Three lions on the shirt, grassroots underfunded.... A revealing analysis of the state of the English men´s game.
A top-to-bottom look at England´s national game, from one of the UK´s leading business economists.
The Premier League is the most commercially successful football league in history, the self-proclaimed ´best league in the world´. But success has come at a cost, unbalancing the English game to a profound and damaging degree.
Football´s stumbling response to COVID-19 and the European Super League disaster are just the most recent examples. It is estimated that more than two thirds of the country´s 92 professional clubs are loss-making; payments to agents each year regularly total more than the combined income of all 44 clubs in Leagues 1 and 2; supporters have been squeezed to the limit; racist incidents are on the rise; grassroots facilities are in a dreadful state; and failed World Cup bids have severely weakened England´s standing in the global game. The national team´s performance at Euro 2020 can´t paper over the cracks.
There is an alternative. In this revealing and eye-opening analysis, leading economist Mark Gregory reveals the breadth and depth of the problems facing our national men´s game, and shows us a way to bring football home for good.