The emergence of uninventive football
The decline of the Premier League stems not only from the sport’s financial and statistical aspects but also from the creativity and flair associated with “the beautiful game”. For decades, football was a form of art. The world has witnessed players such as Pélé, Ronaldinho, Messi, and, more recently, Neymar Jr. These players were truly special for their creativity and skill, and it is what made millions fall in love with the game. Sadly, there are not many of these types of players left in the sport, and especially not in the Premier League. It is not that there is no creativity among today’s footballers; it is that they are forced to play within a system that is predominantly focused on keeping possession rather than allowing individual moments of genius.
Photo from: sportskeeda.com
In addition to a lack of dribbling and creativity, all 20 Premier League clubs operate under one of two tactical systems: high-line, possession-based, or low-block, counter-attacking football. The top teams – who are also the wealthiest – operate in systems where they have the ball for 60-70% of the game, while the lesser teams – the ones with less money – are forced to play a really low defensive line to avoid being broken down. The result is boring football games, where one team has all its players sit deep, and the other spends most of the game passing around the pitch trying to break them down.
Of course, this does not mean every game is bland; there are still moments of brilliance. But generally speaking, many games are low-scoring and don’t see many shots on goal.
Fact: In the 2024-2025 season, the average Premier League game saw 6 shots on goal – not per team, but in total.
Many other factors have affected the watchability of the Premier League. Still, if you knew nothing before, you now understand how the financial imbalance, paired with a lack of exciting play, has created a league that is now a shell of its former self.
