Unlike your muddled editorial (Football needs to be saved from its own greed by curbing pay-TV, 29 September) I am proud of English football. The Premier League is exciting and competitive. That’s why it is watched on TV (yes, and paid for) by millions of football fans worldwide. I watched last season’s exciting climax on holiday in Albania and was joined in the hotel bar by many locals who were enthralled that the title race had boiled down to Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur and was not the usual carve up between big money, brand name clubs.
The Premier League television rights deal helped to bring this about. So-called lesser teams no longer have to sell their best players to their privileged richer rivals. A long, gruelling season with no easy games ensures the team that wins the English league has earned it, not bought it. This partially explains why English teams find it harder to win European titles.
Manchester United has won the English top flight title 20 times. Compare this with the European “one- or two-horse leagues” you laud in your editorial. Bayern Munich has won 41% of all Bundesliga titles. Real Madrid and Barcelona between them have won an astonishing 66% of La Liga titles. They control all of their own TV rights money and consequently attract most of the world-brand big money sponsors. They receive financial backing from state and regional governments. They have been involved in dodgy, lucrative land deals to earn more cash and even persuaded the Spanish government to amend tax law to help attract foreign players.
The Spanish system is designed to keep the chosen at the top. The English Premier League came close to following this model. Now the extra money in the Premier League has changed the status quo and I am glad.
My team nearly won the title last season and will have another good go this season with their many talented young English players. The beautiful game is thriving; even outside the bubble of the Manchester Guardian.
Adrian Townsend
Garsington, Oxfordshire
• In a sporting variant on Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame, it seems possible that every English resident will in time be given a chance to manage the national football team. I eagerly anticipate my turn, although I fear that I could be a long way down the selection list, well behind merchant bankers, retiring MPs and others with proven experience in circumventing the rules in the interests of personal wealth accumulation.
Paul Bream
Wallsend
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