You know things have gotten out of hand when clubs are willing to spend 100m on a benchwarmer

Given the current TV deals in the PL, the absolute worst time to have got relegated was around 2012. Like Bolton.

E.g. Charles De Ketelaere : He was wanted by AC Milan, arguably one of the three biggest clubs in Serie A, for 35 mill, whereas Leeds United, 17th in the Premier league, had no problem offering him 40 mill. Thank God De Ketelaere was given the opportunity to go to Milan!

Biggest problem that I see with PL Clubs spending as much as they do is that they barely seem to have a coherent plan of how to use the players they sign. They just seem to go for names without properly scouting and finding out about a players strenghts and weaknesses

They already started this years ago. It's not fun anymore.

Serie A hardly only has big 3, but "Seven sisters" Consists of: Milan, Inter, Juve, Roma, Lazio, Fiorentina, Napoli. Lazio and Napoli, Roma have also been challenging for titles, and Atalanta and sassuolo have been exciting. The dynamics of these clubs positions and tactics changes from year to year. Personally i find it way more interesting than the Premier League. However just how well the prem's marketing has been, combining with just the fact that English is the most widely spoken language in the world, competitiveness is hardly a big deciding factor at all.

Yes they have. Paying 70 million for average players is unfathomable

For me it seems like a lack of scouting. Barely any players break through big teams anymore if there isn't a spot free

Its just insane seeing pl clubs paying 50-80mil for average players. I mean for 70million I want a Zidane no Isak

In the 1950s, when live televised football started to get going, the theory was that people would stop attending matches and everyone would watch football in 'their armchair behind glass screens' ~ on the contrary it served as an advert for more people to attend and soak up atmospheres. It was also theorised that a select group of football clubs would become dominant forces and there will be a huge gulf in quality ~ They got that bit spot on.

Midtable Bundesliga teams are still pretty damn good, maybe you forgot that 11th placed Frankfurt won the Europa League last season, beating the likes of Barcelona and a supposedly better premier league midtable West Ham that was 7th placed. And they reached the semi final a couple years earlier where they drew twice against chelsea and just barely got knocked out on penalties and beat the likes of Lazio and Inter in that campaign.

10:15 that's pure, biased, speculation. Europa League and Conference League, where mid-clubs play against mid clubs, were won by non-english clubs.

That Deportivo side with Makaay, Tristan, and Valeron was formidable

epl is an English language league and a lot of countries around the world is familiar with English and england,this is the reason for such high revenue. But the marketing of epl should get some recognition as well

I disagree that the bottom of the premier league would be likely to finish mid table in La Liga or the bundesliga. They'd have a decent chance but take a look at how well the spanish teams have been doing in europa league. It is true that the premier league is outspending the other leagues.

i watch everything you upload to HITC Sevens Alfie, your semi-long format content and style hits the spot

The thing that we often forget is the the Premier League is mostly Ebglish speaking and English becoming everyone's second language (at least in Europe, East Asia, and the Gulf States) means that the people who have the money to support teams financially eventually end up in England. If you have to learn German to properly follow Dortmund, you probably wouldn't do it even if learning the language might come in handy outside of football, but if you learned English for 10 years in school and the majority of media you consume is in English, consuming football in English isn't even a stretch. Yes, every big club and league also has English social media accounts and English speaking players, but that's not the same as watching Salah's interviews without a translator. If we had all this 100 or 200 years ago, French football would have a lot more followers.

I think it is really showing how clubs from other countries are unable to turn down offers from Premier League clubs for certain players as they can't risk losing out on turning a huge profit, more so than they would through selling players to other leagues for the most part. Take Ajax who potentially will make more money selling two players to Manchester United than they did all of last season. It will get to the point where even leagues outside the top 5 will struggle to ever hold on to a decent player effecting them long term in performing well in Europe. Even teams that get relegated from the Premier League and bounce between that and the Championship will financially be better off than most of the bigger teams in Europe.

Yes it has. The premier league and Psg. Barcelona had that year where they went crazy after the neymar sale and real madrid buy expensive stars from time to time. However that is a given due to the size of the clubs. Now, to have a bang average club like Newcastle spend 70mil like it's nothing and west ham bidding 60mil for lucas paqueta is beyond the wildest dreams of clubs like porto or benfica or lyon etc. Clubs with much much richer history and arguably better clubs. It's crazy.

