By Robbie Butler
Prior to the sacking of Michael Laudrup last week, the Premier League boasted no less than ten non-British managers. This is a long way from the early days of the Premier League, when foreign managers were as infrequent as clean sheets have become at Old Trafford. In fact since 1992 the Premier League has become a vastly more diversified place. Managers, players and spectators are now drawn from all four corners of the globe. While this took some time to catch on, the corporate world was ahead of the curve.
Spectators at all ten grounds hosting matches over the next two nights will be bombarded will all sorts of advertisement and marketing ploys. The most obvious of these are the sponsors paraded by players and fans sporting club gear.
The 1993-1994 season kicked-off with no less than ten non-British shirt sponsors. Twenty years later the 2013-2014 season kicked-off with the same number of non-British short sponsors - ten. Given that the 1993-1994 season has 22 teams in the top division, this season is slightly more in percentage terms.
The table below presents data on this with British sponsors marked in red. Amazingly, despite the internationalisation of the league, the number of non-British sponsors in the 2003-2004 season was just six. Maybe the forward looking international sponsors are the cause of the internationalisation of the Premier League not an effect of its internationalisation. Finally, can you spot the only ever ‘Irish’ shirt sponsor of a Premier League Team?
Prior to the sacking of Michael Laudrup last week, the Premier League boasted no less than ten non-British managers. This is a long way from the early days of the Premier League, when foreign managers were as infrequent as clean sheets have become at Old Trafford. In fact since 1992 the Premier League has become a vastly more diversified place. Managers, players and spectators are now drawn from all four corners of the globe. While this took some time to catch on, the corporate world was ahead of the curve.
Spectators at all ten grounds hosting matches over the next two nights will be bombarded will all sorts of advertisement and marketing ploys. The most obvious of these are the sponsors paraded by players and fans sporting club gear.
The 1993-1994 season kicked-off with no less than ten non-British shirt sponsors. Twenty years later the 2013-2014 season kicked-off with the same number of non-British short sponsors - ten. Given that the 1993-1994 season has 22 teams in the top division, this season is slightly more in percentage terms.
The table below presents data on this with British sponsors marked in red. Amazingly, despite the internationalisation of the league, the number of non-British sponsors in the 2003-2004 season was just six. Maybe the forward looking international sponsors are the cause of the internationalisation of the Premier League not an effect of its internationalisation. Finally, can you spot the only ever ‘Irish’ shirt sponsor of a Premier League Team?
RSS Feed
