What a difference 13 years makes

13 years ago we exited the Premier League. It looked like this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003–04_FA_Premier_League

Since our own tumultuous journey the Premiership has transformed. Manchester City have become the financial big boys, Everton are top 6 material, Spurs are genuine title contenders the last couple of seasons and the league is now full of foreign high profile managers.

Some of the names from that era have fallen below the Championship, Southampton have been to Div 3 and back and have Leicester, Charlton Blackburn and Portsmouth are still languishing in lower leagues whilst WBA and Stoke have become mainstays of the division.

New boys Bournemouth and Burnley are looking to become even more permanent fixtures in the division, Palace are trying a new approach and Huddersfield have gotten off to a cracking start.

Money has spiralled out of control, TV contracts are massive, £100 mill players are not extraordinary any more, British managers are almost extinct, new stadia and training grounds have been heavily invested in and there are lord knows how many tv channels showing football 7 days a week now.

I saw a really sad video the other day from a Liverpool fan who says it's just about football tourists now, fans flying over to take selfies outside ground, text their friends during matches allowing clubs to charge even more money and displacing the fans who've been coming for ages.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmNsWzHgxC8

It feels like AR is trying to really connect with the fans and the past, it would be great to see that power leveraged in an era that looks so different to the past.