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Why Southampton's Trip To The Etihad Shows The Premier League Is Dying

When the trip to Manchester City comes around it is a stark reminder of just how uncompetitive the Premier League has actually become and how most clubs in it these days are merely cannon fodder.

Many Saints supporters love to hate Liverpool and rejoiced in their failure to win the title, when that happened last season most were raging, but the truth was just as when Leicester won it in 2016, it was actually a breath of fresh air in a Premier League that is now very much split between the have and have nots.

Take a look at the list of Champions in the last 16 years, take out those single season wins for the Scousers and the Foxes and there are only 3 other clubs that have won the title in that period, Chelsea 5 times mostly over 10 years ago, Manchester United 5 times the last being 8 years ago and Manchester City who are about to win their 5 th title.

I could have thrown in Arsenal whose last lifting of the trophy was in 2004 but that doesn't change much, nor the only other winners Blackburn who younger reader's under 35 will be surprised to learn were the richest club in the division back in 1995.

So as the 29th season heads to its ending with Manchester City likely to lift the title again it is galling to realise that in almost 30 years there have only been 7 winners of the Premier League and 3 of those have only won it once and don't look like winning it again.

The Premier League has finally become what it set out to be and that is an exclusive club that is aimed at ensuring the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

When the Ugly Inside started in 1988 Liverpool dominated football, but when we played them it was far from a foregone conclusion, move on just over a decade when this online version first appeared in 2000 and things had changed, Manchester United where now ruling the roost and a trip to Old Trafford rarely saw anything but heavy defeat, not just for Saints but virtually everyone else.

Back in 1992 it was about a big three, Liverpool, United and perhaps Arsenal, now it has expanded to a big six but Spurs and to a lesser extent Arsenal are just making up the numbers at the table, give the other four some tough games in a season to sort out the wheat from the chafe and give the Illusion that this League is competitive.

Many years ago we used to sneer at the Spanish Dutch and French leagues for being dominated by 2 or 3 clubs whilst we in England had a truly competitive League where anyone could win it and second division sides could win the FA Cup, most clubs and indeed supporters were happy with that, indeed proud of it, but somewhere in the boardrooms of football where a few individuals who wanted to carve up the cake for the selected few and slowly but surely they have managed it.

Perhaps the lockdown is an extension of this, it is doing even more to keep the small clubs down and we saw just what is being plotted going forward when Project Big Picture suddenly came out late last year when Liverpool & Manchester United not at boardroom level but at owner level in the USA where drawing up a blueprint to "save" the lower leagues but in doing so actually signing their lives away in the long term, luckily even the rest of the cannon fodder in the Premier League didn't buy that one.

So in my opinion the Premier League is dying, on the surface pre lockdown it looked healthy, but scratch that surface and it has a cancer that hasn't quite been diagnosed as of yet although the symptoms are there.

Worldwide it is healthy , it rakes in Billions from TV rights sales and of course the overseas markets where Manchester City have far more supporters than they have in the UK or at least they do in a Title winning year, some of those who defected to Liverpool might not have returned to the City fold just yet.

The Big clubs already want a bigger share, to be able to sell the rights to show their own matches on TV this will spell the death of the Premier League as we know it.

The only real question now is whether this will be a slow and painful death or whether it will come swiftly, there have always been mutterings of a European Superleague and indeed with the latest plans for the Champions League that will only be a step away.

Personally I am not scared of this, far from it I think that the Big Six leaving the Premier League will be the saviour of English football.

Yes it would hurt for a while, but those who go to the grounds to watch the matches and travel the length and breadth of the country following their teams would not care, football would be competitive again.

We didn't care when we were in League One and the Championship that it wasn't Manchester United and Liverpool but Barnsley and Exeter, the fans flocked to St Mary's because we had a chance to win things.

The Premier League would be devalued if the Big Six left financially, but the rest of us would just get on with things and enjoy the ride.

It would be great to be able to enjoy going to every game knowing that we had a chance of a win unlike this evening when most Saints fans I know will be celebrating a 2-0 defeat tonight at the Etihad because we won't have been slaughtered.

We will play teams that will battle for 90 minutes at 100% effort, not like when City came to St Mary's in December where they played at half pace and still could have had 5 goals, because we had the odd shot and kept it at 1-0 some thought we had actually given them a tough game.

So for me I am not afraid of change, the Premier League needs a swift conclusion in it's present form, the sooner a European Super League aimed at the armchair supporter comes into being the better, let the social media warriors who gloat when their team destroys yours do that to Ajax, Anderlecht and Borussia Dortmund.

The funniest thing though is that it seems that there won't be enough room for all the big six, a European Superleague would want Liverpool United and City, even Chelsea, the first two have a Worldwide support, the second two money, but would there be enough room for Arsenal & Spurs ?

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