When the League Became a Sales Pitch

The Premier League’s big problem isn’t new. It’s been there since the moment it rebranded itself into something shinier: football as entertainment getting nudged aside by football as a business model.

I still remember the early Sky years properly, watching Monday night games with a few lads back when I was down in Portsmouth, Locks Heath. Different clubs in the room, a couple of pints, but the same thing brought us together: the match itself. And straight away you could feel the shift. Before the whistle had even settled, you were being told next week’s fixture was the greatest show on earth. Not occasionally. Constantly. The point wasn’t “did you see that?” so much as “don’t forget to keep paying for it”.

When a match feels like a throwback

Every now and then a game cuts through that noise and reminds you what this sport can be. The United v Bournemouth match mentioned here is a good example of that feeling: a proper little throwback where it looks like both sides are trying to win, rather than trying not to lose.

That difference matters. You can see it in the risk-taking: bodies committed forward, the willingness to leave space, the idea that three points are worth the danger. Too often now it feels like the first objective is protecting the “brand”, keeping the mood calm, keeping the narrative tidy. And once that creeps in, the football follows. Safe. Managed. Sometimes sterile.

Even big spending doesn’t guarantee a good watch

The most depressing part is that money doesn’t fix it, not automatically. The point made about Liverpool spending half a billion on six players and still not looking entertaining will hit a nerve with plenty of Reds. Because we’ve all watched matches where the performance swings from inept to mediocre, with only a couple of proper bright spots cutting through.

And when you can be that flat and still hover around the European places, it does make you question what the league is rewarding. Is it quality, courage and invention? Or is it caution, control and damage limitation?

Corporate assets, not communities

Truth is, the game can feel like one set of corporate assets lining up against another. The one with the biggest, steadiest revenue stream tends to have the loudest voice and the widest margin for error. That doesn’t mean the football can’t be brilliant, because it can. But it does mean the priorities are often elsewhere.

And as supporters, we’re not mad for wanting it to feel like a sport again, not just a product being pushed between ad breaks.

Written by West Derby Wanderer IV: 28 December 2025