Frankly speaking..... I think the Premier League clubs are in
bad financial shape now precisely because of the formation of the
Premier League in the early 90s.
Back when it was just known as Division 1, all clubs in the top
four divisions shared all the TV rights money together.... you
didn't hear of clubs going kaput then.
Then 24-odd clubs broke away to hoard all the TV rights money
for themselves by forming the Premier League.... the end result was
a huge chasm between the Premiership and the Championship.
Championship teams that got promoted would often get relegated
quickly because they couldn't afford to buy top players to stay in
the Premiership, and Premiership teams saw their budget deficits
balloon just to keep up with the others. Inflation quickly set
in.
Back when I was in Primary 6 (1995), the transfer of Andy Cole
from Newcastle to Man U for 7 million pounds was huge news.....
now, 7 million is absolutely laughable....
