The Entire History Of The Premier League

Today, the English Premier League is home to the biggest football clubs and the best football players in the world. Over 4 billion football fans tune in every year and it generates $6 billion in annual revenue. But it wasn't always this way. English football has been through over 100 years of struggles, heartbreaks, success stories and iconic moments. So, how did the Premier League take over football and become the biggest sports league in the world? This is the entire history of the Premier League. On the 17th of April 1888, 12 English football clubs came together with one vision in mind. The idea was to create a recognised football league where teams from across the country would fight for glory. And, just like that, the English Football League was born. Preston North End won the first season going unbeaten and went on to win the second season too. I guess this means that at some point in history, the mighty Preston were factually the best club in England. As the years went on, more teams joined the league which meant the league had to create divisions. And, just like that, the football pyramid started to form. The early decades in the English League saw a couple of teams rise to the top. The late 1800s were dominated by Aston Villa. The early 1900s saw Newcastle, Manchester United and Liverpool all win their first league titles. Huddersfield Town had a great run winning four in a row. And, just before the Second World War, Arsenal took charge winning five titles in eight years. But, as you might have guessed, the world of football came to a halt in 1939 thanks to the failed Austrian painter over in Germany. But football bounced back. The next decade of English football would see one of the most promising football teams ever rise to the top of the world and then face the greatest tragedy in English football history. Shortly after the war, Man United appointed a manager who would revolutionize their football club. And his name was Matt Busby. He started to put together a team that would play sexy football as he focused on younger players and was going against the classic style of English football at the time. This team he put together was nicknamed the Busby Babes. After a couple of second place finishes, the Busby Babes finally lifted their first league title in 1952. And, just a couple seasons later, would go on and win the league back to back in 1956 and 1957. This was all thanks to players like Bobby Charlton, Duncan Edwards, and Tommy Taylor. But, just as this team was starting to dominate English football, they would face a tragedy that football had never seen before. In February 1958, Manchester United were traveling home from a European Cup match and needed to stop in Munich to refuel. As the plane was taking off, visibility was very poor and the pilot couldn't get a clear view of the runway. The plane crashed during takeoff, taking the lives of eight football players along with 15 other passengers. This was heartbreaking. The best team in England was destroyed and nobody knew if Manchester United would ever make it back to the top. The fall of Manchester United made way for new teams to rise. Wolverhampton Wanderers won two titles back to back. Burnley picked up a title and then the mighty Tottenham Hotspurs actually managed to win the league. Now, this title was significant for Spurs as it was the start of a 40-year dynasty where Spurs won league after league and became England's greatest team. It is what they hoped would happen, but this was actually the last league title Spurs would ever win. Poor Spurs fans. Now, during this period, Liverpool were actually playing in the second division. But in 1959, they appointed Bale Shankly as manager, who would be the catalyst for Liverpool's golden era. They won promotion back to the first division and managed to win the league in 1964. The year after that, something magical happened. Matt Busby was back. He, along with the other survivors of the Munich crash, had rebuilt Manchester United in just six years. They won the Premier League once again with some old faces like Bobby Charlton and some newer faces like the one and only George Best. The next few years would see Man United and Liverpool go back and forth as the two English powerhouses. But in 1968, Manchester United became the first English team to win the European Cup, the tournament which killed half their team a decade earlier. Now, that's a comeback story. Matt Busby became Sir Matt Busby and he stepped down from his position as Man United manager. Liverpool took this opportunity and they took over. They won 11 league titles in the next 20 years thanks to players like Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish, Graham Souness and Ian Rush, just to name a few. English teams dominated Europe in the late 1970s and early 80s, where for six seasons straight, the European Cup went to an English team. Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa all managed to lift the trophy in this period. Now, as the 80s came to an end, quite a few things happened that were pivotal in shaping the future of English football. Gary Lineker began his career and he would go on to become one of England's greatest ever strikers. Paul Gascoigne would also make his debut and go on to become a cult hero because of the incredible flair and skill in his style of play. Then, a young manager named Alex Ferguson signed for Manchester United, who you're going to hear a lot more about soon. Oh, and last but not least, the English Football League was transformed into the English Premier League. Now, you might be asking, why did they form the Premier League? And to sum it up, money. This formation of the Premier League was spearheaded by the big five clubs at the time, Everton, Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs, who wanted to bring more money into English football. And that's exactly what they did by structuring a system where all clubs would get more commercial access and they would sell off TV rights to the highest bidders. Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's talk football. Alex Ferguson won the first Premier League season, ending Manchester United's 26-year drought. Alan Shear made the move to Newcastle United for Blackburn Rovers as he was ready to announce himself as the best striker in the Premier League. These early Premier League years were dominated by Man United as they won four out of the first five Premier League titles. In 1993, football sweetheart Roy Keane made the move to Manchester United, where he would soon be known as one of the most loving and caring football players to ever play the game. In the 94-95 season, Blackburn Rovers won the league on the last day of the season as Man United failed to win their final game. This gave Alan Shear his only Premier League title, which he well and truly deserved. Man was literally a goal machine. This season also saw Eric Cantona kung fu kick a fan, which resulted him in receiving an eight-month ban from football. Now, something that can be seen throughout Alex Ferguson's time at Man United is his love for young players. And going into the 95-96 season, he had a group of young players known as the Class of 92. Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Gary Neville, and Phil Neville had all made their debuts leading up to this, but this season saw them really cement themselves in the first team. Ferguson knew the talent these kids had, and he put all his faith in them. This came with a lot of criticism, most notably from Liverpool legend Alan Hansen, who on the first day of the season told Alex Ferguson, and he was proved so very wrong. These kids became stars as Man United won another league title. An iconic halfway line goal from Beckham further cemented him as a superstar. At this same time, Dennis Bergkamp arrived at Arsenal, and the season after, Arsene Wenger followed suit as Arsenal were getting fed up of this Man United domination, and they were ready to revolt. Arsene Wenger won the Premier League in his first full season in charge of Arsenal. They beat Man United to the title by a single point, thanks to a 1-0 victory at Old Trafford. Finally, there was a rival to Ferguson's United, making for some thrilling matches between them. Now, roll on to the 98-99 season, and Man United were back with the vengeance. A Premier League, an FA Cup, and a Champions League in the most dramatic fashion possible. Manchester United won the treble, and Ferguson summed it up best. Man United took this momentum into the next two seasons, winning the league again and again, beating out Arsenal twice more to the title. In this time, Liverpool won a baby treble, consisting of the FA Cup, League Cup, and UEFA Cup. Leeds United reached a Champions League semi-final, and then got relegated a couple of seasons after that. Man City also got relegated, which would be the last relegation they would ever face, and at this time, Arsenal were cooking. They signed a young French attacker you might have heard of named Thierry Henry, along with star defender Saul Campbell from their rival's Tottenham Hotspur. Poor Spurs fans. Henry finished as the top scorer in the Premier League as Arsenal won the 2002 title, completing the double that season, which also saw Ferguson announce his retirement. He later backtracked on this decision as he felt he had unfinished business at United, which, looking back, was definitely the right call. The next two seasons continued with this back and forth between Man United and Arsenal as they picked up another title each, but Arsenal's title was a bit more significant than United's as they wrote their names in the history books by going the entire season without losing a single game. They were invincible. This season was iconic. Henry scored 30 Premier League goals and Arsenal won the title at White Hart Lane against Tottenham Hotspur. Once again, poor Spurs fans. But at this time, the Premier League was changing. David Beckham left Man United to join the Galacticos in Madrid. United found two young replacements in Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney who would be ready to set the Premiership on fire. Chelsea Football Club was bought out by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich who started spending silly money on players to get Chelsea to the top of football. And in 2004, one manager would arrive in England that would change the Premier League forever. Jose Mourinho landed in London, meaning the two-team league had a new challenger in town. Chelsea were ready to take over and that's exactly what they did. Drogba signed for Chelsea in the summer of 2004, joining Jose Mourinho as they would go on to dominate their first season. They smashed the Premier League points record with a total of 95 points. But what's even more impressive than that is that Chelsea only conceded 15 goals in the entire 38-game season. That is a record that will probably never be broken again and shows the sheer quality Chelsea had at the back with the likes of Terry and Carvalho. Arsenal's invincible streak was finally broken by Man United after going 49 games without a loss. This year also saw Liverpool complete the greatest comeback in Champions League history. They were three goals down in the first half, but a heroic second-half comeback saw Liverpool and Steven Gerrard lift the Champions League trophy. At this point, the Premier League had started to form the big four, being made up of Arsenal, Chelsea, Man United and Liverpool, as these teams were clearly a cut above the rest and would consistently finish in the top four spots in the years that followed. Chelsea won the league once more in the following season and Arsenal would make the move to the Emirates Stadium with the idea that it would allow them to compete further with the biggest clubs in the world, but as I'm sure you know by now, that didn't really go to plan. Now heading into the 06-07 season, Ferguson and Man United had gone three seasons straight without a title. This was his longest ever drought since the Premier League began, but he had slowly been building a super team that would go on to win three leagues in a row. This United team had it all, Rudy and Ronaldo up front, Vidić and Ferdinand at the back. The experience from the class of 92 was still around, with Neville, Kiggs and Scholes playing key roles in the team. They simply weren't messing about. Manchester United also picked up the 2008 Champions League title as Ronaldo took home his first Ballon d'Or that year, proving he was the best player in the world. After this three-peat, Ronaldo left United for a world-record fee to Real Madrid. Mourinho and Thierry Henry had also left Chelsea in Arsenal, which meant the Premier League had lost some real star power. The absence of Jose Mourinho didn't seem to be a problem though, as Chelsea sealed another league title in 2010, which saw Drogba finish as the top scorer that season. Now we're all on the 2010-2011 season. Manchester United won yet