The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports

The Club is the inside story of how English soccer's Premier League became the wildest, richest, most popular sports product on the planet, "a narrative that is part Great Expectations, part Game of Thrones, in equal measure." (Roger Bennett, NBC Sports, Men in Blazers)

This is a sports and business tale of how money, ambition, and twenty-five years of drama remade an ancient institution into a twenty-first-century entertainment empire. No one knew it when their experiment began, but without any particular genius or acumen, the motley cast of billionaires and hucksters behind the modern Premier League struck gold.

Pretty soon, everyone wanted to try their luck, from Russian oligarchs to Emirati sheikhs, American tycoons, and Asian Tiger titans. Some succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Some lost everything. Today, players are sold for tens of millions, clubs are valued in the billions, and games are beamed out to nearly two hundred countries, all while the league struggles to preserve its English soul.

Deeply researched and drawing on one hundred exclusive interviews, including the key decision makers at every major English team, The Club is the definitive and wildly entertaining narrative of how the Premier League took over the world.

ISBN-13: 9780358213055

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Publication Date: 09-03-2019

Pages: 384

Product Dimensions: 5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.94(d)

Joshua Robinson is the European sports correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, and has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post and Sports Illustrated. Jonathan Clegg is a senior editor for The Wall Street Journal. His work has also appeared in the Daily Telegraph, the Independent (U.K.), and FourFourTwo magazine.

Table of Contents

Authors' Note ix

Prologue xvii

Part I Breaking Away 1

Part II Rise and Rise 37

Part III Invaders On The Shore 81

Part IV Premier League Inc. 153

Part V Britain's new empire 219

Epilogue 301

Acknowledgments 312

Selected Bibliography 315

Cast of Characters 317

Index 323

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