Written by Wall Street Journal reporters Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg, The Club provides an exhaustive and fast-paced history of the English Premier League. It explores how a group of five major clubs broke away from the Football League in 1992 to create a powerhouse that would eventually dwarf every other domestic competition in the world. The narrative focuses on the intersection of television rights, global marketing, and the ruthless ambition of owners who transformed a struggling sport into a multibillion-dollar industry.
This book is a brilliant exploration of the league’s history and serves as a must-read for all football fans. It is particularly essential for those fascinated by the business side of the game. Rather than just focusing on goals and trophies, it highlights the financial manoeuvring that allowed the Premier League to become the richest and most disruptive business in sport.
The level of access the authors secured is genuinely impressive. Through notable interviews with key figures, including club owners, executives, and players, they provide a ‘fly on the wall’ perspective of the boardrooms where the biggest deals in football history were brokered.
The book details key moments throughout the last few decades, seamlessly blending events on the pitch with the political and financial drama occurring off the pitch. For readers who were not as clued in during the early years of the Premier League, this book offers a perfect way to understand how the current landscape came together.
While the narrative feels a bit uneventful right at the end, the book remains gripping throughout. It manages to be both entertaining and informative, striking a balance that keeps you engaged even when discussing complex broadcast rights or legal battles. The Club is a definitive account of how English football changed forever and offers an eye-opening look at the greed, genius, and luck that built the modern sporting world.