The prem spends the most, but usually overpaying. Quite often, as a Bayern supporter, I watch prem teams paying huge sums for players I would never consider good enough for us. Your league just gets taken advantage of, and rightly so.

100% delusional even to think the bottom team of the premier league would finish mid table in La Liga Bundesliga or Seria A lol 😂 The europa league was won by a mid table Bundesliga team. Norwich Watford Burnley winning europa league of finish mid table in Bundesliga La Liga Serie A? 🤡🤡🤡!!!

I'd say I can't wait for the bubble to burst but if it does it's the smaller teams who pay the price

Yes the premier league has broken football, they said they don’t want the super league yet they are making their own. “Football for the fans” hahah

Great content thanks for making this video. I was discussing this topic with my dad about how the Premier league has become its own super league. What I will admit though is compared to any other leagues, any game regardless if it’s a mid table or bottom sides of the table it is very competitive (exclude 9-0 match liv vs bourn) and fun to watch. Because of the spending in the league could you do a video of what if the Premier league had a relegation promotion playoff and Premier league title playoff. Very curious to know your thoughts on this in the future.

Lovely and heartwarming final thoughts there Alfie, cheers

If the midtable teams of the English league are so better than the rest then win the Europa league then.

Great video Alfie. I always like to discuss and confront people from other leagues about football economic status, but most seem oblivious to what is pretty clear. This is an economic anomaly and who knows how it going to end.

You hit the nail on the head by saying that European teams kept all the gold between a few of them, and the solution is sharing revenues better in European leagues, as the Premier League was built upon.

Watching UCL and EL Spanish sides have been so impressive. Sevilla, Villarreal, and Atletico have had amazing runs alongside Real Madrid and Barcelona these past fifteen years. This century English sides have been Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester United at either competition. Arsenal, Tottenham, and Manchester City have all failed to win either of those competitions. Can spend all you want and have tremendous revenue, but for me as a supporter silverware is paramount to measuring success.

PSG broke it when they signed Neymar for €200m and Mbappe on Loan in one window, the transfer window hasn't been the same since

It’s the TV deals the Prem teams get. Other teams in Europe want a piece of it so they raise the price of players values 35-50% in some cases

Well you didn't consider the most important factor, Inflation. Nearly every issue becomes half if you consider Inflation. On top of that, Italy was doing same thing in 1980s. PL at least generates it's revenue. Everyone was afraid Serie A will ruin football and what happened. I think state ownerships are bit of a worrying sign as but if FFP is implemented a bit everything will be fine

14:55 this is the facts. They are overspending on every player (mainly because they have to)

I was hoping for a quick look at how the club coefficients of Premier League clubs have moved around in comparison with other leagues. This will have real significance in coming years, since the changes to UEFA Champions League qualification grants two qualifying spots to teams that rank the highest on that continental table without qualifying outright. With the Big 6 of the Prem being where they are, all six of them are almost guaranteed a spot in any given year as long as they can all make the top 7 in the Prem. Beyond that, however, I'm curious to see how the larger picture has changed over time and where that might be headed. That could be something to keep an eye on.

Mid-table prem clubs are not better than those across other top 5 leagues, when was the last time crystal palace won a european trophy? In the last few seasons, Villareal and Eintracht Frankfurt have won the europa league while being mid table and villareal reached the semis recently, Roma finished outside the big 4 in serie a and won the conference league.

The main Issue with the Transfer Market is that too many Players are going back & forth too Frequently ….. ⚽️

Curious I herd the portugueseliga was going to have a television deal in a few years instead of individual teams doing TV deals. It definitely won't be as big as England but definitely can help the league revenues

Yes because they enquire about a player get quoted a ridiculous fee yet still pay it, smaller clubs domestic or abroad whenever they receive a bid instantly reject it ask for double then the negotiations start from there, they also try and hold out for as long as possible so the buying club get desperate.

