My guest is football writer and podcaster, Paul Whittle. His new book, Before the Premier League: A History of the Football League’s Last Decades, explores English football before the establishment of the Premier League in 1992. We discuss the events in the last decades of the traditional Football League system that led to the creation of the new Premier League set-up.
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I really enjoyed the podcast. I went to my first game in the last season of the Football League, as was (Leeds United 2-0 QPR, 16/11/1991), so I don’t have too much experience of the pre-Premier League era. However, I do get the strong sense that some of the intangibles that you mentioned have been lost from the game. Even the Premier League itself has changed from the division that I remember in 2004 to the one that I found in 2020 upon Leeds’ return to the top flight. At least Panini stickers and match day programmes are still gong strong! Anyway, it was a fascinating discussion, and I’ll look forward to the next one.