Tag
Premier League
A term used to describe a club that was once at the top of the football pyramid, with title wins and pedigree but has since fallen on tough times. A sleeping giant has a big fanbase, stadium and potential to get back to the top but are currently suffering. There are plenty of examples of sleeping giants in England in recent years, some that have returned to the Premier League after years down in the Football League.
Leeds was a sleeping giant in the 16 years it spent out of the top flight, going down as low as League One. It was a far cry from the glory days of winning titles, cups, and competing in European finals through the 1970s until the early 2000s. In the 2020s Leeds is back to being a regular Premier League club with higher ambitions.
The striker is through on goal, one on one with the keeper, rounds them and slots the ball home. You fully expect the net to bulge and the striker is already running off to celebrate. It’s not the end of the story though, a defender has raced back and managed to make a last ditch goal line clearance, sliding in to sweep the ball away just before it crosses the line for a goal. Last ditch defending masterclass.
One of the most famous examples of a goal line clearance came in the Manchester City v Liverpool match in 2019. After a mix-up with Ederson in goal, Sadio Mane thought he’d scored only for John Stones to slide in and hook the ball away. The referees watch didn’t buzz and the replays of the goal line technology showed the ball was just 11.2mm away from fully crossing the line. Manchester City won the match 2-1 and the league title from Liverpool by a single point, 98 points to 97.
Bodies everywhere, defenders and the goalkeeper blocking the goal, legs flying in, arms in the air as the ball bounces around. There’s nothing quite like a goal mouth scramble where there are air kicks and a mass of bodies around the goalkeeper and in the six-yard box. Defenders do everything to block and clear, attackers try desperately to get the ball over the line, mostly it’s just chaos and a blur as the ball bounces back and forth off shins and calves and chests and heads. It usually ends up in a wild clearance to row Z or the ball being smashed into the net.
In the Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester United in January 2026 a Bukayo Saka corner bounced around the six-yard box before Mikel Merino bundled the ball over the line in chaotic fashion. It wasn’t until after a clearance that the referee’s watch buzzed to say the ball had crossed the line and a goal had been scored.
The aim of SCR is to provide a more competitive playing field for all Premier League clubs. In theory it should prevent clubs with the richest owners from hoarding too many players, without compromising clubs who want to invest in stadium and training infrastructure amongst other organisational improvements. There is also a multi-year rolling allowance of 30% above the 85% limit. Clubs must submit estimated revenues and costs to the Premier League at the start of the season, with compliance assessed in March based on those figures. Spending must be at a maximum of 85%, with a six-point deduction for clubs that go over that threshold and a further point deducted for £6.5 million spent over the 115%.
The Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) regulations have been permanently implemented by the Premier League for the 2026-27 season, replacing the Profit and Sustainability (PSR) rules that were previously in place. UEFA already has a SCR rule for European competition that stands at 70%, whereas the new Premier League rule is set at 85%.
A term used by rival fans to describe Manchester City in the wake of the guilty verdict of financial doping in 114 of 115 charges between 2009-2018. The term ‘sham contract’ was used in the verdict, a legal description from the 1960s. In this case, Manchester City are deemed to have used sham contracts to pump money into the club disguised as sponsorship deals, hugely inflating revenue to circumvent FFP rules. It meant they could throw money at the best players and the best manager of his generation (Pep Guardiola), winning countless titles, as a result. The punishment is yet to be dished out, but could be anything from titles stripped to expulsion from the Premier League.
The day the verdict was confirmed by the Premier League, reporter Rob Harris approached Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano at the European Football Clubs board meeting. Amongst other things he asked Soriano if he would apologise to fans, and if this meant that City were not a sham club Sham FC was born as a nickname.
The Premier League is the top division of English football. Founded in the 1992/93 season, replacing the old Football League, it consists of 20 teams with 3 teams relegated and replaced with 3 teams promoted from the Championship (the English second division) every season. The Premier League has become the biggest and most popular league in the world in the last twenty years, with a global audience of nearly 5 billion people across 212 territories, and a broadcasting deal worth just over £9 billion. The Premier League is where the best players play, the best managers ply their trade, and the fastest, most exciting football is played.
Manchester United are the most successful team in the Premier League era, winning the title 13 times.
The Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is the English season curtain-raiser that is played between the winners of the Premier League and the FA Cup the previous season. If a team wins the double of both Premier League and FA Cup, the other team in the Community Shield will be the runners-up from the Premier League. It is traditionally played at Wembley Stadium, although in some seasons the game has been played in Cardiff and Leicester. The fixture exists in other countries as a Super Cup of some sort, and also in European competition as the European Super Cup (a match between the Champions League winners and the Europa League winners).
In the Premier League era only 8 teams have won the Community/Charity Shield and gone on to win the league that season.
The Championship (English 2nd tier) Playoff Final is often referred to as ‘the richest game in football’. It is a one-off game at Wembley Stadium between the two semi-final winners, to see who gets the final promotion spot to the following seasons Premier League. The top two teams are automatically promoted, with the following four teams facing each other in two-legged home and away semi-finals, and the winners playing off at Wembley in the final.
The winners of the 2024-25 Championship Playoff Final, Sunderland, were expected to make a minimum of £200 million in extra income after their victory over Sheffield United. This includes access to the massive broadcast deal, commercial fees, merit payments, and potential parachute payments should they get relegated back to the Championship. It also includes a share of the around £2 million gate receipts from the final at Wembley.
A popular sporting British idiom, it describes a match that is dramatically different in both halves. One team dominates the first half and takes an unassailable lead. After the half time break the opposition fight back and control the second half.
The ultimate game of two halves came in the Premier League at St James’ Park in 2011. Arsenal took a 4-0 lead at half time only for Newcastle to score 4 goals of their own in the second half. Cheick Tioté with the dramatic equaliser to make it 4-4 in the 87th minute!
A club that gets promoted to the Premier League, relegated back down to the Championship, and promoted again. Up and down like a yo-yo. In Denmark these teams are called elevatorhold, in the Netherlands they are called a 'to-and-fro club' and in Poland they are called 'roly-poly toy'.
A classic example of a yo-yo club is West Brom who were promoted four times and relegated three times to and from the Premier League between 2001 and 2010.