Barclay's Premier League - Best League in the World?

[Scholst]

Hi.

This is a thread who's purpose is to discuss the Top Flight English Football League; vastly regarded as the best in the world.

But is it really?

Lately, it seems like the best players are all situated in Europe; i.e. Messi, Henry, Ronaldinho, etc. If you take polls such as 'Best Footballer at the Moment' ect, you find players from the Prem are few and far between. The only one's you find are Gerrard, and Rooney, but they are vastly out-weighted by Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Messi, blah, blah, blah.

The real killer for me was when Ronaldo packed his bags and left for Madrid.
The FIFA World Player of 2008, gone. His class and skill was gone from our game, and now we ony have Torres to contest for FIFA WPotY.

But what I love about the Prem, and which no other league can match; is the pace. Honestly, you can be winning on stats and running rings around the opposition; then one attack on the break and BANG, 1-0.

And now for my final point; and it concerns transfers. If we look at Henry, for example. French winger, not anything special. Then Arsene Wenger takes him to Arsenal, turns him into a striker and he's one of the world's greatest threats. Then he gets bought by Barcelona and he's never really looked the same. Also, take the face of English football; Mr David Beckham. Manchester United, huge success, national hero----->Europe, never the same. I just want to see how Europe's latest Anglican import, Ronaldo, does.

So, what do you think? Prem>Rest of world, or is it starting to take a downturn? Is it as fast paced as people say? And, can it compete with the arguably larger amount of 'World Topping' players?

Discuss.

 

[latinoheat]

I was under the impression La Liga was already considered the best league in the world.

Ronaldinho isn't even close to one of the best in the world anymore, in the EPL alongside Rooney and Gerrard you have Torres,Arshavin,Fabregas,Lampard,Vidic and arguably still Drogba who are considered top class players.


I wouldn't really consider Henry a failure, he was basically 30 when he went to Barcelona and coming of an injury plagued season. Sure it took him a while to settle but 26 goals and 12 assists last season isn't bad at all, especially when you consider he is played more as a winger and he no longer has a team built around him as the main attacking player.

Ronaldo will be just fine in La Liga fuck he has already scored 5 in La Liga, barring injury i will be shocked if he doesn't hit 25.

 

[les gets]

Lately, it seems like the best players are all situated in Europe; i.e. Messi, Henry, Ronaldinho, etc. If you take polls such as 'Best Footballer at the Moment' ect, you find players from the Prem are few and far between. The only one's you find are Gerrard, and Rooney, but they are vastly out-weighted by Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Messi, blah, blah, blah.

Actually believe it or not, the EPL is in Europe as well.

Ronaldinho and David Bechham were successful back in the day, and they're still decent players with a lot of experience, but they both can't even compare with some other footballers today like Lampard and Rooney.

Concerning your question, I think the EPL is the most popular league in the world, and arguably the "best" league, in terms of skilled teams and players. The EPL has the best diversity of players from all over the world compared to other leagues, and it's also the most watched league from all over the world. It has the best managers from all over the world, and it's the biggest league money-wise (sponsors, marketing etc.). Also, the two richest clubs in the world are Arsenal and Manchestor United.

 

[Scholst]

Actually believe it or not, the EPL is in Europe as well.

Yes I am aware of this XD
In Britain, we call France/Spain/Germany 'Europe,' in Footballing terms. And I know it is a bit odd, but its just what we say.

 

[The_Chaser]

The EPL is the biggest league in the world due to depth of talent and better lower and midtable sides. They are also the biggest in terms of revenue and worldwide viewing. For me however, as Norwich isn't in the EPL I find La Liga the most interesting league as the have the best two best teams in the world (Real Madrid and Barca) fighting out for the title (Go Barca).

 

[Taylor]

Also, the two richest clubs in the world are Arsenal and Manchestor United.

