Chris Horrie gets right to the heart of the football business, with the same insight and perception that he employed in his bestselling exposes of the media, Stick it up your Punter! and Live TV. Premiership is his brilliantly perceptive and entertaining survey of the first ten years of English football's top flight, examining the motives and money, bungs and brilliance of the key players both on and off the field.

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Product Description

Chris Horrie gets right to the heart of the football business, with the same insight and perception that he employed in his bestselling exposes of the media, Stick it up your Punter! and Live TV. 'If one day I should return to soccer, it would mean it has changed. I left it because it was no longer similar to my vision of the game. Because of all the financial interests at stake, the sport is turning into a mafia.' Eric Cantona, February 2001 One weekend in mid-August 1992 the world of football changed for ever. On the Saturday the first Premiership games took place; on the Sunday Nottingham Forest beat Liverpool in the first match to be broadcast live by Sky TV. Together, these developments signalled the most significant shift in the game since professionalism was introduced. Although the shift is primarily about money - rich clubs getting richer, players' wages rising astronomically, the battle for TV rights becoming ever more bitter and hard-fought - the changes introduced by the transformation of the old First Division ten years ago have had other effects and influences as much to do with society and business as the world of sport. Premiership is acclaimed journalist Chris Horrie's brilliantly perceptive and entertaining survey of the first ten years of British football's top flight, examining the motives and money, bungs and brilliance of the key players both on and off the field.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #231534 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Chris Horrie is the author of six successful books, including the bestselling Stick it up your Punter! and Live TV. He is a former national newspaper and magazine journalist and editor, TV producer, lecturer and academic. Steve Clarke is executive editor of Broadcast magazine and a former Sunday Times and Daily Telegraph media writer. In 1994 they produced Fuzzy Monsters - the bestselling and definitive account of John Birt's BBC.

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Customer Reviews

short and sweet... BUY IT!
I picked up this book on a recommendation and before I start I'll save you the effort - if you're a football fan, go and buy it... it's excellent! [Needless to say if you're not a football fan, why on earth are you reading this review? you should be out doing the gardening or making sure you're trainspotting photo portfolio is up-to-date]

Right, that should get rid of non-football fans... so back to the book. To detail the history of the Premiership in itself is only part of the book - there's plenty season re-runs on Sky which do that (and seeing the goals is that much better than reading about them). No, that's not what makes this book. What does make this book is all the details about what goes on in the background - the pressures behind the formation of the league, the rivalries between various club chairmen, agents, bung-takers and all the bits around it.

As someone who's followed the Premiership closely from day one I was amazed at how much stuff there was in this book which I'd been aware of but never understood the significance of. It's a fairly easy read (ideal for a train journey to work) and you can put it down and pick it up later without suffering.

Good but nothing much new here
While I enjoyed reading through this history of the premiership it covers the same ground as what seems like dozens of 'state of the game' football books at the moment. The most interesting parts invlove the seedier side of football.

Summary of the History of the English Soccer Premiership
I couldn't put this book down. I've lived outside the UK since 1991 so most of the premiership has passed me by. This was a great way to catch up. It is also very well written. Some of the anicdotes are priceless, particularly on TV rights negotiations, corruption in the European game and how the transfer system "works".