About The Premier League
The Premier League kicked off for the first time on 15 August 1992. Without a doubt it is the world′s most watched football league and attracts some of the very best players but one doesn't have to go back very far in history to see a somewhat different story.
The 1980′s were a bad time for English football in general as football hooliganism was widespread and clubs had difficulty attracting top players from abroad.
By the mid 80′s things got even worse. On May 29 1985 39 fans were killed at the Heysel Stadium in Belgium when a wall collapsed following crowd trouble before the European Cup Final in which Liverpool played Juventus. As a result English teams were banned from European competition indefinitely. The ban lasted five years on English clubs with Liverpool Football Club having to endure an extra three years.
Darker times were yet to come for English Football. On April 15 1989 at the FA Cup Semi Final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest due to be played at Hillsborough Stadium Sheffield, 96 fans were killed as a result of being crushed through crowd congestion.
Radical restructuring of English Football was needed and Lord Justice Taylor (head of the inquiry into the Hillsborough disaster) recommended sweeping changes in the way football clubs were run which lead to the phasing out of standing terraces in top level football and the introduction of all-seater stadiums.
As a result of the Taylor Report football clubs were burdened with massive extra costs and with quality players still hard to come by clubs needed to take advantage of higher television revenues that could possibly be negotiated.
On 17 July 1991 The Founder Members Agreement was signed which outlined the framework for the Premier League.
The Premier League was to become a separate entity from the Football League and the FA enabling it to negotiate lucrative broadcast and sponsorship deals.
When all the First Division Clubs resigned from the Football League on the 20 February 1992 after demands for a bigger share of television revenue were not met it left the doorway open for the Premier League to be formed and within three months it was established as a Limited Company.
A pay television deal with Sky was worked out and fans would now be able to watch televised matches.
The first Sky television rights agreement was worth £191 million over five seasons. The current agreement from 2007-2010, Sky and Setanta have paid £1.7billion.
Sponsorship has also inreased revenue for clubs which in turn helps them compete better in terms of transfer fees and wages for top players from abroad.
The first of two four year sponsorship deals with Carling ran from 1993 until 1997 and then the second from 1997 until 2001 in which time the league was known as the FA Carling Premiership. In 2001 Barclaycard became the new sponsor and it was known as the Barclaycard Premiership. Barclays then took over in 2004 and firstly the league was called the Barclays Premiership (2004-2007) and then from 2007 till 2010 it is known as the Barclays Premier League.
These days many top players including Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Emmanuel Adebayor, Alexander Hleb, Mathieu Flamini, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres and managers such as Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Sven-Goran Eriksson and Rafael Benitez earn their living in the Premier League and it has truly become multi-national.
Undoubtedly the most successful team in the Premier League has been Manchester United.
Old First Division Past Winners
Written by Richard Bevan
Premier League Past Winners
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* Places decided on goal difference
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