I may be jumping the gun here, but I'd have to say that both these clubs are not the richest in the world. Real Madrid are marketing machines; even more successful than Manchester United. Arsenal may have the least amount of debt between the top four in the EPL, yet they haven't got the financial muscle of Manchester City; no one has. That's because they are the richest club in the world.

La Liga is the main attraction. Ronaldo, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Villa, Kaka, Ibrahimovic, Ageuro, etc. The list goes on. It is more exciting if you enjoy technical skills and slick passing. The EPL has dominated Europe over the last four years collectively (with 3 English teams in the last four of the Champions League two years running), but the eventual winners and the sign of things to come points in one direction: Spanish football.

 

[Scholst]

Also, the two richest clubs in the world are Arsenal and Manchestor United.

Just to keep things straight, Manchester City are the richest club in the world; being owned by 2 Arab oil baron multi-billionaires.

 

[Yehom]

Just to keep things straight, Manchester City are the richest club in the world; being owned by 2 Arab oil baron multi-billionaires.

No, Manchester City has the richest onwer. Manchester United and Real Madrid are the 2 richest clubs of the world with an own value of more than 1 biljon Euro

 

[Scholst]

Depends how you look at it;
Manchester United do have a value of over 1 billion Euros, but their owner has a value of 1.3 billion. Man City on the other hand, are owned by people worth >$100,000,000,000!
The amount is truly staggering, and you can tell this by the transfers they made over the summer; adding up to over £100,000,000, which is a lot for an English team who didn't even finish in the top 5 last season!

 

[Yehom]

Depends how you look at it;
Manchester United do have a value of over 1 billion Euros, but their owner has a value of 1.3 billion. Man City on the other hand, are owned by people worth >$100,000,000,000!
The amount is truly staggering, and you can tell this by the transfers they made over the summer; adding up to over £100,000,000, which is a lot for an English team who didn't even finish in the top 5 last season!

Although the Manchester City onwers have over a 100 billion Euros, I don't think that they will use all their money to give to Manchester City. A rich club rely on its own value, not on the money the onwer has. Ambramovic has 4 billion Euros, but did he used all his money to help Chelsea? I don't think so. So in my opinion Manchester United and Real Madrid are still the richest clubs in the world

 

[Taylor]

Although the Manchester City onwers have over a 100 billion Euros, I don't think that they will use all their money to give to Manchester City. A rich club rely on its own value, not on the money the onwer has. Ambramovic has 4 billion Euros, but did he used all his money to help Chelsea? I don't think so. So in my opinion Manchester United and Real Madrid are still the richest clubs in the world

Take a look at Real and United's debt. Market all they want, the £650m+ exists and seems a real task to pay off.

 

[Yehom]

Take a look at Real and United's debt. Market all they want, the £650m+ exists and seems a real task to pay off.

First of all, Reals debt is only 650 mil EUROS!!!, not Ponds. 400 mil Euros of that debt is going to be getten rid of at the end of this season due to commercial income and stuff like that. United had a debt of 700 m EUROS last season, but is already reduced due to the income of the transfer of Ronaldo and not spending even the half of the tranferbugdet by Ferguson this transferwindow

 

[Taylor]

Footballforums.net holds this discussion and goes in depth with our financial situation. I briefly pass by the thread in which this discussion takes place and it worries me that we aren't financially secure: according to long-time United fans on that board, if we were to have a dissapointing season (where we won nothing), we'd have to sell big name players to pay off the £40/50m-a-year repayment.

 

[Safe_Kid]

Its not just about the great players that are playing in the leagues. Its also about the fans. Barclays premiership is at the top of that, West ham has more fans attending their games than most if not all Italian teams.
Not only that but it is the hardest league to play in, its much more competitive than the other leagues. Even the smaller teams in the premiership can challenge big teams in the other leagues. For example Portsmouth vs AC Milan last season.

Btw the owner of QPR is the richest owner in Europe...apparantly.

How much is the owner of real madrid worth?

