Premier League

The Premier League is the highest category of English soccer since the 1992-93 season. It allows the participation of Welsh clubs and integrates the 20 clubs participating in this first division that play a total of 760 matches throughout the season.

History

In the early 1990s, the creation of the most powerful league in the world began to take shape. At the end of the 90/91 season, many English clubs petitioned for the establishment of a new league that would allow them to compete better against the rest of the European teams by reaching sponsorship and broadcasting agreements for all their matches, which would mean an incredible injection of money into English soccer.

Thus, already in 1992, this new competition was formed independently of the English Football Association and the Football League , thus ending the 104-year-old English league, which consisted of four divisions. From then on, the Football League would be in charge of the three lower divisions while the first division would operate independently of the rest.

The first Premier League season was 1992-93 and consisted of 22 teams. The first goal in this new era of English soccer was scored by Brian Deane, a Sheffield United player in a match that his team won 2-1 against Manchester United and which inaugurated the competition on August 15, 1992.

One of the first differences that could be seen with respect to the previous league was the decision to prohibit fans from watching soccer standing up, everyone had to remain in their seats. This led to the remodeling of many stadiums to increase their capacity. Given the need for these works in the stadiums, ticket prices rose, but, on the other hand, the average number of goals per game was higher, the spectacle grew.

If there is one thing that characterizes the Premier League today, it is its massive revenues. In its early days, revenues were shared equally among all the Premier League clubs except Manchester United, who were crowned champions in that first season and earned a larger amount of money.

It was quite a hotly contested league until four clubs in particular achieved a higher economic development than the rest of the clubs, which allowed them to settle in the top positions of the standings and form the well-known "Big Four".

These four dominant clubs known as the "Big Four" were Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool. The rise of these four teams ignited an incredible competitiveness among them.

"The Premier League is in danger of becoming one of the most boring, but one of the biggest leagues in the world." -Kevin Keegan

Over the years, both Tottenham and Manchester City managed to establish themselves in English soccer and challenge the "Big Four" for titles. Public opinion began to demand greater equality in the distribution of income, since, with the consolidation of the six big clubs, the rest of the teams had become second or third place and were unable to compete in the Premier League. The entry of large foreign buyers such as Abramovic and Zayed Al-Nahyan, owners of Chelsea and Manchester City respectively, led to a greater gap in revenue.

UEFA began to take action and implemented a new regulation: the Financial Fair Play. A regulation that sought to place limits on the spending of the most powerful clubs in order to equalize the competition. One of the first consequences of the implementation of this new rule was Manchester City winning the league title in 2011, thus becoming the first club outside the "Big Four" to win the league since Blackburn Rovers in 1995. Ranieri's Leicester City followed a few years later.

As a curiosity, there are six teams that have managed to play all editions of the Premier League: Manchester United, Chelsea, Everton, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham.

Clubs

The historical classification of the Premier League is led by Manchester United with a total of 2213 points in 1067 games, followed by Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham. In this historical classification we can find a wide variety of clubs, from Champions League winners on several occasions like Liverpool, to fourth division teams like Oldham Athletic through teams like Bolton, a historic team that was on the verge of disappearing not long ago.

There are many of us who are pleased to say that we have seen the biggest goal in the history of the Premiership. In the same season, Leicester visited St Mary's Stadium to face Southampton. The game ended 0-9 to the visitors in a match that certainly did not leave Ralph Hasenhuttl with a very good taste in his mouth. Manchester United also won by nine goals against Ipswich Town in 1995, but the fact that the match was played at Old Trafford leaves this match as the second highest scoring game in the history of the Premier League.

If you are looking for epic matches, the Premier League is your competition. It was the 2010-11 season and Newcastle and Arsenal were facing each other in a match corresponding to the 26th matchday. Arsenal led 0-4, but the home side came from behind in just 19 minutes to earn an epic equalizer. Another unforgettable match was played at The Hawthorns in a West Bromwich Albion-Manchester United game in the 2012-13 season. The Baggies scored all three goals in 5 minutes to separate them from Manchester to finish 5-5.