The 1992 break away from the EFL was done to make money.. not improve football. UEFA did the same when they changed the European Cup in 1998 to include non league winners.. in a bid to get as many Popular teams in the UCL as possible for TV Ratings. The further influx of oil money into the English game has fast tracked us to this point.. PSG showed the way.. and now you have a market where Gordon is worth 60M, Isak is 58M... Gibbs White is 45M. Football has never been less balanced than right now. The days of Nottingham Forest winning back to back UCLs 2 yrs after promotion are gone. It has also become impossible to build a successful team from academy since rich clubs will hoover up all the talent of a poorer club that got it right. I personally don't watch EPL any longer.. 3 oil clubs fighting for supremacy is not appealing. The SOUL and Spirit of football was sold off long ago and maybe the European Super league wasn't really as bad we thought. The PREMIER league is already what the SUPER league was criticised for .Norwich having. More revenue than BENFICA which reached UCL QF in the last 5 years says it all

Great video. i think u should make a video on whether a prem spending cap would actually impact the spending cause i think it’s desperately needed but don’t know what impact would be felt

It would seem to me that the PL and players linked with a movie to the PL are almost a done deal as you say no other club/league can offer the fee and wages. As a Scottish football fan it's almost jaw dropping the gap between our league and the PL as the quality up here is poor. I'd love to see in an ideal world a financial parity, as our Scottish sides weren't always a laughing stock and could compete. But as they say money talks, bullshit walks

Alfie, if you see this, pls do a video on Albania's Euro 2016 XI and where are they now?

I remember when Zidane goat imho.. Got sold for a record fee of £48 million.. I mean today that’s the price for compared to Zidane “average” players .. But shit went sideways with Chelsea first, following Man City and then PSG went completely crazy tbh!

Thank you John. Love your videos, even though I never was interested in football.

Personally, I think moving to the prem outside the top 6 with the exception of maybe 2-3 teams is a total career killer. I understand it's good money but most of the time the football you play is turgid. Do you really think Onana and Kamara will become better footballers playing for the likes of Everton & Aston Villa? It's maybe why in recent seasons we have seen young english players going abroad, do you think the likes of Sancho, Tomori and Bellingham would have become half the players they were if they'd slogged it out trying to eek out 1-0 wins to survive at some mid table side.

God your videos are good. Not just quality, but a rare and in depth voice

Alfie, when will you release your documentaries on Turkey's Big Three (Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, Beşiktaş)? I remember you teased them back in your Süper Lig video.

Usually agree and love the opinions on this channel, but I really doubt someone like Bournemouth would beat the likes of Betis, Celta, Real Sociedad, Villarreal… But yeah, as a brit living in Spain who watches both leagues, I can say the biggest problem in Spanish football is the way tv money is distributed

While it's true that middle to low table teams in the premier league have many times more money to spend than those of other leagues, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're more competitive teams. Villarreal B won against Wolves in a friendly this summer. I repeat, Villarreal B.

Can you do a video on the rise of Yeovil town from the 6th tier to the championship and then the rapid collapse to conference?

The branding and all that started this but also the current light rules by the FA on owners and ffp compared to for example bundesliga will even more widen the gap. Plus most(half) of La Liga clubs is owned by its members and dont have near the finacial power like a man city or newcastle. But barca and real can still compete bc of the extrem revenue they make

Day 311: Indonesia XI If All Eligible Players Had Declared For Them.

I honestly don't remember there being this big of a fuss when Serie A and La Liga were dominating Europe and the transfer market (when the best players and above average players wanted to play in those leagues) and constantly breaking transfer records.

I could eventually see leagues lobbying for a reduction in the amount of foreign matches being available through national media in an attempt to reduce the value of media income of foreign clubs or atleast bring more parity to ensure the EPL doesn't continue to run away with their financial dominance. Something has to change or else we will see multiple international leagues becoming feeder leagues to the EPL to a greater extent than what we already see.

One thing I've thought of recently. Did Champions League expansion in the 90s break domestic football. I feel it did. Wonder what your thoughts are.

Day 4: Hey Alfie, could you do a vid on FC Dinamo Bucharest? As 18-time Romanian champions, 13-time Romanian cup winners, and 1st time champions league semi-finalists among Romanian clubs, Dinamo is Romania's 2nd most successful club side, and yet they are suffering an unprecedented plight. They have just suffered the first relegation of their 74-year history. Was wondering if you could take a look into what on earth is going on at Dinamo (with or without the WOEIGO title)

I think the transfer market and by extension the wage structure of the English leagues would truly destroy the rest of football if/when the championship (i.e just a chance to enter the prem) starts offering the same bloated fee's as the prem. Basically turning the whole of football outside England into a massive feeder club. Then it will become a moral quandary for the fan do you want to carry on supporting that structure?