 

[Yehom]

How much is the owner of real madrid worth?

Technically, Real Madrid has no owner. Like for example Barcelona, Real Madrid is 'owned' by so called 'Socios', people pay a contribution to the club to gain votingrights in the club. These people have the right to vote for the president of the club every 4 years. So Real Madrid doens't have an owner

 

[phalanx]

erm the richest club is real madrid on exchange rates only, its normally manchester united.
in terms of owners QPR is the richest :P

 

[ToMmY91]

Football session huh?
Man United best team in the world!
Alex Ferguson best manager in the world! :D

 

[Yehom]

Football session huh?
Man United best team in the world!
Alex Ferguson best manager in the world! :D

You my friend, are absolutely right :P

 

[Caramel]

The EPL is the biggest league in the world due to depth of talent and better lower and midtable sides.

I'm sorry but this is just blatantly untrue. Both Serie A and La Liga have better depth and midtable/relegation teams. The EPL has the best top end clubs but it drops off significantly after the top 3-4. The EPL is vastly overrated especially in English speaking countries but in Europe (UK aside) and South America you'll find that not a lot of people rate the English league at all. Evidence of this can be found by a quick browse of non-english speaking football forums.

That being said, I've always regarded La Liga to be the superior league in terms of talent and overall depth, and Serie A before that. If I were to call it I put them in order of mmmm maybe:
La Liga
EPL
Serie A
Ligue 1
Bundesliga

 

[hasbeenkoed]

Economy wise, the EPL has become the capital of football. However, quality wise, most top leagues are reasonably matched, namely Serie A and La Liga. However, in depth, due to the huge monetary boost Premier League stalwarts recieve year to year, in depth, mid table sides from Italy and Spain tend to be a stp below those in the Premier League, but then again, it could be argued, that in fact, due to the physical nature of the Barclays' Premier League, foreign teams play better football. One thing is in common with all of these leagues: until the money is more evenly distributed/salary and budget caps introduced, gaps will widen, and football will become much more predictable.

 

[sbc]

lol at Serie A matching the Premier League for quality.

The Premier League overall is the best in the world. I'm not just talking about the football here, but the football experience of 30k, 40k, 50k, 60k and bigger all-seater stadia all across the country selling out every week and the great atmosphere inside these grounds. That's one of the reasons why Serie A is not as good, is that the football experience is shit, ruined by decrepit stadia, ultras, and low attendances.

In terms of football, La Liga has bigger stars and its teams tend to play better football than the Boltons etc, the Premier League is still far more interesting. You actually have a top 4 compared to a top 2 in Spain that have all made realistic title changes within the last 3 years and regularly own continental teams in Europe. The 5th-8th place spots are so competitive with the likes of City, Tottenham, Everton and Aston Villa competing there who have good fanbases and money to spend, whilst teams like Sunderland, Fulham, and formerly Portsmouth are capable of getting a European place and can take points off the top 4.

 

[DarkendFearz]

I think the La Liga is the best league in the world for a few reasons. Number one from a bias approach "Barcelona Fan". Yet for the reason's
La Liga seems to be more competetive when going for the Number one spot even though it's usually Madrid and Barcelona they are other threats like Valencia Athletico Madrid etc.
While other leagues usualyl ahve only 2-4 int he race for #1.

 

[Alexa888]

Definitely the best league. It attracts some of the best players in the world, has a rich history, and captivates millions of fans every week. Better than boring defensive Serie A and Barcalona rampaging throung La Liga. The Bundesliga is good, but nothing compared to the Premier League. It looks as if Chelsea have the title, and Birmingham FC are staying up

 

[Golden Sun]

EPL is easily the best league just look at the UEFA champions league last year. 3 out of 4 teams were from the English premier league which says alot. Although this year was dissapointing not 1 team in the semis

 

[Badal]

Agreed, EPL does attract the best of the best and all over Europe, teams from the EPL have been consistently doing well.