alternatehistory.com

It was hard to believe it had all happened in less than three years.

November 5th 2017 was the most traumatic day in the history of English football. That was the day Sky Television announced to a shocked world they were going into administration. The multi-Billion Pound Television deal with the Premier League was being ripped up.

After three months of utter havock throughout the Premier League, it became obvious that BT were not going to fill the slack left by the titan which had funded the rise of English football. Television revenue had become such an important part of the English game, it became apparent that the game of dominos which was about to come into play would be utterly epic.

By how much shocked some.

The first domino to fall were Tottenham Hotspur, announcing on 1st February that they were themselves were going into administration. Work on the new White Hart Lane had already been stopped due to lack of finance. Things looked bleak for them.

Before the news had time to sink in though, Manchester United made the announcement that their future rested on being able to negotiate their own television deal. This ignored the fact that the fate of the smaller clubs in the Premier League would be made certain by such a move.

The Prime Minister, Theresa May announced she planned to help the clubs, but after talks made it clear she was not in the business of bailing out the Ptemier League, influenced perhaps by the fact that either financial aid or state interference would see English Clubs banned from UEFA Competitions. This effectively tied the hands of a government in the midst of the Brexit negotiations.

Things were made more stark a week later, when Everton became the second club to go into Administration, Liverpool following a day later.

With the league in chaos, hundreds of players being made unemployed and the real risk of nearly half the Premier League going into outright liquidation, the infamous March meeting occurred.

On 1st March, in the FA Headquarters, the representitives of the twenty Premier League Clubs met. In a tetchy meeting, the owners of Manchester United and City, Chelsea and Arsenal alongide the administrators of Liverpool and Tottenham were forceful in arguing for individual television deals. They were clearly outnumbered though by the other clubs. Collective bargaining was to remain.

This was the final straw for Roman Abramovich who announced that although he would fund existing contracts, every player at Stamford Bridge was up for sale and the club would begin to live within its means.

Manchester City on the other hand were in serious trouble. The significant loss of income had affected their financial performance to the extent that along with seventeen of the twenty clubs, it was certain they would fail the financial fair play rules. Shiekh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan announced that the club would weather the storm and that although the club was up for sale, he would continue to bankroll the team in the expectation that a new deal could be found.

Surprisingly, Southampton lasted until April Fools Day, going into Administration over a lack of finance. Over the next three weeks, Watford, West Ham and Bournemouth followed suite.

Spurs lasted until the end of the season, beating Leicster 1-0 at Wembley, the following day seeing their CVA rejected. A phoenix club, The Tottenham Athletic and Hotspur Football Club was founded, starting in the bottom of the English Pyramid and sharing with Haringay Borough FC. Over the next few weeks, Everton joined them, Liverpool being saved from liquidation after their deal was accepted, albeit with the consequence of losing their entire first team squad and their training ground being sold as part of the process.

Then, came the events of June 1st. The day the Glazers cried. Manchester United Football Club entered administration. Jose Mourinho was made redundant, the entire squad was sold in a bid to survive at cut price deals, but there was still a short fall of some £100 Million. With Sky on the scene, this was affordable. Without the TV money, it became a bridge too far. With a team of seventeen year olds and in administration, the Red Devils entered the new season. The only other team who entered administration to escape liquidation and the inevitable phoenix club scenario was West Ham, also with a vastly weakened squad.

2018/19 was an unusual season. Arsene Wenger, in his last season as Arsenal Manager, led them to a record points Premier League victory, also winning the FA Cup and the League Cup in an historic treble. Manchester City were the final team to go into admin, their fate being sealed by the lack of a new deal in March 2019. Manchester United were relegated with a grand total of six points, only six behind Liverpool, West Ham surviving by a point, ensuring Wolves went down, only promoted due to the spate of relegations would be heading back to the Championship. The other story being the 40,000 the Everton International Football Club brought to a Northern Premier League match.

Arsenal were also the only representitives of English Football in the Champions League.

And that led us to the current day.

Three years ago, who would have thought the Premier League would see a five-way fight between Arsenal, Newcastle, Norwich City, Swansea and Huddersfield? That Manchester City would be certainties to go down or that Chelsea would be in serious danger of going down? Although Manchester United and Liverpool were challenging for promotion, the world had been turned on it's head.

The reset button had been hit hard. English football would never be the same again.
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