The Premier League has been hailed as one of the most competitive leagues in the world for many years now. For the teams playing in the Championship and fighting for promotion, it is often referred to as the promised land, and for some, they can only dream of one day playing in the top flight.
It is easy to imagine with the money that Hollywood duo Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have invested into Wrexham, the ultimate goal is to one day reach the Premier League. But they are some way off, and their opening day thrashing at the hands of MK Dons will have done them no favours in reaching that goal.
The Premier League has seen heavy investment over the years. Large commercial deals, TV broadcast deals and shirt sponsorships have all seen the top tier move miles ahead of the EFL financially and in terms of TV broadcasting, League One and Two have been left in the dark with little to no games televised on Sky Sports or BT Sport in recent years. Not only that, but the cost of shirts and tickets for fans of Premier League clubs are leagues ahead of the lower division.
The EFL’s new agreement with Sky Sports, announced in May, provoked a response from fans, who feel that the broadcaster does not do what is best for the leagues in terms of broadcasting, and many have been hoping for a change in that department. Despite this, the EFL opted to renew their deal with the broadcasting giant.
The new deal runs until 2029 and is a landmark for the EFL with a value of £895 million, plus £40 million in marketing rights. It means over 1000 games across the EFL will be shown live every season and keeps Article 48 intact, otherwise known as the “3pm blackout”.
Last season saw Arsenal and Manchester City engage in a back-and-forth title race, with City coming out on top to secure their third successive Premier League title. The Gunners led the race for much of the season, but slip-ups in the league, as well as two defeats at the hands of their title rivals saw them lose out, but the London side still had much to be proud of when competing with the money giant that is the Cityzens.
The Manchester club may have been engaged in some close title races in recent years, but they have almost always come out on top, Liverpool’s victory in the 2019/20 season the exception here. This raises the question, is the Premier League really as competitive as it is hailed to be? And has the EFL surpassed it in terms of competitiveness?
Moving down to the Championship, Burnley took last season’s title and the first automatic promotion place in the division. Vincent Kompany’s side were impressive last season and finished with 101 points. No team had achieved that benchmark in the second tier since Nigel Pearson’s Leicester City side in the 2013/14 season with 102 points.
It is worth noting that plenty of strong teams have won this division in that period, including Fulham and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Sheffield United finished 11 points behind them in second place, leaving another double-digit gap between themselves and third-placed Luton Town. But we have seen in recent history that the competitiveness of this league does not come from the title races, but rather, it comes within the playoffs, as both Luton Town and Coventry City met in the final. Coventry were in the bottom half (narrowly) on New Year’s Day, sitting in 13th place.
League One is the division you could arguably say was the most competitive in the country last season. Three teams were vying for the title in the division, Ipswich Town, Plymouth Argyle and Sheffield Wednesday.
Steven Schumacher’s Plymouth escaped the division with the league title and marked another EFL club reaching the 100 points tally. Ipswich Town finished second, just behind Plymouth. But Kieran McKenna’s team were, for me personally, one of the most enjoyable to watch in the country, scoring over 100 goals in their run. Not only that, but they went on an incredible run of games without conceding a goal. They became the ninth team in football league history to win eight consecutive games without conceding. That run would end when they visited Whaddon Road, playing out a 2-2 draw with Cheltenham Town.
Sheffield Wednesday’s collapse was the most eventful period of the season. A run of six games without a win saw the Owls let their grasp on promotion slip, and they would have to earn promotion the hard way, finishing on 96 points but still having to go through the playoffs.
It did not get any easier for Darren Moore’s side from there. A 4-0 defeat to Peterborough meant they would have to come back in the second leg from a deficit no team had ever recovered from. The points tally speaks levels about this division, with 96 points usually being enough to earn automatic promotion from any other football division in the country before this season.
League Two saw a promotion chase which was just as exciting in this division as it was in the rest of the EFL. Leyton Orient achieved automatic promotion by winning the league, but they did not run away with the league title, finishing six points above Stevenage, who were two points ahead of Northampton Town, with both sides also achieving automatic promotion to League One.
It speaks volumes of just how good Lawrence Vigouroux was for the O’s last season when he earned a move to Premier League side Burnley this summer. There were also disappointments in this league, as Swindon Town fell out of the playoff places once Scott Lindsay departed to aid Crawley Town in their relegation battle, whilst Rochdale and Hartlepool fell victim to the trapdoor out of the EFL. The playoff final saw Stockport County take on Carlisle United, with the latter winning on penalties to become the fourth team to join the third division, marking the second playoff final last season to go to penalties.
Premier League fans have started to fall victim to the pricing of games, and most fans of teams in the top flight are beginning to feel they have been priced out of attending games.
Ticket pricing has been fairer in the EFL in recent years, and you can only hope teams such as Luton Town, who are playing their first season in the top flight, will not be joining the rest of the Premier League in setting prices many fans feel to be exploitative. Shirt prices have also become a lucrative market for the Premier League clubs, with some shirts costing in excess of £100. Meanwhile, the average price for a shirt of a team in the EFL would be somewhere in the region of £50.
With all this taken into consideration and the thinking that last season could be considered an anomaly in the Premier League, it is easy to think the EFL has now overtaken the top flight in terms of competitiveness.
The top flight may be ahead in broadcasting and sponsorship deals, but the EFL has become more exciting, especially when you factor in City’s expenditure and record compared to the rest of the league. Teams such as Brighton & Hove Albion have defied the odds and made themselves a force to be reckoned with, as well as being the team to beat outside the top six. However, with their European qualification, it could be a case we often see of teams struggling to keep up with the demands of domestic and continental competition with squads smaller than the usual side playing in Europe.
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