Not to mention that Bundesliga have not been able to sell their rights in the Middle East for the second year, and the same goes for Serie A last year broadcasting for free on KZfaq and only via Streaming Service this year. The offers they received for their rights seem to be much less than expected.

Money has destroyed football. It’s taken all the competitive nature out of it and now it’s all down to how rich you are.

Not the clubs, but Sky. The club's do what the club's do: Spend the money they have. And in some cases even the money they don't have (its amazing how Everton is even able to have financial problems considering the massive amount of TV money ALONE). What should they do? Hoard it? Of course they spend it. Prices rise massively when a PL club tried to sign a player. They have to deal with that themselves. That's why they set transfer records everywhere you look with players that are mediocre at best

Coffee and HITC, perfect way to kick off a Saturday!

Nice work as always Alfie. I agree in every point u made on why The Premier League is the most interesting/riches league.I have one thing to add, if I may. In this information age, internet and social media, I think the simple fact, that english is the language, spoken, makes its easier for english clubs in terms of PR and interaction with potentianally new fans (customers). And money is king.

Not sure I agree with the point about mid table teams in the prem being better than mid table teams in any other league. Case in point: la Liga has absolutely dominated the UEFA cup/ Europa league for the last 10+ years.

That's the cheerful conclusion my Saturday morning was asking for. 😄

Can you make a video on the financial situation in the SPFL?

Did I really heard that a team from bottom half will finish mid table in other leagues like la liga etc. if I recall it was your well placed 2 teams in Europa and conference league which lost to teams outside of best teams from other leagues. So what’s your basis of saying that other than the amount they are spending.

We should be grateful for Barcelona and Real Madrid

(Not watched yet so excuse me if mentioned) Main problem is the lack of strict FFP limits and restrictions on PL clubs imo, if these clubs were forced to play in Spain every single club bar 3 would be working under the 1:3 rule, wouldn’t be able to register a large amount of their players (so next time some fans banter a La Liga side for not registering til a few days/weeks remember that) and a great deal of players are non EU (only allowed 3 in Spain and 9 of Liverpool’s first XI are non EU and 20 in squad albeit some would have EU passports). Whether people like it or not, the PL is literally becoming the Super League you all so despise.

In the future I could see several league mergers such as: Beneliga. Alpine (Austrian & Swiss). Iberian. Nordic (Scottish, Scandinavian & Baltic).

a documentary on the afc Wimbledon on the nine promotions in eleven years, how they’re a fan own club and how they have a stadium in plough lane now. The story of they lost the club, how the F A allowed that and won’t allow that anymore. How they were very close to moving to ireland How they went up the English football leagues. It would be a good documentary video if you can do this. #thepeopleschannel

When you consider Ajax have a similar budget to top end Championship sides and have such huge success it a wonder why teams like West Brom or Norwich don't copy their model.

Well this exactly what happened to a continental scale during the 1980's. South American leagues were as good as the European, specialyl the Argentinian, Uruguayan, Colombian and Brasilian leagues, but during the 1990's multiple internal and external factors made South American football fall, and ever since it has become just a feeder continent to Europe top 5 leagues. To me this whole issue just points to one of the problems of neoliberalism which is the extreme concentration of wealth, to the point even among the wealthy clubs there's a growing gap.

Yes it has. Years ago. Premier League basically is the Super League now and no other league in Europe will ever be able to catch up again.

FFP don't exist in England and they make the loudest noise and yet afraid of the super league so not to get a beating from Spain, Germany Italy, u name it

Hey Alfie, can you do a video of the best women's XI of all time?

Day 1: Since it is close to the day, the 7 best transfer deadline day businesses of Prem era

7:09 Top row, second visible face from the left: Didn't realize Nadal played for Real Madrid. 😃

This process has been going on in Scotland for a long time, it's just now showing across Europe instead. Though the dominance of Rangers and Celtic (self-assured by their own decisions to drain the talent from any other club in the league) was the primary contributor. Still, it's always been especially bad for us because it's so easy for Scots to go and play in the English leagues.

the signing of Isak for 70 million€ was the biggest joke ever

I've deeped this too. It's crazy money they're paying for average players

VIDEO IDEA: Players with most games sitting on the bench (and not coming on)

And now in 2022 Renan Lodi, a La Liga champions playing for Atletico, now moving to Nottingham which is a promotion club in Premier League 😅

More big T.V companies need to start buying other leagues T.V rights at a similar level to the EPL deals or this will only get worse. ESPN and DAZN buying La Liga and Serie A would level things out but i cannot see that happening.

