The EPL staged it’s first season in 1992/3. How has it developed since then and which clubs have dominated it?
Beginnings;
The EPL was designed to replace the old First Division. The very first EPL title was won by Manchester United. The second season was won by Blackburn Rovers in 1994/5. At this time Blackburn possessed amazing firepower up front in the form of legendary strike pairing Chris Sutton and Alan Shearer. The duo would later be nicknamed ‘The SAS’ on account of their ‘take no prisoners’ attitude in front of goal
2000s
The 2000s were dominated by the ‘Big 4’ Clubs of Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool. These clubs finished right at the top of the table for the best part of the whole decade. That meant that it was these clubs that qualified for the lucrative UEFA Champions League (UCL). During this time only four other clubs managed to scrape into the UCL. Those clubs were Leeds United (2000/1), Newcastle United (2001/2 and 2002/3), Everton (2004/5) and Tottenham Hotspur (2009/10). All of these clubs reached the UCL by virtue of finishing fourth in the EPL. The only exception were Newcastle who managed to finish third in the 2002/3 campaign.
2010s
By the 2010s the ‘big 4’ had become the ‘Big 6’, as Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur began to regularly break into the top 4. In the 2009 season Tottenham broke into the top 4 as a ‘smaller’ club. In doing so they became the first non ‘big 4’ team to achieve this since Everton five years before.
However by far the biggest story of the decade was little Leicester City actually lifting the title in the 2015/16 season!
Could this happen in any other league? It seems doubtful. The history of the Premier League is packed with excitement and unpredictability. You can be sure the future will be too!
