Book description
The FA Premier League was born 20 years ago, on 23 September 1991,
and has since established itself as the most popular club competition
in world football. At the start, however, there was opposition from
the players' union and the Football League. Then the breakaway elite
were faced with the exposure of the game's 'bungs' culture, which
stained the reputations of Brian Clough and George Graham, among others.
After weathering that storm, the new league was threatened again by
the very real possibility of financial meltdown, which was averted
only by the controversial takeover of many top clubs by predatory
overseas owners.
Joe Lovejoy reported on the creation of the Premier League for The
Independent and revisits the story in Glory, Goals and Greed,
interviewing many of the 'founding fathers'. Later, as chief football
correspondent at the Sunday Times, he witnessed all the main
events and has spoken again to those involved to shed new light on the
best matches, best players and standout incidents of the Premier
League's enthralling first 20 years.
Joe Lovejoy is the author of
Bestie
, the bestselling authorised biography of George Best, and
Sven: The
Final Reckoning
. He was also worked with Ryan Giggs on
Giggs: The Autobiography
. He lives in Pontypool, South Wales.