Unsustainable is the word that comes to mind , one day it's going to become so ridiculous that it Implodes initself . I think the championship is the biggest problem

As I see it, there is hardly any competence in the Prem, unless it has been bought in. No good English manager/coach on the horizon, English players are peaking at 22, have a market value of 100 million at 20 without having done anything, and by the time they are 26 no one is talking about them. English relegated clubs have 200 million more in their budget than CL aspirants, Bournemouth can pay three times the wages of Borussia Dortmund, and they do. Even if Man City win the CL, who is going to give them credit?

Football is in the worst state it has ever been. It is impossible for smaller teams to compete with the Premier League and the other footballing giants like PSG, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. Unless UEFA or FIFA step in and properly introduce and enforce spending limits and wage limits, football as we know it will die. If nothing changes in the next 10 years, no team outside the top 10 will have a chance at winning any European trophy. Football has always been for the fans, but now it is only the select few who hold any real power. Soon every premier team will be bought up by some oil conglomerate or another industrial giant, until all the talent in world football is concentrated into one league. UEFA and FIFA are a complete and utter joke, they do nothing to stop this because it makes them richer too. Football fans around the world need to come together and ask for change because without the fans, the owners won't make any money and will be forced to change. The issue is that enough fans want it this way, the delusional fans of the premier league and other giant teams don't want to end their eras of dominance, and they are also partly to blame for the sports downfall. Enough said, I think we just need to call for change, it worked for the super league, it can work for this too.

i saw one video saying young people dont watch football games anymore. only short goals videos on phones. if thats the trend then tv deals will be small some day in future.

Basically when premiership started wages and transfer market jumped by a big load and it destroyed all the otherr levels of English football. Football is just a big buissness now it has nothing to do with the fans or anything else just money. La Liga killed there own league in early 2000s, and Italy killed there league in the 90s. Football is terrible these days and only the rich succeed and lower leagues get f**led over, other countries used to have good teams like Romania,Holland, Portugal, Serbia even south American football was strong but now money age has destroyed all these leagues.

more people need to see this!!!!!!

it's broken because the other leagues have monopolized their leagues meaning lower teams can never compete

Stupid transfer fees have been around forever. In the late 50s/early 60s AC Milan, Liverpool and Tottenham tried to sign John Atyeo from Bristol City for a fee that would have been equivalent to £30m 15 years ago- today's money that would easily be close to £50m, put in the inflation of transfer fees too and it just keeps going up. Bear in mind Bristol City were a 3rd tier side at the time, and the player was himself a part timer, who was also a maths teacher. He's actually a player a video would be worth making about. 5 goals in 6 games for England, He was never booked or sent off in over 600 games and only Dixie Dean and George Camsell have scored more goals at one club.

I seriously doubt Notts Forest or Bournemouth (signings notwithstanding) would finish mid table in La Liga

Its just a phase 5 years ago it was Spain. Before that Italy etc

Clearly, no single cause is breaking the market. But that PL TV deal is creating a crazy feedback loop that's making some players and investors very rich. But nothing lasts forever, and neither will this.

23:35 "A potential 42.5 bid for Morgan Gibb's wife" Is what I heard and keep hearing there. 😂😂

I think you can say that, but honestly I think it was far worse that state sponsored Madrid were able to keep breaking world transfer records to get all the best players.

It's becoming like the NBA. I can't even keep up on who's gone to what club.

The fact that u chose the last 5 yrs to try prove the lack of competition in comparison to other leagues is a bit misengenious for prem the last 10 years has 5 (city,Mu,liv,CFC,Leicester) . La liga has 3 (Barca, real, athletico . Bundesliga 1 (Bayern), seria a 3 ( juve,Milan,inter) . If u go 15/ 20 it stills remain a more competitive league than the rest.

You might wanna update this thumbnail with Antony from Ajax lololol

This is depressing especially as a sporting fan😢