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The Club

How the Premier League Became the Richest, Most Disruptive Business in Sport

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About this listen

 The never-before-told inside story of how the Premier League became the wildest, richest, most popular entertainment business on the planet.

How did English football - once known for its stale pies, bad book-keeping and hooligans - become a commercial powerhouse and the world's premium popular entertainment?

This was a business empire built in only twenty-five years on ambition, experimentation and gambler's luck. Lead by a motley cast of executives, Russian oligarchs, Arab Sheikhs, Asian Titans, American Tycoons, battle-hardened managers, ruthless agents and the Murdoch media - the Premier League has been carved up, rebranded and exported to phenomenal 185 countries. The United Nations only recognizes 193.

But the extraordinary profit of bringing England's ageing industrial towns to a compulsive global attention has come at a cost. Today, as players are sold for hundreds of millions and clubs are valued in the billions, local fans are being priced out - and the clubs' local identities are fading. The Premier League has become the classic business fable for our globalised world.

Drawing on dozens of exclusive and revelatory interviews from the Boardrooms - including Liverpool's John W. Henry, Tottenham's Daniel Levy, Martin Edwards and David Gill at Manchester United, Arsène Wenger and Stan Kroenke at Arsenal, Manchester City's sporting director Txiki Begiristain, and executives at Chelsea, West Ham, Leicester City and Aston Villa - this is the definitive bustand boom account of how the Premier League product took over the world.

(P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Limited Business Development & Entrepreneurship Economic History Economics Entrepreneurship Football (American) Business Sports Greek Mythology

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Whether you belong to a football club, are a Premier League fan, or simply just interested in learning more about the football world, our list of the best football audiobooks captures what draws so many people to makes ‘the beautiful game’. Here’s our list of the best football audiobooks to hit play on, brought to you by your favourite sportswriters and international football superstars....

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Critic reviews

A remarkable and astonishing transformation ... detailed with panache
Magnificent ... Witty, pacy, thorough, this is a book hard to put down
The most fascinating book ever written about the Premier League
Astute ... forensic and impeccably sourced
A jaunty journey through the past quarter of a century in English football
A fascinating book, by two witty and meticulous sports writers
captures the Premier League's startling and continuing evolution...Robinson and Clegg specialise in access...the scene setting is lively
A shrewd and colourful account of the Premier League's business history
A fascinating and necessary investigation into the forces that led to the creation of the Premier League. Meticulous in its research
Clegg and Robinson are expert storytellers in unspooling the narrative of one of Britain's most successful exports, illustrating the creative tensions between owners that made it possible. The work is at once thorough but also readable and entertaining, with protagonists presented as real live characters, rather than faceless suits: a testament to their reporting and writing skills
Magnificent . . . a fine job they have done explaining how English football went from moribund national embarrassment to globe-bestriding colossus. Witty, pacy, thorough, this is a book hard to put down.
Richly detailed, remarkably told . . . Clegg and Robinson provide unparalleled access to the people who make the league go
A vivid portrait ... but also a candid account of the league's imperialist present and likely future ... it's quite an achievement
Brilliant (Miguel Delaney)
A tale told with much verve and some wit by two experienced sports journalists ... Revelatory
Informative and regularly entertains
A brilliant book on the business history of the Premier League
All stars
Most relevant
A must have for anyone who enjoys all things Premier League! You’ll look at the modern game in a whole new light.

Fantastic from start to finish!

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Thoroughly enjoyable listen from start to finish, with many great insights along the way. Highly recommend this book.

Very Insightful

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Excellent writing here, they kept it very simple, and developed a very clear narrative which won't be apparent in most people's minds through all the noise of football things over the years. Was good to hear about things I missed, or review events I witnessed and knew about.

Particularly interesting conclusions, leaves you really rather convinced at the inevitability of a super League. The book does a fine job of demonstrating that change is constant in football, everything changes, football and football leagues are no exception.

Shout out to the narrator, he did a stellar job of reading this, wouldn't have been the same without him.

superb

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Great to hear what goes on behind the scenes and what us supporters never normally know, a great listen.

Hear what really happens

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I enjoyed learning how the Premier League developed its power over the last 28 years.

An enjoyable history of the rise of Premier League

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