Also not to be overlooked is another historic match, that Manchester City-Tottenham game in 2014 where referee Jonathan Moss awarded 4 penalties in a 4-1 win for the Skyblues.

In the Leeds-Chelsea match in 1998, there was a clear protagonist, given the lack of goals by the players of both teams, the main protagonist was the referee Mike Reed, who cautioned a total of 13 players, making it the match with the most cautions in the Premier League.

Finally, we must not forget the Portsmouth-Reading where there were a total of 11 goals leaving a result of 7-4 in 2009.

Players

In these 28 years of history, numerous players have passed through this league and naturally, they have left an indelible mark in our memory.

Until a few years ago, the player who had played the most games in the history of the Premier League was Welshman Ryan Giggs with a total of 632 games played for Manchester United, with over 46,000 minutes and 109 goals. However, Gareth Barry surpassed this figure with a total of 54432 minutes in 653 games. A player who did not get as many accolades as others, but he stayed many, many seasons in the elite to surpass Ryan in this aspect. Gareth Barry is currently at West Bromwich Albion in the second division.

Once we have met the player with the most minutes in the Premier League, we move on to the player who has scored the most goals: Alan Shearer, scorer of 260 goals in 441 games. The best player in the history of Newcastle rises with this milestone after being ahead of another English legend such as Wayne Rooney, who could not reach Gosforth's 208 goals. To find a player who is still active in the Premier League, we have to go back to fourth place where Sergio Agüero is with 180 goals, which is in turn, the highest scoring foreigner in the competition.

It is James Vaughan who holds the record as the youngest Premier League goalscorer, scoring in 2005 when he was 16 years, 8 months and 27 days old for Everton in a match against Crystal Palace at Goodison Park. He is followed by several players with cachet such as James Milner, Rooney, Fabregas and Michael Owen himself.

However, the oldest goal scorer to date is Teddy Sheringham himself with his goal for West Ham in the defeat against Portsmouth in 2006 at the age of 40 years, 8 months and 24 days. As a curiosity, the player who is the tenth oldest player to score in the Premier League is the legendary goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel in the match Everton 3-2 Aston Villa in his time as "villain".

Alan Shearer's goalscoring efficiency contrasts with Kenny Cunningham 's inability to put the ball in the net. The Irishman played 335 games in the Premier League in which he did not score a single goal.

To score five goals in just 20 minutes seems impossible. Manchester City achieved it, more specifically it was the work of Sergio Agüero in a match of the 2015-16 season against Newcastle. The Argentine striker shares the record with Defoe, Shearer, Andy Cole and Berbatov who achieved it in more time.

To close this section of players, it is time to review the brother-sister and father-son duos that have played in England. Numerous sibling pairs have even shared a dressing room. Perhaps the most memorable is the Neville brothers and their successful spell at Manchester United. The Toure brothers also shared line-ups at Manchester City pre-Guardiola.

As for the father-son relationship we have of course Ian Wright and his sons Shaun and Bradley Wright-Phillips. Another timeless duo is goalkeepers Peter and Kasper Schmeichel, both of whom are world-class goalkeepers.

Coaches

The manager who has scored the most points per game played is Pep Guardiola. His Manchester City has scored 2.35 points per game, or 333 out of 426 in four seasons. He is followed by Klopp with 2.18 and Sir Alex Ferguson with 2.16. Three true geniuses.

If we talk about records we can not miss Mark Hughes who, between his time as a player and coach, has spent a total of 25 years in the Premier League accumulating 758 games between the two jobs. This figure becomes even more valuable when we review his career, as the Welshman spent several years of his career outside England, playing for Barcelona and Bayern Munich, among others.

We have recognized Mark Hughes as a legend just as we must recognize Sir Alex. A compatriot of the former, the former Manchester United manager holds the record for the most years in charge of a club with a total of 26 years. He is followed by Wenger, who ended a 21-year spell at the helm of Arsenal two seasons ago.

Biography by David Martínez Ceballos.