"Welcome to a league without Granada and Frankfurt" were the words in media and social media after Pep Guardiola came third in the league with Manchester City. The idea was that the Premier League is tougher than the other leagues and Pep won't be dominating it that easily.

Now, after Pep Guardiola won his fourth Premier League title in 6 years, I think we it's we address something that's been bothering me for a long time

Premier League Smugness

There seems to be a level of smugness among Premier League fans against everything that is not English. My question is, besides the media's attention and name power, what does the Premier League have that the rest don't?

Does the Premier League not have teams who lose by 5 or 7 goals in the hands-on teams that are in form? Just three years ago Manchester City won 8-0 against Watford a month before Southampton lost 0-9 to Leicester City. Speaking of Southampton, they lost another 9-0 just in February last year. And those defeats are the ones that have made it into historical records.

Does the Premier League not have clubs that get promoted and relegated right away? Norwich's habit seems to be just that. Fulham spent 120 million in the 2018-19 season when they were promoted, only to get relegated by the end of the season with 26 losses, 5 draws, and 7 wins. Norwich's entire existence in the Premier League is being that team that gets promoted and then relegated.

Is It Expenditure?

It seems like that's what sets the Premier League apart as they have spent a lot. In the 2019-2020 season, Aston Villa spent 160 million and would have gotten relegated by the end of that season if it weren't for a referee mistake that would never happen again.

That 160 million would be the total of how much a team like Frankfurt spent in the last 7 years and Frankfurt only did that because they sold Haller and Jovic for a total of 113 million.

Ever since there has been a record of what Granada was spending, the 2010-11 season, they are still yet to reach what Fulham spent in that one season where Fulham got promoted and was once again relegated. Granada spent a net total of 90 million since 2010 compared to Fulham who spent 160 in one season alone.

Fun fact, in the 2017-2018 season, Granada spent 130 thousand Euros only.

So, is the idea that Fulham is better because they spent more?

Is The Premier League Better Because It Has More Failed Projects?

That seems to be the case whenever we compare as expenditure seems to be the only category where the Premier League is clearly ahead. They're not the league with most international awards, group or individually. They barely have one more UEFA Champions League title than Bayern, the same number as Barcelona, and don't even compare to Real Madrid since 2009.

If 2009 seems too picky then we can go all the way to 2000 where Premier League clubs have 5 out of the last 23 Champions League seasons. Real Madrid alone has won 6, Barcelona won 4, Bayern Munich won 3. They only won more than Serie A in 2018. 4 out of those 5 titles, it was just English clubs defeating other English clubs in the final.

The Midtable And The "Top 6"

That seems to be the argument. The Premier League midtable is better than other leagues' midtable. But, according to who?

I can be petty and say that Tottenham came fourth in the Premier League when they couldn't even make it past the group stage in the Conference League, but that's too selective and circumstantial.

However, the three European finals this year saw one English team. Hell, the Scottish league was closer to having a European winner than England this year.

If the top teams were being topped in the Champions League then the lower ones were no different as, since 2000, there have been only four English clubs winning the Europa League.

Sevilla has more Europa League titles than Premier League clubs since 2000. English clubs barely edge out Unai Emery in the number of Europa League titles.

Other than popularity, what metric does the Premier League excel in that its fans are so comfortable calling other leagues "farmers league"?

Football Style?

In 1968 a book came out by the name of "Skill and Chance" that was the reason we had the long ball playstyle the England and Premier League clubs were so known for. I will be going into details about why it is scientifically proven to be a horrible playstyle soon. But, it should be known that the long ball only started ending in 2005.

Even the English playstyle has a horrible legacy.

In Conclusion

I still say that the Premier League is the best league in the world and I will elaborate on that in my post tomorrow: The Premier League X Pep Guardiola.

However, the Premier League isn't miles better than other leagues that it is okay to call other leagues "farmers leagues" as there's nothing happening in those leagues that don't happen in the Premier League and vice versa.

The Premier League won the battle of language as English is the most used language in the world. It also won the media battle which resulted in it winning more money. However, the rest are still there, creating similar accomplishments with fewer available tools.