Why England Lose & Other Curious Football Phenomena Explained by Simon Kuper & Stefan Szymanski

Author:Simon Kuper & Stefan Szymanski [Kuper, Simon & Szymanski, Stefan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Soccer, Non-Fiction, Football
Published: 2011-02-14T21:00:00+00:00

Kevin Keegan has a knack for phrasing things. in May 2008, at the end of another hopeless season for his club Newcastle, he delivered a 13-minute monologue about the tedium of the Premier League.

‘This league is in danger of becoming one of the most boring, but great leagues in the world,’ he told a press conference. ‘The top four next year will be the same as this year. No manager is going to say what I said 12 years ago, “Watch out, Alex, we are after your title.” If they do, they will think they have been drinking something or they are on something.’

He was right about the top four of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool staying the same in 2009. However, the main point about Keegan’s monologue is that it phrased so well a new truism of football: that the game is becoming boring because the big clubs win everything.

However, this truism is not true. Fans may say that they wish football were fairer-the Champions League as well as the Premier League-but the truth is that most of them don’t. The majority of supporters prefer unequal leagues. In fact, if football were even less fair, it might become even more popular.

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