another league title with some dramatic moments throughout the season. This title was significant as it was their 19th English league title. Liverpool had 18 titles, meaning Sir Alex Ferguson finally knocked Liverpool off their perch. Manchester United were now officially the most successful club in English history, but they wouldn't like what was coming their way because their noisy neighbours had just been bought out by Abu Dhabi Investment Group and were about to shake up the entire Premier League. Manchester City were throwing around money left, right and centre as they were ready to take over. In the previous few years, they'd bought Robinho from Real Madrid, Tevez from Man United, Yaya Toure from Barcelona, Balotelli from Inter, David Silva from Valencia and Sergio Agüero from Atletico Madrid. They'd put some team together. The 2011-2012 season was pretty much a two-team race where Man United and Man City battled it out for the entire year, come the final game of the season. Both clubs had the same amount of points, but Man City had a better goal difference. It was a simple task for City. Win the last game against QPR and they win the league. United won their final game, but City were heading into extra time a goal behind, meaning that the title was red. But in the most dramatic end to a Premier League season ever, Dzeko made it 2-2 and then… With seconds left on the clock, Manchester City finally announced themselves amongst the big clubs, snatching the league right from United's hands. But Ferguson and United would be back for one last hurrah as they signed Van Persie from Arsenal, who was on fire at the time. Van Persie led United's line to their 20th English title. This was it for Sir Alex. He finally called it quits after 26 years and 13 Premier Leagues. He was retiring. Scholes and Giggs followed suit as they also hung up their boots. This was the end of the Manchester United dynasty and the last league title that they would win. Now roll on 2013. Mourinho's back and it's like he never left. Liverpool had also put together some team with the likes of Sterling, Suarez and Gerrard. They were leading the title race for the majority of the season, but one famous slip from Gerrard cost them the title, so City won it again. In 2015, Mourinho's Chelsea stormed the league with the help of some players from his first tenure like Lampard and Terry, and some newer faces like Costa and Hazard. This season also saw Harry Kane announce himself to the Premier League, scoring 21 league goals for Spurs. But this came with a lot of criticism where people thought he was just a one-season wonder. He would go on to prove everyone wrong, scoring over 200 Premier League goals in the seasons that followed. We also saw a couple of new managers join the league in Pochettino and Klopp, who were ready to shake up the Premier League, but nobody, and I mean nobody, could expect what was about to happen in the next season. Premier League champions 2016, the amazing Leicester City! Relegation favourites Leicester City won the Premier League. The season before this, they just escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth. The odds of Leicester City winning the Premier League were 5,000 to 1. This is undoubtedly the greatest football achievement in the history of the sport. Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N'Golo Kante were the gems in this team who, under the guidance of manager Claudio Ranieri, did the impossible. Jamie Vardy also went on to break the record for scoring in the most consecutive games. That was 11 games in a row. This season also saw a Mourinho sacking and a Spurs push for the title, with the likes of Dele Alli and Harry Kane being the faces of their team. This was simply a fairytale season that will never be repeated, and not even Leicester could keep up this form because just one season later, they sacked their manager as they were flirting with relegation the entire season. Chelsea won that season with Antonio Conte in charge, but the Premier League was about to change as a new dynasty was just around the corner. Pep Guardiola landed in Manchester in 2016, but we can consider his first season as a warm-up year because in the 2017-18 season, he was definitely fired up. Manchester City blitzed the league, achieving a record-breaking 100 points. This team was simply unstoppable, with the likes of Aguero, De Bruyne, Sterling, Sane, and so many more. Mohamed Salah also arrived in the Premier League this season, scoring a record-breaking 32 goals in a single season. This year also saw Liverpool reach the Champions League final, but got their hearts broken at the hands of Real Madrid. Arsene Wenger finally called it quits after a decade of underperforming. And Mourinho was back in the Prem but it seemed like his best years weren't behind him. There was a new rivalry coming up. Pep versus Klopp would dominate the next years of the Premier League, taking the title race to the final game of the 2018-19 season. Pep edged Klopp out, winning the league by one point in 2019. At least Liverpool got their title in the pandemic year. They stormed the Premier League with a team that was just unstoppable. Van Dijk was the key player for them, who really should have won the Ballon d'Or that year. Manchester City turned on the gas once again and won the next three titles in a row. In 2021, they had no real challengers, finishing clear above second-place Man Utd. Roll-on 2022, and Liverpool were on for the quadruple, but fell short to City yet again by one point in the Premier League and lost the Champions League final yet again to Real Madrid. In the season that followed, Manchester City finally completed football. Thanks to the help of Erling Haaland, they won the Premier League, the FA Cup, and the Champions League, which was the final trophy Pep needed to win at City. Now, a couple of other things happened in this period. Liverpool beat Spurs in a Champions League final in 2020. Poor Spurs fans. Ronaldo returned to United for a year, scored some goals, then moved on to Saudi Arabia, and Newcastle got bought out by Saudi Arabia, who were looking to have the same effect in the 2024 season, and the title looks like anyone can win it. Maybe Spurs will finally win a title, but who are we kidding here? City will come away with it once again, as Haaland just looks to be getting better and better, but what's for sure is that the Premier League is just getting better, as it has hands-down become the best football league in the world.