Glory, Goals and Greed

Book excerpt: 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.