The Best league in the World?
English clubs falter.
Since the inception of the Premier League in 1992 it has always seemed that England was the place to play your football.
Thought by many the world over to be the best league in the world, the Premier League has produced and attracted some of Europe’s if not the world’s best players.
Footballers from every nation make their way to these shores to ply their trade and make more money than they could even imagine. Chairmen seem to welcome them with open arms with the vision of trophies and titles in their mind's eye.
With this in mind and with the Premier League being such a dominant force in world football then why are our best teams seeming to fail when it comes to a European stage?
Qualifying comes easy.
English Premier League clubs have been qualifying for European competition for the 22 year duration of the domestic competition with mixed successes. With only 3 clubs managing to win the European Cup / Champions League within the lifespan of the Premier League it doesn’t really seem to be a great return on the effort, time and money used to make the League what it is perceived to be.
La Liga, the Premier Leagues so-called nearest rival, has seven wins albeit from their top two teams. Serie A in Italy has five champions covering three clubs and is considered by many to be of an inferior standard and quality to the best England has to offer.
Cause for Alarm?
The 2014 Champions League is no less concerning.
With English teams through to the knockout stages, the usual suspects, who represent the Premiership, yet again seem to be floundering within the upper echelons of European football.
With an aggregate score of 7 goals to 1 the best League in the World seems to have fallen behind somewhat as 3 of the 4 qualified teams failed to score with Manchester United falling to the leaders of the Greek Super League, Olympiakos.
Manchester City and Arsenal have come up against the most commonly recognised juggernauts of Europe in Barcelona and Bayern Munich respectively but would still have hoped to trouble the scoreboard at least once.
Chelsea for their part at least got a result against an inspired Galatasary side in their “Hell” of a stadium but still only managed the one goal and the sum total of all the English clubs involved.
Give the kids a chance.
With 69.2% of players in the Premier Leaguecoming from overseas not only are our club sides under performing but surelyit will leave the English national side wanting as well.
The up and coming young English International players are warming benches and bolstering lower league clubs across the country seemingly not good enough for the best league in the World and the ones who are cutting the mustard are few and far between.
The major forces in European football have all at some time in the recent pastgone through a transitional phase. Germany, Italy, France and Spain have all transformed their National Teams and have bred young players through the systems supported by the clubs.
Foreign Chairmen and managers have no interest in furthering the exploits of a national side in which they have no vested interest and will continue to bolster their ranks with overseas players while overlooking young home-grown talent.
Until the Premier League can cooperate with and work hand in hand with the Football Association, it would seem that European and International competitions will be nothing more than a glorified tour with fans being left to wonder what happened to the best League in the World.
