Even before last season ended, one sensed there was something magical just around the corner in the Barclays Premier League. Managerial change was the order of the day at the biggest clubs with a legend bowing out and a ‘Special One’ returning. Manchester City were spending big money again. Clubs with more modest budgets were also throwing big bucks at newcomers while at least three of the country’s football giants were struggling to hold onto star players. Change is still very much in the air as we enter the last week of pre-season. Change for good and, in some supporters’ eyes, change that is potentially more troubling. The protracted sagas surrounding Wayne Rooney, Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez have vexed fans of their respective clubs for weeks now and until the transfer window closes on September 2 they will continue to give them cause for concern. Yet the neutrals among us see such potentially massive inter-club movement as being another sign that we are in for a blockbuster of a season. Writing his weekly newspaper column in The Telegraph, former Liverpool star-turned-pundit Alan Hansen declared that the club that ends up employing Wayne Rooney this season will be the club that wins the league. A bold statement indeed! Hansen’s main point being that Rooney’s super-competitive never-say-die spirit is what makes the difference between a club full of talented players and a club that lands the title. I am constantly told in other columns that the biggest clubs simply cannot afford to sell to their rivals -- be it Manchester United refusing to sell Rooney to Chelsea, Liverpool denying Suarez a move to North London or Spurs preferring to entertain offers from Spain for Bale rather than see their Welsh wizard take his magic to the north of England. Al l of the above strengthens my belief that there is little to choose between half a dozen clubs and that we are in for the most competitive season in years. Given the right start, any one of Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool could realistically entertain hopes of challenging the Big Three (Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea) until we are deep into the campaign. That’s all speculation. If we deal with the certainties that every season brings, we should kick off by being excited about the three new or returning clubs that will be eagerly preparing for their tilt at the big time. So, just how will Cardiff City, Hull City (Tigers) and Crystal Palace set about this latest brush with the big time? To start with, all three have been handed a massive financial boost: in terms of income alone, they and the other 17 clubs in the league are now ranked among the top 30 clubs in Europe solely because of their share of the bumper TV rights revenue. Don’t expect all three to spend all of that cash. Cardiff alone look as if they might splash the cash and have a go at taking on the Premier League challenge (a bit like Swansea did two seasons ago) while Hull look as if they will grind their way toward survival and Crystal Palace already appear to be happy to bank virtually all the money and prepare for a yo-yo existence in the near future. Cardiff’s presence (as the 46th club to have achieved Premier League status) also means that 10 per cent of the English Premier League is now Welsh. How about that? We’re also in for an explosive new Premier League derby match twice this term too. Much has been made of the long-awaited arrival of goal-line technology in the shape of the Goal Decision System or GDS. Having witnessed it in action and studied the data, I can confirm that it will change the way we see football but perhaps not in the way we might have thought. Our experience of watching cricket, rugby and tennis – all sports which have embraced technology – might have left us anticipating a similar kind of theatrical delay to proceedings while we wait to learn whether or not the ball has crossed the line. There will be no building of drama as GDS will deliver its signal to the referee almost instantaneously and it will never be indecisive. A TV replay of even the most obscured view of the ball will take no more than 20 seconds to be generated so we have to come to terms with the fact that a decision will be transmitted to the referee’s wristwatch and into his earpiece almost instantaneously while we, the viewer, will be given supporting evidence soon after. This is not to say that an official will not be made to look foolish at some stage this season. If he fails to take a deep breath before blowing his whistle and goes ahead and makes a call, he could be contradicted by GDS within a split second. It will add to the audio-visual treat that is a Barclays Premier League match broadcast and we will be doing our best to take those broadcasts to a whole new level. Thanks to a spectacular new studio and technical innovations, we are preparing to roll out a visual feast for you to go with the best-possible analysis and expert commentary. If the action on the field and the competitiveness of the title race turn out to be as exciting as I am forecasting then I suspect you will be in for something truly special. See you all this weekend!
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 06:17:43 +0000
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