Is Too Much Money Ruining the Premier League?

The Premier League is dubbed the Best League in the World, and the big four have been showing the rest of Europe in the Champions League, with English Clubs dominating in recent years. But just how great is the league outside the top four?

The Premier League is becoming more and more a three tiered affair, with money creating big gaps in the standards of English football.  It's clear that the big four are in a class of their own, and they provide the league with some of the best football in the world, but their Champions League money, the same money that funds their fantastic squads, is leaving an ever increasing gap between the top four and the next best.

Outside the top four, a group of around six teams will battle out their own little Championship race to qualify for European football. This year, Villa, Everton, Fulham, Spurs, West Ham, and Man City are pushing for the places, with the successful teams receiving a cash boost from UEFA.

Away from this we have the gritty part of the league the ten teams who just want to survive. Teams who play defensive and scrappy football just to retain the Premiership status.

Steve Bruce found himself frustrated this week, as he struggles to get rid of the clubs attitude that once they are safe, the season is over, something he claims to have experienced at other clubs. 

It is this kind of attitude and football that is ruining the Premier League for supporters, with teams like Wigan, Blackburn, Bolton, Middlesbrough happy with just finishing in the middle of the table safe from relegation.

The reason, money, the same thing that has made the league so great, is threatening to ruin it. With television money meaning even the three relegated teams will receive around 30 times more money than their Championship counterparts.

It is this huge gap in funding that prevents teams from spending big money and trying to improve, even though it may appear strange.

Teams can afford to spend big money to push into the Champions League, into the Europa League, or to ensure safety, but they can only afford it if they succeed, Leeds Utd being a reminder or what can happen to a club financially if they put up the money and don't succeed.

In the top half of the league the issue is not as big, but for a team to make the jump from the bottom half of the league into challenging for a place in Europe will cost money, and it doesn't always work, as Sunderland are proving this season, after spending around £80 million in a push to move up the league, they find themselves battling relegation in May.

This won't be that big of an issue if Sunderland survive, when they receive a new batch of television money from the Premier League, and they can start again next season.

If they do get relegated, then the story is different, and the same goes for Newcastle, who also have spent (and spend on wages) a lot of money,  cannot afford to go down and not get the TV money after such spending.

It is this risk of failure, and it can be a catastrophic failure, that prevents teams in the lower half of the league from big net spending and continued improvements in the lower realms of the league.

Chairmen and Owners are happy to spend as little as possible to improve an existing squad, do just enough to stay up, just in-case the worst happens and they are one of the three to drop.

There is no doubt that the Premier League has many of the best players, and some of the best teams in the world, and of course money is huge factor in this, but supporters need to ask themselves: Do they want the league to go on with a few rich teams at the top and plenty of mediocre teams defending and scrapping their way to another pay day?

Or do they want to see the money reduced and the playing field somewhat levelled?